TomTom XL 340S 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Bundle with Case
- Preloaded with maps of the US, Canada and Mexico, complete with Map Share technology for easy modification and updates
- Preloaded with more than 7 million points of interest in over 60 destination categories–gas stations, restaurants, hotels, ATMs and more
- IQ Routes Technology calculates the fastest route possible based on time of day, saving you time, fuel and money
- Advanced Lane Guidance indicates exactly which lane to use, so you can go confidently
- Announces turn-by-turn directions aloud, including street and place names
Product Description
The TomTom XL 340•S Bundle includes the TomTom XL 340•S device plus a Soft Quilted Carry Case. The XL 340•S is complete navigation, in a widescreen device. Switch on and go right out of the box. Spoken turn-by-turn instructions including street names will guide you to any address in the US, Canada and Mexico – including more than 7 million preloaded points of interest. And, with the protective Soft Quilted Carry Case, you can easily transport and store your XL 340•S device. IQ Routes™ Technology* gives you the fastest route every time by using actual average speeds of travel on your route to calculate your trip rather than only posted speed limits, so you’ll always travel the smartest route. … More >>
TomTom XL 340S 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator Bundle with Case
Filed under: TomTom Gps
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just received my new GPS today, plugged it into my mac, and installed tomtom’s mac version of their home software. everything has worked well so far and the free map update installed fine. there are two main things that purchasers need to know:
1) space is very limited on the device. there is only 2 GB of internal flash memory and out of the box there was less than 50 MB free. the very first thing you should do is to delete voices in languages you don’t use. this will free up a couple/three hundred MB. they can get backed up to your computer so you could always put them back in the future. once a bit of space is freed up you’ll be able to update the device without issue. after removing spanish and french voices, running update which installed a new dave voice, and then installing the free map update i was left with 89 MB free. when i tried to run update before removing the voices, the unit warned me about lack of space and aborted without creating any further problems. maybe the mac version of home is more robust than the windows one in this respect.
2) the device only supports USB 1.1 transfers which max out at a bit over 1 MB/sec and can be slower. so doing a full backup or a map update will take quite a while (1-2 hours) and this is normal.
for me, those limitations are more than offset by the large, bright screen, text2speech capability, crowd-sourced map/route updates, and cheaper southern africa maps (we’re moving there soon). especially given the cheap sale price i found. i will provide updates as i put unit through paces on cross-country trip and then intercontinental move…..
Rating: 5 / 5
I’m pretty tech savvy and have used different GPS devices in the past. I chose Tomtom over Garmin mainly due to tomtom HOME support, better user interface: tomtom has more info on the screen including the street name you’re driving on.
Most negative reviews here are from issues updating map which is larger than the old one (about 5 Mb larger) and causes error.
but it’s simple to go around it.
1. connect to home computer. turn the unit on. select Yes to connect. Tomtom Home will install on your computer.
2. on Tomtom HOME menu, go to “Manage my ONE XL”. On Items on Device, click voices. you can back up then delete all foreign computer voices (recorded voice files are small, so doesn’t matter). just keep DAVE, and Susan computer voices( you need at least one computer voice for spoken street names). You should free up about 130 Mb (much more than you need)
3. now you can update new map with no problem. it does take a long time. after you’re done, you still have 125 Mb extra to download customized items, map corrections in the future. customized car symbols are really cool, as are start up and shut down images. these customized items and map corrections are so small: tiny to 0.5 Mb that with > 125 Mb free, you can keep updating for years to come.
Pros: 4.3 inch screen, great routing, advanced lane guidance (it does work well), IQ route (faster route based on historical traffic data), very quick GPS fix <30 sec (but you need to connect to computer at least every 7 days so that a GPS file can be updated to help fix signal quickly), a little longer for a cold start or if you forget to sync with your computer more than 7 days, but it's still around 1 minute or less to fix the signal. also very strong signal, almost full bar inside my house. Text to speech (for spoken street names) is computer voice, so it's OK. recorded voices are nicer but unable to do text to speech. the included Easyport mount is great, simple, stable.
Cons: the screen brightness at 100% is still not as bright as I want (I also use Tomtom Navigator 6 on my smartphone with better contrast, brightness) but you still can see fine on a sunny day. The computer voices for text to speech are not as clear when you drive and play music.
In summary, this tomtom has a lot of great features for the price. if you don’t need bluetooth (for hands free call with your cell phone, which is not good anyway because your volume always appears tiny to the other end), FM transmitter (which is not practical if you need to play your CD in the car), or live traffic receiver (which is spotty based on the info I’ve read), This 340S is the one to get. most people own smartphones these days with internet, so they can get live traffic, up to date points of interest from Google map, play mp3 and pictures. So you don’t really need those features from a GPS device (which is more expensive)
Rating: 4 / 5
I have used many GPS devices such as Garmin, TomTom, Navigon, etc.. And in the end the TomTom products always seem to be superior. Every time I buy a new GPS, I sit in my driveway and do a few simple tests. The first is how fast is it ready to navigate. I don’t think anyone will ever be faster than TomTom. Second, how easy is it for me to find a local store I shop at every week… for example the local Kroger’s grocery store that’s close to my house. Again, TomTom can help me route to this very quickly and with minimal amounts of button pushing. To be fair, other devices may be able to find the same place, but not without having to scroll through 1000 POI’s, or without having to push 50 buttons… Third, I need weather and traffic, and as much information as I can get about where I am, where I am going, and what’s in between.. the more information the better as far as I am concerned. TomTom again is excellent in this area and now with a built in data connection provided by a cell signal, I can have all the information that I want, anywhere and anytime. I have tried the FM traffic version of this, and the MSN version of this, but MSN is going to stop offering this service next year (2010), so don’t waste your time getting a device that you plan to use MSN on, and the FM signal range and quality of data has left me a bit underwhelmed. Once again the TomToms “Live” feature has found a great way to provide real-time information to me regardless of where I am. Yes, this feature is free for the first three months, and then runs about $10 a month. If you buy this GPS, try the Live feature out for a week or so and if you don’t see the value, then go back to buying printed maps, because you are not ready for the future of GPS devices. One of the interesting features of the Live service is the ability to use Google search right from the device. At first I was not sure what use this would be, then I found myself in a situation where a location I thought should be a POI was not found on the device, or perhaps I was not looking in the right place, or had the category wrong… who knows.. But I went to the Google search feature, and told it what I was looking for, and Google pulled up some listings just like it does on your computer, and I selected what I wanted, and the device created the route from that. So for some reason if the GPS device can’t understand or find what you are looking for, then Google is there to fill in the gap. Another great feature of the Live service is the location of cheap gas! Yes, that’s right, the Live service can tell you all about the gas prices around you, and help you get to the cheapest. Who couldn’t benefit from that? Additionally, the “TomTom At Home” software that you install on your computer does a great job of updating the device, make changes to it or even plan routes or travel from it. Lots of GPS’s lets you update the device from the web, but none allow as much interaction with the device outside of basic map updates then the “At Home” software. If being able to interact with the GPS device using your computer is important to you, then I would suggest getting a TomTom for now. For me, this device has all you can ask for in a car GPS (PND for you tech geeks), and the price is right. The device is advanced, yet easy to interact with, so I feel even for a first time GPS user, or non-tech type of person, you would still be very happy. I have spent a long time on my quest for a great GPS device, and I hope this little bit of information will be helpful to you on yours.
Rating: 5 / 5
If one follows the instructions and updates the software and Map on a new Tomtom unit before backing up the brand new device, one will be left with a non-functioning unit that must be returned to the manufacturer. The Map update that Tomtom suggests customers download as a matter of course, and which one is prompted to update as a new customer WILL NOT FIT on the device, and the updating process may render the unit useless, as it did in my case. No where is this noted in the FAQ or in Support or on the Web Site or in the downloading procedure or instructions. Having owned literally dozens of software driven devices, I have never before encountered a company that so brazen disregards its customers’ well being, by suggesting they download and install a software update or driver that will render the device inoperable. A web search has revealed that many others have had this identical problem, and Tomtom Tech Support is fully aware of this issue. Yet they will not post anything cautioning their customers, or revise the suggestion to download and install the latest Map. I found out the hard way, and will not have a GPS for trip I expressly purchased it for. I must pay to ship the unit back to Tomtom. When/if it works, this is probably a great device. But companies must be responsible, and I imagine that Tomtom will receive many more angry reviews along these lines. Beware.
Rating: 1 / 5
I’ve been in the market for a new gps and I decided on this one. Of course I saw all the reviews talking about the map update problem. I decided to email tom tom to get their take on it. I was told that yes the updated map is alot bigger but if you go into your tom tom home application on your cpu and delete a couple of those silly voices that we never use first. Then the map will fit just fine. Remember, you always have the option to re add those voices later from tom tom home. So does a need a little work from us to be perfect…yes, but it makes it worth it as tom tom is hands down the best Navigation out there!!
Rating: 5 / 5