Review: Tomtom One Europe sat-nav device

One of the better-known manufacturers of satellite-navigation devices, Tomtom has recently changed direction in terms of its approach to design. Gone is the chubby, rounded look of yore; the Tomtom One Europe is slimmer without ever looking like a repurposed pocket PC.

The One has been around for a while now and is beginning to show its age in technical terms. The 266MHz processor and 32MB of memory might be less beefy than some of its newer rivals, but the One’s lower spec isn’t particularly obvious during operation.

Tomtom’s own navigation software works smoothly, with no hangs and a fast response to touchscreen tapping. The system is easy to use. The Tomtom Home software lets you manage updates and backups from your PC or Mac.

Control of the One takes place entirely via the touch-sensitive LCD screen, leaving the unit almost entirely button-free. For the most part this works fine, although sometimes the 3.5in screen can look a little too crowded.

On the road the Tomtom One provides clear, easy-to-understand spoken directions. Should you miss a turn, the system usually re-routes you to compensate, rather than telling you to turn around.

The fact that this device has been around for a while has its benefits. The Tomtom One Europe package now represents extremely good value for money, with maps for 21 countries included on an SD card, as well as useful features such as Bluetooth compatibility and seven-digit postcode searching.

The Tomtom One is expandable too, but this often costs extra. A month’s free traffic updates is provided as part of the purchase price, for example, but ongoing usage requires a subscription (£40 per year). The Tomtom Plus service also offers some useful extras but, again, these cost extra and many require a Bluetooth GPRS phone connection.

This article is part of a group test of 10 satellite-navigation devices
See also:
Introduction
Acer p610
Garmin Nuvi 310
Magellan Roadmate 3050T
Medion Gopal PNA465
Mio Digiwalker C510E
Navman N40i
Novogo S700
Sony Nav-u NV-U50T
ViaMichelin X-950
A tables of features can be read via our pdf download above