TomTom One XL S

Pros: good menu options

Cons: inaccurate maps and navigation

Summary: had replaced my garmin c330 with this product but did not like it due to its inaccuracies in maps and navigations. bought a gamin nuvi 250 instead and am happier.

the plus of this device is that it has a number of diff menu options to personalize the operation of the device as per ones liking. for instance you can choose the option for the device to ask the mode of route selection prior to planning each trip, which is good as one does not have to go to the setup to choose the shortest/fastest routes. the alternate route icon in the menu is another good feature. but i found that its maps are not very accurate and that it failed to identify destinations accurately though it located them in the near vicinity. for instace it located our house to be approx 500 m at a left turn from the main approach street whereas the acctual location of our house is approx 500 m on a right turn from the main approach street which could be frustating when locating an address. this was not just an isolated instace but it failed to locate my work place acuurately too. my office is located in the building which is around 500 m from a major intersection but the device located it to be approx 500 m before the intersection. (has some problem placing the coordinates 500 m to the correct side i presume or the device had a personal dislike for me). but certain other adresses where located very accurately. had called the customer sevice with this and other issues but i was told that the gps device is just a navigation tool and is not meant to be 'relied upon'. another inaccuracy - device navigated us to take an exit left on a highway when the only exit at that point was on the right thougt it navigated correctly beyond that exit. there is a very tedious process to end navigation prematurely as one needs to go through around 3-4 diff pages of setup/menu to find the icon to 'clear ' the selected route - not very comfortable while driving. in contrast to the tom tom one, tom tom one gls does not have the battery saving options and one cannot choose it to automatically start and shut down with the vehicle when operating it on the car adapter. one has to physically switch the unit on and off which i found annoying. the text to speech option is only available with the computer generated voice which at times is very unclear. the other clearer human voice options do not have the text to speech capability. also i felt that the device does not announce the name of the street to turn on to well enough in advance of the approaching turn so that one has to still make a judgement by guessing that turn from the distance announced which comes prior to announcing the name.

so i was not really comfortable with the unit and choose to go back to garmin which in my experience is more precise and accurate though not flawless, even though is has lesser frills in the form of selectable options. i also prefer the overall appearance and clarity of garmin's maps and display.