XXL 540M
The nice things about this unit--5" screen, reasonable time to lockin satellite signal, non glare screen, nice feel and look, & accurate GPS. This unit have lifetime mapping which you download from Internet. POI function works great, with large data base. Like the ideal of inputting a zip code to take you right to the general area. Fast at featuring out location for favorite inputs.
The not so good things about this unit--doesn't stay the course on plan routing; meaning the initial plan route was good and set. But reroute along the way. Doesn't tell you vocally that you are heading in wrong direction until you are some 1/4 miles or more down the road, although the map indicate you are going in opposite direction. Orientation of map sometime changes while moving along, making it hard to read. As a GPS, it works fine, and accurate where you are, with some side steps along the way. Most GPS does have similar problems more or less with plan routing. USB port(most likely 1.1) is very slow; it took over 4 hours to do the initial install of upgrade. Instructions not clear on how to download or upload new addresses. Lack of memory space left on the allotted 2 GB space built in, with no option for adding more, like slot for SD card. You are out of luck if you install too many of their other applications that are available at their web site. The unit had problem a couple times when I was setting up my favorite locations, where I would input the zip code and it can't find the street. But will find it if I input the city, street and number first.
In comparison to my 5 years old 2nd generation Garmin 350 GPS, the TomTom XXL540M lack many of the features that I like in the Garmin GPS. Features like SD slot for adding memory, playing mp3 music, looking at photos, and using GPS at a device to see how many mile you have walked or run, or conversion of different measurements, and world time clock, etc. I can even use my Garmin GPS as a storage device for storing photos and data or music through the external memory SD slot. My old Garmin 350 will plan a route and then will allow you to reroute when you decide to take a detour; it ask you if you are doing that; then it will reroute, not like the 540 which will automatically reroute and want you to follow the new course. The Garmin 350 was more intuitive on how to do things on the screen, while the TomTom takes you through several layers of icons to do the same task, like inputting POI.
Bottom line is that this TomTom XXL 540M is a basic GPS unit that does what it suppose to do and also gave life time free maps down load. It has a nice big non glare screen, and does it job as well any as most GPS does. But if you are looking for additional functions, like playing music, displaying photos, or data storage, this is not the unit for you.Read full review
