TomTom EASE Portable GPS Navigation Device with 3.5 inch Touch Screen Review

The TomTom EASE series is TomTom’s entry level offering coming with a smaller 3.5 inch touch display and the ability to customize the display surrounds. Another notable features include text-to-speech and the advanced route calculation capability of TomTom’s IQ Routes.

TomTom EASE

Navigating with the TomTom EASE

Selecting a destination can including address typing the address, selecting a favorite or recent destinations, pushing “Go Home”, entering coordinates and browsing for and selecting a map point. The database total of 1.3 million POI (Points of Interest) is available but, it should be noted that it is significantly smaller than the up to 7 million POI for other TomTom portable navigation devices.

The TomTom EASE has text-to-speech capabilities so street names are 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.

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. What is displayed is customizable.

Although the TomTom EASE is called portable it will only last a couple of hours on a full charge away from the car which is something to consider if you intend to use the unit away from the car to any meaningful extent.

Customizing the TomTom EASE

One’s TomTom EASE-White or EASE-Black can be customized by selecting from a gallery of licensed art and professional designs or working from scratch by uploading images and adding text. It is sure to be popular – particularly for gifts.

There is QuickGPSfix included with this TomTom model so initial satellite locks will be slower.

TomTom’s IQ Routes Technology

TomTom advertise the use of IQ Routes Technology results in driving a faster route in up to 35 percent of cases. IQ Routes Technology calculates routes based on historical travel time information for every road, every day of the week and now even the time of day. The travel time information is made possible by the contributions of a network of millions of global TomTom customers in the form of anonymous traffic flow data as they drive. TomTom over the past two years has recorded data for more than 1.8 trillion miles of roads.

Help Me!

Help Me! is a safety feature which provides information about the nearest car repair service center, police station, or hospital. It also allows users to either locate or call the closest emergency service provider. Apart from allowing users to quickly identify their exact location, Help Me! can also provide this information to emergency service providers for a quick response.

TomTom EASE Maps

The TomTom EASE comes with maps covering the USA and Canada.

TomTom’s Latest Map Guarantee covers the TomTom EASE. If a new map is released within 30 days of purchase, TomTom guarantee you can download it for free. 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

Map Share 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.