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Tomtom Go 520 Traffic: The All Important Test

part of our review of the Tomtom Go 520 Traffic on Monday 19th May 2008

The all important test! This is where we determine the overall score for the TomTom Go 520 Traffic. Here goes!

The Score Sheet

Appearance

Out of a possible 11, the 520 scored 8. It lost points for the following reasons:

  • The on/off button is quite small and needs to be pressed for a good 3 seconds before the system powers up. When you want to shut down, press the button and it powers off. Why the difference? Why can't the 'on' button be the same as the 'off' in terms of speed?
  • The screen size is an inch larger than the budget range but a 5 inch screen would be preferable in our opinion.

It did, however, score full marks for build quality and looks. It's a stunning piece of engineering and it feels solid too.

Packaging

Out of a possible 15, the 520 scored 10. We loved the compact box it comes in and the contents of the box in general. A printed full manual rather than a pdf manual would be more preferable in our opinion as there's nothing quite like fingering through a paper manual. A USB cable instead of a dock would help to reduce the footprint of the Go 520 by the computer. Other manufacturers include a case as part of the product offering and it would have been nice to see some form of case with this. As it happens we've been using a bit of bubble wrap which is hardly adequate. We had a couple of problems getting to grip (or more specifically getting a grip) of the windscreen mount.

PC Software

Perhaps it's just fate but we've had terrible problems with the TomTom Home software. The 520 Traffic couldn't be recognised by the Home software (version 1.6 or 2). A call to TomTom revealed files were missing from the system itself. That solved the problem in versions 1.6 and 2.1 but 2.3 still refuses to work with the Go 520. As of 19th May 2008, there is no solution from TomTom support.

The software itself (when it plays ball) is easy to use but it isn't very explicit. When it updates the system, we would like to know what has happened. Where are the new Point of Interest locations, which new roads have been added, etc.

Another bug bear is Map Share. We thought this was a free-for-life service but it turns out this is only free for a year after the map installation. We've submitted several changes and since then, we've heard nothing from TomTom (even though we asked for feedback) and the latest map release doesn't include our changes. Perhaps it takes a long time for these changes to become effective but as it stands Map Share appears to be a feature with no real benefits (to us at least).

Out of a possible 6 it scored 4.

Support

We've had first hand experience of the telephone service as explained above. We like the Latest Maps Guarantee offered by TomTom plus one download of the latest Safety Camera database. It lost points because these updates aren't ongoing. This doesn't detrimentally affect the score, resulting in a rating of 4 out of 5.

The System Itself

The time it takes for the system to turn on is decidedly average though the variety of functionality is the Go 520's redeeming feature. Out of 23, the system itself scores 22 which is incredibly respectful. Had speed camera alerts been a free-for-life upgrade, it would have scored full marks.

We have an issue with the quality of the FM transmitter. Having used a dedicated FM transmitter by Belkin, there is a decidedly noticeable quality difference between that and the TomTom Go 520's transmitter. We couldn't stand the intense interference offered by the Go 520 and ended up using the Jukebox facility through the internal speaker. Not ideal in any case.

The Road Test

Scoring 25 out of 30, the Go 520 performed well on the road. The menu is easy to use and the accuracy of the postcode mapping is flawless.

We had an issue when it came to testing the Point of Interest (POI) capability. Due to the lack of POI data supplied as standard, it was difficult to find the Tesco supermarket. It was listed as a petrol station but not as a shop. Finding Castell Coch was easy on the TomTom Go 520. Navigating there was a farce however, with the TomTom about 1 mile off. We chose the route to test the capability of finding a landmark and unfortunately the 520 failed on this one.

Despite doing so well overall, it would have been better if the re-route was quicker. The re-route took the length of a motorway slip road in our test, giving a new instruction just as we reached the roundabout at the end. Any slower and we would have been sent into a panic if we were in an unfamiliar area.

A very interesting fact is the accuracy of the mapping algorithm. The entire journey between points 1 and 5 should have taken 34 minutes over a distance of 17.1 miles. In reality, it took 31 minutes over 15.9 miles. We would rather see overestimation rather than underestimation, so credit here where credit is due.

Would We Recommend It?

We scored the TomTom Go 520 Traffic 8 out of 10. It was let down by simple niggles such as the software issues, the slow re-routing and the screen mount issues we had. We would certainly recommend the Go 520 as a budget widescreen model but we wonder whether the higher models (Go 720 or Go 920) or even the successor range (Go 530, 730 and 930) would do better as they cost more.

We would say this system is ideal for those who spend a long time on the roads or for those who are looking for a bigger screen on a budget. The TomTom brand is well known and respected in the satellite navigation market, with people going back to them time and time again for new models.

The Totals

Given everything that we have discussed, the TomTom Go 520 Traffic was been awarded 81% in our thorough test. We have small niggles that will hopefully be ironed out by TomTom in future models and upgrades. In essence, this is still a good system and as we said above, it's ideal as a budget widescreen system. It's a great starter system with the right mix of functionality with price.

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