TomTom XXL 550T 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic Edition)
Posted on: Saturday, Nov 26, 2011
TomTom XXL 550T 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic Edition)
- Preloaded with maps of the US, Canada, and Mexico, complete with spoken turn-by-turn instructions and 3D graphics
- Lifetime Traffic Updates included–outsmart traffic and avoid delays for life with real-time information via your TomTom
- More than 7 million points of interest in over 60 destination categories–gas stations, restaurants, hotels, ATMs and more
- IQ Routes Technology calculates the fastest route possible based on time of day, saving you time, fuel and money
- Advanced Lane Guidance indicates exactly which lane to use, so you can go confidently
Outsmart traffic with the TomTom XXL 550·T. With complete 5-inch widescreen navigation plus Lifetime Traffic Updates you’ll always outsmart traffic and avoid delays with real-time information via your TomTom. TomTom automatically updates you with the latest traffic information, recalculates your trip time, and suggests alternate routes. Since TomTom has the industry’s most accurate and dependable maps you’ll have access to one million more miles of roads than you would using other GPS brands. Navigate to any location in the US, Canada or Mexico-or directly to one of 7 million preloaded points of interest.Outsmart traffic with the TomTom XXL 550·T. With complete 5-inch widescreen navigation plus Lifetime Traffic Updates* you’ll always outsmart traffic and avoid delays with real-time information via your TomTom. TomTom automatically updates you with the latest traffic information, recalculates your trip time, and suggests alternate routes. Since TomTom has the industry’s most accurate and dependable maps you’ll have access to one million more miles of roads than you would using other GPS brands. Navigate to any location in the US, Canada or Mexico–or directly to one of 7 million preloaded points of interest. Finding your way has never been easier, using TomTom’s new EasyMenu and spoken turn-by-turn instructions including street names.
Complete 5-inch widescreen navigation plus Lifetime Traffic Updates. |
Expand your horizons with a 5-inch extra-wide touchscreen. |
The award-winning Fold & Go EasyPort mount folds into the back of the device for maximum portability. |
Only TomTom has IQ Routes*. This exclusive technology evaluates routes based on actual traffic speeds, rather than posted speed limits, and will recommend the fastest route for the time of day. You’ll always be directed to the quickest, most efficient route. Advanced Lane Guidance** provides extra clarity when navigating difficult junctions by showing you which lane to take, so you won’t miss your turn or have to make dangerous lane crossings. Photorealistic images and a pulsing green arrow indicate exactly which lane to use.
Eighteen percent of the nation’s road information changes every year. With TomTom’s exclusive Map Share On-Demand Updates, you have the ability to update your own map instantly or download verified updates from other drivers. Update your TomTom daily or whenever you wish.
The “Help Me!” menu lets you travel with peace of mind. It provides added safety features so you can easily access local emergency providers such as police, fire stations, and hospitals. The “Where Am I?” feature pinpoints your exact location so you can accurately communicate it to emergency resources.
The award-winning Fold & Go EasyPort mount folds neatly onto the back of the device, so both are small enough to fit into your pocket or bag.
Maps of US, Canada & Mexico
TomTom is known the world over for the accuracy and extensive coverage of its maps. TomTom maps include 1 million more miles of road than other GPS brands and have been rated highest in terms of quality and reliability.
Lifetime Traffic Updates*
Always outsmart traffic and avoid delays. View live, real-time traffic information on your TomTom. You receive non-transferable traffic data until the product’s useful life expires or TomTom no longer receives traffic updates from its suppliers, whichever is shorter. Details and terms at www.tomtom.com/legal.
EasyMenu
Easily access all of TomTom’s powerful features through its simple and intuitive two-button menu. Just a tap gets you started, and easy-to-follow commands and recognizable icons lead you through a quick start-up process to get you on the road in no time.
7 million Points of Interest
Comes preloaded with more than 7 million points of interest in over 60 categories. Easily find millions of gas stations, restaurants, hotels and more on your route. Or, seek out a new tourist attraction, nightlife spot or shopping center and navigate directly to it. Customize by adding your own favorites.
IQ Routes*
Despite posted speed limits, traffic traveling along a road at 8 a.m. moves at a different pace than it does at 2 p.m. Actual traffic speed is affected by rush hour, traffic light changes, pedestrian traffic, day of the week, and more. Only TomTom offers exclusive technology that evaluates routes based on actual traffic speeds, rather than posted speed limits, and will recommend the fastest route for the time of the day.
Advanced Lane Guidance**
TomTom provides extra clarity when navigating difficult junctions by showing you which lane to take, so you won’t miss your turn or have to make dangerous lane crossings. Photorealistic images and a pulsing green arrow indicate exactly which lane to use.
Announces Street Names
Keep your eyes on the road while your TomTom announces turn-by-turn directions, including street and place names.
5-Inch Touchscreen
Expand your horizons with a 5-inch extra-wide touchscreen. A wide screen allows an expanded driving view and easier menu operation.
Fold & Go EasyPort Mount
The award-winning Fold & Go EasyPort mount provides maximum portability. It folds neatly onto the back of the device, so both are small enough to fit into your pocket or bag and can be taken with you wherever you travel.
*Feature available in the US and Canada only
**Feature available in the US only
All TomToms Feature
Plug & Go–Works right out of the box.
30 Day Latest Map Guarantee–Up to date, off the shelf.
TomTom Map Share–Modify your own map and benefit from others’ verified changes with TomTom Map Share.
Help Me! Emergency Menu–Easily access local emergency providers such as police, fire stations and hospitals.
TomTom HOME–Always up to date.
Fuel Price Service (optional)–Know more, pay less.
What’s in the Box
TomTom XXL 550T device, EasyPort mount, USB cable, adhesive disk, car charger with integrated traffic, and user guide
About TomTom
Founded in Amsterdam in 1991, TomTom has established itself as a global leader in navigation by being an innovative company with a strong brand, clear customer focus, and high quality products and services.
TomTom is the world’s leading navigation solutions provider with navigation products sold in 30 countries and in over 20 languages. To further our commitment to car navigation, TomTom acquired Tele Atlas maps in 2008 so we can continually provide the most up-to-date maps and intelligent routing.
We have our own mapping company!
Did you know that every year roads change by up to 40% in high-growth areas? Tele Atlas manages this by using the world’s most comprehensive systems to identify and incorporate these changes into our maps with unprecedented levels of speed and accuracy. All TomTom devices benefit from the Tele Atlas advantage–more coverage, more points of interest, and more freshness and accuracy.
Why TomTom?
At TomTom, we believe that personal navigation should be as easy and safe as possible. We develop smart technology that gives you straightforward solutions, innovations to make life easy.
List Price: $ 179.95
Price: $ 179.95
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hoosier_grad
November 26th, 2011 at 7:45 am
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1
No nonsense GPS with a large screen,
I got TomTom550TM about two weeks ago. It replaced my TomTom Go 730 with 4.3″ screen.
This will be my 5th GPS device so far. I consider TomTom Go 730 a pretty modern GPS with a lot of good features, so I will review TomTom 550TM in comparison to that one.
Let me start with the cons:
- No Bluetooth hands-free, FM transmitter, SD reader, etc. But, I disabled the BT and FM in my Go anyway and I do not miss them at all.
- Fewer menu options; mostly due to missing extra functionality, and some regarding what is displayed on screen. I find displaying the current speed and the speed limit on the screen redundant, it would have been nice to have the choice to display perhaps the compass instead.
And the pros:
- Simple menu! Who cares about 8 things when you are trying to just enter a new address?
- Large screen is a relief to your eyes. Driving in summer is enough strain on the eyes.
- Clever interface. The lanes are clearly displayed on the screen at critical times.
- Reads names of streets just like the Go does (though this is a standard feature now).
- Last but not the least lifetime traffic and map updates. Traffic updates are a nice to have, though I never was in a situation that they were critical with my older TomTom GPS. However, map updates are a must. I found myself looking for non-existent ramps and exits more often in the last year, so 550TM with its lifetime map updates will hopefully get rid of such annoyances.
Update: I have two important bits of info. As others have already mentioned, the firmware upgrade added the option to view the turn-by-turn list of directions as text. This was probably the most significant missing feature that people felt the need for. Secondly, when I tried to update the map, I found out that I have never paired my gps with my TomTom account before. Which is bad news, because I already tossed the retail box which had the activation code. The good thing is, TomTom customer service was really helpful and within a day I got the incident solved. I had to send a copy of my purchase receipt and give them the serial of my gps, and that was it. Big relief, because I really like this GPS, and I am planning to keep it for a couple of years at least.
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|David K. Watson "DKW"
November 26th, 2011 at 7:57 am
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2
Good basic GPS unit,
The TomTom XXL 550T 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator is a good basic GPS navigation unit which I could recommend to anyone looking for a basic GPS with a larger screen.
That having been said, I had some issues with this unit and TomTom that prevent me from giving it five stars.
– No Manual. The TomTom XXL 550T 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator shipped in the late Spring of 2010. When I received the unit toward the end of July there was still no manual available on-line for this model. There are numerous optional settings and even more options if you have the Traffic feature. The “User Guide” which comes with the unit does little more than tell you how to plug it in and plan a simple route. ”TomTom finally did put up a manual sometime in August, although it appears to just be a link to the XL 350 manual (see below – it just says XL on the cover page instead of XXL, as does the cover page for the 340 XL, which is a completely different guide describing a completely different user interface).
– Software installation. The TomTom Home software is supposed to install automatically when you plug the unit into your computer. This may or may not happen in Windows, but definitely does not happen in Mac OSX. The software installer is on the unit (which appears as an external drive confusingly named “INTERNAL” on the desktop). I ran the installer, which successfully installed a way-out-of-date version of TomTom Home. When I used the installed software to take me to the TomTom web site, it took me to the UK site instead of the USA site. This led to some confusion since the UK version of the GPS uses a different interface. The manual I downloaded was useless. Eventually the software updated itself and I found my way to the USA site. I would recommend that any user, Mac or Windows, download the most current version of TomTom Home and install it before plugging the unit into your computer for the first time.
– TomTom Support. Hit or miss. The first time I called I had an easy question that I could have quickly answered myself if I had had the manual. The support person instead had me do a factory reset on the unit, wiping out everything I had installed up to that point. After going through all that, he told me the simple answer. Here’s my version: street names can be read out loud only by computerized voices. You have only two English language choices. All of the other voices, paid or free, are a waste of time, storage space, or money.’
The second time I called (the same day), it was to ask about the missing manual. The support person was as perplexed as I was and took the time to do some research and come up with a useful answer: since the XXL 550 and the XL 350 share the same TomTom “Two-Button” interface (when you turn it on you get a screen with two large buttons in the middle and five smaller ones at the bottom), the manual for the XL 350 would tell me everything I needed to know about the XXL 550. She also sent me an email with a link to the document.
– Annoying precision. On a couple of occasions, I have been at my destination and parked directly in front of the store while the XXL 550 was still trying to get me to go out on the street and drive another fifty yards or so past the parking lot entrance, leaving me stuck in the middle of the block with my destination hidden behind a parking structure. I suspect it’s a slave to street numbers. Shopping malls and strip malls are just not set up that way. If I’m in a strip mall parking lot, tell me I’ve arrived so I can start looking for my destination business instead of guiding me five or six doors past it in the name of street number precision.
– Lack of common sense. On one trip, instead of having me just use a left-turn pocket (which appears on the GPS map) to turn into a parking lot, it wanted me to drive more than a mile out of my way around an industrial park so I could come back from the other direction and make a right turn. It made a similar suggestion on another trip. On a third trip, the long-way-around route was the best choice (even in that case, it kept trying to get me back out on the street to drive a few more yards even while I was already in the parking lot next to the destination). This is one more reason to use Google Maps and Street View before leaving home for a destination in another city with which you have no prior experience.
– Phantom Left Turn Ahead. On a highway I use frequently, there is a transition from a four-lane freeway to a two-lane highway. You really don’t have to do anything except adjust your speed. However, whenever I am traveling from the four-lane part to the two-lane part, it starts warning me about a “left turn ahead.” It never tells me to turn left, it just warns me two or three times and then forgets all about it once I make the transition.
There are a a couple of other considerations that fall more…
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