Differences between GO and XL

bbuk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Posts: 6

Hello all --

It's not obvious to me what the difference is between these two lines. I've had a search through the forums; looked at the spec on Amazon etc., but the biggest difference seems to be in price!

Can anyone tell me what the big differences are between, say, the Go 540 LIVE and the XL LIVE IQ apart from about £30!!

Supplementary questions that might also help my buying...
-- are we expecting a price drop in either model (540 seems to have been around the £210 for a year)
-- is it possible to get a 'warning only' voice so I can have a nice loud sound when a gatso is around, or a particular POI, but not to tell me to turn left?

TIA

Ben

mikealder · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:24 am Post subject:

The main difference is the 540 offers Bluetooth handsfree for your mobile phone, the XL doesn't have bluetooth or a microphone. The 540 also offers voice control where you can talk to the device to issue commands to it, again the XL cannot do this.
Text To Speech is standard on the 540 and is supplied on the XL IQ Live in certain countries (not in the UK though) but there are a few people I know that have installed the Text To Speech files to XL IQ Live devices bought in this country and have got this working so its certainly possible.
The only other main difference is the mount, the 540 comes with an active mount that can remain in the car and connected to the charger, the device is quick release from the mount. The XL is rather different and does take slightly longer to install in the vehicle but I am talking seconds in reality.
My choice would be for the XL IQ Live out of the two as it just seems a more stable device and this is based on use of the 940 and XL IQ Live for quite a few months - Mike

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 2:05 pm Post subject:

And for your last question about only having warnings not navigation instructions...

The more recent software versions for the Go models have an option in voice preferences to disable the navigation voice while leaving any alerts (sound effects or added voice warnings) working.

The XL I have in front of me does not have a voice preferences menu, so for those models you still need to install a "silent voice". There will be plenty of references to these (and download links) if you do a forum search, and I would think they are also available to download via Home now.

DennisN · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 3:24 pm Post subject:

I made this choice four days ago, chose the XL Live IQ. In my case, I found a price difference of more like £50, but I didn't choose on price. My GO920 is faltering, so I was close to getting a GO540.

I had read quite a lot in the forum about the x40 models and had decided they were not reliable (bear in mind, I've tried x00, x10, x20 and x30 models). Mike recommended me to get the XL Live IQ and I'm glad he did. Apart from losing HD traffic at a crucuial point this morning (8:30am just as I pulled into London!! - stayed off until 11am on my way out again), it has served me well. I've done about 1,200 miles in that time (Coventry, Brighton, Wakefield and Canary Wharf) and had no bother at all. I'm very impressed with the speed it boots up.

In truth, the only two faults I can pick up on are that the mini USB plug into it (both PC and in-car cables) are a real beggar to disconnect (but I'd far rather have that than a lead which drops out) and it is a very long way away from my hand on the tiny mount on the windscreen (not so good for tapping on the move). So it's just the reach problem and I'll solve that either by looking for an extending mount, or when I get my new van next March, it has some lovely flat areas at my end of the dashboard for those sticky disks.

The silent voice is on page 9 of the voice downloads in TomTom Home. It's a free download.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

Calomax · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 6:46 pm Post subject:

AndyVaughan · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 7:16 pm Post subject:

DennisN

Have a look at this.

Looks like it has the EasyPort mount adapter with it nowadays.

Andy

M8TJT · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 7:20 pm Post subject:

DennisN · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:41 pm Post subject:

I don't have space useable for a bean bag - super pretty curvey dashboard.

When I've managed to get myself into the van, the zimmer has to stay outside mounted on the roof rack (it's solid state, no detachable legs).

TT don't actually say "XL Live IQ Routes" in the list. I'll see if I can get a close look at one before trusting their sales hype (remember, they did say my - and your - 920T would work with all sorts of bells and whistles)! Rolling Eyes

_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

mikealder · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:51 pm Post subject:

Rather than the bean bag mount there is a Hirbert Richter style goose neck windscreen mount available for the devices that use the Easy Port mount, this would position the device much closer to you than the supplied "cup holder" type mount, for Andy's link to work you need to be logged in to the TT web site with your location set to UK otherwise you see a large list of accessories for loads of different products - Mike

bbuk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Posts: 6

Thanks, all, for your tips. One other question (and a deal breaker) do both devices have the same space for custom POIs?

Ben

mikealder · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:40 am Post subject:

Whilst they won't both have the same space they will both offer adequate storage for custom POI files, the limit is the number of custom categories that you can install to the devices (169) rather than storage space as POI files tend to be rather small even if they hold thousands of individual locations - Mike

DennisN · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:12 am Post subject:

My XL Live IQ Routes UK&ROI, Windows Explorer Properties.....

Used Space................... 301MB
Free Space.................... 1.61GB
Capacity.. 2,053,668,864 bytes .... 1.91GB

There's no way you can fill that with POIs.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

AndyVaughan · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:55 am Post subject:

Where did you get the Regional XL LIVE from?

Even on the European XL LIVE there is tons of space - I have loads of POIs and extra voice files (cough cough) on there and haven't had to remove anything.

DennisN · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:55 pm Post subject:

I'm saying the same as you Andy - there's tons of space, 1.61GB free out of 1.91GB total. I don't much bother with POIs but I shall be trying the (cough cough) voice files and hopefully also the (cough cough) text viewer and I don't anticipate any space problems.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

Andy_P · Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 2:38 pm Post subject:

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