Tom Tom One v4

I sold my old car and with the proceeds decided after much deliberation to buy myself a Tomtom One (New Edition) with western Europe maps. After removing it from it's box, I noticed that the unit was considerably smaller and allot lighter than the 'Go' models of the Tomtom sat-nav range. I found that with the 'One' there is a serious design flaw in the SD card holder and position of it. Try it for yourself, pull the SD card out of your device without pressing it in first. Easy, wasn't it? There is a good reason why SD card slots are normally on the top side of a device! If you plan to use the ONE in a vehicle you better secure the card with some clear tape. Because if it is falling out (and according to Murphy's law) it will do so, and at the most inappropriate moment) the unit will crash and restart instantly, leaving you without navigation instructions or map guidance just when you may need them the most.

Just thought I'd write a review on the Tom Tom One.

1) Physically the case is smaller than the old one, although the screen is the same size. Speaker is smaller too, so sound is more tinny, but thats no big deal really. The rubber sucker is far better, and I like the way its integrated with the unit better, so its much easy to remove the unit and stow it in a pocket, bag.

2) Contrary to the previous review, you *can* review the planned route, they have actually made it easier to get to, by adding a button in the "status" screen (ie press bottom right of screen, which brings up battery status, s/w version etc. But you don't get to it from the main menus' anymore.

3) It gives far clearer instructions at motorway intersections, particularly ones where two motorways merge or split (eg M62 joining M1, near Leeds). There's a few other bits of eye candy which are nice touches too, such as the ability to choose a different car icon, in 3D view.

4) Generally it does take longer to compute a route, but this seems to be down to the IQ routing - which you can turn off if desired. With IQ turned off its about the same.

5) I was very impressed with the IQ routing, it certainly seemed able to find the commuter shortcuts, at rush hour time.ashort whilst commuting to work

6) The battery life seems a bit better too.

7) Its true there is no memory card slot, but really rather than upgrade one to Europe maps, its cheaper to buy the Europe edition to begin with.

So all in all, for the price paid (don't want to mention I got it cheaper than Tesco are doing them!), its thumbs up for this machine.

The main purpose of purchasing a Tom Tom was to plan a route from my home to other homes or public places. This simple task does not seem possible.

I can easily get to most general destinations like Liverpool, London etc. but guidance to a precise location is often denied. It is difficult to enter addresses unless 'house' has a number in a given road, enter names of hotels etc, or enter own address unless conforming to a precise formula.

Having used the first and second versions of the TomTom One as no frills sat navs, I had no hesitation in replacing my old failing v1 with the new Tom Tom One (Version 4).

It is a total failure in many areas compared with the previous models:

- The lack of memory expansion precludes update to a western European map if ever required. This lack of expansion is a serious failing and limits the future usability. To supply a paltry 512mb internal memory in these days of increasingly cheap memory is inexcusable.

- Planning software is incredibly poor compared with the earlier versions. Planning the route takes considerably longer and then it returns a route selection that is so obviously the least effective that it beggars belief! This has failed me on every route I have planned since buying the device 2 weeks ago. Even using the "find alternative route" command doesn't return an acceptable route only an increasingly bizarre selection. The previous versions planned the most effective route first time and considerably quicker.

- Useful menu options have been removed. It is no longer possible to browse the selected route which is a very useful feature. All the more necessary now to check that a half decent route has been selected by the new software. Surprisingly this menu option is still there but hidden from view - it can be found by selecting "Avoid part of the route"!

- Response time is pitifully slow compared with the old model. I have taken numerous wrong exits already because the device is 50m late!

- It's not possible to turn off those very annoying Tom Tom tips as was possible on earlier models.

All in all I am considering selling this on e-bay and either buying and earlier version TT One with expansion slot of changing to a Garmin. I would recommend anybody considering the purchase of one of these to avoid it.

Hope somebody finds this useful feedback.