TomTom XXL 540TM

540tm

The “TM” in 540TM stands for “Traffic” and “Maps”, showing this model has free traffic and map updates for life. It has a 5 inch wide screen that makes it easy to see everything on the screen.

What is in the box: TomTom XXL 540TM , EasyPort mount, USB cable, adhesive disk, car charger with integrated traffic, and user guide and lifetime maps voucher.

Features:

  • 5.0″ Touch Screen
  • Screen type: 16:9 LCD wide screen
  • Screen resolution: 480 x 272 pixels
  • Dimensions Size: 118 X 80 X 25 mm
  • Weight183 grams
  • Battery Battery Life Up to 3 hours autonomous operation
  • Memory Internal memory 2GB internal flash memory
  • SD Slot:  No
  • Announces street names
  • Help Me! emergency menu
  • Anti-glare screen
  • Never miss your exit with Advanced Lane Guidance
  • Map Share™ On-Demand Updates
  • Lifetime Traffic & Map Updates
  • IQ Routes™
  • TomTom HOME Content Manager

First things to do:

  • Charge it completely. You can do this using the the power cable hooked into the car power or USB. I recommend using the USB on your Internet connected computer, so you can also update the maps while charging.
  • Power button is located on the Top fight hand corner of the unit.
  • Create a My TomTom Home account. You do this the first time you connect. When you hook your unit to your computer the TomTom Home program will automatically install. Updating time will vary but plan on at least an hour the first time.

Using:

  1. Tap the screen to bring up the Main Menu.

Note: The buttons on your navigation device are shown in full color unless a button is currently unavailable. For example, the button named Find alternative in the Main Menu is not available until you have planned a route.

  1. Tap “Navigate to” icon. Which is in the upper left of the main screen
  2. Tap “Address” icon. Which is in the upper right of the new screen. When you enter an address, you will see the following icons:

• City center – tap this icon to set your destination as the center of a city

or town.

• Street and house number – tap this icon to set an exact address as your

destination.

• Zip code – tap this icon to enter a zip code as your destination.

• Crossing or intersection – tap this icon to set your destination as the

point where two streets meet.

  1. Tap Street and house number icon on the upper right of screen.
  2. Start to type the name of the town where you want to go.

As you type, the names of the towns that match what you have typed are

shown. When your destination appears in the list, tap the name of the town

to set the destination.

  1. Start to type the street name. Tap the name when it is shown in the list. As with the name of the town, the names of the streets that match what you have typed are shown. When your destination appears in the list, tap the name of the street to set the destination.
  2. Enter the house number and then tap Done. The route is calculated by your device using IQ RoutesTM. IQ Routes is used to plan the best possible route using information about the average speeds measured on the roads.
  3. When the route has been calculated, tap Done.

Your TomTom XXL navigation device begins to guide you to your destination.

Additional Points:

  • Start up time (including time to lock onto satellites) seemed fairly quick
  • Allowed me to customize just about everything I wanted to.
  • Traffic is only updated by RDS (sent by local FM radio stations). RDS only works when the power cord was plugged into the accessory power port on the car, because  the cord acts as the antenna. TomTom’s GO/Live line of products which has a built-in ‘cell phone’ to grab more detailed and current traffic information, but cost more.
  • No built-in SD slot to add memory. Most of it is used up without any ‘extras’ installed? It does not seem you will need more as the old maps are over written when updated.
  • Browsing maps  it is a bit slow. I tried turning off Points Of Interest (POIs), used 2D maps, and it really didn’t seem to make a difference.
  • Be careful because the unit seems to want to pop off when handling it while it is mounted. Although it has not come off when I was not messing with it.

OVERALL, I like the TomTom XXL 540TM. It just works, is not glitchey, set it the way you want it and it does it’s job. Other GPS you are always waiting for the next update to fix some problem I did not find that kind of problem with this GPS.

Best price at Amazon.com when this review was done: $134.92. Click Here for current TomTom XXL 540TM best price.

Here are some You Tube Video’s showing it in action:

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