TomTom GO 300 Car GPS Receiver

I'm a gadget kind of guy, so I just had to have one of these toys...and it was the best gadget purchase I've made in a long time. I can't compare the TomTom to other GPS products since this is my first go around with a GPS, but so far, my experience with the TomTom 300 has been a 90% positive one. I did my pre-purchase homework and read numerous reviews on the internet concerning this product and other brands and after doing so, I decided to buy a TomTom. All of the negatives that I read about this product came to life once I started using it, but these negatives, IMHO, were not serious enough to cause me to sit down and write a "bash the product" review.

Yes, the TomTom is a bit difficult to see the screen in bright sunlight. Yes, the TomTom drops the signal occassionally in certain areas, but it corrects rapidly. Yes, I placed a call to customer support and was required to leave my name and number so they could call me back...and it took 3 days for them to call me, but they DID call, and they were both helpful and courteous with their answers.

My business requires me to go to people's homes in order to service their needs, and I have only found a couple of homes that TomTom did not recognize because the street was newer than the software revision update. Customer support tells me that many of these new housing developments will be included in the next mapping revision (due out in August). They depend on users of their product to let them know about these "pop-up" housing projects, but major highways that are re-routed or altered in any way are almost always covered in the revisions that are easily downloaded from their website. Still yet, the TomTom is a great companion to have with you, even in fairly familiar territory, for identifying cross roads well in advance of crossing them. You always know where you are and TomTom is constantly trying to get you to your destination, even if you make a wrong turn. I live in a house full of directionally challenged females who now depend on using my TomTom to get to unfamiliar locations, and they love this little device. Gives me peace of mind.

I have found the TomTom to be a very "user-friendly" device, though there IS a learning curve that you must take some time to sit down and absorb in order to get familiar with the product. In this high tech world, if you were able to jump on the internet in order to get to this review, you certainly will be able to operate the TomTom without a problem...and when you show the directionally challenged people in your household how to operate it, they will love you and your TomTom forever.