Even though a 4.3 inch display has become the standard dimension for personal navigation units, the improvement to a 5.0 " display screen will make a substantial difference. TomTom has 2 series of XXL products along with 5.0 inch screens, the XXL 540-TM and the XXL 550-TM reviewed in this article.
The "TM" versions include both life time map updates and live traffic. The basic feature set of the XXL 550 series of products matches the features reviewed in the formerly reviewed XXL 540-S. All types include TomTom's IQRoutes technology, 7 million Points of Interest database, Text to Speech, and maps for the U.S., Canada, and also Mexico. So what is the difference with the TomTom 550TM?
Very first, you will find a somewhat revamped and simplified user interface. The Options menu, in the past called Preferences, now consists of simply three screens of options. The 540 series had six screens of preferences when you selected the advanced viewing option. Individual option choices group related configurable options together. For example, the driving view preferences for the 550 items permit you to set status bar information and POI visibility. On the 540 items, those were separate preference configurations.
The main menu for the 550 series has also been completely revamped. A tap on the map view still opens up the main menu, however for the 550 items, you now have a couple huge symbols: "Plan Route" and also "Browse Map." Plan route will give you the extra choice of specifying your departure place besides while using the default, "current location." Your Navigate-to options include Home, Favorite, Address, Recent Destination, POI, or Point on map. Individual icons for City Center, Zip Code, and Intersection have been taken out on the 550s, but the features is still built in. Just simply type in the zip code besides the city name, and it will find the city for you. This fundamentally saves you a display tap or two. One icon absent within the 550 which i liked on the 540 is the one which enables you to navigate directly to a latitude/longitude.
Additional modifications to the graphical user interface also make many functions easier accessible. From the main menu, you will find an icon to switch to night colors, to mute the sound, also to access a more useful Help function. A single touch of the Help icon displays your spot on a map with your latitude plus longitude. Similar information exists on the 540 products, but it requires an extra tap to obtain the information.
The map view has additionally been transformed somewhat. With no an active route, 2 centered symbols on the bottom of the display let you simply switch among 2D and 3D views. With an active route, the status bar of which occupies the lower portion on the display screen has been reorganized. The lower-left portion of the display screen indicates the current time, speed, and direction. The center of status bar displays distance to your next turn. The bottom right portion of the screen indicates user-configurable trip details.
Several capabilities found on the 540 products were dropped on the 550 items. Gone is the Quick Menu that enables you to access up to 5 commonly used functions with a single tap. As well missing is ability to simply add your present place as being a favorite. Safety functions are enabled by default, however , you are unable to configure them on the XL 550-TM, as you can for the XL 540. Though I understand that tweaking the interface will involve compromises--especially if you are trying to simplify it. I hope that TomTom provides all these features back in a future launch.
Of course, the actually big deal on the XXL 550TM is the bundled lifetime traffic and lifetime map updates. At just $50 greater than the base model that lacks live traffic and map updates, buying the XXL 550-TM is a no-brainer. Those wanting to save a quite a bit of dollars may consider the XXL 540-S--it currently seems to have a great cost.
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