TomTom GO 500 Europe: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Frequently Bought Together

Available Warranties for This Item

Product details

Product Dimensions: 2 x 14.5 x 9 cm ; 227 g
Boxed-product Weight: 907 g
Batteries 1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included)
Item model number: GO 500 EU 45 (BE-NL-LU-IE-UK)
ASIN: B00CXSNFY0
Date first available at Amazon.co.uk: 1 Jun 2013

Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,566 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
- #28 in Electronics > Car & Vehicle Electronics > GPS Devices > Car GPS

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

TomTom GO 500 Europe

FEEL ON TOP OF YOUR JOURNEY LIKE NEVER BEFORE

The all new TomTom GO has been completely re-designed to put you in control of your drive. Make the smartest driving decisions by knowing precisely what is going on around you and what lies ahead. Put the world at your fingertips with a brand new Interactive Map. Drive with world-class traffic information with Lifetime TomTom Traffic. Know exactly where you are with buildings and landmarks in stunning 3D.

EXPERIENCE A NEW WORLD OF NAVIGATION — HIGHLIGHTS

Pinch to Zoom
Click here for a larger image

3D Maps
Click here for a larger image

Lifetime TomTom Traffic —
Smartphone Connected
Click here for a larger image

Interactive Map

Simply zoom in and out to find and explore places on the map with your fingertips. Tap on the map to get an instant route to your destination.

Pinch to Zoom

Simply Pinch to Zoom on the interactive map to find places and explore more of the world around you. Zoom in to find a point of interest on the map and zoom out to see what lies up ahead.

Tap & Go

Use Tap & Go to instantly get a route to your destination. Save time and get moving faster.

Lifetime TomTom Traffic — Smartphone Connected

Drive with world-class traffic information for the life of your device*. Get to your destination faster with precise and accurate, real-time information. TomTom Traffic pinpoints exactly where delays start and end so you always know your fastest route.

*Lifetime is the useful life of the device, so means the period of time that TomTom continues to support your device with software updates, services, content or accessories. A device will have reached the end of its life when none of these are available any more.

3D Maps

See buildings and landmarks in stunning 3D. With 3D Maps, you'll always know exactly where you are.

Route Bar

Essential traffic and travel information at a glance. The Route Bar shows precise traffic and speed camera information on the road ahead.

Quick Search

Find your destination faster with intuitive search results. Quick Search starts to find your destination as soon you start typing.

My Places

See your favourite locations on the map. Personalise your map with My Places so you can easily find and navigate to your favourite locations again and again.

WORLD-CLASS TRAFFIC

Lifetime TomTom Traffic via Smartphone

Drive with world-class traffic information for the life of your device via your smartphone*. Get to your destination faster with precise and accurate, real-time information. TomTom Traffic covers more roads than any other sat nav brand and pinpoints exactly where delays start and end so you always know your fastest route.

*Your smartphone needs to be compatible and come with a data plan. Extra costs may apply, check tomtom.com/connect for more information.

TomTom Traffic Coverage
Andorra	Austria	Belgium	Czech Republic
Denmark	Finland	France	Germany
Gibraltar	Italy	Liechtenstein	Luxembourg
Monaco	The Netherlands	Norway	Poland
Portugal	San Marino	Spain (incl. Canary Islands)	Sweden
Switzerland	Vatican City	U.K. (incl. Channel Islands)

WORLD-CLASS MAPS

Map-making is in TomTom’s DNA; we’ve been making world-class maps for more than 25 years. We combine state-of-the-art technologies with real-time updates from the more than 21 million drivers in our Map Share community to create the most accurate and up-to-date maps available.

Europe’s road network changes regularly. We work tirelessly to make sure you always have the most up-to-date map. With Lifetime Maps you can download the most recent map at least 4 times each year, for the life of your device.

Lifetime Maps

Always drive with the latest map. Get to your destination faster with Lifetime Maps. For the life of your product, you can download 4 or more full updates of the map on your device every year. You receive all updates to the road network, addresses and Points of Interest.

IQ Routes

The world’s largest database of real travel times gives you the fastest routes and the most accurate arrival times – it’s genius!

Map Share

Benefit from free daily map changes, reported by the Map Share Community, and get to your destination without unwanted surprises.

Pre-Installed Mapping of 45 Countries

Detailed Coverage
Andorra	Austria	Belgium	Bulgaria
Croatia	Cyprus	Czech Republic	Denmark
Estonia	Finland	France	Germany
Gibraltar	Greece	Hungary	Italy
Latvia	Liechtenstein	Lithuania	Luxembourg
Malta	Monaco	The Netherlands	Norway
Poland	Portugal	Romania	Russia
San Marino	Slovakia	Slovenia	Spain (incl. Canary Islands)
Sweden	Switzerland	Turkey	U.K. (incl. Channel Islands)
Ukraine	Vatican City

Connecting Roads
Albania	Belarus	Bosnia-Herzegovina	Macedonia
Moldova	Montenegro	Serbia

DESIGNED FOR SMART NAVIGATION

3 Months Speed Cameras

Drive more relaxed with alerts for speed cameras ahead. These timely warnings increase your awareness of local speed limits and help you save money on speeding fines. As part of our global driving community you'll benefit from an advanced and highly accurate warning service across Europe.

5″ (13CM) Capacitive Touch Screen

See more and drive easy. Better view of instructions. Bigger menus and buttons. Easier input.

Advanced Lane Guidance

Clearly shows which lane to take at junctions so you don't miss your turning. On the most difficult highway intersections, realistic 3D representation of the junction keeps you relaxed and safe.

Spoken Street Names

Helping you to keep your eyes on the road, spoken instructions now include street names, to make turnings even clearer.

Click & Go Mount

Includes a USB car charger and cable. Magnetic mounting for fast and effortless one hand docking.

Parking Assist

Find nearby parking with the aid of your TomTom device. Since Parking Assist is available throughout your journey, you can choose to navigate directly to the nearest car park when planning your route, or find parking en route – either near your destination or close to your current location.

COMPARISON TABLE

	Start Classic WE XL UK XXL WE	Start 25 M Start 60 M	GO 400 GO 500 GO 600	GO 6000	GO LIVE 1005 EU HDT	GO LIVE 1005 World
Screen Size	3.5″, 4.3″ or 5″	5″ or 6″	4.3″, 5″ or 6″	6″	5″	5″
Mapping	UK/ROI or Western Europe	UK/ROI	UK/ROI or Europe	Europe	Europe	World-Wide
Advanced Lane Guidance
Lifetime Map Updates
Spoken Street Names
Traffic Updates			Lifetime TomTom Traffic — Smartphone Connected	Lifetime TomTom Traffic — Always Connected	3 Year Traffic Updates	1 Year Traffic Updates
Bluetooth Handfree Calling
Voice Control

Box Contains

TomTom GO 500 Device
Click & GO Mount
Car Charger & USB Cable
Documentation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The new Apple sat-nav, the iGO. Toyota won't be happy. Wait, it's made by who?... 9 Aug 2013

By DARKcell TOP 500 REVIEWER

Style Name:GO 400 EU - 4.2 inch

This is an in depth product review for TomTom's premium navigation device, the GO 6000 Europe (but will also largely apply to any of the GO X00 and GO X000 devices - for this reason, I have also placed this review within their respective pages). My aim is to provide an honest viewpoint that will help you make a decision about purchasing, whether you're a complete newcomer to sat-navs, or use them on a daily basis. In certain aspects, I will compare this device to my previous sat-nav, a TomTom GO LIVE 1005 World. In recent reviews of TomTom's latest sat-navs I have seen a worrying trend of consumers buying a product without really realising what that specific model can, and more importantly can't do. I will attempt to enlighten you all.

***TOMTOM GO X00/X000 PRODUCT RANGE DIFFERENCES***
Let's get this out the way. The GO 400/500/600 products (only difference being screen size and resolution - 400/500 have a resolution of 480x272 and the 600 a resolution 800x480 [Thanks to 'Bill Roberts' for this correction about resolution]) all connect to LIVE services (i.e. traffic) via a smartphone. This simply means that you need a smartphone (I believe only iPhone or Android) with you at all times if you want to get traffic updates, which you do. To find out if your phone is compatible, http://goo.gl/KQx346. Keep in mind you will be using up data on your phone, so review your contract etc before purchase. The GO 5000/6000 (again only difference between each other is screen size and resolution, the 5000 being 480x272 and the 6000, 800x480) are "always connected". Simply put, they get traffic updates automatically, without having to connect your phone every time.

***AESTHETICS AND ACCESSORIES***
It's beautiful. Simple. Read more ›

6 Comments |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

70 of 75 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Existing TomTom users prepare for disappointment 3 July 2013

By Buzbox

Style Name:GO 500 EU - 5 inch

If you are someone who already owns a TomTom SatNav, and if you are someone who loves the TomTom user interface design with its many features and customisations, you need to think very carefully before you cough up your cash for the new Go experience. Unfortunately it is all too easy to be swayed by the "free" headlines and the lovely map images appearing in the product marketing photos. Behind this sexy exterior, which does genuinely look nice, lies a complete concept revamp that is a hard pill to swallow to the TomTom converted.

The first major shock to overcome is the realization that this is a very stripped-down device which delivers navigation in one way only - and if you don't like it, that's tough. There is a notable absence of the many customisations that have made TomToms deliver what you want the way you want it, visually and functionally. I would guess that 90% (I joke not) of the menus you'd have found on say a TomTom Go Live 1005, are simply nowhere to be seen on the new Go 500, not even in some other incarnation. Of course that's a double-edge sword because I suspect even the TomTom officiando will admit there were many more menus than they could find the time to use and these could make the device seem a little complicated, but in TomTom's attempt to strip this SatNav down to basics, I think they've gone way too far and now omitted frequent customisations that previously made TomToms stand out above their rivals. I think TomTom are trying to appeal to the less demanding, vanilla ice cream, perhaps even slightly techno-phobic user.

Let's start with the 3D ("road view") map display. An unusual choice of colours you'll probably think. So you'll try to change it to something more familiar. Tough! I'm afraid the default colour scheme is the ONLY colour scheme. And it's a pretty rubbish scheme at that. In 3D view practically every road which is not on your blue selected route is a dark gray colour, be that a motorway, an A, B or C-road (it seems only minor roads have the privilege of being white). So at a glance, especially when you come up to a complex junction, your screen becomes a mess of dark lines making it very hard to identify that A-road that you know must be somewhere off to the right. And as for those fancy pseudo-3D rendered buildings appearing in all of the marketing shots that give you the "Ooooo" feeling when you first set eyes upon them... Well, unless you happen to live in a major city you'll really not see a single 3D building anywhere.

Another simple but subtle change: Speed cameras no longer appear alongside the road where they were so easy to spot. Now they're off to the right of the screen in the traffic info area forcing you to follow the countdown distance to work out where they might be. Doh! Why-o-why make this silly change?

Then there's the automatic route scaling (which I had disabled on my previous device because I found it very annoying) - this is forced ON with no option to change it.

Overall, regarding the 3D display, it's such a shame. You spend 90% of your time in the main 3D display and now it really looks bad - nothing like the shots that grab your attention in the marketing photos and which probably lure the prospective customer to hit "Buy". A deliberate tactic? I don't know but I personally find it at best misleading of TomTom not to include a "normal" view in their marketing photos because that's what you'll see 99% of the time.

Another item I liked was to be asked whether I preferred to take the fastest route, shortest route or to avoid motorways (etc) each time I plotted a route. No, that's tough. You will get the fastest route which you must then change once the route is plotted. Seems clunky.

In an earlier version of this review I had complained at the poor implementation of POIs, as others had also noted. Following some feedback from TomTom I can see that these do exist via a slightly different concept. I don't prefer it but I'll accept that I can't be quite as negative as I was before. Nevertheless, I still had the issue that the way POIs are displayed, especially regarding my local petrol stations and car parks, were misleading.

Unfortunately there are so many examples of change, big and small, that I now barely recognize it as a TomTom at all.

The other potentially very big "gotcha" that is nowhere mentioned in TomTom's marketing blurb is the precise requirements necessary to get your live traffic updates - a brilliant feature of the Live series TomToms and far superior to competitor offerings. With this SatNav these live services are obtained only by connecting to a data service through your mobile phone. But that's OK you think (as I did) because most mobiles these days come with a data contract and most have Bluetooth connectivity. However what they fail to spell out is that your SatNav needs to be "tethered" to your mobile and use it as a hotspot. For me, I have now discovered that my iPhone has had this feature disabled by the provider who is unable to change that arrangement due to some politics between BT and Vodafone. So having bought the SatNav 95% on the availability of free live traffic via my mobile (I was OK with this concept), I am now unable to use it unless I buy a separate mobile phone with a different contract. Of course if your phone does support tethering you are fine, so this need not be a problem for all. But for me, I now have a �200 SatNav that looks very pretty, has up to date maps (that's good), but no traffic. BE CAREFUL.

Despite my disappointment, there are definitely SOME positives of the device. The 2D map and route planning view is extremely nicely rendered. The pinching, scrolling and tapping are intuitive and reliable. And the operation of all the menus is much faster than I've had on any TomTom previously. The routing is quick as well and the overview clear. But these niceties sadly fail to make up for some simple but important shortcomings. After 5 days of frustrated use, I've decided to return mine to TomTom.

Overall, for many reasons I cannot give the new TomTom Go 500 more than a 2 star. But that's me - I am a TomTom lover. Well, I was. I am all for TomTom trying to make things a bit more simple but I am really disappointed with some of the radical decisions TomTom have taken with this stripped-down device which will likely take other TomTom enthusiasts by surprise in the wrong direction. Ironic. Read more ›

13 Comments |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

40 of 46 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Check this one carefully before you part with your cash! 2 July 2013

By trfh

Style Name:GO 500 EU - 5 inch|Amazon Verified Purchase

The new GO series will get you from A to B, but then so will any satnav from �50 upwards. So why do some people spend three to four times as much? (I should add I have owned a Go 730 for some years and am looking for an upgrade.)

Well, any TomTom satnav has several features which for me are critical, and prevent me from looking anywhere else. One is iQroutes and another is the live traffic. I don't want to just get from A to B, I want to get there on time. And choosing the best route is what makes all the difference. iQroutes works on the real speeds that real drivers (i.e. you and me) achieve, not the notional speed limit on the roads (Tomtom have this patented I believe, so you can't get it elsewhere). Add in live traffic, and you can be confident of using the fastest route - and if you still don't get there on time, then you have the comfort of knowing that no faster route was available.

So, back to the GO 500 (or 400 or 600 which only appear to differ on screen size). It does have both iQroutes and live traffic - good. They even get free "lifetime updates" - that's the product's lifetime, not yours!

So, what's not to like? Its the other features included in previous/other models, that are now missing - that's the problem. Here's a list:

1. No facility to add your own "points of interest". So you can't add shops, hotels, pubs, etc. Worse, you can't add traffic cameras - that's only available from Tomtom for about �20p.a. after the first three months.

2. No route planning.

3. Voice commands not available - and I believe will never be because no microphone is fitted.

4. As for 3, the old facility to use the satnav as a handsfree interface to your phone is not available. Read more ›

7 Comments |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Customer Discussions