6. A Word About TomTom's Plus Services:

TomTom offers a series of “Plus” services. Basically, you connect your compatible cell phone to the 910 via Bluetooth, and then the GO 910 can retrieve real-time weather, traffic, and other data over the air. However, currently only a relatively small number of cell phones are supported by TomTom. In fact, the list of supported devices is so short that we were unable to test any of the Plus features.

We were particularly interested in the real-time traffic data, and the 910’s ability to route you around traffic jams, but were unable to test it out. TomTom was supposed to release an updated mount that includes a built-in traffic data receiver in January of 2006. As of January 2007, that product is still not yet available. We’ll update this review once the updated mount is available.

7. Mounting the 910 in the Car

Mounting the 910 in the car is pretty straight forward. The unit is handsome and is small enough not to be intrusive on the windshield. As previously mentioned in this review, the windshield mount proved problematic in my testing. While driving the GO 910 would slowly droop downward, until the unit was almost completely facing the floor of the car. Worse yet, after only two weeks of occasional use, the mount broke altogether into two pieces.

A call to TomTom support said there were no known issues with the mount, and that I could get a replacement mount within 3-4 weeks. Several months later, TomTom confirmed that there was, in fact, a problem with the original mount, and has since updated the original design and now offers a free mount-exchange program. Anecdotal reports indicate that the updated mount is only marginally better than the original mount, and still prone to drooping and/or breaking.

The power adapter connects to right side of the dock. Here you can also see a closer view of the suction-cup on the mount. The outer ring turns clockwise to tighten the connection to the windshield. To remove the mount, turn the locking disc counter clockwise and pull on the small rubber tab on the right side of the silicone suction disc.

On the left hand side of the mount is the connector for the included external microphone, for improved hands-free calling via Bluetooth and your compatible cell phone.

8. Text-to-Speech Voice Quality

I've already mentioned the fantastic voice quality on the 910 (it really sounds like a person speaking, not a computer generated voice). The internal speaker quality is fairly good, although it does exhibit slight distortion at higher volumes. I also had difficulty hearing the speaker when traveling at highway speeds, even with the volume set to maximum.

The windshield mount includes an audio jack and cable for connecting the 910 to your car's audio system. My car does not have a headphone style input jack, so I could not test this, although I'm glad to see TomTom included this feature. Many newer cars are fitted with audio input jacks for iPods and similar portable mp3 players.

TomTom plans to sell an optional iPod adapter cable (not yet available as of this writing) that will allow you to connect your iPod to the TomTom GO 910, and then you could connect the 910 to your car's audio system. Add the Bluetooth connectivity and a cell phone, and you've got yourself an entertainment hub all controlled via the 910.

The 910 handles incoming phone calls well, pausing music and/or voice prompts while you're on the phone.

9. The Good

• Outstanding GPS signal reception: The SiRF Star III based receiver used in the GO 910 performs so well, it puts all older GPS’ that don't use SiRF to shame. We were even able to receive 3 out of 5 bars indoors with the GPS on the floor. Satellite acquisition is fast and map tracking was excellent. We tested the unit in dense urban cities, as well as the countryside in thickly wooded areas. The 910 never lost its signal, even in midtown Manhattan!
  
  
• Rechargeable battery: The 910 has an internal rechargeable battery that can last for approximately 4 hours. This makes the 910 extremely easy to move from car to car, or packing the unit for trips in someone else's car.
  
  
• Bright, sharp, touch screen display: the resolution is sharp, and the screen is easy to see in all but the brightest direct sunlight.
  
  
• Fast CPU: the 910 has a faster CPU than many other GPS units, and you definitely feel the speed and responsiveness. The 910 has none of the sluggishness that plagues Magellan’s RoadMate 700 and 760. Navigating the menu system and spelling out destination names is fast and responsive.
  
  
• Integrated Bluetooth: We found the built-in Bluetooth cell phone integration a useful feature, and the built-in noise cancellation along with the included external microphone made for clear, hands-free phone calls. The GO 910 handles phone calls quite well. When an incoming phone call is received, the TomTom pauses audio prompts for the duration of the call.
  
  
• Lots of options: The TomTom GO 910 allows you configure almost every aspect of the GPS interface. You can switch from 2D to 3D, adjust the level of audio prompts, add a compass to the map display, use feet or the metric system, choose from loads of male or female voices, route preferences, map colors, and much more.
  
  
• Form Factor: the compact, wide-screen unit is elegant looking and nicely designed, and looks at home in any car. TomTom shows its Dutch roots with this sleek design.

10. The Bad

• Horrible, HORRIBLE Support: TomTom has THE WORST customer support of any GPS manufacturer. Calling the support number lands you in “tier 1” support. These people are qualified to answer only the most basic questions. For anything more significant, or for any hardware return requests, you need to speak to “tier 2”. Tier 2 support cannot be reached directly; instead, they take a message and return your call “in about 48 hours”. In my case, the Windshield mount broke. When Tier 2 support finally did call me back, they said they didn’t know when new mounts would arrive “from Amsterdam”, but would “put me on the list” – shameful!
  
  
• Poor Mounting Hardware: The windshield suction-cup mount that ships with the 910 is it’s Achilles heal. Within 2 days of using the unit, the mount was unable to properly support the 910. As you would drive, the unit would droop further and further down, until you couldn’t see the screen anymore, and would have to re-adjust the unit. 3 days after that, the suction cup mount broke altogether. After placing a call to TomTom's customer support, a Tier 2 representative called me back 2 days later, only to report that “the mount is one of the big problems with that unit. That’s actually why TomTom isn’t selling it directly yet. We’re still working on an improved mount for that unit.” My question to TomTom is if you knew the mount was problematic, why not fix it right away instead of waiting for customers to complain? Additionally, I found attaching and detaching the unit from the mount took some getting used to.
  
  
• Time Sync Issues: on my system, the clock would suddenly change the time, jumping ahead or back by several hours. So you'd be driving and your estimated arrival time would suddenly jump by 6 hours! A call into TomTom Support (and a subsequent call back from "Tier 2" support 24 hours later) revealed that this was a "known issue" and a firmware update would fix this issue. I downloaded and installed the firmware, which was easy to do, although I lost all my saved addresses in the process.
  
  
• Complex Menu System: Overall the menu system on the 910 is slightly more complex than I ’d like. For example, the unit ships by default with the “Simplified Menus” enabled, meaning most menu options are hidden. This may sound like a good idea, until you realize, for example, there’s no way to clear the current route unless you enable all menu items (why TomTom did this is beyond us).
  
  
• Speaker Quality: The built-in speaker is acceptable, though not fantastic. I found that the speaker produced some distortion at higher volumes, and was hard to hear when traveling at highway speeds - even with the volume set to maximum.
  
  
• No way to clear current route: As mentioned above, under the default menu settings, there’s no way to clear the route if you want to cancel your current route. You have to enable all menu items before a “Clear Route” button becomes available, but even then it’s buried 2 pages deep in the menu system.
  
  
• Tele Atlas Maps: In our tests, Tele Atlas maps were consistently less accurate than NAVTEQ's maps (Garmin and Magellan both use NAVTEQ maps, as well as most online mapping services, such as Yahoo, MSN, and Google). I’ve heard that Tele Atlas is better in Europe than in the United States, although my tests were all conducted in the US so I had no way to verify this. I found several instances where the maps were outdated or missing altogether, but the NAVTEQ-based Magellan or Garmin devices showed correct maps.