Figure 33: Using an Address as a Destination

The "Navigate to..." screen, shown above in figure 33, allows you to specify what type of destination you want to navigate to. We'll be inputting a street address so I'll tap on "Address" and continue.

Figure 34: Choosing a Destination Address Type

TomTom provides four different options within the Address destination sub-menu: City center, Zip Code, Cross street or intersection, and Street and house number. We'll be navigating to a street address in New York city, so I'll tap on "Street and house number" to continue.

Figure 35: Entering the Destination City Name

After telling the ONE XL we want to route to a street address, the ONE XL prompts us to input the city. Entering the city is similar to other GPS units: as you input letters of the name, the GPS displays matching names in the upper area of the screen.

A nice TomTom-only feature is that previously used cities appear on the City screen before you start typing a name. So if the most recently found city was New York, New York will appear at the top of the list without having to type in any letters. As soon you start to type out a city name, the previously used cities disappear.

While I liked TomTom's time-saving feature of automatically showing previously used cities, the TomTom ONE XL is under-powered and sluggish. There's a good 1-2 second delay between tapping on a key and the ONE XL registering the key. Then there's another delay while the GPS filters the results list, making for an overall slow experience compared to other GPS devices from Garmin and Magellan.

One enough letter have been entered, the ONE XL produces a list of matching cities to choose from. Unlike most other GPS units, the ONE XL doesn't ask you to enter the State name - only the city. So if you spell out "NEW YORK", for example, the ONE XL produces a list of all cities called New York, as shown above in figure 35.

Figure 36: Entering the Street Name

Entering the street name is identical to the city name; previously found streets pre-populate the results list (a great time-saving feature), and as you input letters, the ONE XL filters the results list.

Figure 37: Entering the House / Building Number

A helpful feature I wish TomTom would implement is the ability to see the valid range of house numbers on a given street. For example, on Magellan's GPS devices, the page used to enter a house number displays the valid range -- so if you're not sure exactly which house number you're going to, you can guestimate and pick a house somewhere in the middle.

Figure 38: Setting a Preferred Arrival Time

Another handy feature only found on TomTom devices is the ability to tell the GPS what time you'd like to arrive at your destination address, and then see on the map screen how close to your preferred arrival time you'll be.

Figure 39: Setting a Preferred Arrival Time

Setting the preferred arrival time is easy - just tap the up/down arrows to set the time you want to arrive at your destination address.

Figure 40: Displaying the Target Arrival Time on the Map

If you specify a target time you want to arrive by, the GPS displays how many minutes under (shown next to a plus (+) sign in green text) or over (shown next to a minus (-) sign in red) you'll arrive by. If the estimated arrival time is less than 5 minutes before the entered preferred arrival time, the number is displayed in a yellow font. I loved this feature and quickly found myself missing it on other GPS devices. How excellent to glance at the GPS and instantly know how much ahead of schedule you'll be!

However, the TomTom ONE XL seemed especially poor at estimating an accurate arrival time, which seriously undermined the usefulness of this great feature. While driving the arrival time would fluctuate wildly within just a few minutes of driving. For example, if I hit a good open stretch of highway and could drive 75 MPH for 60 seconds, my arrival time would drop by 10 minutes, but then as soon as I dropped back to slower driving speeds it would add another 10 minutes back to the ETA. By contrast, Magellan and Garmin are much better at estimating the arrival time -- it seems Magellan and Garmin sample the speed rates over a greater time period, and also more accurately factor in the maximum speed you can realistically drive on given surface roads.

Figure 41: Calculating Route

Route calculation on the TomTom ONE XL is slow compared to other GPS units. Route calculation times varied greatly according to distance, with short trips calculating relatively fast and longer trips taking much longer. For example, an 80-mile trip took around 7 seconds to calculate -- not egregious but still quite a bit slower than competing GPS units.

It seems the ONE XL must finish calculating the entire route before you can begin navigating. Garmin and Magellan GPS units, by contrast, quickly calculate the first few turns so you can begin navigating, and then finish calculating the entire route.

Figure 42: Avoid Tolls?

If, after calculating the route, the ONE XL concludes that the most efficient route will take you through toll roads, the above warning screen is displayed and presents the option for avoiding the pay tolls.

Figure 43: TomTom ONE XL's Map Screen

This is TomTom's Driving View, and is the screen you'll spend most of your time looking at when navigating with the ONE XL. TomTom does a good job with the map screen, displaying the key pieces of information without cluttering the screen.

Figure 44: TomTom's Driving Screen, Explained

Many aspects of TomTom's driving screen can be customized via the configuration settings pages (more on this later in the review). By default, the following items are displayed on the map when navigating to a destination:

1. Zoom In
2. Highlighted route the GPS wants you to follow
3. Represents your vehicle on the map
4. Shortcut to mute/un mute the volume
5. Upcoming turn indicator
6. Current street name
7. Distance and time to destination
8. Estimated arrival time
9. GPS signal strength
10. Shown if a preferred arrival time has been set
11. Zoom out
12. Upcoming street name