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Plan routes easily with smarter user interface on a bright 4.3-inch touchscreen
This review is from: TomTom VIA 1405M 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime MapsI bought this to replace my 2-year-old TomTom XL 340S, mainly because I wanted lifetime map updates which were not available when I bought my XL. I hooked both units up in my car and drove around for an hour to compare them. A couple obvious differences are that the VIA units are slightly thinner and lighter than the XL series, and the VIAs have a slightly better screen, although honestly I could barely tell the difference. Diagonal lines are a little less jaggy on the VIA if you look closely, but the increased resolution does not make much difference. The font size is slightly different as well. The font for the current street is a little larger on the VIA, but the font for the next street to turn onto is slightly smaller, which you can see in the screen image on this site. The street name is green and white and meant to look like a highway sign. The fonts were perfectly fine on my XL, and they are fine on the VIA as well. One thing that they changed, and I think this is new for the VIA line, is that when you are approaching your destination it will tell you if it's on the right or the left. With previous generation TomToms you could see which side of the street your destination was on by looking at the screen, but it didn't announce it audibly. It's a slight improvement, but not a big deal in my opinion.As far as navigation, the two units were pretty similar when giving directions. I noticed that in some places the Lane Guidance screen would kick in on the XL while it did not on the VIA. I think they have tweaked the software a little after realizing that there were times when Lane Guidance was coming on when it wasn't really needed. Also, I noticed at one exit that the XL said to exit and "go straight on," (although the screen showed a left turn with an arrow) when in fact it should have said exit and turn left. The XL got it wrong, the VIA got it right. Again, that was probably just the result of improvements that have been made to the software in the last two years. Also, the XL would say "take the exit toward Erie, PA" (spoken as "pa" as in "papa"), whereas the VIA just said take the exit toward Erie, and didn't mention the state. It's kind of pointless to say the state in that instance, so just saying a city and leaving it at that is fine.And now for the best feature. The reason I would not consider any other brand of PND right now is because TomTom is the only brand with the excellent EasyPort Mount. I only use my PND when I travel by air and then rent a vehicle. In my opinion, having the mount built-in to the unit is great. It is much easier to pack and carry than it would otherwise be if the mount was a seperate piece of hardware. I've had no problems with the EasyPort Mounts on both of my TomToms. They work great!I didn't want the traffic or Bluetooth options, so I went with the "M" instead of the "TM" and the 1405 instead of the 1435.Overall this is a great PND. I highly recommend it to anyone who takes along a PND for use in rental cars. The EasyPort Mount is excellent and makes for a compact and easy to transport device, and TomTom is the only company that offers it.
This review is from: TomTom VIA 1405M 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime MapsThis is the third TomTom I've owned, so I am familiar with their units going back for about 4 years. When I saw the announced Via units, I preordered a 1435TM, which arrived last week.The good:This is the most advanced TomTom I've owned in this price range. Screen is sharp and bright, the built-in mounting is very good, and the device is super thin. The free lifetime map updates are a big plus, as is the free traffic information. They build the traffic receiver into the charging cord, which seems to work well.The information display is very clean while showing a lot of useful information. Calculation time for routes is fast, and the lane assist feature is helpful, although I have not been through a very complicated unknown interchange. The signs don't match what you see on the road, so you need to trust the lane designation.The screen aspect rotates automatically depending on whether you mount it from above or below; which is very handy.Voice recognition is very good, although this was not a big seller for me. The street name voice is noticibly robotic, but again, this was not a big selling point for me.Little features like auto power-off when the charger power is stopped (IOW when you turn the car off) are helpful, but I would like it to take longer than 10 se...
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