TomTom Go 930
Written by Zoe Hellar Wednesday, 17 September 2008 02:15
TomTom's 2008 flagship model, the TomTom Go 930 bring all of their technological advancements together with ease of use and a sleek design to present a severely cool device. For a couple of year's now, TomTom's been driving forward community-driven navigation features. They began by introducing with Map Share, which lets you instantly modify street names, street direction, and custom locations called points of interest (POIs) on your own device, then upload them to TomTom's HOME network and download changes made by all of the other users.
When you do this, TomTom gets to find out what routes your device has been taking. The data is anonymous, but it's given TomTom an enormous pile of route and speed data, which they've used to tie community data to routing with their new IQ Routes™ feature, which calculates routes using the actual recorded average speeds of travel to calculate your trip rather than posted speed limits, giving you an extremely accurate prediction of how long any given route will actually take at any given time. There are a host of other interesting features, and you can read about them here.
Enhanced Positioning Technology
Enhanced Positioning Technology uses movement and gravity sensors to calculate drivers’ positions when GPS signals are unavailable. Enhanced Positioning Technology ensures the device continues to navigate to its destination, even in circumstances where there may not be a direct line-of-sight connection to a satellite (for example, when driving in a city with tall buildings, underpasses or bridges), to provide a smoother navigation experience.
Send Addresses Directly from Google Maps or Mapquest
Itching to try out a new restaurant, or setting off on a road trip to locate the best donuts on the west coast? Now, it's easy to search for locations on Google Maps or Mapquest, then transfer the addresses directly to your TomTom.
QuickGPSfix
Starting up can seem like a slow business, particularly if you’re in a hurry, because the GPS receiver needs to know exactly where each GPS satellite is to calculate your location. But satellites only broadcast their positions once every 30 seconds. So if any of their signals are interrupted, for example by passing high buildings, the whole position-fixing process has to repeat itself again and again until the perfect fix is achieved. QuickGPSfix takes a smarter approach.
QuickGPSfix can speed up the time it takes to fix your GPS position by downloading the latest satellite data via an Internet connection. Just connect your TomTom device to your computer and TomTom HOME automatically downloads ‘QuickGPSfix’ – a special GPS data file that helps your TomTom fix your position quicker, even when the GPS signal is weak or partially blocked.
TomTom offers two distinctive ways of providing traffic information, the TomTom PLUS Traffic service and the TomTom RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver accessory. With both options, traffic information is fully integrated into the TomTom navigation experience. Both services are subscription based. The RDS-TMC receiver accessory comes with a 1-year free subscription to the TMC traffic service
Key features for both Traffic information options
TomTom Traffic Specifics
With TomTom Traffic, you can avoid problems and check the road conditions and weather ahead at the same time. TomTom Traffic is delivered via GPRS signal and requires a compatible mobile phone with Bluetooth and a wireless data connection, such as GPRS, UMTS or CDMA, enable you to use PLUS Traffic information on any TomTom device.
The advantages of TomTom Traffic are that it delivers information on road and weather conditions, and GPRS signals may be available for areas in which there is no FM radio signal to transmit TMC traffic information (although if there's no radio, it's questionable how much traffic there's going to be).
TMC Traffic Specifics
With an RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver accessory, you can get traffic information from the RDS-TMC Traffic service, which is delivered over unused FM radio channels. The RDS-TMC receiver accessory comes with a 1-year free subscription to the TMC traffic service With some TomTom models, an RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver is included in the box. This is indicated by the addition of "T" or "Traffic" to the model name. An example is "GO 930T".
TomTom Go 930 Reviews
J Mursuli "Gadget Man" writes:
"TOMTOM Pluses:
Arrival time -
The arrival time with IQROUTES are MORE accurate than Garmin's. The NUVI keeps updating the arrival time during the trip. I compared the arrival time from the start and the TOMTOM was more accurate. TOMTOM is constantly collecting the travel times and updating their database. When you sign in to the HOME program the IQroutes from your trips are uploaded to the TOMTOM server.
Routes:
If anyone writes a review about a GPS and states that routes are 100% accurate then they are lieing, I have not found the perfect GPS with perfect routes.
The routes on both the 930 and the NUVI 760 have been identical. With the 930 I see minutes left on the trip, time left, and arrival time. I can even tell the 930 what time I would like to arrive at my destination.I can AVOID any of the roads on my trip. You CANNOT avoid roads on the NUVI 760.
TRAFFIC:
I'm using traffic on the 930 through my ATT Tilt phone and it seems to work and it is accurate. It uses my Tilt to access the traffic on the TOMTOM server through the Internet. If you have cell coverage you should have traffic data.
MSN Traffic on the 760 is not accurate and the avoidance feature does not work that well. The bad thing about the MSN Direct feature is that it does not have good range. I live in Chicago and the service does not work in many of the outlying suburbs.
PLUSES:
Iqroutes are more accurate than the NUVI.
Lane guidance works in my area.
Avoiding roads on your trip.
Being able to correct street names, closed streets, one ways, and many other errors is a big plus.
Traffic works well.
The GPS chip has not lost reception. I've lost the signal numerous times on the NUVI.
More information on the 930 screen than on the 760.
TOMTOM minuses:
The screen is hard to see in sunlight.
The maps are not bad since I loaded the Garmin map look on the 930. I even have the magenta route line on my 930.
The battery does not last more than 1 hour.
The Text to speech does not work all the time. The street names are not pronounced as good as the NUVI.
You don't get the constant reminders that the NUVI 760 provides. Sometimes I don't think that I drive the 930 with my eyes close. With the 760 you can close your eyes and not miss a turn.
I cannot locate an address by ANY city like the NUVI. Sometimes the 930 cannot locate an address if it thinks it's in a different city. You have to input the surrounding city names to get the correct address and route. "
Computeractive.co.uk has this to say about the TomTom Go 930 :
Good points: Jam-packed with features; good performance; loud and clear route instructions
Bad points: Not many people will use all the maps or all the features to justify the cost
Overall: This is one of the best sat-navs we've ever used, but the price remains very high.
GPSmagazine.com writes "Elegant and sleek looking, TomTom's GO 930 is one the best looking GPS units I've tested. The black rubberized plastic feels well built, and doesn't pickup fingerprints easily. The included windshield mount is easy to use, and holds the GPS securely in place when driving. The windshield mount isn't powered, so you'll need to connect the power cable to the GO 930 when docking or undocking the GPS from the windshield mount.
There's much to like about TomTom's GO 930, but perhaps the most significant features are Map Share and Map Corrections. Unlike traditional GPS devices where it can take years to correct mapping errors, the GO 930 lets drivers correct mapping errors directly on the device, and then share those corrections with other TomTom drivers via TomTom's Map Share program. TomTom estimates that a typical 1 hour trip will be influenced by more than 20 corrections. The GO 930 can automatically download mapping corrections each time it is docked to a computer running TomTom's HOME software (included). Map Share is free, and represents a significant and continuous improvement to the quality of TomTom's maps.
Also new to the TomTom GO 930 is IQ Routes, an innovative feature that incorporate historical traffic patterns into route calculations, allowing the GPS to make different routing decisions based on the time of day, and day of the week.
The GO 930 is one of the few GPS units in its price class to come with maps of both North America and Europe. International buyers will also appreciate the device's extensive list of supported languages.
I was also impressed with the GO 930's strong internal FM transmitter, loads of customization options, and Enhanced Positioning Technology (EPT) that lets the device continue tracking your position even during brief GPS signal outages, such as when driving through a tunnel.
However, it's not all good news for the GO 930. The speech recognition features of the GO 930 feel clumsily and incomplete. Accuracy is inconsistent, and it isn't possible to operate the device using voice commands alone. Only a limited number of voice commands are supported, and you'll still need to touch the screen to begin navigating. Most of the time it's just easier and faster to use the touch-screen controls rather than voice commands.
Advanced Lane Guidance, a feature that displays 3D renderings of upcoming turns, is only available in very few areas, seriously limiting the value of an otherwise handy map enhancement. The GO 930's screen isn't as bright as it should be, and TomTom's HOME software is so buggy I had to uninstall it in order to restore my PC to a functioning state. Bluetooth support is poor, and TomTom's routing engine isn't as good as Garmin's or Magellan's.
Also disappointing is the GO 930's reliance on Bluetooth for TomTom's Services; you'll need to pair a compatible Bluetooth enabled cell phone with the GO 930 in order to make use of services like Traffic, Weather, & Fuel Prices.
TomTom's map screen can appear cluttered to some drivers, though it is possible to customize the map screen to suit your own personal taste.
The TomTom GO 930 delivers several exciting and innovative features that improve the value proposition of GPS navigation. Packed with new features and advanced technology, the GO 930 isn't as easy to use as some other GPS devices, and can be challenging for less tech-savy consumers. Still, the GO 930's North American and European maps, and long list of features make this a unique GPS that's competitively priced."