Cyril Doussin

I am doing a fair bit of travelling generally and will soon embark on an epic road trip for which a GPS will be mandatory.

I looked at various solutions and prices were often too high and buying and loading maps seamed to cumbersome. Apparently depending on which model you have and the country where you bought it you can’t load any map on it. Finding up to date Europe maps for Australian TomTom that my parents in-law own for example proved impossible.

So I naturally looked at the state of GPS apps for the iPhone, since I’ll have it with me during my trip anyway. The Navigon apps were apparently the best according to reviews. The only problem is that the AGPS received on the iPhone (I have a 3G) is below shite. Enter the TomTom iPhone mount.

I had to look for ages on the web to find info on what I really wanted to know about this product, so here it is in short:

• main thing: you don’t need the TomTom app, another app, like the Navigon works perfectly
• the mount includes a real GPS receiver which is much better than the iPhone’s
• the mount speaks instructions
• you can play iPod music at the same time and direct that into your car stereo via a (non-provided) cable. But driving instructions won’t come out of the car stereo, only out of the mount.
• you can set up the mount on the windshield or on any flat surface via a provided disc that is sticky on one side and smooth on the other side to fix the mount

Now here is what I found over the course of three days driving in the Southwest of France (countryside and cities):

• the mount tremendously increases the GPS signal you can receive. It’s awesome, gets a signal very quickly and is really precise
• the Navigon app, which I was using is awesome. Not necessarily a 100% perfect UI but definitely good enough. Driving instructions were always correct too and only a couple of very recent road changes (new roundabouts) were not represented.
• the mount’s speaker is definitely loud enough
• the mount attaches very well to the windshield

It’s also worth mentioning that the mount + a GPS app might be a bit more than buying a GPS unit by itself, but these often come preloaded with maps fir just one country.

The best advantages I see to this solution are:

• less cumbersome
• charges your iPhone while your driving
• you can leave the mount (without the phone) in sight in the car while it’s parkes, it’s less likely someone would want to steal it than a full GPS unit
• buying extra maps is cheaper than for normal GPS units
• you get software updates for free
• so cheaper in the long run, especially if you’re going to drive in a few places

So in short: TomTom car kit + Navigon app = WIN