Tom Tom Go 910 Review

Overall Rating

Good screen resolution. Can upload photos and music and connect your ipod (if you purchase the correct cables), works as a speaker.

Bulky, heavy. The unit I purchased seemed to be unreliable in terms of it's sat nav function.

At time of purchase the TomTom 910 was the top-of-the-line tomtom sat nav model. Bought new for several hundred pounds and figured that weightiness and high price tag would equate to reliability and robustness. Big mistake.
The unit we bought was unreliable from the outset. It has difficultly connecting to the satellite network about 60% of the time - regardless of country, continent, location, car model (in fact if in car at all), software updates, level of battery power, cloudy day/sunny day. It can often take up to 20 to 30 minutes to register.
Accordingly the new unit was returned to Tomtom. They quickly repaired (didn't replace despite being new) and sent it back with an unspecified repair - after spending several hundred pounds I would have liked to know why this was faulty. The repairs didn't fix the problem.
A casualty of a busy lifestyle, this unit now lives in the glovebox. It is usually used only for long car trips - ie when it doesn't matter if the unit takes half an hour to register. If we have to stop enroute then we leave it on and lock it in the glove box - this is so we don't lose the connection and potentially have to wait an extra 20 minutes for the thing to reconnect to the satellite network if we don't have a printed map with us!
My experience on this occassion has been that money spent on sat navs DOES NOT equate to reliability and quality. My next purchase will be a different brand. I will buy a smaller unit with less whistles and bells in the hope that it's sat nav function is reliable.
Would also like to say to first time buyers that size does matter in the sat nav world. All sat navs, cables and holder usually need to be locked in the glove box to deter thieves - this is also a good idea for insurance reasons. This becomes a pain with a bulky unit like the GO910. For me it would be far easier and convenient to have a smaller model so I can simply tuck it into my bag or jacket in wintertime than to worry about unplugging and locking this away each time I leave the car. Also would be handy to have the unit while walking sometimes. Setting aside the reliability issues I find the unit is also just too heavy to be worth carrying - far to heavy for a handbag anyway.
A good feature of this sat nav is that you can find alternative routes if there is a traffic jam or road block (even in an area you know roughly but mightn't know the back-doubles). Don't get to use this much though as my unit has been so unpredictable it's not worth the grief and annoyance of getting it out of the glove box.
To a friend would definitely suggest a different model and would explain that my experience with this brand has been disappointing too.

Members' Comments onGuest's Review

• Tom H on 30th Aug 2008

  Some sat navs struggle to get an accurate fix in newer cars that have either heated or UV reflective windscreens. If you hold a piece of white A4 paper against the outside of the screen and the glass is either slightly blue/green tinted or has regular thin lines when you look at the paper from the inside of the car, it's likely to block GPS signals.
  Plus, I wonder if the new technology in the Tom Tom 910 might still be "too new" and have some minor bugs?