The TomTom Go is a rather small package which contains everything you need for automobile navigation. It's designed as a ready-to-go product with software, maps, and car mount that works straight out of the box (well, almost). Let's take a look at what it can do. It does require a little set up.

Connect the unit to your PC, load one of the CDs, and choose the region you intend to travel. Now we come to the first handy thing about the TomTom Go. Other brands limit the region choices to only one configuration. For example, your choice may be Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

That's fine if you plan on staying within that region. But what happens when you want to travel to Illinois, too? This can often be a problem because data (map) storage space is limited. It is likely that uploading that additional region requires a larger capacity data storage card which means extra bucks. The TomTom Go allows you many choices of combinations of states so it is very likely that one of the choices easily covers where you are going without extra hassle and expense. After an easy car installation, it's time to tell it where to take you.

There are three main ways to start navigating. You can enter an address, use the map and point to a place on the touch screen, or select from the thousands of points of interest (POI). Some of the POI categories are: food & drink, shops, parks, airports, and lodging. Other navigation options allow you to go home, go to a recent destination, or a "favorite.

" A place you may go to over and over again can be saved as a favorite. The loud and clear voice directions will say, for instance, "turn left in 200 yards." It will again announce the maneuver closer to the turn. All the time, the TomTom Go is displaying a map of your progress. It has your choice of 3D or 2D views with different displays for day and night use. TomTom has built in a lot of customizing.

There are several choices of voices in different languages and you can program the unit to give you additional voice prompts such as distance since departure or time to instruction. You can make it left--hand friendly or change the map colors. You can even flip the display 180 degrees in case you need to mount it upside--down. The negatives? This item is not for geeks.

In other words, it is limited in its technical aspects -- it was designed for the consumer. For instance, there is no choice for fastest/shortest routing or navigating by longitude/latitude. I also found it lacking a number of points of interest. Overall, the TomTom Go is a well thought out piece of gear. It's available online in the range of $550 to $800 US.

Go to TomTom Go GPS review for an even more detailed review. .

By: James Chartwell