TomTom GO 920T GPS Review
TomTom has just released their newest top-of-the-line flagship GPS device called the GO 920T. This feature-filled navigation device should prove to be a strong force in the high-end GPS market. It has just about every feature that you would expect to find in a high-end navigational unit, but it also boasts a feature that isn’t available in any comparable unit (as of the date of this writing) - voice recognition address input control.
Aside from this awesome new feature, the GO 920T offers a 4.3″ touch-screen LCD display, Bluetooth, FM transmitter, traffic warnings, maps of North America and Europe, and a whole lot more. On paper, this GPS device looks like the best choice available right now in the portable navigation market, but you have to look beyond the long list of features and really examine the performance of this device before you rush to your local electronics store and plop down $600 for the 920T. Yeah, it’s not cheap, but what do you expect from a top-of-the-line unit?
The most impressive feature of the TomTom GO 920T is the aforementioned voice recognition address input, which allows you to speak an address and the GO 920T “finds” it. This is a very convenient feature that not only makes it easier to input addresses, but also serves the cause of safety. The ability to keep your hands on the steering wheel, your eyes on the road, and still be able to operate your GPS device is a great innovation and it’s the future of GPS design.
The question is: does this new feature work as advertised, or is it just a novelty? I will take a look at the performance of the voice recognition address input feature as well as the other key features in TomTom’s newest flagship model, the GO 920T.
The Go 920T is about the same size as the TomTom GO 720. The overall dimensions of the 920T are 4.65″ by 3.27″ by 0.94″, and it weighs in at a respectable 7.75 ounces. While the 920T is relatively slim and lightweight, it isn’t quite pocket-sized. The back of this device is rounded, which makes the device a bit thicker than it could be. It’s still portable enough to carry along in a bag, briefcase, or to easily fit inside a glove compartment when it’s not in use.
The front of this GPS device is dominated by the 4.3″ touch-screen display. This WQVGA widescreen display features 480 by 272 pixel resolution and looks beautiful, even in bright lighting conditions. The touch-screen feature works well on this unit but for those who would rather keep their fingerprints to a minimum on the 920T’s display, it comes equipped with a very intuitive remote control.
This remote control is very simple-looking, consisting of just a few unlabeled buttons and a nice “iPod-like” navigation pad. The remote is very efficient at navigating through the 920T’s menu system and will accomplish just about any task that this GPS device is capable of doing. Most people are not used to having a remote control for their GPS, so it may seem like a worthless feature at first. I can tell you, though, that once I started using a remote control with my car’s CD player, I began to see its usefulness. So I think that the remote is a great feature that people will grow to really appreciate after just a little bit of use. The remote will be extremely useful for those people who drive a large RV or truck who may have the GPS device mounted just out of their reach.
Looking at the insides of this navigation device, you’ll find a 400 MHz processor and 64 MB of RAM. This processor seems to keep everything moving at a speedy pace. As I watched the 920T navigate through the internal menu system, I didn’t notice any lag.
The 920T comes preloaded with maps of Europe and North America. Some people may never use maps from both continents, but it’s still a good value nonetheless, because these maps are by no means cheap. These TeleAtlas maps are displayed in either 2D or 3D mode. There is also an extensive database of POIs included inside the 920T, and they are easily updated thanks to TomTom’s exclusive MapShare feature. More on that in the “Features” section.
The TomTom GO 920T adds to the already impressive feature-set in the GO 720. The 920T offers up text-to-speech functionality, music and photo support, an FM transmitter, and Bluetooth support. These features alone are great to have in a GPS device, but the 920T includes some other great features as well: spoken address input, TMC traffic reporting, TomTom’s MapShare community, and Enhanced Positioning Technology (EPT).
This is the most interesting new feature in the 920T. This feature allows you to speak an address, instead of typing it in. The 920T recognizes what you say and calculates a route for you. This feature allows you to easily find an address while driving and allows you to keep your hands and eyes on the road. This feature works really well in this device - see the “performance” section for more details.
The only downfall of a feature such as this is that most people get directions to where they are going before they start driving, so there wouldn’t be a need for spoken address input in these situations. This feature is most useful while driving and not necessarily more efficient than typing in an address while not driving.
If you are constantly having to find addresses on-the-fly, then this is the feature that you’ve been waiting for. If you plan to use your GPS to calculate routes to a destination before you leave your driveway, then you may not want to pay the premium price for the 920T, which is in large part due to the spoken address input feature.
The TomTom 920T comes equipped with a TMC traffic reporting receiver in the box. This receiver basically consists of an antenna that plugs into the bottom of the GPS unit. This feature will warn you of traffic congestion up ahead so that you can find an alternate route. TomTom was nice enough to throw in a free 12 month subscription to this service. After the trial period, the TMC traffic reporting feature will cost about $30 per month.
TomTom’s exclusive MapShare online community is the first of its kind. This community consists of other TomTom GPS users who have the ability to update or edit roads or POIs. This allows you to get the latest information about roads that are closed or ones that have just opened. It also allows you to edit POIs or add to them.
Overall, the MapShare feature is a very useful tool that allows you to have the most updated maps and POIs possible. The only thing that you need to watch out for is people putting false information into the MapShare database. To avoid this potential problem, you can choose to only accept updates that have been approved by TomTom.
EPT is a feature that I think will become more and more popular in portable GPS devices in the near future. This feature works by sensing your car’s acceleration and deceleration to give an accurate “prediction” of where you are on the map when there is no GPS signal. This feature comes in handy when driving through tunnels, through the mountains, or in cities with tall buildings. EPT effectively eliminates problems caused by dropped GPS satellite signals.
The TomTom GO 920T seems to be a great performer in every way. This device picks up a satellite signal very quickly and holds it well. The internal processor keeps everything moving at a brisk pace and there is minimal lag (if any) while flipping through the various menus.
Tests conducted by GPSLodge put the EPT feature to the test at Boston’s Big Dig tunnels. They were quite impressed with the EPT feature saying, “it instructed me to get off one exit ramp, and I intentionally missed it, and sure enough it knew that I didn’t turn and instead kept going straight. Recalculated and then got me to the next exit popping up in South Boston.”
The big question about the 920T is how well the spoken address input feature works. GPSReview conducted a test of this feature by going through a list of 100 addresses to see if the 920T would recognize each one via the spoken address feature. The results of this test were that 72% of the time the 920T got the addresses correct without any mistakes, and got it right 92% of the time when it obliged the speaker to repeat a number or street name at least once. Overall, I would say that these numbers are very good considering that you can’t type in an address with 100% accuracy all the time.
The TomTom GO 920T is an all-around winner with its impressive features and equally impressive performance. If it wasn’t for the steep price tag, I would tell everyone to go run out and buy one. So if you don’t mind forking out about $600 for a GPS device, the TomTom GO 920T would be an excellent choice. If $600 is a little out of reach for you, you can pick up the GO 920 for $100 less than the GO 920T. The only difference between the two models is that the 920 doesn’t include the TMC traffic reporting receiver and the 920T does.
Tags: electronics store, feature work, flagship model, GPS Device, GPS Guide, maps of north america, navigation device, tomtom go 720, voice recognitionRelated posts
Posted on July 30th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: GPS Guide
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