Thursday, March 18, 2010

TomTom XL 340-S review

April 5, 2009 by Rich Owings  

tomtom-xl-340s-reviewThe TomTom XL 340-S updates the TomTom XL 330-S, adding IQ Routes and Advanced Lane Guidance, and expanding map coverage to include Mexico, as well as the U.S. and Canada.
IQ Routes technology calculates the fastest route using historical traffic speed data for both the day of the week and time of day. The Advanced Lane Guidance feature, shown below on the smaller screen TomTom ONE 140–S, provides a visual representation of highway junctions, along with lane-specific directions. Mexican map coverage includes 35% of the 31 states with detailed coverage of Mexico City and Guadalajara, the main road network and 2,431 counties.
tomtom-140-alg
Compare prices on the TomTom XL 340-S

The XL 340–S offers a 4.3” touch screen and text-to-speech, so you’ll hear “turn right, Oak Street,” instead of just “turn right,” which is what you’ll get if you drop down to the XL 340.


Dropping down in the product line, the TomTom ONE 140 and 140-S offer the same feature set, albeit with a smaller 3.5” screen. The ONE 140–S features text-to-speech, while the ONE 140 does not.

Finally, the TomTom ONE 340 series uses the EasyPort mount, which I’m not a big fan of. You can read more about that in my TomTom XL 330–S review.

More TomTom XL 340-S reviews

I’ll be posting more hands on GPS reviews as they appear, but in the meantime, here are some…

Other TomTom XL 340-S resources

Compare prices on the TomTom XL 340-S at these merchants:


StoreRatingBest PricesShopzilla Tracking
store-logomerchant-rating
In stock at Geeks.com
$121.99
store-logomerchant-rating$149.00
store-logomerchant-rating
In stock at Sears.com
$149.99
store-logomerchant-rating$129.89
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In stock at CompUSA.com
$209.99
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Comments

14 Responses to “TomTom XL 340-S review”
  1. Jim says:

    I’ve been looking at the TT XL 340S and the Magellan 1440/1470 as a 2nd unit. I have a nuvi 360 and love it. The new Magellans have some really nice features but I keep reading about slow satellite acquisition and routing issues. The TomTom while also having the features i would like to have seems to have firmware amd memory size (new maps to big) issues.
    Any thoughts/comments on these units ?
    thanks

  2. Rich Owings says:

    To be honest, I’m not sure you’ll like either after using a nuvi. The Magellans are greatly improved, but still aren’t on par with Garmin. I’m not sure if the TomTom map update issues have been resolved or not. I like IQ Routes, but dislike the dim screen. Why not go for a nuvi 255W or some other Garmin?

    • Jim says:

      Rich,

      I certainly have my hesitations which is why I still haven’t pulled the trigger on a new unit… I have had my eye on the nuvi 255w since it came out, but I really like the idea of on-screen pois, adjustable screen info display, lane guidance to name a few. plus the price on the TT and Magellan are coming down. The on screen pois is the biggest to me…and I really like the idea of exit pois on the magellan…

  3. Rich Owings says:

    I like the Magellan exit POIs too, but be aware that the distances don’t update while viewing it.

    • Jim says:

      Rich

      what makes the magellan units such poor performers ? i think they use the same chipset and maps as garmin, but in all of their units satellite acquisitin and routing always come up as negatives. I looked at the 1470 in the stores and the screen and interface features appear to be top notch, but without actually being able to test the unit live, I can only rely on user reviews. would i be wasting money on a 1470 unit ? it just looks to good to be true (features/options/ screen) for about $150-170 compared to the nuvis and tomotoms… i am still bouncing back and forth between the TT XL 340s and the Mag 1470, while also knowing that the 255W is a solid performer with less options..
      thanks for your reviews and replies. great site…

  4. Rich Owings says:

    They may not be using a “hot fix” technology that predicts satellite locations — that could be one difference. I haven’t used the new ones enough to know if they have routing issues or not. The best advice I can give is to buy from someplace with a decent return policy, and know what the time limits are on it. Costco is one option. It appears that Amazon is safe as long as you buy directly from them and not a third party… http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=901908

  5. Brian says:

    The Garmin Nuvi was a huge disappointment to me. My first GPS was a TomTom and I went back to it after owning a Nuvi.

    • Dittamo says:

      Same here.. I returned the 255 – too slow on acquisition PLUS the Magellan was compelling with the wide screen and features….

  6. NopeNope says:

    DO NOT BUY THE XL-340 (even if offered for free) … THOUGH IT IS VERY APPEALING, IT HAS SEVERAL ISSUES…. GETS FROZEN MANY TIMES, USER FEATURES ARE NOT GR8 COMPARED TO GARMINS…..

  7. Jay says:

    what Garmin model is the equivalent of this? But no Garmins have something similar to IQ routing technology in the tomtoms?

  8. Rich Owings says:

    No, they don’t have similar technology, unless they have decided not to disclose that. I’d say the nuvi 255W is fairly comparable.

  9. Jay says:

    with the tomtoms do you get to change the starting point for your trip to whatever location you want?

  10. My question is with the garmin and tom tom units it appears that you cannot delete one entry.It seems that all the entrys have to be deleted which seems crazy. Please reply

  11. Rich Owings says:

    Are you talking about deleting Favorites? With a Garmin, you do this by selecting a Favorite and then Edit > Delete. With a TomTom, it’s Change Preferences > Manage Favorites, select one and Delete.

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