TomTom GO 500

Rubbish! – Having previously used a Navman which unfortunately died I bought this Tom Tom as they were supposed to be 'The Best" in the business.Well, this load of rubbish has given me so many Bumsteers that I couldnt trust it anymore. It seems to focus on the street name and number but not really care if its the suburb you want. Its done this since new and… Read more

combined with the fact that it has no POI's makes it basically useless so it went out the window. Bye bye Tom Tom you've lost another customer!

No text by voice – I still cannot enter addresses by speaking into my iPhone tom-tom go refuses to understand what I am saying, this is a must for hands-free driving, The basic layout is okay but the fact that I can't speak into my phone and add addresses this way really annoys me, I won't be using the app until they fix this problem.

Tom Tom 5100 – Can't download Italy and was sold as having world wide maps. Only has Australia and New Zealand on it and I'm not going to Italy and I know my way around australia. Battery lasts about 30 mins and takes a day to charge. Storage capacity less than a year 2000 usb might have to use it as a door stop but will probably fail at that. DONE BUY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE TO GIVE IT ONE STAR AS 0 IS NOY AN OPTION

Total Wast of Money – The reason I bought this Tom Tom was the ability to remove it from the cradle without unplugging it from it,s Power cable. That system worked for about 4 weeks then if I drove over a rough road it would say the power was lost and go into shut-down. Are I thought I,ll fix that I,ll turn off the automatic shut-down this worked for a month or two… Read more

then the internal battery decided to give up and it say,s battery flat shutting down when the power is lost. SO FRUSTRATING DON,T go near a Tom TOM.

Accidental drop shattered the glass – Got the Tomtom for Christmas, open the box and accidentally drop it on my carpet.. It fell at an angle , when I picked it up the glass was shattered. My old Tomtom survived more that this new one.. Very disappointed. Good design as far the body but with cheap glass.. Goodby Tomtom hello Garmin...

TomTom service is rubbish – What a waste of money TomTom navigation is. I have a GO 500, which has this "1 minute 47 second" updating problem. This problem causes my device to continually show that it is updating, but it's not. I now have 3 updates waiting, that I can't download because of this problem. I have tried only selecting the new updates, but this doesn't work… Read more

either. What I'm really annoyed about, is that I have paid for safety camera updates which I can get due to this problem. As far as I'm concerned this device is not fit for purpose. I bought the safety camera package on the understanding that I would receive updates, that is the contract and TomTom has broken their part of the contract. So I can't get my safety camera updates and I can't get map updates etc.... So, TomTom what you going to do about it. On the TomTom forums, this problem has been discussed for a long time, so maybe all affected TomTom users should return their TomToms to the company and demand a refund of the purchase price. Again, this item is NOT fit for purpose.

Irrelavent support. Dark display – Well Where do I start? How can the same brand make different GPS units that work so differently and the more expensive units be so much worse than the cheap or earlier units? I made the mistake of recommending a Tom Tom to my brother and he bought a current model. It is disappointing that the older units work so well and the newer units are so… Read more

badly.

The Good

The GPS works, it gives a decent route and the lifetime map update option actually gets updates unlike other brands.

The Bad

Very Dark Display even at full brightness it is darker than earlier units.

When on an A listed road it doesn't display it's name or the names of the roads leading on to it when a route is not set... Tom Toms Support exact words relating to this problem "Having checked this information from our Senior Support Team, I would like to inform you that this feature is not available on GO 50 devices. inconvenience

This feature were available on VIA series but not on GO series. Apologies for the inconvenience caused to you." A fat lot of good that is if you are looking for a street of a main road. oh and by the Way NO Refunds

No clock display when not navigating.

I had a lot of trouble using the voice option with this unit.

To sum up...

Don't ever buy a Tom Tom GO series unit unless you don't need to see the name of the A road you are on and only ever use your GPS in the dark. If you can find one get a VIA series unit it wont have the voice command stuff but they work,you can see them in the daylight and they are easy to use. Have a look at the GPS next time you get into a cab and you will likely see a VIA series Tom Tom.

Frustrated... Very very frustrated – We were told by a friend who had a tomtom, said that it was the best in the business. Judging from other reviews it seems that the previous models were, but the Tomtom Go 500 is not worth the money. It's simple and easy to get used to after a while, but that would be its only perk. My problems: It's delayed, it will tell me to turn in 100 metres… Read more

when I'm actually at the turn then and now. It's frustrating after a while when you keep missing your turns because it's telling you 100 metres to go.

It won't give you the fastest, or the shortest routes. I went to go to the airport and ended up doing a large circle through heaps of traffic. Found out there was a bypass I could have taken to get there in exactly half the time. I looked through settings, thinking I found the problem (this was only one example, I think I've probably wasted a bit of fuel in the last couple of months going the longest ways it seems) in settings I changed it to fastest route, to shortest route. Happy I started my journey, only to realise it was the same route. Didn't change a thing. Every time it's always the same, it always seems to keep to the main roads rather then the shortest or fastest. Again... Frustrating.

The display is boring, I wouldn't mind if it did its job, but I would have liked it if they put a little creativity in it. Even something different to the little arrow. Some brighter colours? Anything to make it a little nicer to look at.

It doesn't talk a lot. That's probably a good thing in some aspects, but I get a little nervous when it's stopped updating me, and I'm sitting in a quite car waiting for it to tell me to turn.

There are a few more little things that get on my nerves, tiny details that don't need to be mentioned, but for the money we paid, and in comparison to other GPS's I've seen, it's a sad let down. I hate to waste money, and I feel like that is exactly what I've done. Now I have to figure out if I should let my frugal nature rule and keep the thing, or just bite my tongue and buy something that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out.

Tomtom= badbad

THE BEST GPS FOR TOMTOM SO FAR – I recently purchased the TomTom GO 500 GPS. Its the best and easiest GPS to use. It has a capacitive screen which makes it very easy to navigate,to find things, and to type in your destinations. I liked it so much, that I actually bought 2 of them. But for some reason though, they seem to have discontinued this model, and they now only sell the GO 600 . I find the GO600 a bit big, I prefer the 5 inch GO500 instead.

I haven't found words to describe it! – I had a TomTom One for years and loved it...I lived with it all day every day...I wore it out. On advice from the "expert" at Harvey Norman, I replaced it with TomTom Go 500 about 10 months ago...how I regret that choice. Most addresses that I search are not found...there are very few "POI's" of Tourist type found...the Main Menu doesn't offer the… Read more

options (eg. supermarket) that the much older model offered. I am at a loss to find something that is an improvement with this device...not happy...stress out and curse

alot every time I turn on the ignition and have to sit and wait for it to "load", then enter a legit address, only to get a "no addresses found". I could go on...there could be a book in me on this #*}^!?> topic.

Service? Customer service? – I bought this unit because it was touch screen, and has a larger display than my previous tom tom. It does work well, but i find the operation "dumbed down" from the older models. So i don't expect anything fancy. There are many addresses missing in the database, two of these were funeral homes, which is not the best thing before a funeral! My… Read more

main complaint regards customer service. In tom tom's wisdom, you must have a separate email address for each unit, which is ludicrous. As my main email address was taken with the old unit, i used my gmail account for this.The mounting pivot was loose, so i first contacted dick smith, who were helpful, but said tom tom hamstrings them and don't provide spare parts, and they would have to send the whole unit back.

I then contacted customer service both through gmail and web reply (better). There was no category to lodge mechanical faults, so i somehow lodged a fault and waited for a reply. After a while they asked for the receipt, serial number, etc, and "escalated" the fault to the senior team. They did send a part, but it was totally the wrong part, not even from the same model. I sent them a scan of the required part, (they didn't seem to receive this), but they emailed back wanting photos of each part so they can "escalate" the fault to a senior team. Crazy!

I'm over this, i will use some glue. Easy to use in a dumb way Inept customer service, hard to access, slow.

Fast route calculation. Good touch screen – This is more of a comparison rather than a review. I have just purchased a Tom Tom GO 500, but still have two older Navmans. (n40i and MY55T) It cost me $196 at The Good Guys. Price varies quite bit between retailers. Have since purchased a Navman MY600 when the Tom Tom died. Tom Tom GO 500 Good features 1. Solid case. 2. Active… Read more

windscreen mount, so no need to unplug a cable when removing the GPS.

3. Auto start up when power on. And auto Sleep mode after power off.

4. Fast satellite connection. (Unless in a totally new area.)

5. Fast route re/calculation.

6. Smooth screen movement and slightly easier to read then the Navmans.

7. Good touch/slide screen.

8. Reasonably easy to enter/store new addresses. (A very pointy finger helps!)

9. Current location can be stored by just touching the map (hold 1 second).

10. Lifetime map updates. Can be downloaded via a PC.

11. Audible warning for red-light cameras.

12. On-screen speed and speed limit indication.

13. Side bar showing next service station etc.

14. Current road conditions available via a compatible bluetooth mobile phone. (Mine isn't.)

Not so good features

1. Heavy case - won't fit in a top shirt pocket.

2. Requires four screen touches to activate Home journey. (Navman needs only one.)

3. No audible over-speed limit warning.

4. On country roads, the speed limits on-screen were often inaccurate.

5. Some screen text is too small to read in bright sunlight.

6. No on-screen time of day. (Unless in Menu mode.)

7. Only four route type options. (One of the Navmans has 25.)

8. No LED indicator for state of battery/charging.

9. No on-screen battery indicator (Unless in Menu mode.)

10. In sleep mode, the battery goes flat rather quickly. On start up, the unit sometimes locks up and has to be restarted.

11. Not all that easy to capture a current location. If it's off-road, it won't be recorded.

12. When the battery dies, it cannot be replaced by the owner, so unless it's still under warranty, you might as well throw the whole GPS away. Clear maps, smooth movement, responsive touch screen No Battery indicator LED. Four screen touches just to get Home. Warning: If you press reset you will lose all of your stored addresses!

Difficult to use – The GO 500 doesn't allow you to input your own POI's, your own photos, to use map share which records difference between maps and actual location you have to log on to MP share on a computer so you have to remember the actual alteration needed. Can't change map colours The volume increase or decrease is difficult to access whilst driving The GO 750 was more user friendly I don't believe that enough consumer research was undertaken

Total and utter rubbish. Stay away. Buy a UBD instead – I bought my 500 a few mths ago. What a huge mistake. This unit is the worst thing TomTom have ever brought out. Firstly, what the hell is with that stupid bubble at the top that blocks out the direction arrow that u can only see in the last 100mtrs before u have to turn??? The other day it wouldn't pick up any satilites of half the day. I was… Read more

ready to throw it out the window after the first hr of being stuck at the last location.

Another thing u can't do is zoom to a distance that suits u without it auto zooming back to the factory distance it's set to and u can't stop it.

I had a TomTom One for 6 yrs and I wish I never got rid of it because it was so much better than this piece of rubbish.

If they can fix all these prob then it might be a decent unit. Until then, stay the hell away from it and possibly look at a Navman or something better.

I want my money back for this garbage unit TomTom.

I'm off the buy a trusty UBD street directory. Windscreen mount is good. That's about it. Stupid bubble at the top. On way to turn off auto zoom. Very slow satilite connection. Too much to list. Total garbage.

Good for the price – At around $79 per year for map updates, and $69 per year for traffic updates for previous tomtoms, the GO 500 purchase price of around $248 with lifetime maps and traffic is attractive. There is a BIG difference with the GO 500 and 600 however with the traffic service. The GO 500 must connect to your smartphone via the Bluetooth personal… Read more

hotspot (for an iPhone) and use your smartphones data in order to get traffic information. No smartphone, no traffic.

All else is pretty standard fare for the GO 500 compared to previous models. Having a touchscreen is neat. lifetime traffic and maps, touchscreen loses tracking in city areas

Good – a great GPS, a bit outdated now but still easy to use, well designed, packed full of features, that said I would recommend it to others to use. Great GPS unit, I had this before I upgraded and purchased the Tom Tom GO 720. Had great features like a bluetooth car kit, the ability to add custom voices on for a bit of entertainment, even came with a… Read more

soft case so you could hide it away in your glove box without it getting scratched It was a bit bulky, but only saying this because the new one is much smalled. The cradle that is mounted on the windscreen is also bulky and broke with someone that didn't know how to take it off properly, with a replacement value that was very high.

Good – I've used this machineina broad range of environments, and over all i think its a good unit. whether or not it is up to the compeition i don't know, it was given to me soi didn't shop. it gives you accurate speed readings, directions are pretty clear to understand, though i've never been able to trust it totally. it always messes things up… Read more

every now andthen. so then your left with still having a UDB/melways with you to double check..

for my partner who is from out of town, LOVED the machine. just never went without it. and has helped her alot! reasonably quick to recompute

can loose reception in sydney and melbourne CBD quick (less so brisbane) always playing a game of catch up

never able to be totally dependant