Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1347 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: TomTom
• Model: 1CH5.013.00
• Released on: 2008-05-01
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .49 pounds

Features

• Tomtom Go530 Satellite Navigation

Manufacturer's Description

TomTom GO: The Ultimate Car Navigator, Perfectly Engineered

TomTom is powered by Tele Atlas Quality Maps

Tele Atlas is a leading worldwide map data provider for personal navigation solutions. In a rapidly expanding industry and changing world, Tele Atlas continuously produces rich, fresh and accurate quality maps. Tele Atlas brand promise: find more, reflects how we see a world where people do not just want to move from A to B, but want to find interesting things and places on the way: restaurants, hotels, petrol stations, museums and so on. It's not about just guiding users to destinations but also helping them easily find the people, places and products that interest them the most.

Box Contents

• TomTom GO 530 satellite navigation system
• Windscreen mount
• Desk dock
• Car charger
• CD-ROM
• Documentation

Customer Reviews

Good but flawed Go 530
I wouldn't want to be without it now I've got it, wonderful for not getting lost in the UK wilderness, however it has one problem. It picks out extremely narrow single track roads in very rural areas when good B roads are nearby and much faster and safer. I and others I've talked to have yet to find a way round this problem. It seems fine in most areas, just in the deep countryside where there are many many narrow roads, by narrow I mean both wing mirrors clip the hedges.

A Tom Tom 520 in disguise
Each year around May there's a new Tom Tom launched and It seems they improve on them all the time. We went from the x00 (replace x with 3,5 or 7) series back in 2005 which worked well but was boxy and square to the lovely 2006 widescreen version, the Tom Tom x10. Next came a major improvement in 2007, the x20 series which had the thing we'd always wanted, the ability to update maps! It's a great feature and one that sold more Tom Tom's than ever before.

Anyway, here in 2008, what's new about the x30 series? Sadly, very little. In fact, there're only 3 differences between this new model and the old 520. Firstly there's the IQ routes which work out the best route based on time of day, number of busy junctions on route etc. This is a decent idea but you can plug in a Tom Tom 520 to your PC and update this feature for free anyway, I updated my 520 to firmware version 8.0 last night and while it makes no mention of IQ routes, it does plan differently and much more quickly.

The second new feature is the lane guidance system meaning that if you're on a motorway, it will show a picture of the lanes around you with a big arrow to help you navigate tricky multi lane bits. A nice idea but again, you get this update for free on a 520 anyway (can you hear owners of the 530 seething with rage yet?) so long as you buy the new maps. Being someone who rarely drives on the motorway then this feature doesn't bother me anyway but it might be useful if you do trips to London.

The third difference is the price. You can now get a Tom Tom 520 for around £120 even in high street shops so given the fact that you can plug it in to the net and upgrade it all to have the same stuff as you get on a Tom Tom 530, it really does leave you wondering why anyone would bother with a 530.

The Tom Tom 530 is a great sat nav and it has tons of brilliant features, it's just that it's virtually the same as the last model so unless you're the kind of person who just has to have the latest model or you lose sleep over what the neighbours think then I'd stick with the 520.

Just as a final note, i'm aware i'm reviewing this item 2 days before it's expected release but i have already played with one.

Go 530
As this is my first sat nav unit I have found it be very good. I am in and out the car a lot everyday for work as yet I've had no problems with the mounting system coming detached from the window unlike a previous post. It is easy to use and has a very clear display.

What is good with this unit is the blue tooth function allowing you to pair a mobile phone for hands free use, doing away with the need for either a car kit or an ear piece and the quality is good.

The reason for 4 stars and not 5 is the fact you need to keeping plugging / unplugging the power lead and antenna lead if required , however the batteries are good enough to last the full day.