TomTom GO 930 GPS

Reviewed by

Bonnie Cha

on 05/28/2008

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You can view maps in 2D or 3D mode. A status bar at the bottom of the screen displays useful information, such as the next instruction, remaining distance, and estimated time of arrival. There are also two icons in the upper-right and upper-left corners that let you zoom in and out of maps. The TomTom GO 930 also has advanced lane guidance functions, more specifically lane separation and 3D renderings of complex junctions. Lane separation displays onscreen the number of lanes and which lane you should be in for your upcoming turn, among other things. And for particularly complicated intersections, you'll get a 3D image of what the area looks like as well as sign post information to give you a better idea of what's ahead.

In addition to the new visual aids, you continue to get standard text- and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, including text-to-speech functionality. The GO 930 supports 24 languages for generic spoken directions. You can download more voices from TomTom Plus services.

The TomTom GO 930 has integrated Bluetooth, so you can pair it with a compatible Bluetooth cell phone and make hands-free calls. Even better, you can wirelessly transfer your phone's address book to the GPS, which we don't find often with other systems. For incoming calls, you can either use the touch screen to accept or reject calls or turn on Auto-Answer in the Phone preferences menu to have the device automatically pick up after a certain time. The TomTom GO 930 also has the "Help Me" function with the "Where am I?" option that gives you the name of the street you are on and the nearest intersections, and can find the nearest police station, hospital, or car service center, based on your current location. From there, you can also dial out directly to any of those services as well as other POI.

Last but not least, the GO 930 has multimedia capabilities with a music player that plays MP3 and Audible audiobooks, and an image viewer with JPEG and BMP file format support. You can stream music wirelessly over your car stereo via the built-in FM transmitter. There's also an optional kit ($29.95) that will let you connect and operate your iPod through the GO 930.

Performance
We tested the TomTom GO 930 in San Francisco, and from a cold start, it only took the system about two minutes to get a fix on our location under clear skies, while subsequent starts only took a few seconds. The unit did a good job of tracking our location and kept a steady fix as we drove throughout the city. As one would expect, the GO 930 did lose the signal when we drove under the Broadway Tunnel and into a parking garage, but it was able to reestablish a connection almost instantaneously.

We planned a couple of trips using the TomTom GO 930. First, we plotted our standard trip from the Marina district to CNET's downtown headquarters. We used the voice commands to enter addresses, and we found the system to be hit or miss, with about a 50 percent accuracy rate. The GO 930 seemed to have the most trouble understanding numbers, whereas it was pretty good with city and street names. In all, we think it's easier, faster, and obviously more accurate to input addresses the old-fashioned way.

Once we entered all the information, the GO 930 was able to return with directions quickly. The system calculated a route based on the fastest IQ route for a weekday. We browsed the list of text-based instructions and found the itinerary to be accurate and an efficient route for that time of day. The voice-guided directions were loud and clear, and the text-to-speech pronunciation was decent. However, there were a couple of occasions, where the GO 930 was a bit slow to instruct us about a turn. We'd just be going through an intersection when the unit would instruct us to take a left or a right turn. Fortunately, the system was quick with route recalculations.

To check out the complex juncture and lane assistance tools, we also planned a trip from the city to San Francisco International Airport, which would take us on U.S. Highway 101. As we approached the turnoff for the airport, the GO 930 presented us with a visual cue along the bottom of the screen that showed the number of lanes on the highway, which lane we should be in, and the direction we would be turning. As we got closer to the exit, the screen switched to the intersection view, which showed a close-up 3D view of the roadway along with our specific exit sign. The view was rather generic, but it serves its main purpose. That said, the lane assistance function only seems to be available for major freeways and not surface streets.

Finally, we were able to pair the TomTom GO 930 with the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 for Verizon Wireless. It took several attempts to connect the two, but once the connection was established, we were able to make and receive calls.