4. Turning On the One For The First Time

Figure 18: Powering the TomTom ONE on for the first time

Figure 19: Language selection

After you tap the language of your choice, you are prompted to verify your language selection. Good thing too -- I accidentally tapped some indecipherable language and was thankful there was a "cancel" option.

Figure 20: Welcome!

Now that we've chosen our language (English U.S., in my case), the TomTom has a few more questions for us (this seems like an unnecessary step to me -- might as well just ask the next question instead).

Figure 21: Righty or Lefty?

At first I thought this option was designed for all you wizards and witches who are left-handed. But that wouldn't make sense, since you'd still have to use your right hand to operate the unit, given the steering wheel placement in the car. And then I realized that this option is for those idiots customers who drive on the left side of the street. Seems like TomTom could just assume that in North America the ONE will be in a right-hand drive car, but nevertheless I suppose this could be a useful option for some.

Figure 22: Miles or Kilometers

Ahh the metric system. Anyone in North America using the Metric system is in for an unpleasant surprise when they hit the highway system. Again, I guess this is useful in some countries, but it seems like for the North America edition they could safely assume customers will want Miles.

Figure 23: Time Format

For you militant types, you can set your ONE to observe military time. For me, 6:00 pm will do just fine, thank you very much.

Figure 24: Setting the time

Now this is something I've never understood about the TomTom products. In order for GPS to work, the unit must receive very accurate time signals from the satellites, and then calculate offsets. So, there's really no reason you should have to manually set the time, since it should always be receiving the most accurate time via GPS signal. There's a Sync button on the lower left hand corner you can press to have the unit get the time from the GPS signal, but why not just do that automatically (like the Garmin and Magellan do)?

Figure 25: Setting the voice

Like the TomTom GO 910, the ONE comes with a large library of built-in voices, and can be expanded by downloading additional voices via TomTom's website. There are computer generated voices, and real human voices to choose from. If you select a computer generated voice, the ONE will read aloud street names via text-to-speech. If you choose a human recorded voice, only a handful of voice prompts are announced (i.e. "keep right at the fork" instead of "keep right onto Main Street").

Figure 26: Map Region Selection

Next you are prompted to choose which map on the SD card you want to use. In my case, USA and Canada.

Figure 27: Setting the Home address

The final step in the setup wizard is setting your home address.

Figure 28: Ready to Navigate

Once all the setup steps have been completed, you're ready to navigate and the TomTom shows your current position on the map.

Figure 29: Main Menu

Tapping anywhere on the map brings up the Main Menu. From here, you can enter an address to navigate to, adjust system options, and manage saved addresses (favorites).

5. Mounting the TomTom ONE in the Car

Figure 30: The TomTom ONE Windshield Mount

The mount itself is an interesting design. To attach the mount to the windshield you simply apply pressure to the center of the mount. To remove it from the windshield, you pull the tab on the bottom of the suction disc. The mount holds the TomTom ONE securely in place and I noticed no vibration while driving.

I found it slightly difficult to slide the ONE onto the mount. First, it's hard to see exactly where the unit connects to the mount. It would be easier to slide the unit onto the mount if the guides on the back of the ONE were wider, making it so you could start sliding the unit down onto the mount from almost anywhere on the back. Instead, you have to line things up exactly, which is difficult to do when you cannot see the back of the unit. Second, you have to apply a considerable amount of force to make the unit "snap" into place. For this reason, I recommend connecting the ONE to the mount BEFORE mounting it on the window.

Still, overall this mount is a huge improvement from the previous TomTom mounting hardware (ahem, GO 910 mount), so TomTom deserves credit here.

Figure 31:Connecting the 12v power cable to the TomTom ONE's USB port

Figure 32: The TomTom ONE mounted in the car

Once the unit is attached to the windshield mount, you can pan/tilt the ONE to your desired viewing angle.

Figure 33: Ready to navigate

Figure 34: The TomTom ONE connected to the windshield mount

Figure 35: The TomTom ONE - looking good

The ONE is ONE good looking GPS!