Living in Edmonton and not doing a substantial amount of annual driving, I never thought I would have the need for a GPS. So when the opportunity arose to head south on a 4000km+ round trip journey to Salt Lake City Utah for my good friend Luigi’s wedding, I thought this might be the time to use a little technology to ease the pain of long distance travel.
And “ease” is the operative word. The TomTom EASE ($129) is an entry level, but not overly frilly but reasonably well-equipped GPS unit designed to be easy-to-use. With my better half Elaine also taking charge of the navigation while I do the driving, this would also be ideal test to prove its worthiness to those who prefer to pass on overly technical gadgets.
The unit itself has a 3.5″ full color QVGA TFT LCD touchscreen (320×240 pixels, 64,000 colors), a tad small by today’s widescreen standards, but at the same time, very portable. It features TomTom’s proprietary and integrated “Fold & Go” custom mount that allows you store it almost flat and easily take it with you while never worry about losing any of the pieces. We did however find, that the suction cup mount would occasionally disengage from the window – perhaps it was the curvature of the windshield –specifically where we opted to place it or maybe it was just the heat.
It ships with a 12v car adapter as well as a USB cable that doubles as both a charger for its built-in batteries that can allow the unit to run for just under 3 hours and a connection to your computer where you can update your device with the latest maps of Canada and US – currently at 1.65GB download that also includes over 3 million points of interest. (The first update is free as you are guaranteed to have the most recent ma in your first 30 days).
Star Wars Voices & Extras
Installing TomTom Home (PC or Mac) can help you manage your GPS. Connecting your device opens the doors to other applications and other utilities by signing up for a free account. . One neat feature using TomTom’s Map Share software is having the ability to make changes and corrections and share with others. They can also share their changes with you. You can also down start-up screens as well as voices. Some free, some created by other users and some licensed including those from Star Wars characters. Elaine, not really a fan of the classic and certainly not of the “Dark Side” eventually started mimicking the voice of Darth Vader. These include:
“Turn left at 400 meters”, or “You have reached your destination, but you are not a Jedi yet!“
I guess sadly she did succumb! One of my favourites (Click for samples) is:
“Turn around, when possible, I find your lack of faith disturbing!”
There are other Star Wars favourites with YODA, being the latest addition. If Star Wars is not your bag, there are a plethora of others like Homer Simpson, KITT from Knight Rider, Kim Catrall, Mr T. and a whole bunch more.
(If you want to hear about the making of the Star War’s voices and get a chuckle at the same time, Check out Steve Tilley’s column)
Powering it Up
Powering up the unit, you’re given 2 main options: Plan a route or Browse a Map. Other tabbed options allow you to turn on/off sound, switch into night mode, which turns the white background a deep blue, help me, which can immediately tell you where you are so you can get actual help – quick access to names and numbers for emergency services.
The route options allow you select a specific address, home address or favorite, which you can designate for quick access, recent destinations or select form a list of searchable options. The browsing option allows you to pick a point or a point of it interest on a map and get a route to get you here. The unit is light on documentation, but eventually discovered you can configure the ABCD keyboard to a standard qwerty keyboard, so you’re not pecking for letter when trying to key in an address. Also, unlike a typical touch screen or standard keyboard, you really need to press down on the letter desired with sufficient pressure and pretty much smack down in the middle of it to get the right key. Both Elaine and I found this at first to be quite annoying.
Programming destinations was very easy. For the most part, it was able to give the optimum route. On the odd occasion we found it taking us of the main Road. Driving from Calgary south to Lethbridge instead of staying the main QE2 highway, it wanted to take HWY 519 a non-divided single lane highway, which is really the same distance in travel time.
Finding amenities proved easy, but Elaine would have preferred to have been able find the nearest Target or Wal-mart rather than a more generic store.
The main screen can be configured to a 2D or a 3D view. It keeps you informed of your progress with not only the map but with your speed, the posted speed limit – which you are alerted to if you exceed it, time of day, distance and expected arrival time which were right on the money.
TomTom Ease’s IQ routes technology calculates the fastest route possible using actual average speeds of travel rather than posted speed limits.
Bottom Line
Overall we were very happy we decided to take the GPS along on the trip – we found it most helpful. More specifically the EASE did fit the bill. It was very easy to use. The screen albeit small, was quite viewable in the car and even better when we decided to carry it around. The night view was a welcomed feature and Darth Vader was great to travel with.
Now I realize that this was an entry-level unit, but it would have been nice if it had Bluetooth and the ability to hook up to the car’s sound system. The lack of documentation made it a little tricky at the start of a voyage to be able to alter destinations and a do quick programming, but with the simplified menus we eventually figured it out.
If you are an advanced user, at a retail price of $129CDN, I find that it competes with other models with more features models on sale or discontinued under $150. If ease is what you need then ease it is. In any case, I highly recommend this unit if you can find it under $100.
Greg Gazin is the Real Canadian Gadget Guy.
Follow me on Twitter @gadgetgreg
Tags: Ease, Gadget Guy, gadgetguy, GPS, navigation, TomTOM, travel