TomTomCar Sat Nav GO 6200, 6 Inch with Handsfree Calling, Siri, Google Now, Updates via WiFi, Lifetime Traffic via SIM Card and World Maps, Smartphone Messages, Capacitive Screen, Black

Likes:• Fully independent, powerful, timely and useful live traffic updates;• Automatic rerouting around delays where time can be saved;• Operates stand-alone- does not requires a phone link to update traffic;• All software, map and speed camera updates are wireless direct to router; no computer required;• Lifetime free map, speed camera and traffic updates;• Very flexible, feature-packed.Dislikes:• Software sometimes erratic- but always OK while en route;• User interface not completely intuitive;• Speed limit information strangely inaccurate from time to time;• Voice control a little erratic;• Windscreen mount places the top of the Sat Nav very close to the windscreen;• Active screen area could be bigger- large black band around the edge;• Some route bar information lettering is tiny and difficult to read.This is a very impressive Sat Nav- my dislikes above are all minor. Its ability to detect and, where possible, re-route you around hold-ups and delays is not only powerfully accurate, saving much valuable time, but also painless to use and hassle-free. Traffic updates happen in the background via its own built-in SIM card and mobile connection- no need to link it to your phone, or even do anything- it just does it all for you and tells you where the delays are. Other Satnavs require a link to a smartphone to get the traffic information; but not this one. This is ideal for Pay-as-you-go phone users like me, who do not want to switch to a monthly phone plan just for traffic information on the move. The Satnav also seems very responsive, updating quickly and keeping up with changing traffic conditions well. It’s true that this Sat Nav isn’t cheap, but once paid for, all updates, for maps, speed cameras and traffic, are free for ever (or as long as TomTom support the device).My old Garmin Sat Nav, although very useful, didn’t include live traffic updates. Having got stuck in just too many traffic jams on my long commute up and down the dreaded A303, I decided to take the plunge and get a new Sat Nav.Setting up the unit was very straightforward. I entered my wireless router password, it connected and said that updates were required. This was understandable, given it was new and had probably been sitting on a shelf for a while. The initial update took around 20 minutes.First time out with it and the maps seemed spot-on. It calculates the route, and any reroutes to avoid delays that arise during the journey, very quickly. Some roadworks near my place of work had started only recently, but they were shown. Other long-standing roadworks were also shown. I believe it also picks up timed closures for overnight roadworks and directs you round those, but I haven’t tested this yet. The arrival time takes any such roadworks into account and is surprisingly accurate.Going home at the end of my very first day with it turned out to be the first real test of its abilities.On the screen, roadworks and delays are shown along the relevant sections of road and on the route bar. Roadworks are brown, minor delays are orange, major delays are red. On this journey it showed a serious, red, delay approaching the Countess junction; it also suggested an alternative route in green to avoid the delay, labelled with the time it would save. I ignored all this and carried on, to test the Sat-Nav’s abilities. I shouldn’t have- the Sat-Nav was spot-on. I got stuck in a massive tailback. The Sat Nav tells you how long your delay will be, and it even tells you how long ahead of you the queue you are stuck in is. Its accuracy for both this time was spot-on- I drove past the obstruction just as the distance and time remaining went to zero.Since then it’s proved its worth on several occasions. One time it directed me around a 20-minute hold-up via a complex route through Andover, which at one point took me over the clogged A303. I have to confess to feeling a bit smug and superior looking down on the queue of stationary traffic. The Friday before half-term usually means a slow journey home, but the Sat Nav plotted a very long route bypassing all the worst delays, reducing my journey time by around 25 minutes. Similarly, when there was traffic chaos in Basingstoke one evening, it routed me round the housing estates and back roads bringing me out at the next motorway junction down, saving around 20 minutes.It also seems very quick to respond to changes. My Monday morning commute inevitably has a delay at the Longbarrow junction. Early in my journey, no delay is shown, then one appears on the route bar- for example, first two minutes delay, which quickly becomes four minutes, and then six minutes by the time I reach it. Such information can be useful for working out what time to leave to avoid the delay.Going to 2-D map view and zooming out gives a good overview of where all the delays are. Sections of road with roadworks or delays are coloured appropriately and labelled with the delay time.One morning it showed an extra speed camera on my route. As I approached the location, sure enough, a police speed camera transit van was parked in a layby, monitoring oncoming traffic. As I passed, the Sat Nav asked me: ‘Is the speed camera still there?’ with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ response. I pressed ‘Yes’, and it said ‘Thanks!’. A few days later, it did it again; this time, no temporary speed camera was there.It pings at you as you approach a speed camera, but it pings at a reasonable distance giving you time to slow down. Also, you can turn off the voice instructions, but leave the speed camera alerts sounding.The build quality is very high. It looks and feels a class product. It is supplied with a windscreen suction mount, with a neat ring to rotate to engage the suction. These mounts are advertised as magnetic, and indeed they are, but the magnet just holds the Sat Nav in place, not the mount to the car. The ball joint of the mount was initially very stiff, but this was fixed with a small squirt of WD40. The USB link goes to the mount so you can just unclip the SatNav and leave the connection in-situ. There is also a USB socket on the device itself, so you can power it without the mount. If purchasing this Sat Nav you may want to also purchase a case. It doesn’t come with one, and you probably won’t want to leave it in your unattended car.You might ask: is the traffic information as good as Google maps traffic info? It may not be quite as good- but it really isn’t far off. If I was to learn that both TomTom and Google used the same data source for traffic info, I would not be surprised.A satnav with no traffic information will always find the same route for the same start and end point with the same settings. However, with this one you have to pay more attention to it, as it will alter a commonly used route to avoid delays. Sometimes I’ve not paid attention and got stuck in traffic I could have avoided!Downsides? Well, there are some.Having used it for a few months now, I’m getting a good feeling for its capabilities and limitations. Its traffic information seems to be very accurate when it comes to trunk roads, quite accurate for non-trunk A-roads, but somewhat less accurate for minor roads. This is hardly a surprise; TomTom seem to be very good a processing traffic data, it’s just that minor roads are not monitored anywhere near as well as the trunk roads, so information on them is much more patchy. I believe that it gets most of its traffic data from vehicle smartphones (as does Google), and other TomToms, but this won’t work in mobile phone dead areas where you cannot get a signal. But even on trunk roads, it gets it wrong sometimes. Quite often queue lengths, start and end points are inaccurate, but these are very dynamic, so some discrepancy is understandable. It also seems that when traffic is moving, but moving quite slowly, as far as the Sat Nav is concerned this is good enough, and it doesn’t register it as a delay. There must be a break-off point somewhere, I suppose, for when a delay is a delay- for example, you have to stop at a red light so this is not a delay; unless the queue is huge, then it is. But this is nit-picking; on the whole, it’s very accurate.Getting out of the business park where I work often involves a 5-10 minute delay and this has only ever been shown when the queue has been there for some time. So it will pick up minor road delays, but it takes it a lot longer. If you drive mainly along minor roads and are hoping that this Sat-Nav will help you avoid delays, you may be disappointed. If its suggested alternative route to avoid a delay is down a minor road, it often assumes that road is clear and that you can drive at the speed limit. This may be far from the case if the minor road is in a town or city and you are on it at a busy time. Another minor criticism is its inaccuracy on speed limits. Where I join the 70mph dual carriageway A303, it shows a 20 mph speed limit! It corrects itself after the first roundabout, and there is a function where you can tell TomTom the discrepancy. I’ve done this several times but all map updates still show the limit as 20 mph. I’ve also noticed that while the device knows where roadworks are, if these roadworks have reduced speed limits, these never seem to be shown, even where the reduced limit has been in place for weeks.Its interface isn’t quite as intuitive as my old Garmin. I should say though, that it’s still not at all bad and that this is really a minor point- you’ll get used to it. So far, I’ve been able to get it to do everything I want it to do; it’s just that sometimes I have to Google the command first to find out how to do it! For example, to save a current location and give it name, you have to touch the pointer on the map, save the location to ‘My Places’; then you go to ‘Myplaces’ - ‘marked locations’ open the location, save it to ‘Myplaces’ and give it a name. Phew! With the Garmin, you just press ‘Where am I?’, and enter your chosen name and save it.Some of the adverse comments about this device I’ve seen in reviews may be due to the reviewer getting frustrated with the interface.Sometimes the display goes completely blank for a second or two when you give it a command. This is a bit disconcerting, but usually the display comes back. A few times it got stuck, and I had to repower it, but that might have been me being impatient; another time, the suggested re-route, normally shown in green, was on the route bar but not the map. After one map update, I was alarmed to discover that all my saved locations were lost. Fortunately, after power cycling they were all back! I should point out that it’s never misbehaved while en route; it has been 100% solid while in use.The voice control seems to work well when there’s no background noise, but when on the go it’s a lot more hit and miss, mostly miss in my case. It takes a fair few seconds to respond, and often you have to repeat your instruction several times before it understands. Perhaps it struggles with my London accent? Also, the voice command menu sometimes appears at random, presumably because the device interpreted something from the radio, although I’ve never heard the radio say ‘Hello TomTom’. That said, I’ve hardly used the voice control. I find it easier to use the touchscreen.There is just about enough space on my sloping windscreen (Honda Civic) to fit it using the suction mount. When fitted, the top of the device is very close to the windscreen. There seem to be very few alternative mounts available for this model to get round this problem.It shows the fuel stations on your route, and you can easily get it to find one nearby, but it doesn’t tell you if they are open or not. Its accuracy here is not perfect- a service station on my commute has suffered a fire and is permanently closed until further notice, but the Satnav still shows it like any other, working, service station. If TomTom read this, it would be really good if the service stations could be shown open or closed, and even the fuel price. All this is available on line, so it should be possible to provide the info.Another small criticism is the large black border around the active screen, unlike Garmin’s display area, which goes right to the edge. Also, some of the route bar information lettering is so tiny it’s very difficult to read- well, with my middle-aged eyes, anyway!In summary, if you are looking for a stand-alone Sat-Nav that will tell you where the delays are and guide you around them where possible, then this is the one! If you do a long commute on trunk roads or busy main roads, like I do, and are subject to frequent hold-ups and delays, like I am, then this Sat Nav could make a real difference. I’ve only had it a few months and it’s already saved me more than four hours in total by avoiding delays. It would have saved me even more time if I hadn’t ignored it on occasion! In fact, if TomTom are reading this, why not add a function that tallies up how much time its re-routes have saved? It would be interesting to know!TomTom have done a really good job with this Sat Nav. It could even save your licence, with its accurate speed camera detection. Although the user interface is perhaps not as intuitive as it could be, and the software is a little bit flaky, it is still very powerful and versatile- and you’ll get used to it. Having used it for a few months now, I find myself wishing I’d bought one ages ago- think the extra free time it could have given me!

Update 13 Apr 2017Sadly I have had to reduce it to 1* again - far too many times in the last few months, probably 1 in 5 journeys, I have wanted to toss the thing out of the window at some point - it has become the most frustrating satnav I have ever had the misfortune to use. It is completely unreliable and is not fit for purpose. If it all worked as it should, it would be brilliant, but it is just broken in so many ways (latest software as of 13 April 2017)In one 35 mile journey today, all the following problems occurred...A. The Voice instructions stopped working, and this has happened a few times in the past as well. This is in spite of the volume being at max, not muted, and voice instructions turned on (yes, I know how to do it, the stupid option to turn them off by mistake caught me out also, this is NOT that). I have missed appointments due to missing junctions because of no voice prompt - this is such a basic thing for a satnav to get right, but somewhere in the multi-threaded mess that TomTom software has seemingly turned into, they get it wrong. Even turning voice instructions off and off again does not fix it - a full reboot is needed. It appears that speed camera warnings also disappear at the same time.B. Occasionally it also loses visual navigation - you are stuck with a 2D map - this sometimes happens when you change destination before completing the existing route, which I did today while trying to get voice instructions working again.C. Roundabouts. The previous satnav, and indeed other satnavs I have used, do this right. But with the Go 6200, there is so much lag that you have turned off the roundabout while the pointer is still half way around the roundabout. This makes it very difficult to use to pick the right exit, especially on large roundabouts with lots of junctions, as sometimes it looks as if you are at the exit before the one you are really at. This was OK in my previous TomTom - the 6200 software is just broken. It is not helped by the map whirling around out of sync with where you are, adding to the disorientation. This is in the same car, with good GPS signal, as my earlier TomTom - it is the newer TomTom doing it wrong.D. Startup delay has become ridiculous. This is from 'sleep', not from turned off. The screen lights up but then you have a frustrating minute of pressing things and then pressing again because nothing happens, and then it eventually notices both presses. In practise the only way to use it is to turn it on, wait a minute or two, and then try to do things, otherwise you will be throwing it out of the window (which is exactly what one coach driver I know did with his TomTom, in sheer frustration - he would never touch them again).E. The screen is not sensitive. When you just want to go into the menu, unlike previous models where you could hit most of the screen, you now have to hit a tiny icon in the bottom left. The margin of error is ridiculously small when in a moving vehicle and reaching across to the satnav, it typically takes me 3 or 4 goes before I get it to react. I am a keen and good gamer, have been in software 25 years, and am good with tech - it is not my usage, it is the device.F. Occasionally it randomly seems to think it is being spoken to, or that the screen has been pressed, and it goes into strange screens. No idea why - not touching the device, it is dry and on the screen - it just randomly does it, and then I have to mess around getting back to the navigation screen. Maybe it is asking something legit, though I doubt it, once I was a mile of clear roads from home, so no traffic to report. Maybe it hears the radio, and gets confused - not sure - its just very annoying when it happens.G. Traffic is poor. On today's journey it tried to reroute me off the M1, but I decided to ignore it. Good thing I did - there was no delay. This was on a short journey. About half the time I ignore the traffic warnings, and there is no problem. So these days I always look for a motorway sign as well, before believing the TomTom. This is not helped by it now automatically re-routing without confirmation (though it is set to ask before choosing a faster route). Maybe it asked about re-routing, but as it was not speaking at all, I may not have noticed, and then it heard the radio and interpreted it as yes - however it did it, it was bad.H. The volume of speed camera warnings is not controllable - if you are travelling at the speed limit, with the sound set high (which you have to, to be able to hear the voice instructions - when they are working), then the ear piercing screech of the camera warning is enough to wake the dead. It needs to have a volume option, or at least the ability to change the sound snippet it uses - but this is a feature they removed in the newer TomToms - sigh.Sadly TomTom appear to have lost the ability to test their products, and they are focusing on 'Fashion over Function', while messing up the basic functions of a car satnav.---------[Review updated 12 Feb 2017 - there was a software update a few days ago and I tried it last night and took a new photo showing the night brightness. It is MUCH better than it was - old and new photos at end of review. Still not as it should be, but no longer enough to pull it down. However there have been some other frustrating issues, so 4*]I bought this as an upgrade to my 1005. Initially the night mode was far too bright and I considered it unsafe - but a software update early Feb has made it hugely better. The pictures (left is old software, right is new software) show the old and new bright mode - the 6200 (on the right in both pics) is in night mode at minimum brightness, the 1005 is on 20%. Before the update the brightness, and reflection in the windscreen, were very distracting for me - since the update, while it is still not ideal, it is no longer a serious issue - thank you TomTom for listening to your customers and fixing it.In almost all other ways it is a much better product than my 1005 - the search for places is much easier to use than the old one - no more messing with points of interests - just type in what you want and it gives you intelligent guesses. Most other parts of the interface are also better - favorites has become 'my places' and you can just scroll down like on a phone - hugely quicker and easier.Also, remember how hard it was to get back to navigating after being in settings - now every screen has an icon at the top right that I eventually figured always takes you straight back to navigation. Remember this, it will save you lots of hassle.If you buy one, you will probably find all the writing too small - there is a new setting to increase the size - set it to maximum and it becomes usable again. No idea why they default it to micro-text - and I bet lots of people just suffer it and never find the setting.I also hoped it would be quicker - but at the very time you need it to work, ie when you first turn it on to enter a route, it lags and drags and is very frustrating - often I turn it on, and it is in brain dead mode - ignoring inputs, then catching up - it takes up to a minute before it settles down and you can type a destination in - very frustrating when in a hurry. This is no better in the update.The 6200 has another very annoying problem - every so often you end up with no sound to navigate by. Sometimes it is because the slow to react interface means you without knowing it hit the mute button to turn off driving instructions (this is an obscure icon to the right of the volume bar, that nobody will ever use). But it also sometimes happens even when everything is turned on and volume at max - it just stops giving sound instructions - several times I have missed turnings because of this. To make it worse, it also sometimes loses the navigation display, instead displaying a map - it is still navigating as sound will still work. The only way I have found to get it working is to set up the navigation again. Quite how they can have messed up this sort of simple thing is beyond me.I think some of it is related to the voice control - at one point I was driving along with a passenger, and we were chatting away, and the TomTom started talking to us for no apparent reason, and lost the navigation view - I can't remember the details, but it was not traffic avoidance - it was some bizarre thing. Trying to sort these things out while driving is not safe, fiddling around trying to debug broken software through a slow interface.The update process is HUGELY better - you connect to your wifi and then it is very easy, and reasonably quick, to update. You can use a normal microusb cable to charge it when you are in your house, which is tons better than needing special cables. You can probably update in your car via wifi, though mine is not quite strong enough, but overall a big plus for this feature.Favorites works better. Also getting petrol is easier, with a dedicated menu entry for this. Also driving home is better, with a dedicated button for that.The traffic system is more elaborate - I haven't explored it yet, but it appears to show things like parking near your destination, and petrol stations near where you start from - it can make for a cluttered traffic display though.Other improvements - it is hugely easier to get to the driving instructions, and the map of the route - just tap on the icon for a map of the route, and tap on the next instruction to see the driving instructions.Another nicety - you can reorder the menu icons, so you can put the most useful functions to you on the first menu screen - e.g. if you don't use the save / record routes stuff (who does use them...) you can move Petrol and Parking and Settings left. To access this, hit the edit icon on the last page of settings.The sound is not as good as the 1005. Driving instructions are OK on max volume (not sure if the update increased them or not). But the problem is the EXTREMELY LOUD triple beep for speed camera warnings - it is ear splitting - and with no control. In practise this means that for your own sanity you have to turn the overall volume down, which makes the driving instructions too quiet. Quite why they didn't notice this when driving it for the very first time past a speed camera is beyond me. In the older units you could configure the warning sounds - this is gone in the 6200, so there is no way to fix the problem except completely disable the warning for speed cameras, which renders the speed camera function useless. Driving at night with sleeping passengers - good luck - my wife insists I turn the sound right down now, because she is fed up of being woken up. Note that I am driving past cameras at the speed limit, give or take a couple of mph - it seems to have some algorithm to not always play the sound at full volume - not sure what that is - maybe time since last one, or it is louder if you are just over rather than just under the speed limit.