PLEASE HELP ME... buying my 1st gps!

[iPostNak3d]

i have used gps systems before for work but that is pretty much it. i don't do the updates of the maps nor the operating system... my company does that for me, i just know how to use them. i have no idea how big the maps are nor the operating system.

i am planning on getting a unit, not a very expensive one, i was in between the tomtom 130 s and the tomtom xl s but i have a few questions in regards to internal memory as well as sd card slots.

is it safer to buy a unit that has an sd card slot other then an unit that only has the internal memory in case the maps start getting bigger and bigger in size and they end up not fitting the units that only have the internal memory?

or will tomtom ALWAYS provide smaller size maps that will fit their units that don't have sd card slots?

i am afraid to purchase a unit without the sd card slot and then later the maps start getting bigger and bigger and i can't fit them into my unit. do you think this will ever happen?

other then my concern above i would like to have a unit that has the "text to speech" feature.

thank you all for your input.

 

[Nexus]

Hi there,
The XL range with SD slot are always the better way to go. However their external memory only supports up to 2GB SD cards.

This is ok considering and depending how much maps you going to use per tour trip.
The whole of Euro ones are definately among the biggest maps taking about quite a fair bit of memory

High sensitivity GPS chipset
32 MB RAM
CPU 266 MHz
4.3 inch full TFT color LCD touchscreen (480 x 272 pixels, 64,000 colors)
Internal memory 1 GB
SD slot (only for additional maps, SD not included)
Bluetooth? 2.0
Internal Litium-Ion battery (2 hours operation)
4.7" x 3.4" x 1.2", 7.4 ounces
Operating temperature: 14 ?F to 131 ?F

The widescreen always helps.

If you were looking for more features, The Go Series have more capability in playing music, larger memory SD cards capability. Of course more expensive.

In relation to maps, they are getting bigger, as much as I would think TomTom will try and make them smaller to fit the product however the ones with limited memory may take longer to get such map updates. Sometimes is worth to pay the dollars for a bit more.

 

[mvl]

So far tomtom has always found a way to make the new maps fit the old sizes.

The problem with the smaller memory is that tomtom releases combined geography maps, which couldn't fit on the old devices.

For example, the old 510 had a 500mb SD card, loaded with a region of the US (eg New England). The current New England map still fits on 500mb, but you can't fit the USA&Canada map which needs 1gb. Similarly, devices with 1gb come preinstalled with USA&Canada, but can't fit the 2gb North America map.

Your always safer with the SD card model, but if you never expect to need a larger contiguous geography you may be able to get away with 1gb.

I would highly recommend a GO model - it's time-of-day auto-adjusting directions (IQ2) are night and day vs any other GPS on the market, especially in cities.

 

[doctormstein1]

i have used gps systems before for work but that is pretty much it. i don't do the updates of the maps nor the operating system... my company does that for me, i just know how to use them. i have no idea how big the maps are nor the operating system.

i am planning on getting a unit, not a very expensive one, i was in between the tomtom 130 s and the tomtom xl s but i have a few questions in regards to internal memory as well as sd card slots.

is it safer to buy a unit that has an sd card slot other then an unit that only has the internal memory in case the maps start getting bigger and bigger in size and they end up not fitting the units that only have the internal memory?

or will tomtom ALWAYS provide smaller size maps that will fit their units that don't have sd card slots?

i am afraid to purchase a unit without the sd card slot and then later the maps start getting bigger and bigger and i can't fit them into my unit. do you think this will ever happen?

other then my concern above i would like to have a unit that has the "text to speech" feature.

thank you all for your input.

Tom tom usually always provides maps that have some compression algorythm so the map will fit. The sd card is good if you like music or want to add personal things like POI's voices, images, color schemes etc

 

[iPostNak3d]

thank you all for your replies, i really appreciate all of your responses.

i am really torn apart... i hear what you all are saying... maybe i should be safer with an unit that has a SD CARD SLOT one... in case the maps do get bigger...

i know i won't be using the unit all the time... that is why i was going to keep it simple, either the tomtom XL-S or the 130-S.

i would appreciate to have more people post their opinions here... the more suggestions i get the better

thank you all again.

 

[Nexus]

whats the price difference in a SD slot one and without.

Hey, if you are just mostly not using the GPS around the world, is pretty safe.

I can tell you as much as I have a GO series I may not be bringing this everywhere I go and thus defeats the purpose of worrying about maps.

However I do enjoy the ability my unit has for playing music.

Thats about it, dont have to worry too much if you not having the intention to travel with it all the time.

 

[crgator]

Here's my 2?. I bought a One 125.

It was cheap, $99.

It is basic, has only US maps. But, since I live in Florida and don't have any current plans to go to Canada, that really isn't an issue.

It doesn't tell me the street name, just to turn right/left in so many miles/yards. So far, that hasn't been a problem. The one thing I've noticed when I know what street name to turn on is that often you can't read the street sign until you're right on it anyhow. Or, you're spending too much time looking for the street name and not enough time at the road and traffic. If I know I have to turn soon, I can glance at TomTom and see it's coming up. Possibly, if I had one which spoke the names I'd swear it's the best, but without, I'm doing fine right now.

It doesn't have an SD slot. I don't have an immediate need for it, and don't foresee a future need, at least not for my needs and purposes. As time goes by, if I do, it will be time to upgrade.

No bluetooth. See above.

Unless you need bells and whistles, and you really want to keep the price down, I don't think you'd go wrong with a 125 or a 130.

 

[gatorguy]

If I didn't have an SD slot on my 930, I could not load both the North American and European maps on it without dumping VR on at least one of them. There isn't sufficient internal memory for both. Not a serious issue since I obviusly wouldn't be using them concurrently anyway. In addition TT won't allow for two VR files (One US and one Euro) to reside happily in the same memory anyway. But I do want to point out that TT hasn't increased the available memory on their Go series in North America since release a couple of years ago. The maps had been getting progressively larger, so eventually they either need to over-compress the maps or start stripping out what they "feel" is unimportant detail wise. On some maps that so far means waterways and related features. IMHO, it's much safer to buy a model with SD card expansion if you really think you'll be keeping your pnd for a few years.

 

[Gilbert]

would be annoyed if my XL-S did not have an SD slot. One of the first thing I did after getting it was getting an SDHC card. The internal memory is already rather quite filled when you get it from the factory and adding stuff means you need deleting because so little spare space is available. Not so much a matter of maps but adding a computer language or adding the larger 9x0 POI database. As with any computer (I consider the gps a computer), you never have too much storage or RAM. If you ever consider going to Europe, Mexico, Brazil or wherever, you would need to delete maps if you do not have an SD card. As for using SDHC cards, just get a card reader to update it (QuickFix & MapShare updates) and you should not have problems because ONE models use the old USB v1.1 standard which is VERY slow and likely to cause file/FAT table corruption. Usually a 4GB SDHC card will be more than enough for gps needs unless you really travel all over the world.

 

[iPostNak3d]

thank you soooooo much for all of your replies. you guys have been awesome to me!

yeah... since i don't travel much by car... i might end up getting just a tomtom 130-s without the SD CARD.

but if i get a deal on the tomtom XL-S somewhere then i'll get that instead.

i will only use it in the city for right now, i won't be going crazy travelling all over the world. unless i become really rich... then i am sure i can afford the top of the line model

thank you all again

 

[GarCor]

thank you soooooo much for all of your replies. you guys have been awesome to me!

yeah... since i don't travel much by car... i might end up getting just a tomtom 130-s without the SD CARD.

but if i get a deal on the tomtom XL-S somewhere then i'll get that instead.

i will only use it in the city for right now, i won't be going crazy travelling all over the world. unless i become really rich... then i am sure i can afford the top of the line model

thank you all again

I have a 920 and am very happy with it.
However I just had (Older) friends of mine that wanted to buy a simple GPS for under $200.00
so I did some research on the different units and ended up getting them a refurbished Go-730.
It was less money than the XL-S or 130-S on buy.com.

It was a toss up between the XL-s and the refurbished 730 I had ruled out the 130 mainly because of the mounting bracket that makes it limited as to how or wahe you mount the unit.

With the XL-S or 730 you have more options.

The 730 also has a larger map than either the XL-S or 130.