Well... here is a bit of a mixed review for you. I took my new Tomtom XXL540M GPS for a short test drive today and video'd it with my new Mino Flip HD camcorder. a two-fer test-drive.
I tried one of the free MEMBER UPLOADED VOICES that Tomtom offers, there are hundreds - each with 55 voice messages. I like this voice, but he is too slow speaking for me to make quick movements on strange roads. I'll play with more, but the voices it has are very good too.
The big bummer of the trip was that the GPS didn't see a road (you'll see it in the video) that I use to make a u-turn to my home. The road just wasn't on the GPS and it has been there at least 5 years. If I had gone the way it wanted me to go, it would have been about 1 mile further.
Now, if I'm in a strange place, I wouldn't know the difference and I'd be happy to get there, but I spent a lot of time looking tonight and DON'T see any other roads missing. So more testing to come, but I love the awesome 5 inch display, and very versatile options that you can set. The SPEED ALARMS and TRAFFIC CAM WARNINGS are very cool - and you can (as you'll see) add new cams to the Tomtom, for both you and it auto-uploads when hooked to the PC for others to take advantage of - user input is verified independently or you can opt to use user added info that hasn't been verified yet.
You'll see that coming out of a shopping mall, the GPS told me to make a right turn, it didn't know that a left was possible - that light is about 2 years old, and I know both that light and the u-turn are on my wife's Garmin. Tomtom needs to update their maps more often. I have the latest map, when I connected to the computer, it auto-updated me with the latest map. But obviously (even though they stay it is updated 4 times a year) they keep missing these route changes. They do have a very good reporting route change feature, so I'll write them and see if it goes in the next update.
THE CAMCORDER
Ok... So, I taped the drive home, I'll be getting rid of some of the details of the ride cause it does lead to my home very well - ugh. But in the video below, if you have the resources check out the 720P version of the video - it is pretty remarkable from a camera 3/8th inch thick X 2" x 4". The Mino takes 2 full hours of HD video and will upload directly to Youtube. Even the 480 version of the video looks really good, but the 720P is awesome.
Checkout NON-RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC in this 4 mile ride which takes me 9 minutes. As you hear me say in the video "In New Jersey, we just Drive to the next Red Light" which is usually the next intersection, and this is a major road leading to all the Shore Points.
Take a ride with me home from BJ Wholesalers and check out the surprise ending.