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TomTom Go Live 1000

Nafisa Akabor
By Nafisa Akabor, ITWeb junior journalist
Johannesburg, 22 Feb 2011

The Go Live 1000 is TomTom's top-of-the-range satellite navigation system that includes a one-year subscription to its Live Services.

The unit has a solid build with a metal plate on the back, rounded corners and is 127mm (W) x 80mm (H) x 19mm (D). It has a 4.3-inch (11cm) capacitive fluid touchscreen. It also features Bluetooth for hands-free calling, comes with 4GB internal memory and weighs 220g.

Inside the box, along with the Go Live 1000 unit, is a magnetic mounting dock, a USB car and home charging cable and an installation guide. Activating the live traffic service is surprisingly easy, and is complete within a matter of minutes.

The main menu on the device is broken down into six options: navigate to-, view map, plan route, services, settings and help. What you may find annoying about the menu is that there is no 'back' button.

If you go into a sub-category by mistake, the only option is to click the 'done' button, which takes you back to the navigation screen. You then have to go into the menu again to find what you were looking for. New TomTom users will take a while to get used to this, and could find it frustrating.

Like any other GPS system, there are many options to search for a destination. When searching by entering an address, users can type a suburb immediately, which saves you the time of typing a city first.

In summary:

Good: Live traffic updated every two minutes, touchscreen
Bad: No back button on menu, unit does not stay on for lengthy journeys.
Rating: 7/10
Price: RRP 3199.00

Contact: Rectron - 086 058 2835

On a trip to the KZN Midlands, the device switched-off at 30 to 40 minute intervals. If the driver isn't looking at the screen all the time on a straight road, the device will switch-off before the notification appears. Unfortunately there is no option to keep the device switched-on at all times.

The maps are definitely one of the better mapping systems I've come across on a GPS.

The Live Services include HD traffic, weather, safety cameras, Google local search and map corrections. For anyone thinking of getting the TomTom Go Live 1000, the HD traffic would be the deciding factor.

Live traffic is updated every two minutes, and the user is notified of any delays to your journey, while keeping you them the fastest route.

A one-year service is included with the Go Live 1000 unit and thereafter, it will cost R499 per year for live traffic updates.

The Go Live 1000 device is best suited for drivers who want to get to their destination at the quickest possible time, without sitting in traffic. If you want a GPS so you can get solely from point A to B, then you won't require the Go Live 1000 GPS.

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