TomTom Go 520 Review

The new TomTom has many features including Bluetooth, FM Modulator, Mapshare, MP3, Voice Recognition and Text To Speech. Thus it promises a good technology for navigation.

TomTom Go 520 will be the in car Satellite Navigation device of choice for those in the market for a PND (Personal Navigation Device) that has all the features of the new range but just has street level maps of the UK and Eire , and the subsequent price.

Is there a reason to choose TomTom instead of the current excellent Garmin range? This season TomTom have introduced some excellent additions that are unique in the Sat Nav marketplace (so far) and give them an edge over their traditional rivals Garmin and Navman.

Let’s start with some basics. The Go 520, successor to the 510 and excellent 500, is a Sat Nav for use in the UK (or the country where you bought it). Additional maps can be purchased for the rest of Europe or North America , but if you think you’ll need them soon buy a 720 or 920 instead, it’ll be cheaper than buying the maps separately.

TomTom have gone for a new streamline case this year, thinner than even a One XL, with a lovely bright touch widescreen. The GPS antenna is built in, so the whole effect is a very professional and compact one.

Entering destinations is simple. Full postcode look-up is supported, or you can enter addresses, city-centre’s, recent finds, favourites (previously saved) or Points of Interest. (POI’s). With the addition of speech recognition you can now tell your TomTom where you want to go, although a long term test is needed to see how useful this is.

The TomTom 520 will guide you with colourful 3D maps and clear voice instructions. Which is very important if you feel the comfort. If you want it to the Sat Nav will read out road names too. Maps are now slightly more realistic with the addition of buildings footprints (a depression on the screen…) You can download custom celebrity voices or even record your own, so you could have your wife reading out route instructions on those long trips. Wait a minute, isn’t why we bought a Sat Nav in the first place, so we didn’t have to have our better halves telling us how to drive?

Additionally, Poi’s are an incredibly useful part of any Sat Nav, and the new user will be amazed by what information your TomTom Go 520 has stored inside. It can work in many ways; here are a couple of examples. You’re driving on a long trip. The fuel warning light comes on your dashboard. Simply select to navigate to the nearest petrol station on your route and the TomTom will take you there. Maybe you’ve been delayed and need to find a hotel for the night. Just select the nearest accommodation, and not only will the TomTom take you there, using your phone it will dial the hotel and you can make a reservation, all wireless and hands free. You need to find a pub, but you’re not sure about the address, just the name. Fine, search the POI database by name. Incredibly useful and easy.

That brings us nicely to the Bluetooth hands free features of the 520. With a compatible phone you now have a legal way of making and receiving calls, in a fully transferable device. The 520 (with a compatible phone) will accept text messages, and then read them out to you, so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road.

Its software is also very usable and updatable. In short, the new Tom Tom Go 520 is a revolutionary Sat Nav that promises much. A longer term test will be required to address such issues as reliability and stability, but this could be a big leap forward indeed.