Global Positioning System (GPS) Classroom Forum

does anyone have one? not sure if allowed to mention prices im about to purchase a refurb model (the price is right for sure). Seems to have the basic stuff and it talks to me.

love to hear from anyone about a Tom Tom 330S gps.

It looks like a slightly wider screen version of the 130S I'm running in the cars.
Same basic screen layout. I like the one I have. I've compared it to a Garmin Nuvi,
not sure the exact model, but one of the cheaper ones, and I liked the Tom Tom better.
The main thing I like about the Tom Tom is most all info I want to see is right on the
main screen. IE: mph, ETA, etc, etc.. It's all up front. On the particular Nuvi I was using,
it had very little data being displayed besides the map, etc.. Or compared to my Tom Tom
anyway.
There might be a way to turn some of it on, but it's not mine, so never messed with it much.
We did a comparison on an out of town trip to the same destination. The Tom Tom
did a better job of routing that particular trip. Routing is pretty good with the Tom Tom,
but not perfect. And I kind of doubt any of them really are perfect.. I've seen the Tom Tom
call for some fairly silly routes at times.. But overall it's pretty good. Not sure about the
330, but the 130 you can download data for red light cameras, which is kind of handy
if you see many of those. Luckily here in Houston, they turned them all off, but when
they were running it let me know where they all were.
It beeps when you come to a red light cam, and tells you about where it is, how many
feet away it is.
I think the 130 I have was a refurb too.. Didn't cost much.. I like it better for driving
than my handheld Magellan Meridian. Instead of seeing stick figure roads and highways
with single lines, you see all the actual lanes, interchanges, etc.. Lots better.
You can customize it a bit.. IE: the startup and shutdown pictures you can make anything
you want by loading the jpg's into it. You can also customize the "car" icon/arrow.
I have the rear end of my actual car as the car marker.. :/

Of course, out in the woods the hand held can do things the car GPS can't.
Handy to have both.. Anyway, I like the one I have, and in theory the 330 is probably
better than the 130. Like I say, I think the screen might be slightly wider for one thing.

I really appreciate your opinion. I bought the 330s yesterday and your right the 330S is 4.3 inches. I suspect it is an upgrade over the 130. Years ago i got my wife the Tom Tom 1(older generation)...very basic but i loved it.
Due to that positive experience i wanted a Tom Tom. Some of the gps are way out of my league price wise and the learning curve is probably as high.

Again thank you for taking the time to give an extensive review.
The price on the tom tom 330s (amazon-free shipping) is very reasonable and i dont have any fear about being refurbished

Should be like brand new.. Most refurbs I can't tell from one new in the box.
It will take a while to get used to all the different setup options. Also, some things
you may not notice at first.
IE: if you are in the regular driving map mode, and then touch down where the
numerical data is, it should pop up a "flat" map if it's like mine. I think it will usually
show the whole route if one is programmed.
Also, in the upper right hand you see how many sat's are being received.
If you touch that area, it should bring up a detailed sky map of the satellites.
If you touch down along the bottom, that brings up the volume control I think.
Quicker than going through the menu..
BTW, I prefer the stock female voice over most the ones I've tried so far.. :/
Also.. Every once in a while you might notice that you turn it on and it won't
seem to receive any birds. I've had this happen a couple of times.
I think it gets kinda lost to the sky map or something. But when that happens
I just reboot it and then let it sit. Eventually it finds them, and then it's normal
again after that. The normal boot time is fairly quick.
But just thought I would mention that if it ever happens. Don't despair, it should
load up once it sits long enough. I thought mine had gone south the first time
that happened. Then it finally loaded up after sitting long enough
and was normal again after that.
I update the latest sat map every once in a while. That speeds it up loading
the birds. It's free if you hook the GPS up online. Ditto for the red light cam
updates.
Probably should do mine.. It's been a while since the last time I updated it.