TomTom GO LIVE 1005 5" Sat Nav with Europe Maps (45 Countries), Twitter and Trip Advisor

This is a product review for TomTom's premium navigation device, the GO Live 1005 EU version (but will also largely apply to any of the GO Live 100X devices). I've owned it and used it on a regular basis since Nov 2010. This will be lengthy, however I have tried not to talk about obvious points that people are already aware of. Instead digging a little deeper into things that you only really find out once you've been using it for a while.

***AESTHETICS AND ACCESSORIES***
It's beautiful. Simple.
Whenever I use it in someone else's car or around others who have never seen one, I always get comments along the lines of, "Ooh that's widescreen". In my eyes, paying the extra for the GO Live 1005 (5" screen) as opposed to the GO Live 1000 (4.3" screen) was well worth the money. Having previously owned a sat nav with a 4.3" screen, the leap to the 5" makes the whole user experience markedly more enjoyable. If justification to the wife for forking out extra for a bigger screen is needed, then you can always claim it's safer!
The window mount is by far the best I've ever used, you won't find yourself frantically trying to lick the back of it just to get it to stick onto the windscreen. To attach the sat nav to the window mount, simply sit it there and the magnets find their spot and lock the device in place. Once you're done, just pull it off, none of this unclipping nonsense from the past.
The product doesn't come with a case which I found a little annoying. However, I did get a £10 voucher from TomTom purely for purchasing the item, which I put toward their leather case. This helps to continue the premium feel of the product and provide adequate protection.

***NAVIGATION AND LIVE SERVICES***
It is accurate in terms of distances and arrival times and has even been to the minute correct for a +100 mile trip. For my last 400 mile trip, it was accurate to within 5-10 minutes for the arrival time.
I have very rarely had a problem with it not verbally informing me of an upcoming turn in time, maybe only a couple of times around multiple roundabouts after coming off a motorway. But even then, the graphics are more than capable of portraying such information at a glance.
The speed at which it finds your route to begin with is better than any sat nav I've used. I just performed a speed test. From the main map screen through to it having started properly navigating me for a 100 mile journey took under 30 seconds. That included me typing in the address and it analysing over 15,000 roads for traffic etc. The destination was new to the sat nav and was not stored in my favourites.
Rerouting isn't instantaneous like they initially claimed pre-release. It is however plenty fast, and a lot faster than other sat navs I've used.
When I arrive at my destination, it informs me of which side of the road the address is on, and around 90%-95% of the time it's correct and takes me right to the door.
Live services-
This product comes with 1 years free subscription. Renewal recently cost me around £47 for another year.
- Maps are on the whole rather accurate. There are some blindingly obvious omissions but they are constantly being updated by TomTom and the TomTom community.
- HD traffic (combined with IQ routes which I don't believe is part of the Live services) is phenomenal. I've lost count of the amount of times I've avoided traffic jams. So many times mid-route it has popped up letting me know there is a route 21 mins faster than my current one for example, and asking me if I'd like to take it (you can have it reroute automatically if you wish).
- Speed cameras are also very helpful. It has an extensive database of fixed, mobile, traffic light, toll road, average, restricted and bidirectional cameras as well as mobile hot spots, blackspots and ungated railway crossings that are frequently updated. (I've actually just updated to the latest batch of cameras).
- Google local search is handy, but not hugely necessary. I find that generally a POI search will find what I'm looking for. A Google search on a mobile is often either quicker, more helpful, or both.
- Weather is a bit of a gimmick more than anything as far as I'm concerned. Nice to look at and have it read back to you whilst driving, but beyond that it's not much use.
Until recently these were the only Live features. TomTom's latest devices come with TripAdvisor and Expedia for travel advice in terms of hotels and restaurants, and Twitter so you can let people know when you'll arrive. I didn't expect to get these features, but on the latest software update I did. So a happy surprise. As of yet, I haven't used them in any great detail, but they appear to be as you'd expect.

***FEATURES***
This isn't a list of the main features. Just some that I felt needed expanding on a little more.
Pinch to Zoom-
This feature is a little misleading. In navigation mode it is not possible, irrelevant of whether you are in 2D or 3D mode. Tapping 'View map' from the main menu will bring forth a 2D only map in which pinching is possible. It's not quite as smooth as doing so on the latest iPhone, but it is still a nice feature that I consistently use over the zoom bar on the side of the screen. Within the main menus you can swipe to the left or right as opposed to clicking the side arrows to see the rest of the menus. This again is not perfectly smooth, and I tend to use the side arrows as swiping can sometimes inadvertently be misconstrued as a click and throw you into a further menu you didn't want.
Map colours-
This probably wouldn't sway you one way or the other, but they have a pleasant selection of around 10 colour schemes some more suited for day, and some for night.
Points Of Interest-
Some users have had issues being able to create custom POIs. I never have. They have a large selection of interests from zoos and vets to scenic views and mountain passes, with all the obvious ones in between. You can also set which ones appear on your map as well as deciding whether to warn you if you are in close proximity to one during navigation. This may be handy for petrol stations or schools for example. Only on a couple of occasions have I attempted to navigate to a point of interest, and it has always worked flawlessly.
Change route options-
Once you have set a route, you'd prefer it wasn't set in stone. Some form of flexibility is great. During navigation, you're just two taps away from the change route menu. Here you can travel via multiple different locations (being able to see them in list form and rearranging the order is extremely useful), avoid part of the route or a roadblock, change your destination completely or calculate possible faster routes.
Safety features-
The speed at the bottom left turns red if you exceed the speed limit. This can also be accompanied by an audible tone of your choice if you so wish. You can also set a 'max speed' for it to warn you if you creep over. A nice touch is a warning for when you travel abroad in case you somehow forget which side of the road to drive on. I haven't yet had to use the help menu. It can however inform you of your exact location, and help you drive to or walk to a place of help, or phone for help (if your phone is connected). These places of help include such things as repair services, police, hospital, doctors etc. Within the help menu you'll also find guided tours for some of the sat nav features as well as first aid and car maintenance advice.
Voice control and Bluetooth-
Neither of these have I used in any great detail. They work adequately. I am still a firm believer that pulling over and either entering details manually or making a phone call is not only safer, but actually quicker.
Handy little extras-
I have mine set to change between night and day colours automatically depending on sun rise/set times.
You can create your own menu of up to six items that is accessible directly with one tap from the navigation screen. In here you can place items such as sound on/off, help, navigate to car park, add position to favourites and many more.

***'MYTOMTOM' (APPLICATION USED FOR UPDATING SAT NAV)***
From product launch it was horrifically poor. As you will probably read in other reviews, it would fail to recognise that the device was connected and just ruin your day on the whole. Now however, is a slightly different story. It's still not as polished or refined as you'd hope for, being a top of the range product manufactured by one of the market leaders. But, at least it works! At the moment I'm getting frequent updates, at least a couple every month. I simply plug in the device, and it does everything for me. So in terms of supplying new data and the method in which they do so, they seem to finally be gathering pace.

***CONCLUSION***
This has been my longest ever review, and if you've made it this far I applaud you as well as apologise, and do hope you've found it helpful! If you have any queries then feel free to comment underneath.

The TomTom GO Live 1005 had a difficult birth and was in my opinion released far too early, probably by a year or so. The teething problems from the early days are all but gone now and what is left behind is an intuitive, helpful, speedy, intelligent, impressive and downright beautiful navigation device that would look at home on any windscreen.

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OVERVIEW
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Would I recommend this product to a friend? Yes, definitely
If lost/damaged would I repurchase product? Read more ›

I have had a TomTom Go 1005 for just under a year. The display and navigation is very nice when it works. However, as some people may already know, there has been a problem with the software for most TomTom models since the end of March, resulting in frequent and complete failure of the device to find the GPS signal, rendering it almost completely useless. TomTom have released a couple of updates, but, as yet, they have failed dismally to correct the problem. They have also failed to give any significant apology, let alone offer even token compensation for the inconvenience caused. I would suggest that nobody consider buying any TomTom until you have seen reviews confirming consistent and long term reliability.

glad to say i have had none of the problems reported widely across the net. Maybe this is due to the latest version 2?
Avoided the update woes by stopping my firewall and malware detector (i know it shouldnt be needed but if you want a smooth update its the way to go) and while updating not using anything else on the pc.
Nice responsive screen only let down by the less responsive hardware (cpu, memory) which just isnt up to the task to make commands seamless. The voice command works better than expected albeit not perfect but certainly useable. The hands free is great as the pairing over bluetooth is a doddle, the speaker is loud and clear and clarity at the receivers end is fine. I dont find the reflection of the screen any trouble at all, and if it were you can get decent anti reflective screen for a few quid right here on amazon.
Anyway, for what its worth, my unit updated with no probelsm and working fine in use with all services up and running.
The only down side really is the way tomtom have butchered features such as map share, which isnt enabled. Other features like itinerary have gone totally.

having use this device more i do really like it even though the feature set is sparse, its just so damn usable on the move. Just to add that i found to get the voice command to work at its most accurate you have to let it fully boot and complete its background tasks such as bluetooth phonebook retrieval before using that feature.