TomTom Via 220

TomTom- a navigation company that has lost its way – I have owned 4 TomToms, both the 220 and earlier ones. I really liked them when they worked. I found them very accurate, fast to re calibrate when I missed a turnoff, no grating re-calculating mantra when I missed a road, accurate speed indicator and speed limits,and easy to change view. It was simple to update the life time maps- more on this… Read more

soon. Pretty good so far!!!.

On the other side of the ledger I have found the GPS' simply don’t last- and they are not in regular use with me. Two stopped working for no reason and the third had a connecton problem where the USB cable went in so this one also became often unusable. While all my models were the not the most expensive ones I would still expect longer life and less problems from them.

That TomTom has decided not to update Life Time maps on one of my GPS's has left me cautious of using this company in the future. The life time maps was a key reason I bought the this brand and model. The email that came from TomTom sounded a little tricky. "Sorry", they said in their email, " no more life time maps as your model is too old but spend another couple of hundred dollars and we will sell you another with life time maps, (where we define LIFE in a very flexible way)". Not their words exactly but this was the meaning I came away with.

TomTom you do a good navigation system but at the moment your negatives outweigh your pluses and my next GPS will likely not be a TomTom. However the quality of your software still gives you a 3 star from me.

What is a Lifetime Update? – I got the Via 220 as it had free Lifetime Updates. I have just got an email from TomTom that said they will no longer support it and I have to buy another GPS, with yes you guessed it - a free longtime update! " Lifetime is the useful life of the device, which means the period of time that TomTom continues to support your device with software… Read more

updates, services, content or accessories. A device will have reached the end of its life when none of these are available any more. The useful life of the smartphone app means the period of time that TomTom continues to support the app with updates. "

So it seems that the free lifetime updates only apply as long as TomTom says it feels like it!

The unit itself worked OK for most of the time. There were a few mistakes where if I had taken its advice, it would have detoured me 100kms! The other issue is that it is very hard to use the website to update the maps, it almost seems like Tom Tom don't want you to use the free map updates.

Free "Lifetime" updates last 5 years – The GPS device has been 'alright', though the screen technology has been obsolete since I bought it. I purchased it because of the "free lifetime updates", but now received a message 5 years later that the updates have stopped because supposedly the new updates require more space than the device can handle. Seriously? Even if 10% more roads… Read more

have been added, and even if my country has far fewer roads than other countries which use the same device, it cannot handle it?

And to add insult to injury, they use the email as an opportunity to buy another device with "Lifetime Updates".

I will not buy TomTom again.

Avoid tomtom – Tomtom is the worst company I have dealt with in years. They are happy to take your money but don't deliver the product. There is no customer support. It is a rubbish company with a poor product you should avoid. An terribly disappointing experience that you should avoid this review demands 50?words so rubbish, rubbish rubbish "

Look elsewhere – Would not buy a TomTom unit again when I need a new GPS. TomTom "MyConnect" Website and software for updating this device is unreliable at best, useless at worst. TomTom have been hopeless at providing services paid for, like Speed Camera Updates and I have had to hassle by email to get these services I paid for. The Via 220 itself is OK, basic,… Read more

but OK. It's the (lack of) service from TomTom and the hopeless website for updating maps I really don't like.

Piece of crap – First 220 worked fine for short time then suffered satellite drop outs as it was under warranty exchanged for new 220, the new unit has constant satellite drop outs even from the very first start up. Everything else is fine. But strongly suggest purchasing something else. I'll be taking this unit back. Not impressed at all.

Horrible stay away from TOM TOM – Brought this device 3 months ago, nothing but problems I have faced with TOM TOM. This is complete piece of crap. Can't locate satellites even after an hour of driving, even after keeping the device updated all the time. No point in buying GPS device anymore, cause I had to rely on google map on phone.

Suits me fine – I was given a Tomtom Via220 for Fathers day by my eldest son who feels that I probably need one now that I'm retired and do bit of travelling.After using it I have thrown away my out of date street directory which is hard to read while I'm driving.I like the speed camera warnings and I set it to give me a warning if I exceed the speed… Read more

limit.Hopefully it will save me a speeding fine one day.I had trouble trying to download the free maps that went with the unit but unless I travel into a new area or a new roundabout not updated by Tomtom,it's not a problem to me.

I gave it 4 stars because the cable is too short to reach my cigarette lighter socket from where I have it mounted on the windscreen and there was no mains charger in the package.

Totally unreliable! – I bought this product around a year back. It worked fine for first few months. But now, it has gone crazy. I keep updating the device every week but most of the times, the device doesn't find the satellite. On several occasions, it just hangs and keeps searching for GPS signal!!

Charging problems, loose lead, slow satellite – I have had similar problems as others have experiences with this device . The lead keeps coming out and now the device won't hold a charge. It has been sending wrong directions lately too and I keep having to go back to recent destinations to put me back on track, It is slow to find a satellite and I live in flat suburb of Brisbane. It can be slow… Read more

to calculate where you are and I have missed exits from freeways because it tells me 1.5 k after the exit to take the exit. My old tom tom was better but it died too. I am looking to buy a new one now. I bought the UK maps as the memory card can fit these but not the Europe map as well.

We drove 5000 k in a rental car in UK for a month and it was pretty good but one place we were staying near Worcester for a week was on a private road and we often could not find our way back because Tom Tom doesn't recognise private roads. Apart from getting lost due to this and being directed up some strange country single lane short cuts it was pretty good. I liked how I could walk around London with it in my hand because I don't have a smart phone and you don't have to pay for data overseas to use it as map.finding car parks. nearest Petrol Stations, Maccers and places of interest etc. I expected it to last longer than it did or not have to throw it away when it can no longer hold a charge. It should have easy access to a battery you can renew.

Life Maps But the life is less than 18mths – I love the basic ease to operate Tom Tom ..But 3 failures in 4 years ! Shows life time is only 18mths at Best ! .... Emails not replied to

TomTom via 220 review – I purchased the TomTom via 220 primarily to use in Italy. I purchased the Europe map but couldn't get it to download. A friend in Italy had a laptop and after an email to TomTom customer support we managed to download the map for Europe. The maps themselves are excellent! The Europe map was a 3 Gb download which neccesitated the purchace of an… Read more

additional micro SD card. The nit itself is excellent, not once did it lead us in the wrong direction. Driving on the other side of the road, I occasionally missed an exit, the TomTom very quickly recalculated the route.

Reason for choosing the TomTom?

We use them in the cars at work (Australia) and they work quite well.

I have to say thepurchase and downloading of the Europe map was a bit frustrating, it kept telling me there was no content, I think I selected MyTomTom Home instead of My TomTomDrive. To their credit TomTom did sort this out by enabling a second - free download but not being able to talk to a representative was difficult. One of their representatives did email me back a few days later and I was then able to resolve the issue.

Overall, I am very happy with the unit and would wholeheartedly recommend it.

Adam Ryan

Not good enough – I bought the TomTom GoVia 220 in December 2013 as the map upgrade for my TomTom Classic cost $80 and this similar sized 4.3in unit only cost $98. A bad move as it turned out. The GoVia220 is functional but not good enough for peak hour in Brisbane CBD or inner city driving as it loses its way at crucial times. For instance the instruction is… Read more

'stay left' after passing a left exit , then 'turn right in 300m'. You can't cross 3 lanes in peak hour in that distance without offending a few people. After missing an instruction the follow up is all over the place for about 30seconds, eg 'turn right', turn left', turn right . However you do get to your destination and the time is generally only marginally longer.

The unit had 'Free Maps Forever' guarantee attached but TomTom wanted to charge me. TomTom support said this unit was not covered. JB HiFi agreed to replace it but then TomTom sent me an email to upgrade the maps.

I'm thinking parts of an organisation not in touch with each other. Easy to set up. It works as a basic unit. ok voice instructions, Map swivels, easy to attach to windscreen. Cheap Not as good as the seven year old model I had. Less information like no ongoing ETA and info is absent off screen .regularly.

Tom Tom Via 220 Steer clear – If you buy one make sure it comes with Life time maps, Otherwise it will cost you a fortune to keep up to date, I had a 90 day period to update map but due to Tom Tom software bugs it would not update? Yet after the 90 day period finished it worked & guess what to update maps now cost $70 which is more than half the price I brought it for, Also… Read more

the thing keeps shutting down randomly because of the shonky connection behind the unit, Ive had to duct tape the cable in place.

Have since purchased a cheaper unit off the net with bigger screen & same functions for $50 less? Nothing Cable connector behind unit, Software updates did not work with Windows 7 when purchased, High price for updates

Rubbish after 18 months – I quite liked the unit when I first got it as a Father's Day present 18 months ago. Unfortunately, over the last 3 months, it has become so unreliable as to be unusable. I drove for 4 hours from the Snowy Mountains, through the ACT and then to Goulburn and it never managed to find the main road once! I reset it to the factory settings hoping it… Read more

would fix any gremlins, but that made no difference. On a recent 8 hour drive, it spent 80% of the time not knowing where I was, about 15% of the time having me going backwards, and maybe 5% of the time correct. How it can lose the satellite information on a clear day in open countryside, I don't know! I now don't use it because it simply never finds the satellites, so it is useless. Worked well initially and map updates were reasonably easy to install. Can't find the satellites after 15 months use. As such it is useless.

Mixed Review – I have had this unit for approx 1 month and used it twice. I liked it's accuracy and in particular the speed to compute a new course should you overshoot an intersection. BUT - It failed on more than one occasion to warn of road speed changes, regularly fails to locate satellites, will not recharge. Has been reset with assistance from Tom Tom support, but still sitting on my desk because I cannot recharge it.

Good Little Unit – This little device has replaced my wife as our navigator so that alone was worth the $120 as there are no more arguments. We've travelled many KM up and down the east coast and it knows all the small and out of the way towns. Believe me it's a great little unit if you don't need blue-tooth and has only let us down once in the 2 years we've had it.… Read more

This was when we were driving to Milsons Point. It attempted to direct us to take a right turn in to North Sydney before the tunnel? Obviously there is no right turn so I ended up going through the tunnel then back over the bridge to get there. I update it regularly via the Tom Tom website as it came with a few years worth of free map updates. My wife also finds it easy to use when she borrows it. Good value, reliable and easy to use

inferior product – I had a tomtom one previously, worked well till I purchased map upgrade, it then started playing up. Purchased a new via 220 , worked ok for about 1 month then lots of small irritating problems, will not start up sometimes when ignition turned on, 4 mistakes in the second month, fixed speed camera indicator stays on till next camera comes along, a… Read more

real hassle to get so called free map updates downloaded. All in all a bad purchase. screen colours ok not enough room

GOOD VALUE – I just wanted a basic GPS. Works just fine. I didn't need anything extra like bluetooth etc. The menu is easy to use and navigate. Picks up GPS signal in under 20 seconds. Route calculation quick and so is the redirection if you go off route. Good value. $129 @ JB HiFi. Easy to use. Works great! Nothing wrong just no AC charger included.

Doesn't work reliably – I bought one lat September from JB Hi-Fi at Indooroopilly. It worked ok for a while and then became very unreliable - it would sometimes work and sometimes not. I took it back and they changed it for another one. The same thing happened. I took the second one back today but when they plugged it in in the shop it worked fine. They refused to give… Read more

me a refund when I said I didn't want to exchange it for another one as according to them it was working. I told them it is like the first one I had and will sometimes work, but at other times it doesn't.

A GPS that is unreliable is uselss if you're depending on it to get to an important job interview or something like that. And does JB Hi-Fi expect me to keep bringing them back forever so that they can just keep replacing them with others that are unreliable? DON'T BUY THIS GPS AND DON'T BUY ANYTHING FROM JB HI-FI! Nothing Unreliable

A Great Unit – My first GPS and a bit of a learning curve in its use. I used it to navigate around Melbourne and it performed almost perfectly (with the exception of directing us down a nightcart lane behind some houses - technically correct but hardly feasible). Lane directions over the Westgate Bridge were brilliant. ETA count-downs calculated the roadwork… Read more

delays across the state, so I knew when I would arrive at my destination. Downing the updated software and maps was confusing but eventually it all worked out. Menus are logical and easy to use. Doesn't lack in features. A great first GPS. Simple to Operate. Clear directions. Lots of options. Lane indicators. Speed Camera warnings. ETA calculator. Battery life fairly short - only an hour or two.

Don't bother with this one! – On my first trip to Melbourne with my new Tom Tom Via 220, it didn't recognise Whitehorse Rd., Nunawading ( for non Melbournians this is the main arterial road running thru Nunawading) I was on my own here, no such road according to the Whereis maps! (This was verified by the salesman back at Dick Smith) My next trip to Melbourne was to the… Read more

shopping complex DFO, Essendon. When I got to the roundabout near the entry it told me to take the fourth exit which I dutifully followed as there were several roads leading into it. Within just a few seconds, I realised I was committed to going back onto the freeway. Fantastic I thought, it took me 15 minutes to get back to DFO where this GPS repeated the same instruction. Don't waste your money and time on this product. I was given a refund at Dick Smiths. Easy to mount on the windscreen. It doesn't do what I bought it for!

Complicated software, poor website design – The GPS itself is nice enough but trying to update the software is hopeless, esp the so called 'free' updates. Took hours to upload and I still don't know if it worked or not. Can also take a long time to get a signal. Nice looking unit, suction is good Slow signal, poor software, speed signs wrong

Works as advertised – Worked well during recent trips from Sydney to North Coast and Wyangala, which included a number of unsealed roads. Updating software and maps isn't intuitive at first, but does work once understood. Occasionally takes a while to get a signal. Speed indications not always correct (only noticed outside metro area). Good build quality, decent maps, value for money Occasionally takes while to get signal, speed indications not always accurate