TomTom XL 335T (Lifetime Traffic Edition) 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Reviews

1. Worst TomTom Ever

   by X. Liu

   Let me start with the fact that I will be the last one to badmouth TomTom GPS. I have gone through five TomTom GPS in 8 years, some lower end, a couple of higher end, and this one is an outlier worst one. For example, I had searched my home with probably close to a hundred different electronic maps, including dozens of GPS and cell phone maps, this is the first and only one that put it a few blocks away. The community was built in the 90s, so it’s not a new address. Tomtom must be using an absurd map different from anyone else and different from all it had on other devices. What is happening? Searched a few places I know and all of them were placed on a few blocks away from their real location on the map. This never happened before and I had a hard time to comprehend its happening.

   I still wanted to give it a chance, so I installed the TomTom Home software, and tried to update the map. After almost an hour of waiting, it finally told me ‘an error while writing files’. Reading other customer feedback posted here, it was likely a result of insufficient disk space. Well, my guess was wrong. After an automatic reboot of the GPS after the installation, it displayed a bloody-red warning on the screen: “You cannot use this map on this device: North_America_P-165″. The only allowable action is a big ‘OK’ button. The GPS had been bricked.

   As a programmer, I take it granted that all software come with bugs, but this one is broken beyond repair.

2. Device is fine, updates take hours

   by Gralfus

   I like using the device, it does give accurate directions. However, I bought updates to the map and that is when things got sour. Downloading the update (about 800 MB) was fine, but the automatic install from the computer to the device took hours. Some people report that it can take days, or suddenly disconnect leaving them with a brick. I have not had this experience, just the hours long install. I can watch it write some data to the device for 30 seconds, then it will pause for a minute, then write again. It shouldn’t take hours to install 800MB of data. That is slower than the lowest speed of USB 1.1. All I can think is that it is a bad design, since others are also complaining about it. And it does this each time I do an update (2 so far). I’m writing this review while waiting for it to finish. The blue progress bar hasn’t budged for 45 minutes.

   Oh, and map updates wipe out your stored favorites and points of interest. You have to use their software to back up your device *first* before updating the map. Bit o’ pathetic programming there TomTom. Map updates cost about $57 US after figuring in tax and the “required latest map” in addition to the map update service. I’ve heard that maps are available via Torrent, but haven’t bothered since I just paid for them. Maybe if I’m going overseas I check on it.

   So overall, the device is fine and once it gets around to finding the satellites it works fine. But the update process is needlessly painful and frustrating.
   

3. Not wonderful Out-of-the-Box

   by Catholic Reader

   The set up process is a problem. You’re supposed to be able to connect the GPS to a computer, which should recognize it and launch TomTom Home. On my computer it did not. My Windows 7 computer recognized the TomTom and downloaded some software but did not launch Home, which is necessary in order to enter a promo code to register and get the lifetime traffic and maps. I called TomTom’s customer service (long wait) and was sent an email with a website link, which is one I’d already visited before calling and which was worthless. So I went into the TomTom files on my computer, found the setup icon, and launched TomTom Home that way. It failed several times (TomTom wouldn’t recognize the promo code), and on a third re-start Windows 7 offered to repair the files – and did. Then I began downloading a suggested (and I assume necessary) update, which was huge and took more than two hours. I shut down all other Internet programs. (I have an HP wireless laptop that connects at 54 Mbps.) More than once I was tempted to abort, so if you have a desktop with a super-fast connection, use that. But I would certainly have appreciated a heads-up at the start that the download could take X minutes at Y connection speed. All that said, once in the car it is working beautifully.

4. Tom Tom units will not work with XP Media

   by Wolf857

   My travel laptop is based on Windows XP Media. I purchased a Tom Tom unit when a Garmin died on a trip in an emergency from a brick and mortar store. After over 30 days the store chain finally gave me a swap to Magellan based on all the emails plus a $10 credit for all my trouble after Tom Tom CS FINALLY admitted that their software will not work with XP Media and they have no intention of making it work. I’ll never use another Tom Tom – Magellan gave me the free map update (within 30 days of purchase they updated) and I purchased the lifetime traffic link from Amazon – totally happy with the unit. It saved me this past weekend in Atlanta finding me a detour around a 2 hour delay on I20 due to paving!! Magellan’s software is working fine with my laptop!Magellan Traffic Link for Subscription-Free Traffic for RoadMate 1210, 1220, 1340, 1440, 1470, 4700

5. Disappointed with TomTom

   by B. Lucente

   Have to say I’m disappointed with the product from TomTom. I was drawn to the device because of the lifetime traffic and a map offering but the product was inferior to the Garmin I eventually replaced the device with.
   
   The TomTom maps were very in accurate, the device movement was choppy, and the screen had an excessive amount of glare which made it difficult to see the screen.

   The positive side of this whole experience was the ease of returning the product with Amazon, the process worked flawlessly and easy to manage. Thanks Amazon

6. XL335TM – not so good

   by Joe B

   Received an XL335TM as a gift yesterday and spent over 7 hours today trying to get it to work properly. Out of the box and into the car and it turned up nicely. I entered my home data sitting in the driveway and decided to give it a test drive. I picked the post office from the POI list and let it select a route. The first thing I noticed was the voice just told me to “turn left in 100 yards”, no announcing of street names. I made sure I had a computer generated voice selected since the recorded voices don’t give street names. I did, but it didn’t work.

   Second thing I noticed was that the traffic function was searching for signal and couldn’t find one. When I got to the post office (almost) it announced I had reached my destination. Not quite. I was still a good quarter of a mile away. At the post office, I entered Home as my new destination and followed the directions back. When I got within about four hundred yards of home, with still a right hand turn to make, it announced I had reached my destination. Sitting in my driveway I could see the logo of a house around the corner and down the block. It told me the house number where I sat was 180 instead of 130, which was shown as being around the corner. Bummer, zero for two on finding actual locations.

   I made my first of about 8 calls to tech support. On the positive side, my wait for an agent was always short with a couple of minutes being the longest wait. All the agents were very polite and must have been located in the US based on their clear use of the English language. That was a plus. They all tried to be very helpful and seemed to understand how to proceed in solving the problems.

   I then proceeded to download the latest version of the application and the latest map for North America to fix the location and the traffic reception problems. That process took several hours and it didn’t make a difference. It still thought my house was around the block and there still was no traffic data reception. Then we played games with downloading, installing, uninstalling various voices. Trying to install voices on the GPS kept resulting in error messages. I was then instructed to format the unit and reinstall everything. I followed the format instructions but Windows came back saying it was unsuccessful in performing the format. At that point, the GPS unit stopped communicating with TomTom Home and my PC no longer saw the unit on the USB port. I changed ports and that didn’t matter either.

   I was offered an RMA code to send the unit back. I said not to bother. I was TAKING the unit back and getting a refund.

   Oh yes, the screen touch sensitivity is really strange. I found the adjacent letter often being recognized vs the one I pressed or at least intended to press. I found I needed to be very deliberate and slow in pressing a key to get it to enter properly. And then I ran the risk of the letter being entered multiple times. So just typing a street name correctly was a chore. The same was true of changing pages. Sometimes what I thought was one touch to change a page was interpreted as two or three touches resulting me getting to a totally different page than I had intended.

   This has been a real disappointing experience. I have an old TomTom (120 or 140), which doesn’t speak street names or have traffic (but neither did the 355TM) and it has an old map which accurately knows where my house is. It works fine and I think I’ll just stick with it and save my wife $170 on the gift she gave me.

7. PC Software not compatible with Windows 7 64-bit

   by Irina Belousov

   This is my second TomTom GPS, and it’s very similar to the first one: stellar UI, great support, not so good maps, stability issues.

   In particular:

   - do not delete voices. I deleted some computer voices and lost all of them – could not restore.
   
   - do not use any Windows 7 64 bit PC to download updates to maps. The update fails with cryptic erro message and you are left with no maps on device. According to tech support, TomTom HOME is not compatible with Win7 64bit, and a fix is expected in a few weeks (not that you’ll find it anywhere on their site).
   
   - support advises against downloading large updates over wireless network. I did not run into this problem, but beware.

   In general, once you get this thing to work, it’s great. The map issues can be annoying and even downright nasty, but nothing you can’t work through, and map correction allows you to fix them and submit them. On the other hand, the UI is much better than Garmin and Magellan. My wife swears by TomTom, and even the initial stability problems did not prevent us from reverting to it after trying Garmin.
   

8. Much better than expected

   by Michael Corrado

   I was hesitant about buying the 335TM because of all the negative reviews about what happens when you hook it up to your computer. I have now had it for about two weeks, and I am delighted with it. This is my first GPS, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it has done everything I could have expected of it. It took me from North Carolina to Maine, including a trip into and out of Boston, without a hitch. When I deviate from the programmed route, it reprograms and comes up with a modified route without any difficulty whatever. I have been in Portland, Maine for the last week, and it has taken me from my home address to Sam’s Club (surprisingly, one of the many Points of Interest in its database), for example, and when I don’t know a street address it can take me to the nearest crossing. After a little initial fussing — there was a short learning curve — I found it to be extremely easy to program.

   I am absolutely satisfied with what it has done for me so far. I can’t imagine expecting more of a GPS device. But here’s the one hitch: because of the negative reviews I have not tried to use my computer to download new maps. I will have to do that soon, and if it gets me into trouble I will report it here. I have also not had to deal with support.

9. Needed Lane assist feature

   by Rickey Sanasac

   I move to the Dallas/Fort Worth area at the start of 2010 and I found out the hard way that I really needed lane assist on my GPS. I was frustrated with the Garmin I had, which was an older model and it needed a map update. So I needed a GPS that had lane assist and found this one with life time map update and traffic. I had only used a Garmin so I wanted to try a Tom Tom out and the XL 335TM wasn’t on the market yet. So I went and bought a 340 to use in the mean time. I found the maps more accurate with the Tom Tom. I could start entering my destination while still in my apartment complex setting still. When I done this on the Garmin it thought I was on the near by interstate. It kept saying recalculating when I would get out onto the freeway. I used the 340 for 13 days since that was as long as I could before I couldn’t return it for a full refund. I then went and tried out a Magellen with a 7 inch screen. The unit was so heavy it kept falling off the windshield. The maps was the same as the Garmin, couldn’t enter my destination while setting in my apartment complex. Only the Tom Tom had the streets of the apartment complex in its maps. Then I quickly returned the Magellen, which I did not like. The Magellen couldn’t find some addresses and wouldn’t even let you enter them. However, once you got to the place it would show the address correctly. I also tried a new Garmin which didn’t correct the situation of knowing I was at my apartment complex and not on the near by interstate. I was able to try all three major brands and I can tell you I am so please with the Tom Tom which has by my opinion the BEST MAPS. The unit came with the traffic interface cord and the IQ maps works great in the DFW area. It will route you around the heavy traffic and get you to the destinations quicker. Sometime I have to go out in the middle of the night, it will take you on the interstate and most direct route, but during the day it will take you to a different route but get you there faster then the interstate. I like that. If you ever think you will be in a large metroplex area even once let me advise you to get a GPS with lane assist. You will have to glance up at the unit to see in the lower left hand corner what highlighted lane you need to be in. You can’t always depend on what it is saying. Also it will let you know if you are going too fast in the lower right hand corner. The basic operation is a little different then the Garmin and the Magellen, but now that I am use to it I like it better. It is a lot easier to find as designation with zip code and I am used to a QWERTY keyboard layout which is the default setting. One other thing I might add is that you have to use the USB cable that came with the unit to update it. The cable that came with my camera would fit, but kept saying the Tom Tom was unknown device. At first I thought it was the Tom Tom unit itself after the first update, but I was using the wrong cable. Also the Tom Tom servers that update the software with have a slow connection. The update took almost an hour even with my fast 12 mbps connection speed. When picking a GPS unit you really have to ask yourself what features you want. I recommend the lane assist feature in this GPS unit. It has saved me a lot of wrong turns.

10. Excellent Navigator

    by MikeS

    I’ll preface this by saying I have had a Mio Moov200 3.5″ PND for a couple years and this year received a Magellan 1440 4.3″ PND. I sold the Magellan for a few reasons: It had screen lag where the pointer was off about 100 feet on the move and there was little customization.

    The Tomtom 335TM has just about everything I want in a PND. The lifetime maps and traffic were big selling points. I like the fact that there are quarterly map updates and the FM traffic doesn not have pop up ads like Garmin. Garmin does have a brighter screen.

    The IQ routes works great. It seems to pick roads that I would pick if I did not have a GPS. The magellan would somtimes pick wierd ways which I guess it thought was “fastest”. The tomttom just seems more intelligent picking a route although it is a tad slower than garmin/magellan.

    The map graphics are not as nice as Garmin or Magellan but are functional and informative. I love the lower dashboard showing distance to next turn in BIG numbers for easy viewing. I like the distance-to-go, arrival time and speed display there as well.

    I really like adding new POI categories using [...] and other sites. Super easy with tomtom. Magellan has a bit easier interface for finding POI’s but Tomtom gets the job done and the more I use it the easier it is.

    Customization: You can select pre-defined or custom map colors, voices, etc. Tons of stuff on tomtom HOME community.

    The fold-n-go mount is ok and I use it as backup in truck. I bought a better mount off ebay for around $[...] that is more adjsutable and rigid.

    I highly reccomend this GPS. It just works really great and is fun to play with.

11. Lifetime activation code

    by J. Kim

    For those of you getting an error message after inputing
    
    your lifetime map activation code, try not using capital letters.
    
    This worked for me after getting the error message.

    Hope this helps!

12. First time user

    by F. J. Marsh

    The TomTom XL 335S was purchased for a trip to Sequoia & Yosemite NPs, then on to San Jose to visit with friends. Granted, we did not really need the unit to get to the national parks since we are also members of AAA, and we had a TripTick. Further, a GPS is not needed in any of the national parks since park maps are free well detailed, and a visitor center employee recommemded not using a GPS since “it cannot differentiate a paved road from a dirt road and some people have become totally lost”. We had never been to San Jose and even though we had an address and directions to our friends home it was much easier and trouble free to punch in the address, then rely on the GPS. It proved invaluable in alerting us to turn at the next intersection within 2 miles, then 1 mile, 1/4 mile, etc. It took the guess work out of figuring out which lane to be in well in advance of a turn – and the GPS took us virtually to the front door. A nice feature is that the unit gives the speed limit of the road you are using, and the speed you are traveling.

13. Lifetime Maps activation won’t work, be ready to jump through hoops

    by Amiga

    TomTom continues to offer the same ol’ crappy customer service. I buy their devices because I like their interface more than the competitions. I don’t buy them because of their product support.

    Lifetime Maps activation doesn’t work through TomTom HOME for the 335LM / 335M / 4ET03. You get the error of, “An error has occurred. Please try again.” TomTom’s support wants you to go through hoops and fax them the activation / promotion card and also the device’s receipt. Supposedly after you do this, in five days the problem will be rectified. Great, more time and money to satisfy their ongoing issues. Unfortunately, I read a tons of posts, after the fact, that this is not an isolated problem.

14. Good GPS for price

    by Linus van Pelt

    I purchased this TOM TOM to replace my Garmin Nuvi 200. This one seems to pick up the satalites quicker than the Garmin, however I have noticed some points of interest being incorrect. These can be fixed via the TOM TOM community map updates or manually. The voice is not as nice as the Garmin however this is a personal preference. I have noticed that some addresses it is needed to enter the zip code to find the ‘city’ location to find a street. The Garmin found streets qicker and with less hassle. Over all the GPS is good. The street view for intersections / exits is nice and comes in handy. I have yet to go to a ‘covered market’ for the traffic feature to actually work. (Will do so mid next month I might update the review after that experience Heading to Philadelphia, PA).

15. XL 335TM, just a basic GPS

    by Robert L. Bishop

    TomTom is very slow/poor, as far as updateing the map. Otherwise unit is just a basic. The good part is the life time Traffic and Maps.

16. Best GPS Yet

    by J. R. Yuhas

    I got my TomTom XL335TM as soon as they were available in April 2010. The traffic update feature is fantastic. On a trip to Philadelphia it warned me of a traffic jam and asked me if I would like to routed around it, I pressed yes and it took me on a road I never knew about saving me time. I was very impressed. You do have to be plugged into your power outlet for the traffic receiver to work, since the receiver is part of the power cord that is shipped with the unit. I also hooked my XL335TM up to my laptop and used the activation key to download the latest map. It takes a while to download and install so leave yourself enough time before you start. This is my second TomTom, I bought an early edition of the One in 2006. If this unit is as rugged and reliable as my last TomTom that I still use on my motorcycle, the lifetime map update will be very handy to have years down the road. I see that a few reviewers here have had difficulty using theirs but I can recommend this unit without reservation. I paid $169 w/free 2 day shipping with Amazon Prime. Good deal on a great GPS!

17. Tomtom does zero QC testing

    by Ryan

    The PC software (TomTom HOME) doesn’t work correctly with this GPS out of the box. Plug in, click update, and it doesn’t have space (on the GPS to install the updates. That’s 100% stock. Activation Code (for lifetime maps, etc) also didn’t work. Phone support said mine was the first phone call he had ever received for the 335 product. Had me manually remove all the languages on the GPS other than English (great other than no so helpful if I have someone that needs another language in the car) then try the update again… Failed to write to the GPS on download. During reboot the unit switched to Dutch for a bit… Re-done manually – transfered files over, after slicking the flash space (read from a help forum), and the maps work, but it doesn’t work with the FM traffic (included, that’s the T in the model name), and the activation code for the updates still doesn’t work. Software glitches at such a fundamental level that it is clear TomTom didn’t QC the US maps with TomTom HOME in combination with this product (335TM).

    That aside…

    Good things on the 335TM:
    
    -The mount is great so far, very solid
    
    -Routing quality is very good

    Bad things (some duplication vs above):
    
    -Screen completely washes out with sunlight
    
    -Zeros are often omitted on spoken directions. Eg, the 405 freeway would be called out as 4,5. 805 would be called out as Interstate 8,5. (coma indicating separate digits spoken)
    
    -FM traffic not working with map on the unit
    
    -Activation doesn’t work
    
    -Errors on updates/transfers forcing restart
    
    -TomTom HOME tries to install things that will not fit (by default on first click up-date)
    
    -TomTom technical support saying future map sets would be broken up, so parts of the country could be left off to free space. This is a new GPS bought in 2010; I haven’t had to break up mapsets on Garmin GPSs since their StreetPilot III. 4GB of flash is /cheap/, and all this set takes is a bit over 2GB. Poor cost cutting on the part of TomTom.

18. You need to purchase traffic receiver!

    by P. Wong

    Although the 335TM gives you free lifetime traffic and maps, the listing doesn’t tell you that you have to purchase the new FM receiver power cord that isn’t even in the marketplace yet! This will cost you an additional $30 so says the TomTom support center when I inquired about the traffic service after I had bought this unit. I think it is a bad marketing policy to overtly advertise the lifetime traffic and maps without telling you that you have to spend an addition $30. As it is, I bought this unit primarily for the traffic module but I can’t comment on it’s effectiveness as it isn’t yet in the marketplace.

    Ok, I have the traffic module on the cord, the support person was misinformed.

19. newest generation of gps long time comming

    by walter sheehan

    THE TOMTOM XL335TM IS LONG TIME COMMING – ITS AN EXCELLENT CHOISE ESP. WITH LIFETIME MAP UPDATES AND ON BOARD LIFETIME TRAFFIC MAKES USING THIS GPS A VERY HELPFUL FEATURE IN EVERYDAY TRAFFIC. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, THANKS TOMTOM

20. better than most

    by J. Jensen

    This gps works quite well. Still not as good as my old Lowrance i-way 250c but better than Magellan 1440 or 4250. Also better than the new Garmin 1300. This gps has 10 color choices for the screen colors, nice addition. Also has option of the menu horizontal or vertical. It has auto zoom which adjusts the range automatically and works through many ranges starting at around 20mph. The Garmin only has 3 ranges, 200ft, .2mile and .3mile in auto range. You had to be going 58 mph before the garmin would shift to the .2 mile range, and I can guarantee the a 200 ft ramge is not worth a dam at 55mph,,

    This is a basic gps, no bluetooth, or traffic info,but it has lane assist which I wanted. For the money this is a good choice.. Too bad it only says arrived at destination, what happened to left and right, which my old Lowrance did. If you really need a gps, it should tell you what side of the street your destination is on.

    For my money forget Magellan, and Garmin, compare for yourself. Too bad I can’t get a new Lowrance which displays way more data.