The Nav already impressed me on the drive home. Operating is very intuitive and doesn’t require long study of the handbook. Although I recommend reading it to take advantage of all the features. I would like to go into a bit more detail and describe the features i’ve used so far.
Box Content
The packaging makes a practical and solid impression. the Nav itself is held securely in its own box, separated from the accessories. I suppose that is so the devices for the separate countries can be easily replaced. Apart from the Nav itself, you get the following:
- In-Car Charger
- Windscreen-mount with suction cup
- TMCpro antenna with 4 suction cups
- Bluetooth remote control
- Desktop dock
- Quick Start guide
- Installation Poster
- CD with full handbook as PDF
- Accessories-Catalogue
What I’m really missing here is a pouch to keep the Nav safe from scratches when it’s not used.
Installation
The Installation was quite straight-forward. Stick the holder to the windscreen using the suction cup. It says that you should clean the glass before sticking the support on it. I didn’t, and it holds just fine. Next was the TMC antenna. I chose to route it up the windscreen and then across towards the rear-view mirror. The „Egg“ I positioned behind the nav. The Power-plug is angled to the rear. This means you can almost sit the nav on the dashboard, thats what i’ve thought. Too bad that the plug of the TMC-Antenna is straight down and about 4cm long. No sitting on the Windscreen in that case. The Suction-Cups of the Antenna don’t hold as well as the one from the support, but that might also be because I didn’t clean the windscreen prior the installation. When I get time, I’ll re-route the cable to go across the bottom edge of the windscreen.
The Power-Charger is a standard cigarette-lighter model which holds quite firmly in the socket. First thing that surprised me was, that the charger has its own fuse. The power cord is long enough to reach from the nav in the lower left corner of the windscreen across the cockpit and down to the ashtray where the cigarette lighter is. so much for therory. Too bad that i’m driving a car that isn’t exactly built to standard. My cigarette lighter is between the two front seats under the armrest. If I route the cable directly from the socket, across the steering column to the nav, it fits. I’ll have to either get a USB-Extension or a Extender for the Cigarette lighter socket.
Handling
If you ever used a TomTom-Nav before, you know exactly how to operate it. If you never had one in your hands, you’ll learn it quickly. The basic functions are found very easily. The configuration for the more advanced features (Hands-Free, FM-Transmitter, etc), which are not necessarily core-functions of a nav, are also easy to find and the on-screen-explanations are very simple and understandable.
The screen is bright and easily readable. It even switches from day to night-view automatically when it gets dark. This function is nice, but until now, it switches a bit fast.
I’ll try the TomTom on my way to work on monday and let you know how it went…