TomTom GO 630 Portable Auto GPS Navigator Review

The TomTom GO 630 belongs to TomTom’s GO premium range of GPS satellite portable auto navigators which includes all the top end features available from TomTom at the moment. Highlight features, in brief, include a 4.3 inch widescreen, Bluetooth technology for hands-free phone calls, IQ Routes, Advanced Lane Guidance, voice recognition for spoken instructions, text-to-speech announcing of street names, QuickGPSfix satellite fix acceleration, TomTom Home software, customizable status bar, photo viewer, 7 million pre-loaded POI and a 30 day map guarantee.

TomTom GO 630

The TomTom GO 630’s 4.3 inch LCD touchscreen has a WQVGA (480 x 272 pixels) resolution for sharp text and icon display. GPS navigation is powered by a high sensitivity GPS receiver providing better GPS signal reception in low signal strength areas such as in urban canyons. For situations where a GPS signal is unobtainable the unit will continue to function utilizing TomTom’s Enhanced Positioning Technology which uses a combination of movement and gravity sensors to determine position.

The TomTom GO 630 is portable being light (7.7 ounces) with a small form factor of 4.6 x 3.2 x 1 inches (118 x 83 x 24 mm). The estimated 5 hours of operation from the lithium-polymer battery is a useful time period. You can use the unit for portable navigation and picture (includes SD loading slot) and document viewing. Unfortunately, it won’t double as an MP3 player as will some other TomTom GO models.

Navigating with the TomTom GO 630

For destination selection there are a range of options including typing the address, favorites, recent destinations, “go home”, coordinates entry and map browsing. For those who would like to arrive right on time there is an option to have the route calculated to match a particular arrival time. The database total of 7 million POI (Points of Interest) is a suitably generous one. Like other GPS navigators POI searches can be restricted to a defined area (eg. local) or to along your selected route. Trips can be planned with multiple intermediate waypoints as the TomTom GO 630 will handle route segmenting.

The GO 630 has text-to-speech capability with street names being pronounced as part of navigation instructions. It gives the driver confirmation that they are on track without taking their eyes from the road – a definite safety benefit.

Voice Recognition

Another feature which improves driving safety is voice recognition. Some 130 voice recognition commands are available for programming the TomTom GO 630. You can even use it to make hands free calls via a Bluetooth connected cell phone. Like Garmin’s speech recognition models, the Garmin nuvi 880 and 850, the GO 630 uses structured voice instructions. If you would like use more natural language you would have to look at the Pioneer AVIC-500BT which uses VoiceBox’s Conversational Voice Search Platform.

Along the bottom of the map screen is a horizontally scrolling text display which can include current speed, distance to next turn, posted speed limit, ETA, remaining distance and direction. Uses can customize what they want displayed.

Tom IQ Routes

The technical advance of TomTom’s new IQ Routes technology is the use of actual average speeds on roads, instead of posted speed limits for calculating the best route. The basis for the speed profile data for 6.2 billion miles of roads comes from anonymous historical speed profiles gathered from millions of TomTom users. It makes for more accurate/realistic estimations of travel times via different alternative routes. Data collection is ongoing so it can only become more accurate and extensive as well as reflective of changed road conditions.

There is an excellent illustrated, detailed description of TomTom’s IQ Routes on the TomTom website.

Advanced Lane Guidance

Using a more realistic view of highway junctions on the navigation screen combined lane indicating arrows and vocal instructions drivers are better able to navigate their way through lane changes required. TomTom’s site has an excellent illustrated guide to how TomTom Lane Guidance works. The video below gives a good idea of what to expect though.

TomTom HOME

TomTom HOME is TomTom’s free software for accessing a range of services and contacting TomTom’s global community of users. You can manage, update and personalize your TomTom as well as purchase and install maps, make back-ups and download software updates.

Latest Map Guarantee

If a new map is released within 30 days of purchase, TomTom guarantee you can download it for free using TomTom HOME. TomTom have just released new maps of the United States and Canada (TeleAtlas data) which will now come preloaded on new purchases. The new maps include; thousands of updated miles of road network, new and updated points of interest (POI), new road speed limit zones and updated toll roads.

Map Share

The Map Share feature of the GO 630 gives users the ability to personalize their maps and correct and improve available maps. With Map Share TomTom users can; 1) change street names and direction 2) add, remove or rename POIs and 3) (un)block streets on their own device. Using TomTom HOME users can share their map improvements for the benefit from the entire TomTom user community.

TomTom QuickGPSfix

QuickGPSfix provides quicker GPS satellite acquisition times through storage of GPS satellite orbit predictions (almanac data). Usually the orbit data is only updated when the TomTom GPS device is connected to a PC or Mac running TomTom’s HOME software.

Maps

The TomTom GO 630 comes preloaded (2GB of built-in flash memory) with maps of the US (including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam) and Canada.

There is a database of more than 7 million Points of Interest including restaurants, gas stations, shopping malls and golf courses. A useful feature is being able to get alerts when a particular type of POI is within range of your route. The POI database is being continually updated and you can also add your own POI.