Jul 062013
TomTom XXL 550 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
- Preloaded with maps of the US, Canada, and Mexico, complete with Map Share technology for easy modification and updates
- More than 7 million points of interest in over 60 destination categories–gas stations, restaurants, hotels, ATMs and more
- IQ Routes Technology calculates the fastest route possible based on time of day, saving you time, fuel and money
- Advanced Lane Guidance indicates exactly which lane to use, so you can go confidently
- Announces turn-by-turn directions aloud, including street and place names
The TomTom XXL 550 is complete 5-inch widescreen navigation and, since TomTom has the industry’s most accurate and dependable maps, you’ll have access to one million more miles of roads than you would using other GPS brands. Navigate to any location in the US, Canada or Mexico or directly to one of 7 million preloaded points of interest. Finding your way has never been easier, using TomTom’s new EasyMenu and spoken turn by turn instructions including street names.The TomTom XXL 550 is complete 5
List Price: $ 169.95
Price: $ 169.95
No nonsense GPS with a large screen,
I got TomTom550TM about two weeks ago. It replaced my TomTom Go 730 with 4.3″ screen.
This will be my 5th GPS device so far. I consider TomTom Go 730 a pretty modern GPS with a lot of good features, so I will review TomTom 550TM in comparison to that one.
Let me start with the cons:
- No Bluetooth hands-free, FM transmitter, SD reader, etc. But, I disabled the BT and FM in my Go anyway and I do not miss them at all.
- Fewer menu options; mostly due to missing extra functionality, and some regarding what is displayed on screen. I find displaying the current speed and the speed limit on the screen redundant, it would have been nice to have the choice to display perhaps the compass instead.
And the pros:
- Simple menu! Who cares about 8 things when you are trying to just enter a new address?
- Large screen is a relief to your eyes. Driving in summer is enough strain on the eyes.
- Clever interface. The lanes are clearly displayed on the screen at critical times.
- Reads names of streets just like the Go does (though this is a standard feature now).
- Last but not the least lifetime traffic and map updates. Traffic updates are a nice to have, though I never was in a situation that they were critical with my older TomTom GPS. However, map updates are a must. I found myself looking for non-existent ramps and exits more often in the last year, so 550TM with its lifetime map updates will hopefully get rid of such annoyances.
Update: I have two important bits of info. As others have already mentioned, the firmware upgrade added the option to view the turn-by-turn list of directions as text. This was probably the most significant missing feature that people felt the need for. Secondly, when I tried to update the map, I found out that I have never paired my gps with my TomTom account before. Which is bad news, because I already tossed the retail box which had the activation code. The good thing is, TomTom customer service was really helpful and within a day I got the incident solved. I had to send a copy of my purchase receipt and give them the serial of my gps, and that was it. Big relief, because I really like this GPS, and I am planning to keep it for a couple of years at least.
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|Good basic GPS unit,
The TomTom XXL 550T 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator is a good basic GPS navigation unit which I could recommend to anyone looking for a basic GPS with a larger screen.
That having been said, I had some issues with this unit and TomTom that prevent me from giving it five stars.
– No Manual. The TomTom XXL 550T 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator shipped in the late Spring of 2010. When I received the unit toward the end of July there was still no manual available on-line for this model. There are numerous optional settings and even more options if you have the Traffic feature. The “User Guide” which comes with the unit does little more than tell you how to plug it in and plan a simple route. ”TomTom finally did put up a manual sometime in August, although it appears to just be a link to the XL 350 manual (see below – it just says XL on the cover page instead of XXL, as does the cover page for the 340 XL, which is a completely different guide describing a completely different user interface).
– Software installation. The TomTom Home software is supposed to install automatically when you plug the unit into your computer. This may or may not happen in Windows, but definitely does not happen in Mac OSX. The software installer is on the unit (which appears as an external drive confusingly named “INTERNAL” on the desktop). I ran the installer, which successfully installed a way-out-of-date version of TomTom Home. When I used the installed software to take me to the TomTom web site, it took me to the UK site instead of the USA site. This led to some confusion since the UK version of the GPS uses a different interface. The manual I downloaded was useless. Eventually the software updated itself and I found my way to the USA site. I would recommend that any user, Mac or Windows, download the most current version of TomTom Home and install it before plugging the unit into your computer for the first time.
– TomTom Support. Hit or miss. The first time I called I had an easy question that I could have quickly answered myself if I had had the manual. The support person instead had me do a factory reset on the unit, wiping out everything I had installed up to that point. After going through all that, he told me the simple answer. Here’s my version: street names can be read out loud only by computerized voices. You have only two English language choices. All of the other voices, paid or free, are a waste of time, storage space, or money.’
The second time I called (the same day), it was to ask about the missing manual. The support person was as perplexed as I was and took the time to do some research and come up with a useful answer: since the XXL 550 and the XL 350 share the same TomTom “Two-Button” interface (when you turn it on you get a screen with two large buttons in the middle and five smaller ones at the bottom), the manual for the XL 350 would tell me everything I needed to know about the XXL 550. She also sent me an email with a link to the document.
– Annoying precision. On a couple of occasions, I have been at my destination and parked directly in front of the store while the XXL 550 was still trying to get me to go out on the street and drive another fifty yards or so past the parking lot entrance, leaving me stuck in the middle of the block with my destination hidden behind a parking structure. I suspect it’s a slave to street numbers. Shopping malls and strip malls are just not set up that way. If I’m in a strip mall parking lot, tell me I’ve arrived so I can start looking for my destination business instead of guiding me five or six doors past it in the name of street number precision.
– Lack of common sense. On one trip, instead of having me just use a left-turn pocket (which appears on the GPS map) to turn into a parking lot, it wanted me to drive more than a mile out of my way around an industrial park so I could come back from the other direction and make a right turn. It made a similar suggestion on another trip. On a third trip, the long-way-around route was the best choice (even in that case, it kept trying to get me back out on the street to drive a few more yards even while I was already in the parking lot next to the destination). This is one more reason to use Google Maps and Street View before leaving home for a destination in another city with which you have no prior experience.
– Phantom Left Turn Ahead. On a highway I use frequently, there is a transition from a four-lane freeway to a two-lane highway. You really don’t have to do anything except adjust your speed. However, whenever I am traveling from the four-lane part to the two-lane part, it starts warning me about a “left turn ahead.” It never tells me to turn left, it just warns me two or three times and then forgets all about it once I make the transition.
There are a a couple of other considerations that fall more under the heading of…
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First, and this is important:
If you have this device, do not permit TomTom Home (a computer program) to ‘update’ your maps until after it has ‘activated’ your GPS. TomTom Home may run into problems processing your activation code until after you update the “TomTom Application for TomTom XL and TomTom XXL.” That’s OK… let it update that, but decline to allow it to update your maps until *after* it has successfully activated your GPS.
The reason is simple: the servers did not accept my activation attempts very easily. TomTom Home automatically asked to update my map, but it updated my map from one that worked to one that doesn’t work until activation. Because of the many activation errors (software crashing, server unavailable, “xml error”, and wrong GPS software version), I couldn’t get my GPS activated for quite a while and was pulling my hair out. Since the map that replaced the working one needed this activation, the my GPS only displayed a ‘no working map’ error when I powered it on.
I came close to giving up and returning it. DON’T UPDATE THE MAPS until AFTER your product activation is successful. That’s all you need to remember. If you read many of the complaints about this device and its sister devices (such as the 530 XL), you will see that this is not an isolated problem. I wrote TomTom explaining how to fix their software be reversing the steps (activate first, then screw with my map), and TomTom’s reply was simply very poor (the representative clearly did not read my points, and only told me my GPS isn’t broken and to make sure I use TomTom’s software).
If you can keep that step in mind, you may be saved many hours of hassle and headache.
————
OK, so I don’t like their customer service or software update very much. But how good is the GPS itself? I love it. Just the GPS, if you never plug it into a computer and ignore the lifetime maps promise: 5 star product.
Presentation: Data is presented in a straightforward manner.
Sometimes, simple is better, and it’s nice that this large, easy to read screen presents what I actually need, when I want it, instead of the clutter of options I don’t need (some of those options are buried in the menu, where they belong).
You can customize what data appears on screen, such as a compass, the speed limits, your current speed, etc etc. Information is clear text instead of on icons (such as Garmin’s speed limit sign, which my wife says is cuter, but I say is less efficient). Understanding your overall route, or making a change to it, is easy.
Things you actually find yourself wanting to do are thoughtfully easy to do. One example: I can switch from day to night scheme with two button presses (sometimes I don’t like to wait for this switch to happen on its own). When you look over your route, you can easily switch from focusing on turn by turn, or traffic, or overview. Even little things like sat pickup and ‘where am i?’ and ‘call for help’ are simply very thoughtful and user friendly in their implementation. The ‘photo realistic lane guidance’ is just a pop up still picture, but conveys the instructions clearly.
To sum it up, it’s better than the competition on presenting info neatly and clearly.
Function: The routes are great, the speed limits are accurate, the traffic works seamlessly and relatively well in supported areas, the GPS fix is very fast, and the voice guidance works just fine. Everything just works right. I do not miss bluetooth or mp4 or FM transmitter. I do miss the lack of a memory card slot quite a bit.
PC Software: TomTom let me down with this. It’s organized terribly, unlike the GPS. It is not reliable, unlike the GPS. I got many error messages related to the same exact operation conducted the exact same way. The TomTom servers seem to have problems.
Customer Service: Absolutely abysmal. I am getting a lot of spam adverts when I plan a route. For example, “WARNING MAP SHARE DISABLED” pops up while I attempt to plan a route (this is a paid service I don’t want). I am repeatedly reminded to check out the TomTom website when I change a voice or scheme. There is a $40 charge to load *just* the USA, instead of all North America, which would save precious limited memory. I paid for the entire NA map on a device that can barely contain it, so I should have the option to cut the map to a smaller area. TomTom’s software already allows for it, and this feature is even described in the printed material, but it isn’t covered by ‘Lifetime Maps’. And about those maps: the fine print in the box let me know TomTom considers the lifetime over when their maps exceed the space on the unit. The maps are already about 95% of the space on the unit, so the lifetime is short. Bear in mind that my GPS ten years ago had an 8 megabyte map, and now they have grown to over 1,600…
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