TomTom GO 630 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
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TomTom GO 630’s award-winning software means ground-breaking new technology for the ultimate driving experience. Switch on and go right out of the box. Just enter the address on the touchscreen or use voice address entry and start driving anywhere in the US and Canada. TomTom guides you door-to-door with turn-by-turn spoken instructions, including street names.
Ground-breaking new technology for the ultimate driving experience. Click to enlarge. |
Sleek design that looks good wherever it goes… |
IQ Routes Technology gives you the fastest route every time by using actual average speeds of travel to calculate your trip rather than posted speed limits. Advanced Lane Guidance uses photorealistic images to bring even more clarity to complex multi-lane exits so you can be more confident on the road.
TomTom has the most accurate maps, and with TomTom Map Share technology, you instantly can modify street names, street direction, points of interest, and more on your own device.
And with the “Help Me!” menu, added safety features enable you to easily access local emergency providers. The GO 630 makes driving even safer with Bluetooth hands-free calling.
The TomTom GO 630 is the ultimate car navigator.
*Compatible mobile phone required.
GO 630 Features
- Maps of United States and Canada with TomTom Map Share
- Bluetooth Hands-Free Calling
- Spoken Street Names
- IQ Routes Technology
- Advanced Lane Guidance
- Voice Address Input
All TomToms Feature
Plug & Go–Works right out of the box.
Preloaded Points of Interest–Easily find millions of gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and more on your route.
30-Day Latest Map Guarantee–Up to date, off the shelf.
TomTom Map Share–Modify your own map and benefit from others’ verified changes with TomTom Map Share.
Help Me! Emergency Menu–Easily access local emergency providers, such as police, fire stations, and hospitals.
TomTom HOME–Always up to date.
Traffic Ready–Optional RDS-TMC traffic receiver accessory keeps you up-to-date on traffic events to minimize potential delays.
Fuel Price Service (optional)–Know more, pay less.
Why TomTom?
TomTom believes that personal navigation should be as easy and safe as possible. TomTom develops smart technology that gives you straightforward solutions, innovations to make life easy.
Easy to Use
- Award-winning navigation software
- Plug & go
Best Maps
- 30-Day Latest Map Guarantee
- Modify your own map and benefit from others’ verified changes with TomTom Map Share
Best Routing
- QuickGPSfix
- Traffic ready
Leader in Safety
- Help Me! emergency resources menu
- Safety preferences menu
About TomTom
Founded in Amsterdam in 1991, TomTom has established itself as a global leader in navigation by being an innovative company with a strong brand, clear customer focus, and high-quality products and services.
TomTom is a leading navigation solutions provider with navigation products sold in 30 countries and in over 20 languages. To further its commitment to car navigation, TomTom acquired Tele Atlas maps in 2008 so that the company can continually provide the most up-to-date maps and intelligent routing.
TomTom has its own mapping company!
Did you know that every year, roads change by up to 40% in high-growth areas? Tele Atlas manages this by using the world’s most comprehensive systems to identify and incorporate these changes into our maps with unprecedented levels of speed and accuracy. All TomTom devices benefit from the Tele Atlas advantage–more coverage, more points of interest, and more freshness and accuracy.
What’s in the Box
GO 630 device, Windshield mount, USB cable, car charger, software/manual CD, documentation
Features
- Get the ultimate driving experience use voice address entry and start driving anywhere
- Makes driving even safer with Bluetooth hands-free calling and added safety features
- IQ Routes Technology gives you the fastest route every time speed limits, so you’ll always travel the smartest route
- Advanced Lane Guidance uses photorealistic images to bring even more clarity to complex multi-lane exits so you can be more confident on the road
- With TomTom Map Share technology, you can instantly modify street names, street direction, POIs, road speeds, and turn restrictions on your own device
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 1 x 3 x 5 inches
- Weight: 0 pounds
nice unit
tried a magellen refurb last year -terrible. this seems to be a nice GPS. easy to use with quick location of satellites. good extra features. for me unit is not a necessity but nice to have when needed. i still need practice to get better results in some areas. purchased mainly for voice input. works pretty well.
main con for many is bluetooth. due to inexperience did not check to see if our phones were compatible-they are not.after reading other reviews should have checked this. we’re ok with ear bluetooth. also have noted some routes are not the shortest or fastest. will take you away from most direct route.
like the unit but not totally trusting-will still carry a map on trips.
purchased through amazon and JR. as usual, good price and service.
Fouled up, right out of the gate.
We had had a good experience with our TomTom 930; when it died after 4-5 years we were ready to stick with Tomtom.
This unit worked right out of the box (although the touch screen required a surprisingly heavy touch to register), but after installing the PC interface software and carefully following the software update instructions, the unit claimed at first not enough memory to hold the latest map, then couldn’t find the map when it finally accepted it, then ultimately couldn’t find it’s position.
3 hours of my life is enough to spend trying get a NEW $150 gadget to work — back in the box, back to the seller.
The way they’re dropping the price on this baby, I think there’s a bad batch out there, or it’s about to be abandoned as a product.
It’s hard to Hear…
…bought for my wife and she loves it. I find the sound level to be less than necessary as I cannot hear instructions when at highway speed do to wind noise.
Tom Tom 630 Review
I am satisfied with my Tom Tom GPS. I especially like the info shown on the screen including the time, time and miles to destination, speed, miles to next intersection and the directions given. If you go off stated course the new course is plotted quickly.
The improvements I would want are:
Longer battery life then 3 hours.
A better 3D image of freeway signs and lanes as I have seen on another GPS although it lacked the Tom Tom screen info.
The voice volumn could be louder for instructions and phone.
Otherwise I am happy with the unit and I don’t know how we got around before the GPS. An excellent purchase for anyone.
TomTom GO 630 — mostly very good
Excellent model, for the most part, appreciably better than the Garmin 765T which I purchased from Amazon at a higher cost and tried for about two weeks, but which never was able to receive traffic reports as advertised. Garmin’s technical support was weak at best and not able to solve the problem. Garmin ultimately determined that its traffic receiver was defective and told me that I had to return it for a replacement. Unfortunately, the traffic receiver was built into the power cord. I asked Garmin to send me the new cord/receiver first, so that I would still be able to keep my GPS plugged in and charging while in the car, but Garmin refused to do so, telling me I had to return its defective cord/receiver before it would send me a new one and that I could charge its model using the enclosed USB cable (through my computer). I took advantage of Amazon’s return policy and returned the Garmin to Amazon for a full refund (Amazon’s rep even e-mailed me a pre-paid shipping label).
The TomTom GO 630 has a pretty vivid wide screen display (in your choice of 2D or 3D) and allows much more flexibility with respect to display options than the Garmin 765. For example, the TomTom permits you to display time to destination, miles to destination, estimated time of arrival, and speed, all at once or in any combination, while the Garmin model permits the display of only one of these parameters at a time. The Garmim model did have more categories of POI’s (for example, it allows you to choose restaurants by type of cuisine) than the TomTom, so that might be of greater use to some people. The TomTom also occasionally shows streets that do not exist in real life, but I am guessing that may be an issue with all GPS models. Finally, it would be nice if, like earlier versions of TomTom GO GPS models, this model turned on automatically (when plugged in) when you start your engine. Interestingly, it turns off on its own when you turn off the engine.
On balance, however, these are minor nits and the quality of the display, ability to set favorites, database of POI’s (with the added ability to telephone a POI directly if you have your phone connected via blue tooth), connectivity and ease of use of the blue tooth – cell phone feature, and flexibility of display output make this a very good choice. There is also a nice feature that gives you the option to input your desired time of arrival and thereafter the GPS displays how many minutes ahead of (in yellow) or behind (in red) your scheduled arrival time you are. I have found this to be a pretty useful “at-a-glance” indicator, in addition to the ETA display that also can be selected in the set-up.
Great product with a few shortcomings
Overall this is a great GPS unit, User updatable maps, Bluetooth, Text-to-speech, and decent speech recognition in a nice form factor.
What remains are quibbles, the unit can be configured to shut down when the adapter powers down, but doesn’t restart when power is restored. Canceling routes is more complicated than it should be. Windshield cradle can be tricky to reseat. Bluetooth compatibility isn’t what I expected.
None of these items are significant enough to sour my recommendation however.
Decent but not perfect GPS
I got this unit after reading the comparisons between it and the Go 730. As far as I could tell, the only difference in functionality was that the 730 works with the FM radio tuner. That’s not a feature I need, so I chose the significantly cheaper 630.
So far it seems to work well enough as a GPS. It doesn’t always choose the route I’d choose, but it gets me to my destination. I’ve tortured it a few times by deliberately going off course to see what it would do. For the most part it figures out a functional alternate route very quickly.
The lane feature is the biggest disappointment. I initially tested the device for a week without updating the maps. It gave me no lane information at all; I thought I’d misread the documentation and bought a device without the lane feature. Then I ran the map update and started seeing the little arrows described in the manual. However, I’m not finding them particularly useful now that I have them. Normally I can figure out on my own to move left or right to get into the correct exit lane; the information provided by the device was already enough to allow me to figure out my lane. What I was really hoping is that the device would warn me when I was about to lose my travel lane. My area highways tend to lose the right or left lane, going from four lanes down to three or even two with very little warning. I was hoping the device would warn me about the need for unexpected merges. So far it hasn’t.
All in all, I’m satisfied with the unit as a bread and butter navigation device. Some of the extra features could use improvement.
A huge step up from my One130
This is a great product at a very reasonable price. Has all the features I want. My old unit worked fine, I gifted it to my brother in law, and he’s using it on his MA to FL and back road trip, and he thinks it is terrific.
I have no need to pay for real time traffic info, gas prices or anything like that, so this unit is perfect for me. Large bright screen. Around $152, I think it was. I believe TomTom lists it at $299 or so. (few things drop in value like a 6 month old GPS does!)
Great GPS Tool
The TomTom 630 is a fabulous GPS that has allowed me to have great quality mapping and directions, and the ability for hands free cell phone calls. Display is large and clear. I strongly recommend this item.
Love that Tomtom
After I purchased one of the Tomtom GO630 for my wife, she insisted that I get one for myself since it is bluetooth capable. I am in sales and on the road all day and being able to use the 630 to work with my cellphone and be hands free is great. It also is a great GPS and helps me on the road save time.
1st gps
i like the features of the tomtom 630 alot, but the maps sometimes are misleading in rural areas, aside from that did everything i ever expected it to do, no real complaints !
No Garmin
Very quirky. Like my old Garmin better. You can buy for 162 but to update the maps is $100.00. Mount is crappy, I could go on but just buy a Garmin.
Overall a Good Device
I would buy the GO 630 again. IQ Routes is what makes TomTom better. Its my 2nd GPS in 4 years and I’d still choose a TomTom over comparable Garmin (or any of the tier 2 brands).
Good: Took a driving trip with friends who had a more expensive Garmin Nuvi. TomTom’s IQ Routes sent us around a major traffic backup theirs would have driven us straight into – regardless of real-time traffic or not. It also did a better job routing in a couple other instances, which I attribute potentially to IQR as well. I also like the map telemetry presentation better. Based on my parents experience with a high end Nuvi, it also holds sat signal better thru underpasses and around tall buildings and recovers better out of tunnels.
Complaints: It tries to avoid u-turns on major roads. This should be a preference setting, I’m a big boy – I can manage. The text-to-speech engine is really just bearable. It screws up all but the simplest names. It gets “San Francisco” wrong, using a short O sound “Fran-sisk-ah”. It mixes languages, saying “one west one” for hwy 101, instead of “one oh one”, obviously a programming bug trying to use normal speech instead of “one zero one”, subbing the 0 for O, but the address interpreter then picks that up as Oest in French. Really confusing. The speech to text works OK, but you have to learn to say addresses exactly the way its looking for them or it gets them wrong. It was the reason I picked the GO 630 over a 340S, thinking it would be easier for me when traveling for business when I don’t have a co-pilot to do entry. The mount is manageable. It has the same problem as all other compact mounts, in that its close to the windshield – which in some cars can be a mile from the driver. I can see where the hanging mechanism would annoy some, but you learn to use it properly. But you can still accidentally leave it in a rental car, so the integrated ones would be preferable.
Again, all in all, it was a good purchase and I’d buy it again. I’d definitely buy a TomTom over a Garmin, based on the interface. And IQ Routes (and potentially MapShare) is a major differentiator over the competitors. If I want real-time traffic, I just buy an RDS antenna – no subscriptions or activation fee.
Very useful
I had two main goals for buying this GPS for my wife. I was concerned about her getting lost when I’m not in the car with her, and talking on her cell phone while driving. So far, this GPS has helped me with both of these concerns.
The maps have been very accurate. Although my wife doesn’t have to drive to unfamiliar destinations very often, it has taken her right where she wanted to go the few times she has needed it.
I found out that not all cell phones are supported for the hands-free calling, and some have more functionality than others. Fortunately, her LG VX5400 cell phone does work, but it doesn’t use the address book feature. She has to dial a phone number if she wants to call someone. That hasn’t been much of an issue though, because my main concern was with her taking a call while she was driving. Once I paired her phone with it, it has synced up automatically ever since. She hasn’t had to do anything to get it to work. The reception is adequate. Some people have mentioned they don’t hear her as clearly now, but she hasn’t had any trouble talking to anyone.
One other unexpected feature is a compass. My wife always wanted an electronic compass for the car. It was somewhat buried in the menus, but I found out this GPS does have a compass display.
POI needs better searchability.
I like this GPS and it does everything it is supposed to do. The 3d lane assist is a nice touch and works great in the Boston area.
The only issue I have is searching the POI for restaurants. It’s difficult because it does not allow you to search by food type. The food type is listed but you have to click through the restaurant to find the food type as opposed to searching restaurants by food type. Other than that, i’m pleased with the unit.
Best GPS I had so far.
I’ve had 3 gps systems and have all stuck with TOMTOM. My first gps was the tomtom GO 700 which was so outdated and thus I sold it. I still have a TomTom 510 but has had problems with it with freezing when hitting certain points on the map. Tomtom said it was a map error and i needed to connect it to tomtom home but i have lost the cable to connect back to the computer. This tomtom 630, i bought for under $150 and has proven it’s worth on the road.
It works great connecting to the computer to update the maps and I have no problems with getting lost. Only thing is that I wish there was a dock that came with it as my TomTom 510 had one which was easy to release and take off whenever I wanted but this one is easy to take off but i have to disconnect the cable to the car everytime, which gets a little tiring after removing everytime I need to take it off the mount.
One other thing would be the bluetooth. I have an iphone and it connected the first time, but has not connected after. I don’t use it but would like to have it at least in cases of emergency I would like to have it connected when I dont have a hand’s free handset available. Maybe it’s because I have to have wifi enabled but I have not found out about the answer yet. Other than that, it is a fine product to have and I like the user interface.
Great device, everyone should consider one!
Works like a champ, very useful when traveling to areas that you are unfamiliar with as well as finding routes to avoid traffic and construction delays. Speed limit reminders are mostly accurate, only complaint there is not all roads have the data for speed zones. Display is large and readable in the majority of sunlight conditions. Database is good, a few mistakes noted after 60 days of traveling. Device is fast at re-routes if you miss a turn or decide to pass up a turn. Very few nags about “make a U turn” that is common to other manufactures software.
Awesome product
This product was so easy to use, and so well designed, even my wife could use it. That is saying a LOT! She is very anti-technology, so for her to be able to use it, and it to work effectively, is amazing.
Our father loves his GPS Navigator…
We bought the TomTom GO 630 GPS Navigator for our father for Christmas and he absolutely loves it. He found it quite easy to use after we showed him how to navigate through the menu.
He’s 76 years old… : )
Works great. Battery life leaves a bit to desire.
It works great with one exception; the battery life reduces pretty quickly when it is off. If you let the GPS sit for a couple days without charging, it will be pretty low on battery when you try to use it (meaning it only lasted a few minutes unplugged!). Works great if you charge it regularly though.