~~ LOST AND FOUND USING TOMTOM ONE 130 GPS RECEIVER ~~

I am one of those people who experience bouts of panic when I am lost, when construction deters my normal route, or I am going somewhere new for the first time. While this is not my first GPS, it is my most reliable so far, in contrast to my other ones which seemed to always work against me, or not have the ability to pick up on dangerous or stressful conditions such as construction, or would send me in circles.

The TomTom ONE 130 Global Positioning Satellite is a lifesaver. Driving back and forth from Michigan to Florida and back again, cross country, I needed a more reliable "right hand man" so to speak, and I found that this lightweight, PC friendly model had both visual and auditorial command control, but also emergency response, much like OnStar. If you get in a car accident, have a flat tire or other emergency situation, you can go into the Help Me! function that allows you to call for help, find any local repair shop, hospital or alternative transportation option.

It was priced right, under $150.00 which is very inexpensive in comparison to other models. It does it's job, simple as that. It suctions to your front glass window or your dash per a sunctioning cup, which I do find a bit of trouble getting it to stick. While it has an internal lithium-ion battery that has three hours of functioning, I always have it plugged into the lighter, just so that I can save the battery.

One thing you will want to make certain that you do, because I learned the hard way, is to always shut off the TomTom (the on/off button is located on the side) whenever you stop the car and get out or you will wear your battery down. Also, if you have the GPS plugged in, just out of habit, and you aren't using it, it will turn on automatically whenever you start the car, and you may tend to forget about it, thus forgetting to turn it off.

It is very well lit with a 3.5 inch TFT LCD touch screen with a special anti-glare component and a 4:3 format, 64k colors, 320 X 240 pixels, QVGA. The screen is easy to touch, you don't have to deal with the frustration of trying to get somewhere fast and change routes or cancel routes and have to deal with it not working. It is 3 inches in height, 4 inches in width and 0.98 inches in depth. It is very slim and slender and is not a visual distraction while you are trying to drive.

I find that on many occasions, I have to change routes because I decide to hop on the expressway when previously I had asked the GPS to exclude those routes, and I may only have a minute to make that choice. The voice is loud and clear, and you can even download other voices or music or have your choice from the internal memory so that you find something pleasing that will not get on your nerves when you may already feel stress when trying to stay on the right route.

Like other GPS systems, it is very light and colorful during the day and then switches over to night vision automatically so that everything is dark with the exception of the route, the upcoming road, how many miles until the next changeover, and how many miles left overall. It has many different symbols for gas, food, hotels, hospitals and the side roads as well, with over a million points of interest. It can take you awhile to get used to if it is your first GPS, but it has such easy applications that you should get the hang of it quickly.

It has internal maps, and allows you to go to the site and download updated maps for free, and whether you choose zipcode or city, it doesn't have any trouble knowing where you want to go when setting up your route, especially if you are using numbers in the street (i.e. 39th street) or if you are using streets that have more than one name. Down here in Florida, the roads and names get very confusing with East and West, and also roads like State Road 7 which is also known as US 441. It recognizes both.

If you want to upload updated maps because of much travel, then all you need is the mini USB and Windows or Mac OS X 10.3 and above. It is compatible with TomTom HOME and has password protection. The maps are for all of the US and Canada. I have had this for about 4 months, and I have yet to have one issue with it. I will update this if anything out of the ordinary comes up!

I don't know how I ever drove without a GPS, and I don't how I ever used a GPS before finding TOMTOM. This is the most impressive and intelligent living roadmap I have ever had!