TomTom Start Classic 3.5" Sat Nav with UK and Western Europe Maps

What you get is a square box measuring 13cm across, containing TomTom with mounting unit attached, user guide, USB cable and in-car charger. Take out the TomTom and peel off the protective sticky films from front and back, and you are ready to start. Its battery has some power already, so you can switch it on and set it up.

Setup is very easy as the screen prompts you every step of the way. The user guide is surprisingly limited. It just explains a few of the objects on the screen, how to plug it in, how to fix it to your windscreen, and how to connect it to your computer. For everything else you must go to the TomTom website and download the full user guide. Given how much the device does (it does a lot!), and how essential the full user guide is, it's a bit cheap of TomTom not to include it in the box (especially as the box is half-empty).

This is my first satnav, but I found it very easy to use. Basically you get two main options: Plan Route, and Browse Map. When planning a route, you can setup and use a list of favourite destinations, choose a recent destination, choose a point on the map, a point of interest (you can download a huge variety of these for shops, sights, companies and so on), or enter an address. It's all quite logical and easy to do. Once you've created a route, it can start advising you immediately, or you can choose a time when you want it to start. Then just attach it to the vehicle windscreen and away you go.

It does not offer "live" information, such as news about queues or accidents. However, if you find yourself heading towards congestion, you can press the "Avoid Roadblock" button and then tell it roughly how far away the road block is, and it will give a route that avoids the roadblock (congestion, closed road, or whatever). If you ever find you don't like the route it has chosen, press the "Change Route" button to get an alternative route to your destination. Most actions of this kind are just one or two clicks away, but if you are doing anything more complicated (like browsing the map), it's probably best to stop somewhere first.

Its touch screen is responsive, and the targets and buttons to press are nice and big. Some reviewers have said the screen is a bit small, but for me it's just about the right size. The screen seems quite tough and has no scratches so far. The screen mount unclips, so you can leave it attached to the windscreen, or flip it around and use it as a desk stand, which is very handy when your TomTom is connected to a computer.

TomTom Home. You will need a computer to update and customize your TomTom. The software is free and available from their website. Details of how to get it are in the printed user guide. TomTom Home is essential, so don't skip it. Connect your TomTom to it and you can do all kinds of things, including updating the maps, downloading extra voices and graphics and so on. I found some of extra voices were a bit silly, or made the instructions harder to follow. I tried a few but have since deleted them and used the built-in ones instead. But, if you like your spoken instructions with added sarcasm (John Cleese) or movie lines (Darth Vader), or witty remarks from comedians, then it's all there to download. YOu can even make your own "voice" if you like. Many of the best downloads cost extra. If you never do anything else with TomTom Home, make sure you download the free map updates. The first time you do, you'll get a 1.6GB update to the European maps.

This brings me to TomTom support. The TomTom website, which offers support and extras for your TomTom, is nicely designed and easy to use. However, I am a bit dubious about its online shop. Alarm bells ring whenever I see "99" on the end of every price - a classic sign that prices are higher than they look. I checked quite a few of the prices on the TomTom website, and most genuine TomTom items are a lot cheaper on Amazon. You have been warned.

TomTom Start is a great little device. It is small, light, easy to use, and great value for money (especially at the Amazon Black Friday sale price!). It is aimed at casual drivers so, if you drive professionally, this may not be the one for you. For me though, it is perfect. It has saved my wife the bother of map-reading, and we won't get lost any more. Perfect!

Initially I was delighted with my purchase, but on registering it with TomTom, I was informed that I had one Free Update to incorporated, okay until you read what that entails"The removal of Western Europe Maps and and other things in order to incorporate the new UK update , as the memory capacity of the device is too small"

I contacted TomTom help line and was informed that this in necessary,
so far I have declined to do this, My free update expires tomorrow 28/08/2012.

I feel that it is unjustified to advertise this Sat Nav as covering Western Europe and the UK, when TomTom says that the device memory is too small for Western Europe and the UK maps.

Yours disappointedly T.G. Sinclair

Compact, solid well built unit with sucker for windscreen attached to the back of the unit, which is easily removable if you want to make the unit more slimline when removing it from the car. You can turn it the other way around if you want to use a dashboard disc (not included) to stick it to the dashboard. Anti glare screen, good responsive touch screen, good sound quality with excellent choice of voices. Has a about a three hour battery life.

Speaks street names, excellent lane assist, speed cameras, timely instructions before and at a turn and uses IQ technology to calculate the fastest route for the time of day. If you don't like the route you can recalculate an alternative, travel via one stop and if there's an obstruction you can enable a road block feature to re route your journey. Has a night mode button to dim the screen at night to make it easier on the eye and less distracting.

You need to download tomtom home to your PC and then you can operate the device from the computer with automatic updates. Then you can add up to 48 favourites and unlimited points of interest without phaffing around in the car at the last minute.

Some reviewers have suggested that when updating maps it doesn't all fit within the 2GB capacity but it does! It won't leave much spare capacity but you can remove unnecessary foreign voices which frees up a lot of space. Tomtom home also allows you to back-up your device which I did after the first map update so I always have the full data before customising my options. If you remove anything from your device using tomtom home then you can use tomtom home again to reinstall it at a later date with the touch of a button. Therefore, if travelling outside the coverage area you could remove all the maps for UK/Western Europe or specific zones and add additional maps purchased from the tomtom store even though this device has limited capacity.

Excellent aftersales customer service from tomtom. Any queries any problem and it's sorted quickly and efficiently either on the phone or via email.

My first tomtom and after my first experience in a city in which I normally get hopelessly lost in, I was able to navigate with ease to everywhere I needed to go. Will never be without one now!

UPDATE: over the last couple of months has been glitchy with updates, 2 days before the end of my one year warranty and it won't complete an update, contacted TomTom who suggested I might need to format the hard drive, or it could be the USB cable OR it could be faulty. They are sending a new USB cable and a return box. If the item can not be repaired then I get a replacement refurbished unit. Would be gutted if I received a refurbished unit as I've taken very good care of my TomTom, will also be left without a unit for up to 2 weeks while it's sorted out. Very disappointed to be experiencing problems within a year! Bottom line is I wouldn't buy again.