TomTom GO 930 Review part 3

I had to pack up the TomTom GO 930 last night to send it back, and it’s going to be strange driving around without it. I spent my time with the TomTom this week trying to get into the deeper options of the unit, and I think I have a pretty good feel for it now.

Connecting it to your stereo

Now, the speaker on the TomTom is good, but it’s not very loud, and if your driving down the highway with the window open, or your music blasting, you won’t hear it. Thankfully they offer a few different options for you. There is bluetooth connectivity, which I had no way of testing. There is also FM Broadcasting, and a Stereo Line out. I tested both of these.

FM Broadcasting
I’ve never had much luck with FM Broadcasting devices in the past. I’ve purchased a couple to use with my iPod, and my older portable CD player, but there was always a lot of static and interference. I was afraid I would run into the same problem with this, but I was pleasantly surprised. I did have to spend some time, about 5 minutes, finding a good station to use, some of the lower frequencies had a lot of interference. Once I settled on a good station though, the sound was crystal clear. It was very impressive. I’ve never heard an FM device so clear unless it was directly hooked into the antenna line.

Stereo Line Out
Stereo Line Out was just as expected, easy to use, crystal clear and clean. The only downside to using the Line Out method is you need a jack in your stereo, and you’ll have one more cable running off of the TomTom. After my experience, I would stick with the FM method, as long as you can get a clear signal.

iPod Control
Using the optional iPod cable you can control your iPod directly from the TomTom. This will allow you to send the audio directly through the options above. If you don’t have a Line In jack in your car, this is a very easy way to hook your iPod up to your stereo. Even better, you can use the Bluetooth remote control to control your iPod through the media player.

Voice Control

The voice control feature of the TomTom works well. The dialog box walks you through inputting an address, and presents you with options if it does not recognize your response. It was very easy to input a location when driving, just make sure you turn your radio off first.

Driving

When I took it out this past weekend, I tried to intentionally screw up the directions. When it told me to take a right, I took a left. When it told me to turn around, I kept going. In every case, often within seconds, it had already recalculated the fastest way to get me where I was going, often taking me down roads I never knew about. If you ever encountered a detour, or missed a turn, or just get lost often, this is a god send. The speed at which it calculated an alternate route was very impressive.

Final Thoughts

The TomTom GO 930 is a full featured GPS device, possibly one of the best one’s on the market today. There are few flaws, and most of them are just personal preferences. I would have preferred a sturdier window mount, it fell off a few times going over bumps. I also would have loved a Line In port on it, but again, that’s just a personal preference. It would be hard for anyone to put down it’s routing, I purposely tried to get it to make a mistake, and it never did. I would recommend this GPS Device to anyone looking for a great GPS device. It’s not a cheap as the budget units, but it does so much more. It’s small, light, full featured, and looks fantastic. This comes Highly Recommended.