TomTom GO 940 Live review

TomTom GO 940 Live Review

Reviewed by: Brett James

Reviewed on: 26 January 2009

Over-the-air sat-nav services are not entirely new. Road Angel was the first company in the UK to adopt the technology, with its Navigator 9000 and safety-camera-alert products. It comes as no surprise then that TomTom has utilised Road Angel's safety-camera database, as well as building an over-the-air platform of its own, within the new x40 series.

The TomTom GO 940 Live is available now for around £400.

Positives
The GO 940 Live is coated in a black finish, and has a microSD card slot, loudspeaker and car cradle that connects the device to the windscreen securely.

While the GO 940 Live's map view remains virtually identical to those of its predecessors, there are a few subtle changes, including the addition of a speed-warning symbol -- which also tells you how far you are from the next speed camera -- and slightly more identifiable 'points of interest'. You also get the same advanced motorway-lane guidance that was a feature of the GO 930 Traffic.

The main interface has a series of lush, redesigned icons, with the new over-the-air data services taking pride of place. While you have weather, TomTom Buddies (a feature that lets you see where friends are on the road) and mobile-safety-camera updates, the highlights are the fuel-price, Google-search and High Definition Traffic features.

Tapping on the fuel-price icon will allow you to search for the nearest petrol station based on distance, as well as price, and the Google-search option can be used to find additional points of interest, also allowing you to call them via a Bluetooth-linked mobile.

The High Definition Traffic service proved extremely accurate in reporting incidents on-route, and we liked the text-to-speech warnings given, as well as the small, flashing arrows that appear on-screen, indicating in which direction traffic is flowing. Overall, text-to-speech directions were spoken clearly, despite the odd glitch. You can pass voice and MP3 music through to your car's speakers.

Entering destinations is made easier by the voice-recognition system, which can also be used within the map view to switch between 2D and 3D views, for example.

In terms of performance, the internal receiver is boosted by instant-fix technology, speeding up location-acquisition time. Route calculations were nippy, our position was accurately tracked and the integrated IQ Routes technology, which takes into consideration the time of day, traffic lights and roundabouts on-route, took us along some efficient paths.

Negatives
While the price includes £50 worth of free fuel (online registration is needed to claim this), the cost is still high considering TomTom has removed the Bluetooth remote and the over-the-air subscription services expire after 3 months, after which you must pay £8 a month on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Design-wise, we didn't like the frame surrounding the 109mm (4.3-inch) screen, and found the device a touch heavy, at 224g.

Also, the map view is basic compared to the competition, and we noticed that the device did not switch between day and night modes automatically.

Despite utilising the Road Angel database, there were a few fixed cameras that were missing from our established test routes and the GO 940 Live had a slight problem correctly indentifying cameras on dual carriageways. A quick press of the over-the-air report button can alert TomTom to any issues, but fixed-camera updates still require connection to TomTom Home (via a PC).

When background noise increased -- for example, when we were on the motorway -- we had to speak much louder for the voice-recognition system to work properly, which became frustrating.

Mobile coverage is still being rolled out until March 2009 in the UK, so not every area will benefit from the over-the-air technology.

Conclusion
Despite the niggles mentioned above, for company or professional drivers, the new High Definition Traffic, full complement of maps, IQ Routes and remaining over-the-air services are likely to prove a real benefit.

The recent VAT drop and undertaking an online price search will certainly help to reduce the cost of the TomTom GO 940 Live, but the product may still be too expensive for many potential buyers, in which case it may be worth investigating the GO 540 Live or GO 740 Live.

Edited by Charles Kloet