Tom Tom’s GO 930 is a high-end portable that offers a little bit of everything for its retail price of $499.95. Best of all, for the most part it does that little bit of everything well, too. Here’s the breakdown:
THE PACKAGE
The relatively compact GO 930 is small enough to slip into your standard trouser pocket. Despite the small package, its bright 4.3-inch WQVGA screen is easy to see when suction-cupped to the dash, and if your eyes aren’t as good as they should be, you can adjust brightness and colors. Included in the box are the suction cup mount (if you want to dash mount, you’ll have to purchase the dash disc separately), 12-volt charger, home dock, device cable, remote, software disc, and user booklets.
EASE OF USE
Right out of the box, the GO 930 is extremely simple to operate. Initial satellite acquisition took a few moments, but on subsequent uses, start-up required mere seconds. Like previous models, the graphic user interface pops with intuitive icons that make inputting destinations a piece of cake for techies and greenies alike.
Menus for key functions are nice and shallow, the way we like it. But, if you’d like to change your preference in regard to brightness, routing options, voices, you name it, you can delve into a few submenus and quickly set the GO 930 to fit you and your routing style like a glove.
The touchscreen didn’t spoil the party, easily registering inputting addresses on its QWERTY (or alphabetical, if you prefer) keyboard. Like any other unit with a 4.3-inch screen, big-fingered folks may find it frustrating. As an alternative to keyboard use, Tom Tom included a special feature for its flagship navi: voice commands.
To input a destination by voice, pull up the “Navigate To” screen and tap the icon for inputting by voice. I found the feature relatively accurate once I understood what format the address should be inputted in. You can also dictate destinations by city center, zip code or intersection. Although some errors do occur, I found it completely reasonable given today’s state of voice dictation technology and personally prefer the voice command feature to the keyboard (even though my smaller fingers aren’t prone to flubs).
NAVIGATION
Preloaded with TeleAtlas maps of North America plus Central and Western Europe, the GO 930 also has about 5 million points of interest on its 4GB of internal flash memory. Tom Tom includes a CD to install Tom Tom Home, which lets you manage your device from your computer and more importantly update the maps. Like previous Tom Tom models, the GO 930 has the Map Share feature, in which other users can adjust maps by adding streets, indicating blocked roads, even adding POIs. You can then update your maps by downloading all these changes or only those verified by Tom Tom.
Another special feature, Tom Tom’s IQ Routes, calculates routing using actual average speeds of travel rather than the posted speed limits. We found routing to be quite logical and accurate after a few weeks of testing the unit out in Southern California. Extra touches that we enjoyed in particular included advanced lane guidance, which pointed out which lanes we should be in to follow the next direction, and the optional red light camera warnings, which popped up whenever we approached an intersection with a camera. Those fines can be steep!
Other optional functionalities include Weather alerts, Daily Fuel Price service, Tom Tom Traffic service or an optional RDS-TMC traffic receiver. The Daily Fuel Price service speaks for itself as the pump continues to pinch our budgets. For a $14.95 yearly subscription fee, you get daily updates through your Bluetooth phone with wireless data service or by connecting the unit to Tom Tom Home each night. Traffic information comes via a subscription to Tom Tom Traffic or by buying an RDS-TMC receiver for $129.95.
Text-to-speech makes voice guidance a breeze. We found instructions easy to follow and prompts to be timely. On the small screen, seeing the visual indication for the next instruction at a glance was difficult, but the repeated vocal prompts made that less of an issue. In any case, when we missed a turn or an exit, rerouting was a snap. It’s easy to get an overview of your route or browse the map if you think something is amiss, and I always suggest checking your route before taking off, just in case you don’t agree with the nav’s ideas.
The unit doesn’t lack for POIs, which are logically organized and easy to locate. The search by vicinity option slows considerably if you’d like to cast your net over a larger region. Searching by type, by city works better if you’d like a larger selection. When tied into the unit’s Bluetooth functionality, you can also call up a POI directly from the unit.
BLUETOOTH
The integrated Bluetooth allows you to make and receive hands-free calls from a variety of phones, though for greater functionality, such as phone book downloading or accessing the Internet for features such as Daily Fuel Price, you’ll have to have a compatible phone. Check www.TomTom.com/phones to see if yours will play nice with the GO 930. We found it extremely difficult to sync up the Motorola SLVR and Samsung Blackjack we tested the unit with. Eventually it synced with the Blackjack for hands-free calling. Leaving the Bluetooth function on, it reliably synced with the phone every time we entered the car.
ENTERTAINMENT
For extra kicks, the GO 930 plays digital music, audio books and displays images on its screen. The built-in FM transmitter lets you listen to the audio content via your car radio. Setting this functionality up was simple, but the signal is not very strong. We found the unit had to be within a few feet from the antenna in order for the music to be heard over the car’s stereo. If you have a rear-mounted antenna, don’t even think about using the FM transmitter. The built-in speaker, which is loud and clear, is preferable. If you’d like to operate an iPod through the unit’s screen, an optional kit is available for $29.95.
CONCLUSION
We’d gladly stick the Tom Tom GO 930 to our windshield any day. Reliable routing, ease-of-use and great features make it an excellent option for anyone who wants to bypass the entry-level. Plus, TomTom throws in bonus fun stuff for personalizing, such as the ability to record your own voice prompts or purchase novelty voices (e.g., Burt Reynolds, Mr. T, etc.). Investigate all the GO 930 has to offer at tomtom.com
Tom Tom GO 930
- $499.95
- Maps of US, Canada and Europe
- 5 million POIs
- Advanced Lane Guidance
- Voice address input
- Bluetooth for Hands-free calling
- FM transmitter
- Bluetooth remote control
