TomTom Go 1000 Live review

It’s been a while since we saw a fresh design from TomTom, with the Go x30, x40 and x50 series all sharing essentially the same case. The new Go 1000 Live may not look hugely different to TomTom’s last satnav, but there are quite a few changes and improvements.

Chief among these is the new capacitive touchscreen. At 4.3in, it’s no larger than before but it means you don’t have to prod the screen as with the older resistive screens for your touch to register. We could be mean and say that the switch to capacitive technology is long overdue, but it’s still one of the first satnavs we’ve seen with this screen type.

Another highlight is multitouch support which means you can pinch to zoom in and out of the map. This isn’t quite as slick as on the iPhone, but it’s a welcome feature. The screen still has a 480×272 resolution, but the maps are more detailed, showing more accurate lines, images and borders. Villages, for instance, are shown in a shaded colour. There are also 2m extra kilometres of road coverage across 45 European countries.

The menus have been given a facelift: there are six main menu items onscreen and logical sub-menus behind each. This is in stark contrast to the old system where you had to scroll through many screens to find what you wanted. You can swipe to move between sub-menus, and this felt more responsive than zooming on maps. When entering a destination, the letters appear above the button as they do on an iPhone’s keyboard. Once you’ve entered the address (which you can also do via surprisingly accurate voice recognition), the 1000 shows a local map and gives you the options to alter the destination to a nearby car park. If you select one, you can then scroll between the others, and phone numbers are shown.

TomTom claims that Route planning is faster than before, thanks in part to a new routing algorithm, but also the 500MHz processor. However, it was no faster at calculating our test routes, but we appreciated the ability to change our departure time and date, and also the fact that the device automatically recalculate the route if it discovered traffic delays. We also like the tabbed summary screen showing the delays and speed cameras. There’s also a live weather forecast, which can be read out with a tap of the screen.

The driving view is little changed, but remains one of the clearest we’ve seen. The information bar has been updated: there are three sections, but they show the same information as before. This includes current and maximum road speed, next turn, plus current time and time to destination. The centre portion includes lane advice, and this is accompanied by a full-screen graphic. The Live traffic information bar is also improved, showing more clearly how long and where delays occur on the route.

The new interface is the results of a switch to a Webkit-based engine that allows the Go 1000 Live to easily show new content, such as third-party apps. None are currently available, so it’s impossible to tell whether this adds value or not.

In terms of the hardware, the ‘active’ windscreen mount has been ditched in favour of a new magnetic mount. The power connector is also magnetic, and snaps into place in the bottom of the mount. A USB cigarette lighter adaptor means there’s just a single USB cable in the box, and the desktop dock from previous models has also gone.

You can use the 1000 as a Bluetooth hands-free kit, but many of the extras have disappeared from older models, such as the FM transmitter, iPod control and MP3 player/photo viewer. However, these could easily be considered unnecessary frills, and it’s good to see TomTom concentrating on making this the best navigation device around: HD Traffic coverage, for example, now includes 17 countries.

Another big change is that the Go 1000 Live isn’t compatible with TomTom Home, the desktop software for applying updates and purchasing extra voices and maps. Instead, it uses the new MyTomTom: a web-based service that replicates TomTom Home and aims to show only relevant content. Unfortunately, this isn’t quite finished, so features such as MapShare (where end users submit map updates) and additional voices aren’t yet available.

It’s a little odd that TomTom decided to release the Go 1000 Live without completing MyTomTom first, but the company has said that the latest map guarantee and speed cameras will be available ‘towards the end of the year’. That should be within the next six weeks. TomTom says there should be no need to update anything until then as the 1000 ships with up-to-date maps and speed cameras anyway.

Third-party POIs will be enabled by the end of January 2011, although it hasn’t been disclosed whether that will mean existing POI files will be compatible. The Go 1000 Live’s file system isn’t accessible as a removable drive in Windows as with previous models, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Itinerary planning is also currently unavailable, but this will become available in Q2 2011. Finally, the latest map guarantee will be extended to 90 days. This means is a newer version of the map is released within 90 days of purchasing the unit, you’ll receive the update for free.

If the problems were to do with the hardware, we’d have trouble recommending the Go 1000 Live, but as they will be addressed through TomTom’s website, they’re not major concerns. If you’re an occasional driver, it’s hard to justify the 1000’s steep price, but for those who drive every day, this is one the best satnavs around. Don’t forget, if you don’t need European maps, you can buy the UK/Ireland version for around £30 less.