Customer Reviews

TomTom XXL Classic 5" Sat Nav with Western Europe Maps (22 Countries)

I have owned 3 tomtom machines and all have struggled with the same problem.....internal memory is small for the full European map.

There is no mention that the European map is has grown so large that the full map will no longer fit onto the 2gb flash drive. Tomtom home even tell's you your machines memory is too small for the full version and instead you are offer a zoned map of Europe that you must choose. (4 zones)

I have frequently used my machines on holidays but the way the Europe map zones are split mean you can have U.K & Germany but not Spain or Italy.....or you can choose U.K & Spain but not Germany or Italy.

On past machines I have worked around this by installing a 4gb SD card but some "bean counter" at Tomtom has decided a few pounds can be saved by doing away with the SD slot on most machines.
Adding lots of POI, music or additional features Tomtom offer!! could be limited.
Good points the TT has an easy to use interface and the map graphics are good but I paid for a full working map installed on the machine not my home computer. Removing the SD slot is a step back

I bought this unit because I wanted an up to date Euromap satnav. I needed several Euro countries and this unit had them all. I thought a new middle of the range TomTom should be fine. Indeed on receipt I fired it up and hey presto everything is good. I put the TomTom home software onto my computer and linked the Satnav with no problem. Then, the bit they don't tell you about. TomTom home found a new update and as the unit was new within 30 days or so I could download it. So I did. It took forever and then stated that my unit did not have enough space. The update was bigger than my TomTom could handle. How stupid is that? It is new. When you can buy an 8GB SD card for peanuts this unit has a maximum of 2GB storage and no card slot. Now either something went wrong or I pressed the wrong button but from that point on the TomTom was useless. I looked for help but all TomTom give are the usual directions to FQA's. Their FQA's are rubbish by the way. The best advice is always independent sites where people have no brand loyalty and say it like it is. I found one and after several long downloads and failures right at the ' literally' eleventh hour, managed to get the TOMTOM back. But not as it was, I could only choose a specific combination of regions due to size and not one combination covered all the countries I am going to. So I now have a Garmin to cover certain countries, as I would have to lose the UK for the TomTom to cover them. The choices are not good enough. We should be able to swap and change individual countries if we wish in order to tailor the Satnav. When are these manufacturer's going to wake up to that fact. My advice is to download the map updates directly to your computer and store them there. That way you can update, providing you have all night. This will enable you to swap the maps around to some extent, to get over the size limit on your TomTom and load what package is closest to the areas you need. At well over �100 it shouldn't be be a a cost problem for a manufacturer to put more memory on the unit to accept the official updates for the next two years, or is there another reason???

The TomTom XXL works as advertised, gets you from A to B. Problems arose when I tried to use the Map guarantee, the Home software told me there was a new map available for my device. When I went to download the map, it told me it was not compatible!! Logged a support ticket, they advised me to take a full backup (takes 1hr+ via USB) and then reinstall the software and remove the map from the device. After this the Home software told me there was no map available for my device. I then copied the map from my backup back to the device (1hr+ waiting time again). This got the device functionality back to its original state.

I tried the download again, I got the error message again. I downloaded the map manually using the full URL listed in the error message. Then of course the new map would not fit on the device (2GB non-upgradeable memory on the XXL). I had no extras installed on it. There was a shortfall of 371MB!!

The map download eventually downloaded from within the Home software, but again did not fit on the internal memory. Support then emailed me a long procedure to follow to manually copy the map onto the internal memory.

This procedure left my TomTom unable to move past the startup logo stage. Even a hard reset did not solve the issue.

So much hassle from something that was just out of the box!!! I have promptly returned it for a full refund.

My suggestion, go for a model with a MircoSD card slot.

Dont buy this product by the time you install a start up and shut down emblem and map updates the memory is full and thats without any voice or driving style updates.Then next time you want to update maps or cameras there is no available space and then you are out of time to return it so then have to deal with tomtom customer services luckily i updated mine then looked at available space and so then checked reviews, this problem seems to be a massive issue.DONT BUY

I'll keep it short. I bought this knowing full well of the lack of storage space (thanks to other reviewers). I bit the bullet because I want a big screen and a big name company in case something goes wrong. How wrong I was...

I opened the packaging, plugged the device into my PC, and that's where things started to go wrong. The device updated but did not reset, instead it hung on the welcome screen indefinitely. Apparently this is not an isolated incident because TomTom's website details multiple fixes to this.

I tried every fix (the first, a hard reset, the second, a 3 hour procedure involving a painfully slow transfer of 1.7GB of maps to my PC, followed by a painfully slow windows format of the device, followed by tranfering the maps back). This effort did not fix the problem, so I waited on the phone (oh, yes, 0845 number of course - as if it's your fault the product doesn't work!) for 15 minutes before deciding I wasn't going to fund their incompetence.

I hung up and returned the item after 4 hours.

I consider myself a "technophile" but this whole episode was a major pain, and waste of half a day. I'm now using a Garmin which works all the more beautifully because I have something terrible to compare it to.

I have to agree with a lot of what has been said in the one and two star reviews here as I had a load of issues starting up with this device.

First of all, the box art and text was not in English. My guess is that the languages are Eastern European because I didn't recognise many of the letters, let alone the words. Then on opening the box imagine my surprise (not!) when I found the instructions book was in the same languages. So that was my first disappointed.

On contacting 'Tom' at Amazon and advising I did NOT have access to a printer with my PC at home and did NOT have access to one at work, his suggestion was to go to the TomTom website, download the manual in English and print it. 2nd disappointment.

So next I had to work out by reading from the manual on screen how to use thing. Let me tell you, working out how to use a satnav which has no satellite connectivity when it's placed next to your PC screen can be slow going and at times frustrating. That was disappointment number 3.

Anyway, I finally got it working and decided to download the up to date maps. It's at this stage I would like to thank all those previous contributors to this feedback forum who left clues as to what to do. That's because it doesn't explain how to do it in the manual and it doesn't explain it on Tom Tom's website. Oh yes, there are instruction. But the up to date European all regions map is too big for the memory, so following the instructions on TomTom's website is a waste of time and effort. Instead it took around 8 hours (2 nights) of backups, downloads, upload failures, further downloads, further failures and then a sudden highlighted option about 'region 2' maps and then another couple of hours downloading and then uploading and hey friggin presto, your p1553d off but working. Disappointment number 4.

In the meantime, after a couple of emails back forth between myself and 'Tom' at Amazon, he finally acknowledges my lack of printer and kindly offers to send me a free case for my tom Tom and in it a printed copy of the user manual. That was two weeks ago. I'm still waiting. That's my 5th main disappointment which can equally be spread between TomTom and Amazon. All could do so much better.

On the plus side, once it was up and working I found it easy to use around London both to input address details and with it's large bright clear display.

A word of WARNING. As previous reviews have stated, this device does NOT advertise it's main shortcoming as a satnav, which is that it cannot store a complete up to date European map in one. I believe this should be made clear on the advertsing blurb as this is misleading to customers who want this function. As I'm not likely to drive across the whole of Europe in the near future, it's not a problem for me so doesn't go on my list.

All in all, I great little device, clear and easy to use BUT ONLY once you finally get it working.

Pros
Clear maps, various intuitive ways to plot your route, itinerary planner is useful for touring holidays, big display, very customisable, responsive screen, clearly audible instructions, set and forget.

Cons
Relatively small memory, long time to set-up (it took me about 14hours, including an overnight update, to get it set to my liking), suction cup won't stick to anything other than glass (it'd have been handy to be able to stick it to some smooth plastic areas on the dash)

As the unit has a relatively small memory I'd strongly recommend removing any voice options you don't need (the computer voices are particularly large files). You can store them on your PC if you think you might want to learn Dutch, or whatever, later. I removed everything except all the English, French and German voices which gave me plenty of room for all the maps and add-ons I wanted with plenty of space left over.

If you're buying one for a specific trip, buy it early so you've got plenty of time to set it up and get used to its functions before using it in anger - the last thing you want is to be distracted by your sat-nav when trying to drive on unfamiliar roads or negotiate complex road layouts.

***Additional***
This model seems to suffer if not used for an extended time and can become unresponsive. A hard reset is all that's needed to get the unit operating correctly again, just press and hold the power button until the screen goes green and you hear the TomTom drum sounds.

I received this product after some deliberation and procrastinating as the large screen and the reputation of Tomtom lived up to the mark in that respect and I was in need of the europe maps for travel abroad. The maps themsleves are great in quality and clarity and the device is quick to seek the satellite signals and locate your position.

However, when attempting to utilise the free one-time map upgrade on the Tomtom tools, the new full like-for-like european map on this model (2.16Gb)far exceeded the flash drive built in (1.84Gb). So even with some tweaking of files, there was not enough basic disk space for the upgrade.

The only option Tomtom provided was to download one of a choice of five smaller european maps. However no matter which map I could choose, no single option provided the countries promised in the full map that is in the out-of-the-box version that comes with this model. For example I needed Slovakia and UK, but the option maps did not have these two countries together.

So the option was to leave this device on the out-of-the-box version or return it. Sadly, I have chosen to return this model as I felt a little cheated by Tomtom. I was looking at the newer GO HD models but the price increase to get a 4Gb model with a SD slot was just not worth the cost. I have since settled for a Becker SatNav, which provides 3D terrain and regular free updates to maps for around the same price as this model. Their newer and cheaper models come with 4Gb standard and may be worth looking into. Amazon (UK), do not yet offer the full Becker range from my searching but the direct website takes orders in english and deliver internationally.

Hope this helps.

I can only assume that most people writing the reviews here have not had a satnav before. This is my third satnav, previously I have used a Garmin and a Navman, admittedly sometimes in other countries. This model is supposedly near top of the range but I have found that it lets me down on usability.
By the way I did not buy from Amazon, if I had, I might not have found it so hard to get my money back.

NEGATIVES

As the other reviews say, the online update feature is most likely to never work for you. I have a very good internet connection and I'm tech savvy, I tried twice and could not get it to work. Both times I ended up with a dead unit, which I was only able to reset by running the battery down to zero. Incidentally, the unit is unable to hold all the maps for the areas it is sold for, so you are obliged to do an update if you are going far afield.

The unit regularly goes into a fault mode, sometimes giving a blank screen and sometimes endlessly calculating the route. Can be recovered by switching on and off.
The maps are missing the names of a very large number of roads. This can be problematic if you are unsure of the postcode or trying to find something on the recent destination list. The problem might be fixed by an update but ... see above.

The browse maps feature is very hard to use. Both Navman and Garmin have much better browse route and browse map features that actually work. The other brands also have much more intuitive menus.
Lane guidance is given too late, just as you are passing the fork in the lanes.

The means of attachment between the display and the window mount is not well designed. Can take a lot of force to connect it and can then fall off with the slightest knock. Not funny if you happen to be driving on a motorway!

POSITIVES

Better time estimates that any satnav I have used before.

Long battery life.

OVERALL VERDICT

Avoid, buy another brand, or cheaper model so you will not be so disappointed.

I've owned/used the TomTom XXL IQR for approximately just over a month & wish I'd purchased one sooner.
Having been in the UK for 40 Years, I knew my way around quite well & never really felt the need to ever buy a SatNav.

After emigrating to Spain 5 Years ago however and feeling quite lost on the roads, I thought it would be an idea to purchase some kind of Navigation Device.

As I'm not one to spend money carelessly, it was only after reading what seemed like hundreds of reviews that I decided on the larger screened TomTom XXL & what a good choice this turned out to be....

The unit itself seems very well made & looks as if it will tolerate and last the test of time.

The screen does not get too smudged by fingerprints and has a good quality image, which is simply laid out and uncluttered.

It took a while to find the best settings and make the most of the options available, although you soon get to know these the more it's used.

It has several languages installed, where I mainly use the Male Irish voice (The wife prefers this one - bless her).

Since using the unit, I no longer worry about getting lost on Spanish Motorways and especially like the way it warns you when a stationary Speed Camera is ahead - this would definitely have saved me a few �'s back in the UK.

Also, knowing when a junction is approaching is priceless, especially when driving on the larger A-Roads or Motorways in Spain, where in some parts signs are a commodity either missing or appearing at the very last minute, which is never a good thing when driving at speeds.

Obviously, there are many other features, some of which I've yet to use, although the main thing is, it was money well spent and does exactly what I required from a SatNav - takes me to a destination without getting lost!