It's Saturday, the city is choked with traffic and you're in a hurry. There are juggernauts to the left of you. Cars full of shoppers to the right. You're queuing in the middle lane and there are four sets of traffic lights, two speed cameras and a coach full of gurning kids in front of you. Oh for the freedom of the open road.
You'll get there. And soon.
Stuck to your windscreen is the new TomTom Start - a back-to-basics sat nav that's blessed with all the features you actually need and very few you don't. A grin spreads across your face. You're actually starting to enjoy yourself.
As you negotiate the roundabout you think back to how your journey started.
COMPACT DEVICE: The TomTom Start is small, slim and very square
Straight out of the box, the TomTom Start put you in a good mood. It's slim, small, with a 4:3 colour screen and a great new windscreen mount that's easy to attach and keeps your sat nav secure.
OOPS: The road's empty now. But that's because all the cars roared off leaving us still taking pictures. The man behind wasn't best pleased!
On the back of the TomTom Start you find a grey recessed power button and underneath a USB port that not only recharges the built-in battery when you plug the supplied 12v adaptor in the cigarette lighter in your car, but also lets you sync the TomTom Start with the TomTom Home app on your Mac or PC.
Simple touchscreen
We said it was simple, and it is. The TomTom Start's home screen presents just two main options - Plan Route and Browse Map.
TAKE ME HOME: The TomTom Start's home screen is simple and to the point
You hit the touchscreen and pick your route: type in the city, then the postcode, a physical address or a Point Of Interest (POI).
CLEVER SIMPLICITY: Finding your way from A to B couldn't be simpler
By the time you've done that, the TomTom Start has already locked on to the network of GPS satellites whooshing around the planet above your head. Which means you're very nearly good to go.
Well, in the UK and Ireland at any rate. Because this is an entry-level sat nav, you don't get any of the overseas maps found on other higher end models from TomTom.
You do have the option of buying them via TomTom Home though, which is handy if you fancy a driving holiday abroad.
Your comments (3) Click to add a new comment
mark1brit
April 17th 2010
3. The START is a very inefficient device. I had the misfortune to use it to return from a trip from Cornwall to Kent. The START does not allow a user to review the route as the software is not enabled for this. You are stuck with whatever 'curious' route this pathetic device sees fit. You can't review it!!! My START took me around the houses refusing to navigate via a motorway. There is no given option to enable warnings for POI's. This means you must often look at the device instead of concentrating on the road. This is a potentially deadly flaw that the cheapo's at Tom Tom don't seem to care about. I've contacted their Customer Services (they're pretty dozy!) and they have not adequately answered my concerns. This so called dumbing down has made this piece of crud a very expensive (I went for the euro mapping version) mistake. I own a TomTom V1 for sole use in the USA. It worked perfectly. The software was up to the job and this is what convinced me to buy a modern euro version - big mistake! My advice? don't waste your money on this pricey paperweight. Buy anything else but this rubbish!
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mrsmith
March 23rd 2010
2. Safer than some of the knobs I have seen using a map whilst driving....this is the 21st century so its just evolution. I have seen many many "professional" drivers causing accidents because of their stupidity and arrogance so everybody is a dangerous driver. Common sense is your best companion when driving and when used in conjunction with a Sat Nav I'm sure will actually make you a better/safer driver.
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stormingjoe
January 19th 2010
1. You need to regrade as this is not a 5 star item with the faults, no more then 3.5, because as a professional driver of some years I see to many drivers watching these devices rather than the road and with the faults this can be very dangerous for other road users, when they listen to these things and change direction suddenly because the device said so!!!
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