What the hay- wife is always yelping to get one- here it is REAL economical like. Going for it! Sure - watch war break out and our satellites go down- then it will be a waste- ha./

So, like, every time an updated map is available, we have to buy it to upload?

chiieddy wrote:Looks like a cute, little unit, but for $30, I'd only get one if you can't afford a $150 unit.

Newer TomTom units have the following in the $150 price:

1. Lifetime map updates at no cost
2. Traffic
3. Hands free mobile

The cost of updating maps negates any savings.

1. When this unit craps out in a year or two, I bet I'll be able to buy a new GPS unit w/lifetime map updates for about $120 so this unit would have paid for itself.
2. I had traffic on my last GPS and never used the suggestions. Part of the reason was geography. I lived in SFO/Bay Area. If the Bay Bridge was backed up, the alternative was the San Mateo bridge, way far away. No times saved and burned more gas. Perhaps it's useful in a place like L.A.
3. Who doesn't have a bluetooth headset or speaker phone on their phone?

mbmanaus wrote:I would never buy another TomTom after mine took me down 50 miles of insanely dangerous old mining roads in northern Idaho when there were two perfectly good freeways that would have taken me to my destination two hours faster. If this had happened in the winter I likely would not have survived to tell the tale.

On the plus side it saved me from having to pay to go to a zoo since I got to see my fair share of wild bears that day.

Ahhh, so you're one of those people who will drive off a cliff if the GPS tells you to... it's always a good practice to just check out the area you'll be driving on google maps or somewhere before you head out... and also have a map with you in your car.... so when it starts taking you a weird way, you can correct...

Bought it. At that price it is a no brainer.

Check out tom tom maps at

http://routes.tomtom.com/

So tempting, but alas, without the lifetime maps, I must bid adieu!

I already have 2 and love them. In for one to replace the one my daughter took to college. To address a few comments:

Screen is easy to see. You can always zoom in if you really need to.

No lifetime map updates, but Tom-Tom does have free map corrections that you can get when you log in to address things like closed roads and speed changes.

Works OK on Mac, better on PC.

It does generate alternate routes and show the time. I have personally seen it generate a different route at a different time of day based on "historical" traffic patterns.

I travel with a friend who has a Garmin and we like to play "battling GPS" and my little guy is the winner a lot of the time for finding a better route.

Here's the deal...a few weeks ago when I spoke with Tom Tom technical advice line I found out that their software is suffering from a bug of some sort. You cannot upload map corrections, you can't download maps, map updates....heck, you can't even pair your new Tom Tom device with the server. I would recommend a Garmin or some other manufacturer. Looks like the map that is preloaded on this device is the only map you're gong to get for a while. On a side note...when I spoke to a technical representative the first time...I told him more about the Tom Tom device that I had than he knew....wow, that doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy!!! Buy something else!!

In for two as my old one needs a replacement battery that costs almost as much as this unit. Plus, my wife uses her phone, and that costs me $10 / month and so the savings alone pays for both of these plus the shipping. If they last only the year, I am in the green.

If they last 10 years, I'll finally have money to invest in my kid's college education! ha,ha,ha... JK

This is perfect for my wife. She isn't overly technical and doesn't care about bells and whistles. She just needs something to get her where she's going. She isn't very confident with directions so hopefully there is a voice in this thing that will yell at her and set her straight.

wtdadwrk15 wrote:In for two as my old one needs a replacement battery that costs almost as much as this unit. Plus, my wife uses her phone, and that costs me $10 / month and so the savings alone pays for both of these plus the shipping. If they last only the year, I am in the green.

If they last 10 years, I'll finally have money to invest in my kid's college education! ha,ha,ha... JK

Seriously though, I previously had a Tom Tom that worked with my old Palm Smartphone. It did a nice job. Wasn't stellar, but got me where I was going 98% of the time. You don't get much better than that with driving directions you print out from the Internet.

Will this unit allow me to put in a lat/long coordinate as an destination, then provide directions to that spot?

DaoudaW wrote:Can I use this for geo-caching? It's small enough and a two hour battery could allow me to walk/search for awhile. My question is does it have an appropriate display for use while walking/mapping in unknown terrain.

No. However, with the proliferation of smartphones, there are live apps for about every model smartphone. Live apps are best for urban caching or on-the-fly caching when the mood just hits you. I have also seen most smartphones being more accurate thaan your low-end GPSr's (2m as opposed to 6m accuracy).

jamesbottomtooth wrote:this price screws with your head, makes you want to buy a 12-pack and sell them on the street.

Yep. Why do they do this to me? Thought my Garmin had been stolen when my garage was broken into. Alas, I had inadvertenly brought it in the house and had forgotten. Need to call the police and tell them I found it so the perps that were caught can do two days less in prison...

Might have to get this anyway. Will decide when I get back from taking the kids to school.

I wouldn't buy it just because it's a TomTom. My mom bought one used and it stopped working for her, so she said if I could fix it I could have it. My computer wasn't recognizing it, so I e-mailed TomTom and they told me to try resetting it and if that didn't work, plug it into my computer to do trouble shooting...

Will it display speed?

Can maps of Europe or South America be downloaded into this GPS?

Would this be a better deal for just a little more?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220848121888+

After being in cars with people who drive the wrong way down one-way streets when their GPS tells them to, and seeing a serious decline in everyone's basic sense of direction, I've been opposed to using a GPS to get me where I'm going.

That being said, I recently had to cancel plans after not being able to navigate my way around some of Massachusetts' un-signed detours. As I'm one of the few people without a smart phone, and I didn't have a map for the local streets, it had me screaming in frustration.

For thirty bucks, it's tempting to just grab one and keep it in my trunk for those "I'm going to freak out if I see one more Road Closed sign again" and "How can a street intersect with ITSELF?!" moments only.

snagged 3. think christmas.......

Fantastic! the maps on my Tom are about 3 years old, and this is cheaper than new maps!

kliu0x52 wrote:Are you sure about that? The photos seem to suggest otherwise...?

Edit: I mean, why can't I just stick that big suction cup on my windshield?

Edit 2: TomTom's manual says that you can just stick that big suction cup on the windshield...

I have a different model TomTom with the same suction cup device and you can absolutely stick it to your windshield, but you may want to check the laws in your area to see if that is legal. In MN, for instance, it is not.

GPS stand alone units zzz. Why not use a smart phone?

GPS are soon to be found in a box of cereal, as a prize.

snagged one for the nanny....a lot safer than her reading mapquest directions while driving the kids around!

Walmart is selling brand new ones for $55: http://www.walmart.com/ip/TomTom-EASE-3.5-GPS-Black/17208316

My 2004 TomTom is still going strong (back when they cost well over $500!) but she's fat (think a miniature version of the original iMac) and a pain to carry around. I still use the original maps and while sometimes we "float" over empty fields for a while, she hasn't failed me yet. I'm thinking about getting this skinny one as a replacement, but I don't want to make her mad.... We revere our TomTom because even at her venerable age, she has really saved our asses on occasion.

Hmmm... I'm getting one for the kids to use - no more "Are we there yet?". Hopefully they'll get enough signal to work from a back passenger side window.

I had a TomTom, it left me stranded in the middle of France. Still, this might make a good gift.

The days of the portable GPS for cars is dying. My Android Phone with GPS has constantly updated information. Smartphones are going to drive the portable GPS into the ground. However, $30 for this unit is amazing, even if the technology is out of date.

Oh, and the best part is that I get a NEW unit every two years when my contract expires. And the tech on smartphones is only going to get better

archy1289 wrote:I wouldn't buy it just because it's a TomTom. My mom bought one used and it stopped working for her, so she said if I could fix it I could have it. My computer wasn't recognizing it, so I e-mailed TomTom and they told me to try resetting it and if that didn't work, plug it into my computer to do trouble shooting...

Wait, you are dissing TomTom just because you already have a USED, broken unit? I bought a different model refurb TomTom earlier this year and it works great.

hdtvcamera wrote:GPS stand alone units zzz. Why not use a smart phone?

GPS are soon to be found in a box of cereal, as a prize.

drive into an area without cell coverage and you'll soon find out

Cheaper than the Map Updates!
It's disappointing what TomTom & other GPS manufacturers are doing on the cost of map / system updates which make deals like this attractive, while ultimately then lead to more waste to our land fields / environment. I’ll buy one for the map updates and my original will eventually end up in the garbage heap.

My old Tom Tom is great, but the maps are yellowing a little around the edges. This new(ish) unit costs as much a map update! A fresh battery that will hold a charge for a while seals it. I'm in for one...

mbmanaus wrote:I would never buy another TomTom after mine took me down 50 miles of insanely dangerous old mining roads in northern Idaho when there were two perfectly good freeways that would have taken me to my destination two hours faster. If this had happened in the winter I likely would not have survived to tell the tale.

On the plus side it saved me from having to pay to go to a zoo since I got to see my fair share of wild bears that day.

No offense meant, but you should have at least looked at the map to see if there was an easier way. You can tell the unit to only take interstate highways if that's what you want.

Do people honestly set out on a trip and have no idea how they're going to get there? Google maps even has routing!

laineywainey wrote:So, like, every time an updated map is available, we have to buy it to upload?

Forget portable GPS. Get a Smartphone. Free map updates, with 3 or 4G you can get up to date location info and whenever Google or Bing updates their maps you have updated road info.

DaoudaW wrote:Can I use this for geo-caching? It's small enough and a two hour battery could allow me to walk/search for awhile. My question is does it have an appropriate display for use while walking/mapping in unknown terrain.

Eh... It's not going to have an arrow to follow like a typical hand held unit. I used my new TomTom Tuesday to find a cache, but it was more "get me near within 100 feet and let Geosense take over". There is a screen which will show your Latitude/Longitude, but you'd need to experiment with it to get it to work.

Get a cheapie eTrex and try that, would be my recommendation. Another thing to try is to attend a local event and get to know the locals. Veteran cachers are likely going to have multiple units and might be willing to loan one of theirs.

Does anyone know if it will give you the coordinates of where you are? Can you put in coordinates? I have another brand GPS that doesn't do that. I would like to be able to note the location of, say. . . a gravesite in a large cemetery so I can input that location in a gps and find it again. Or tell someone else where it is located.

Awesome. Now when I flip cars, I can put "FREE GPS WITH EVERY CAR PURCHASE!!!"

Well I put my money where my laptop keyboard was and I decided to buy one and help move this country forward. Then I realized that the $35.00 or so including shipping looked really dumb sitting on my laptop and Woot was probably not going to get paid this way so I took all the dollar bills off and pushed the right buttons until i saw that screen that says "If everything looks right push this stupidly large button".

I feel so much better now.