» TomTom GO 920 and GO 920T Premium Automotive GPS Navigators Review

The TomTom GO 920 and GO 920T are promoted as premium featured Car GPS Navigation devices and from the extensive list of features and some of the shiny new technologies introduced they deserve such praise.

A headline feature would have to be the inclusion of the timesaving and convenient Voice Prompted Address Entry allowing a destination address to be entered vocally. TomTom have based the GO 920 twins on SiRFs new SiRFDiRect Technology which adds Dead Reckoning capability to the already highly sensitive and reliable SiRF GPS receiver chip architecture.

Voice Prompted Address Entry

Voice prompted address entry gives users the option to speak the address to which they want to drive. Users can simply speak the city, street name and address number they would like to travel to, and the device will automatically calculate the route.

Enhanced Positioning Technology - SiRFDiRect(TM) technology

As mentioned in the introduction, the GO 920 twins include SiRF’s new SiRFDiRect technology, which provides accurate positioning even when a GPS satellite lock has not been established, such as when in a tunnel, or in weak signal strength areas. The SiRFDiRect technology works through the utilization of miniature heading and acceleration sensors to provide dead reckoning data for greater navigational accuracy.

Hands-free calling

The TomTom GO 920 and GO 920T have Bluetooth wireless so that similarly enabled cellular phones can be connected for safer driving with hands-free phone operation. Naturally, any other audio is automatically muted during phone calls.

Maps

In their marketing literature TomTom rightly emphasize the extensive mapping database included with the GO 920 twins. They come with complete maps of the United States, Canada and 41 countries in both Western and Central Europe pre-installed on the 4 GB internal memory.

Traffic Receiver

It is the inclusion of a RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver in the GO 920T box which differentiates the GO 920T from the GO 920. Otherwise their specifications are identical. The RDS-TMC comes with a one year traffic subscription for use by the GO920T in calculating alternative routes around traffic congestion using real time traffic data. You can purchase the traffic receiver separately if you want to upgrade your GO 920 later. However, this flexibility comes at the price of the traffic receiver not being built into the unit for a more compact form factor.

TomTom Map Share

TomTom’s Map Share Technology brings the power of social networking to correct and improve available maps. Using Map Share users can; 1) modify street names and direction 2) add, remove or rename POIs and 3) (un)block streets on their own device. Users can share their map improvements and benefit from all other users improvements easily via TomTom’s free desktop application, TomTom HOME.

Remote control

The TomTom GO 920 and GO 920T come with a Bluetooth remote control enabling drivers to operate their GPS navigator from anywhere in their car without having to reach over to the device.

Other Features

Some of the TomTom GO 920 and GO 920T’s other features include:

• Text-to-speech which enables stored text information such as street names, places, traffic alerts and text messages to be converted to spoken language instead of relying on pre recorded sound bites such as turn left or turn right.
• Personalization has obviously a design emphasis with the GO 920 twins with extras included allowing users to personalize them in various ways including; recording your own driving instructions, view documents, exchange positions via SMS and Bluetooth wireless technology and select a favorite car icon on the screen
• TomTom’s Desk Dock provides a means to charge the TomTom GO 920 while connected to a computer.
• TomTom’s free software application TomTom HOME software to access ready to use online services such as Traffic and Weather

User Reviews and Price Comparisons

Check out Amazon’s price for the and the user reviews to see what their customers think.

TomTom GO 920 Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator

TomTom GO 920T Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator

Compare prices and reviews of the at Newegg.com.

TomTom GO 920 4.3″ Automotive GPS Navigation

TomTom GO 920T 4.3″ Automotive GPS Navigation

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TomTom Go 920 4.3 Touchscreen GPS Auto Navigation System / Preloaded Maps with Bluetooth

TomTom GO 920T - Portable GPS System w/ Built-in Maps

Resources for the TomTom 920 and 920T

Compare TomTom GPS models with TomTom’s Product Comparison Chart.

You can also use TomTom’s Product Advisor to work out which TomTom model would suit you best.

Download TomTom GO Users Manual (multiple language versions)

RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver User Guide

Remote Control User Guide

There are forums covering lots of TomTom 920 and 920T topics at YourNav and TomTomForums.com.

Custom Search

SpecificationTomTom GO 920 and GO 920T Automotive GPS Navigators

• 4.3 inch widescreen 16:9 format LCD (WQVGA: 480*272 pixels)
• CPU 400 MHz, 64MB RAM
• 4GB internal flash memory
• SD card slot
• High sensitivity GPS receiver
• RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver and TomTom’s subscription based traffic service (GO 920T)
• Integrated FM Transmitter
• Bluetooth
• Lithium-polymer battery (up to 5 hours operation)
• Optimized integrated microphone and speaker for high quality hands-free functionality
• Dimensions: 3.3 inches x 4.6 inches x 0.9 inches
• Weight: 7.8 ounces

Technorati Tags: TomTom GO 920, GO 920T, Car GPS Navigation, Voice Prompted Address Entry, SiRFDiRect Technology, Dead Reckoning, Hands-free calling, Bluetooth, RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver, TomTom Map Share