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The TomTom One LE is an inexpensive portable GPS navigation system for your car. It's very compact when compared to the Garmin StreetPilot C330.
Like the Garmin StreetPilot C330, it has a 3.5" TFT Touch Screen with a 320 x 244 pixel resolution. However, unlike the C330, this TomTom uses different software, and has many different features - some good, some bad.
In The Box
The box includes the portable GPS device, windshield mount, adhesive dashboard mounting disk, USB cable, car charger, and software for your computer.
Review
The TomTom ONE LE is an exclusive Best Buy only model, that is basically a TomTom ONE 2nd Edition upgraded to Navcore 7 maps, and additional functionality.
 You can mount the TomTom One LE right on your windshield. The suction cup is a little suspect, because all it is, is a suction cup. It doesn't have a lever or latch to improve the grip on the windshield, and I find myself always worrying about it falling off during my drive. However, it has lasted a full day mounted on my windshield in the winter, and didn't fall off. (edit) A half day later, it fell off my windshield while I was at work. It is very easy to put on. Once you attach the GPS unit to the mount, you just push it up against your windshield and it will stay mounted, and the power cable goes directly into the GPS unit. But, the problem I have with this mount is that you MUST remove the entire unit (mount and GPS) from the windshield when you want to remove the GPS unit. The thing I love about my Garmin StreetPilot C330 is that you can just press the quick release button behind the unit and it pops right out. No removing the mount, and no unplugging of cables. The mount can stay on the windshield, and the cable is attached directly to the mount. When I get back into my car, I can easily place the unit back on. The TomTom ONE LE is very tightly connected to the suction-cup mount. One reason I could see why they did this is because, they want you to remove the mount from the windshield. Many car-thieves look for these GPS mounts on the windshield and could break into your car if they see it, and try to steal the GPS unit.
As far as the software goes. It does have its perks, and it has its downfalls.
First of all, this unit is entirely touchscreen. The only physical button on this GPS unit is the power button on the top. That being said, the volume control, brightness, have to be adjusted via the touchscreen. That's fine, however, the User Interface is very badly done. There are no icons while in the map display to tell you how to go back to the menu, or change volume. I found myself just clicking anywhere, and it brought me to a surprise.
For example, getting started with this unit. I powered the unit on, and being my brothers GPS, I guess it already had a trip programmed in, and it displayed the map. Looking around the screen. I see.. no buttons/icons or anything. Just the map, the next turn, the time, and the signal strength. How do I change the destination? Where is this GPS taking me to? So, first, I clicked the bottom left corner, which displays the next turn and the distance. This should show me the next few turns also right? Nope, this allows me to adjust the volume. What? Yes, pressing the area where it shows your next turn, allows you to change the volume. There's no speaker icon or anything that would denote volume anywhere near there. Now, the bottom right button shows a full view of your trip. You can make changes to your trip from here.
Clicking the actual map or center of the screen brings you back to the main menu. There are about 3 pages of icons to choose from, so navigating through the menu is a bit of a chore. Even worse is the Settings menu, which is 6-7 pages long. You'd have to go all the way here to change the brightness, among other things.
Entering an address is fairly easy. I assume, since this GPS was purchased in the United States, that it has less support for Canadians. For example, when entering the address, it asks you to enter a State, or Canada. Then the next step is entering a city, which it has to scan all of Canada for, instead of all of British Columbia. Not that big of a deal, but still a little strange. Once you enter in all your information, it calculates your router in a just a second or two.
Using the actual Map is a little awkward. As stated above, it's strange how the buttons aren't labelled with an icon or even text. However, it's fairly simple to see. One strange thing is that when I'm around my neighborhood, the surrounding area or background is a light shade of red. Also note that, your route is highlighted by a Red Line! This is not a good thing, when the contrast between the two colors is very minimal. I did notice however, that upon more driving, the color of the Background changed, to a tan color, and also a blue color when I was over water.
Aside from that, the map is easy to see. One feature that I like a lot is that it shows Points of Interest directly on the map. If you're driving along a street, it'll show you a little icon that there is a gas station down the street, even if you aren't particularly looking for one.
The TomTom ONE LE does not have street recognition, but given the low price range, its understandable. But, one thing that it does better than the Garmin StreetPilot C330, is that it will actually stay, "turn on the second right", rather than just "turn in 800 meters". This is a good feature if there are a couple of right turns in the next few hundred meters.
The map also displays more information such as:
- The direction of your next turn
- The distance until the next turn
- The current time
- The expected arrival time
- Your current speed
- The signal strength
- Your current street
The software also allows you to make changes to the maps if there are any new streets or any changes to the roads. Of course, you can also get new maps from TomTom and transfer it from your computer via USB, or SD Card. There's also BlueTooth on this unit, so you can update with that also.
The battery life is only 2 hours. This is a very slim and small unit, and if you really needed to, you could use this while on foot also, but the battery life is a little bit of a let-down.
Pros
- Very small and compact
- Many different voices to choose from
- Displays some Points of Interest directly on the map, such as gas
- Very good satellite
- Voice directions are very helpful
Cons
- Unfriendly user-interface
- Difficult to remove from the mount
- Not quick to mount onto windshield
- Short battery life - 2 hours
Final Thoughts
I do not recommend the TomTom ONE LE, and I'm assuming the other TomTom ONE's are similar. There are lots out there. The main reason being the hard to use interface! Yes, I had lots of pros, but in my opinion the cons outweigh the pros. Being slim and small does not make up for its mediocre software that seems like it had no design process at all. If you don't read the instructions, using the GPS is pretty much a guessing game.
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