TomTom VIA 1605TM 6-Inch GPS Navigator with Lifetime Traffic & Maps

TomTom VIA 1605TM 6-Inch GPS Navigator with Lifetime Traffic & Maps..

Special Price TomTom VIA 1605TM 6-Inch GPS Navigator with Lifetime Traffic & Maps By TomTom

Most helpful customer reviews

200 of 204 people found the following review helpful.
Decent Performer
By Vicky
I bought it 3 weeks back from Costco - have driven over 2500 miles since then during holidays from Chicago to Ny and St Louis. Hence feel I am in a decent position now to provide feedback.

Usability - Initially it was a challenge as I was using Garmin earlier - hence was not used to Tom Tom interface - now I sort of like it. Typically like Zip code search, also good is it gives a zoomed out route picture before starting any route - which is helpful specifically in long routes.
One -ve point is - when you start the unit - sometimes it is sluggish - i.e. if you press a button on a screen - it takes time to respond.

Accuracy/Navigation - Found the unit pretty accurate - it can guide you pretty much out of a parking space as well. It identifies any route changes very quickly. Also finds satallite pretty quickly and easily. I was suprised when it was helping me to drive out of a covered parking garage in St. Louis. Never got any issue with maps in 2500 miles I have driven - except at an exit in St Louis - though I havent updated my map yet after purchase - so assume Tom Tom should have taken care of it. I didn't loose satellite anywhere even when driving under covered road in cities.

Traffic - I will give it 3.5 points - couple of times it has helped. Though sometimes - I was driving in city highway with heavy traffic and it had no clue about it. Not sure if this is a problem with service/refresh rate. I though like the reroute options - it paints the alternate route in blue color (rather then red color of current route) - helps to take decision very quickly. Also I guess since this is not Tom Tom HD Traffic - thats why refresh rates are lower. Though I like that it gives traffic updates not just of highways but of city roads as well. After Independence day Fireworks celebration - I was exiting out of a very busy route - it drove me out from there to a much better route in minutes. Further I like how it paints the busy road with white color and an animations of slow moving object.

Other features I like:
Dashboard Mount - it is excellent improvement over Garmin mount. Lock mechanism of suction cup is excellent.
Switch between 2D and 3D is easy
Speed Limit indicator
Lane Assist is great - though wish if they can add more of lane assist. This was not available at all junctions.
Like POI - host of options available

Dislike -
On long routes if next turn is over 20 miles specially on highways - it shows a 1/4 inch blue horizontal bar on upper part of the screen (mimic blue sky I guess) - it was better if it would have shown map only in entire screen.

Why I will buy this model.
Accuracy/Navigation - Does what it is meant to do pretty accurately
6" Screen
Dashboard Mount.
Found no quirks

168 of 176 people found the following review helpful.
excellent upgrade from my old magellan
By DaveT
This is my first tomtom and i upgraded from a magellan 1470. I was a loyal magellan fan until I tried their latest 5220LM which froze constantly (i returned it). I tested my new tomtom with a 500 mile trip, and it was flawless. lots of features like lane guide at the major highway interchanges. auto zoom at turns. clear vocal instructions 2 miles, 1/2 mile, and just before turnoffs. at one point I asked it to provide a detour due to construction, and the tomtom confidently mapped an alternate route on the fly. excellent, extensive POI database. love the large 6" screen. good brightness, better than my magellan but still a tiny bit difficult to see on a sunny day with sunglasses. auto rotate when turned upside down (for mounting). Note this is a pure GPS, no other stuff like bluetooth or mp3 player.

setup was simple on a windows pc, you will need to download the "support application" so your pc can recognize the device first, then just connect via usb and follow the directions. you get a free firmware and a map update. After that, you will need to submit a registration code for follow-on (4 per year) map updates. the download itself was large and took me ~1 hour, but as my first tomtom it may be faster for others who know what to do. the update process itself when compared to the magellan was a breeze. the magellan is known for a really poor update process and often results in people bricking their units (just read the reviews). I found the tomtom update is much more flexible and forgiving.

I took away 1 star due to a few feature gaps vs my old 1470. first, the unit it a bit slower response wise than my magellan. for example when you type in an address or select a feature, there's a notable delay. second is due to how the tomtom presents town/city names in a search, which is a bit tedious. the magellan sorts the results based upon your current location. For example if you are in Boston MA and type in "CA", you see Cambridge MA at the top of the list. The tomtom just gives you an alphabetic listing of all towns/cities in the US that matches what you typed, so "CA" will give you every city/town that starts with CA. you have to type in a lot more characters as well as scroll down to find the town and state in the list. third, I was unable to find a full users guide online. it could be that it's so new they don't have one, or they believe one is not needed. all i know is I cant find it easily and this 1605 has a lot of features that a newbee like me would appreciate one being offered. forth, the traffic feature does not work if the unit is on battery alone (e.g. must use the supplied travel cord that has the traffic dongle). fifth, my old 1470 would provide a audible reminder "ding" at the point of making a turn, which i miss.

The unit has an attached suction mount, which you can rotate to be a window or dash mount as the screen will rotate itself. includes usb cable, car charger with built in traffic link, adhesive mount disk (for permanent mounts), code for lifetime maps and a startup guide. No AC wall charger which seems to be the new norm, but you can pickup a cheap converter elsewhere. no idea if you can charge it via the usb cable to your PC, did not try.

In the end I know there's no such thing as a perfect GPS, but so far I like what I see and would recommend this unit. the few gaps vs. my old magellan are small compared to the accuracy and performance which are more important.

119 of 128 people found the following review helpful.
Super!
By Jay
I've owned a Tomtom GO730 for many years and felt it was time to move to a more state of the art unit. The old unit, which was my first, did the job but had several flaws.

1. It would erase my favorites whenever it updated maps.
2. It had a dim screen
3. It's connection to the power source would disconnect due to loosening with time.
4. You had to flip thru a zillion screens to get to a particular feature that you wished to change.

Also, the unit cost me almost $300, and that's not including the cost of a case for the unit (another $35), a case to hold the unit and supplies ($35), a connection gizmo to the windshield ($65),yearly maps ($45/yr), and yearly traffic ($65/yr)

I had planned to buy a Garmin this time since I had heard such good things about it. But recently, I heard that Garmin's products aren't as good as they used to be and that Tomtom was improving.

The Garmin product I planned to buy cost about $350 and had a 5" screen (max for Garmin). This Tomtom unit which just came out, is half the price, with a 6" screen, and many desirable features...(no MP3 or Phone though)

1. It has a built in suction cup to connect to the windshield that works flawlessly. Don't need to buy one. It also adjusts to connecting to windshield or dashboard (The screen flips..a cool feature)

2. Maps are free for life.

3. Traffic is free for life and built into the power supply (no need for additional wires)

4. Screen is bright.

5. Favorites don't erase with map updates.

I've used it many times now and it works flawlessly. I'm very pleased.

Also, while it won't transfer all of the various voices that I had on the old Tomtom, it does transfer the ones u paid for, which is nice. IMHO, this is a great buy.

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