TomTom Start 60 6" Sat Nav with Full Europe Maps (45 Countries)

I purchased the TT Start 60 from Halfords a few days ago and am mightily impressed by it. The 6 inch screen display is stunning and displays all the information you could wish for, while driving, very clearly. Speed camera information even includes those sites that are often used by mobile camera units. A fixed speed camera position that was shut down a few weeks ago is not registered on the sat nav so it suggests the information is pretty well up to date. Perhaps this reflects the value of the TomTom community that supplies update info to TT, which is verified and then made freely available via downloads to owners. Rather than extoll all the virtues of this remarkable sat nav I suggest a read of the cnet review could settle any questions you may have regarding which sat nav you should buy. Having registerd the Start 60 with TomTom I am well on the way to getting a promotional offer of £20 cash back thus making this an even better value for money purchase. Why did I buy from Halfords? Only because at the time there were no reviews on Amazon and some reviews elsewhere for other sat navs suggested there could be all sorts of problems with downloads and updates so in anticipation of potential problems a purchase from a store that I pass most days would enable me to easily return the product should the need arise. I am very pleased to report that this need has not arisen and my faith in this excellent sat nav has been re-inforced by use over the last few days and by the recent cnet review.

Compared to my TomTom 1000 Live, Garmin 2545 and others, this is the best sat-nav out there - providing you don't need Live Services

It gives me all the features of my more expensive 1000 but with a screen that is better in the sun, and - with it's double resolution display and 6" size - miles better than anything else out on the market at the moment

Compared with Navigon or CoPilot on my Samsung Galaxy Note (5.3") the TomTom 60 wins hands down - better routing, easier mount, quicker set-up

Apart from a live version, I don't think there could be any better sat nav out there at the moment

Update 27-07-2012
Whilst everything above remains true, I find the GPS reception poor compared to the Go 1000 (at start-up, once found it's fine keeping hold of the signal), and missing the live services more than I thought I would

The TomTom Start 60 is a great Satnav. The build quality is strong and the operation of the device is simple and straight forward, no buttons or menus where there need not be one. So far so good! The device it self is bigger than I expected, at first It was almost laughable. My girlfriends sat nav fits within the viewable area of this, with room to spare! However once I started to use it, I soon realised the benefits of having such a large screen, firstly you dont have to attach a magnify glass to your face just to see the instructions and secondly the buttons are large and the screen is so responsive that the two combined make for a great user experience. When acquiring a signal its extremely fast, were talking a few seconds. However this is likely due to my location and could be different for you. However its ability to reroute should I ignore its directions or take a wrong turn are equally as quick. The voice instructions are clear and if set to the Serena voice, it will even read out road names which is a huge benefit. Its a real joy to use and this is why its earnt 4 stars from me.

However I am left feeling that they could have done more, theres a general feeling with the software that the bare minimum was done and for such a premium brand in the sat nav world, that just isn't acceptable. Therefor it lost its 5th star.

My gripes, if you could call them that; with the TomTom is that there are certain features and functions that arent really to the high standard you would expect from such a brand/device. For example the address database is not only out of date, but also patchy. For example there are some small culdesacs around where I live that have been here for around 10 years, yet arent present on the map. Yet some that are around 5 years old, are present. Secondly streets that have had the same number of houses on, with the same numbering structure for well over 60 years, all of sudden are missing numbers. A good example of this is the street where my Gran has lived for 30+ years, her house number isn't recognised, yet her neighbours are. Maybe Tomtom just doesn't want me visiting my Gran, either way this over sight / poor quality control of their maps really shouldnt be this way, as some of their higher range devices (that use the same maps) can cost around £300. Im often having to enter addresses that are near to the one I want, rather than to the door step of the address I do want. Secondly when entering an address as a favorite, your forced to add a house number and there is no option to add a business address instead. You can of course not add anything, but again this goes back to my original point, that it will take you close to the location you want and not straight to the door step. (rather annoying) you can of course alter/ amend your maps, or pick a location from the map it self. However my girlfriends sat nav which is using a map thats 4 years old, has the full addresses available and all the house numbers (apart from the new builds).

A second annoyance is the highly aclaimed and advertised advanced lane guidance. This is an awesome feature to have and works wonders. However you need to bare in mind that it will 'only' work for major motorways. This is annoying because they could have so easily extended this to include large roundabouts/junctions etc, which is a common point of stress for most drivers. Its also worth pointing out that it doesnt have all of the junctions on major motorways set for this and again really highlights my point about the bare minimum standard of their software.

Another minor annoyance for the Tomtom start 60, is the maximum volume, it's just not that loud. Its hearable, but im left feeling that they could have increased it more. This is the general feeling with the entire Tomtom experience for me. Im constantly left feeling that they've done the bare minimum with their service and device and that if they had just gone that extra mile this would be a full 5 start device.

The biggest annoyance for me with my TomTom Start 60, is rather oddly, not the device it self but with their computer software. They have three versions, TomTom Home, TomTom Home v2 and My Tomtom. TomTom Home is the one they advertise you to download and it has some cool features like route planner etc. However you actually need to download the MyTomTom application to use things like the map updates and other services. I spent many hours trying to get the TomTom Home software to recognise my connected device but it refused, I went on to their support forums and found that you actually need the TomTom Home v2 software for a Start 60.. So in Total their are 3 software options and only the MyTomTom application is the one you actually need. Needlessly making you jump through multiple hoops.

A feature that is lacking from the device is the ability to add a pin code to it. My girlfriends satnav which is nearing 4 years old has this feature and is from a lesser brand. Yet its excluded from my TomTom. If your Satnav were stolen, they'd have your house address, family member addresses, work address etc... A simple pin code would help secure this information. Such a simple feature yet such a massive over sight.

Overall as i've stated these are minor annoyances, had I paid more for the device id probably be a bit more disapointed with it. But like I said, hardware wise the device is faultless and the screen and interface design is beautiful. Its just the software element that seems to be dragging its feet. Its also worth mentioning that the start 60 does NOT come with live services, nor is it able to recieve them should you purchase them, which was another reason I chose the start 60. The live services are £50 a year, which to me was extremely off putting! When a TMC traffic reciever cable that does the same job, will cost you a one off £25 (and it acts as a car charger).

If you interested the TMC-RDS traffic receiver v2 is the cable I bought and works great with my Start 60!