Differences between GO and XL

rescueme · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 03, 2005 Posts: 12

People seem to be very anti x40 range. I have a One v2 which I'm super happy with and use daily at work. But I'm thinking about an upgrade for 2 reasons:

1. The voice inputting. I work in the emergency services and being able to voice input would save time when I'm responding to 999 calls.
BUT how good is it? If I'm going to end up typing addresses in then I'll save my cash and stick with my one.

2. The bluetooth hands free kit would come in handy for the works vehicle. While I don't intend to use it regularly it would be handy for urgent calls.

So.. Can anyone help me with the quality of the voice commands and inputting? Do I buy a x40 or save my cash and stick with what I've got??

Cheers

DennisN · Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:34 am Post subject:

I'm not an x40 owner, so I can only offer opinion based on the x20 - the x40 should have moved on from this and therefore be better, but the feature is basically the same.

For voice navigation instructions you select "Dialogue" mode, it asks you to speak the name of the city, you speak the name and it offers you a numbered list (1 to 6 I think) of what it thinks you said, you speak the number of the city which is correct. It says the name and you say OK. It asks you for the name of the street, you speak the street name and it offers you a numbered list (1 to 6?) of what it thinks you said, you speak the number. It says the street name and you say OK. It asks you for the house number, you speak it as separate numbers, e.g 14 is spoken as ONE, FOUR.

That's it. Simple. Mikealder says his cannot understand his thick northern accent. Mine usually understands my northern accent, but when it doesn't, I shout obscenities at it (they don't help at all!). If it doesn't understand you, you're up the creek without a paddle. I don't use mine much these days as I find it just as quick and more accurate, to type in the destination.

Bluetooth hands free is great when it works. It requires a compatible phone and most compatible phones are older models, not recent ones - this is a major complaint from many users, their lovely posh phone simply won't work with the TomTom. Mine does - ancient Nokia 6230i. However, like many others, I've found this feature so unstable as to be unuseable for serious business. Other people find it perfectly stable, so it's a bit of a lottery.

Food for thought!!

More food for thought - if your TomTom is so useful, why don't your employers provide one? Seems unfortunate that you have to consider buying yourself a x hundred pound device for your work. I'm self-employed, so my employer has bought three of mine! Laughing

_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

mikealder · Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:57 am Post subject:

Speech recognition doesn't work for me its a source of fun and games getting the device to guess what I have said, in the end I tap the address in to device using the screen which is much quicker - IMHO its still quicker to use the screen that the ASR (Advanced Speech Recognition) which if it works is a gimick.

Bluetooth handsfree for emergency services - get a dedicated kit fitted by your employer, don't use a TomTom for this and navigation because when it goes wrong you will lose the lot - the device locks up with a machine gun type sound and crashes the device. I got so sick of it I purchased a dedicated handsfree kit fo the car.

The only thing the x40 would offer you is the Live services such as HD Traffic, if this is important to you then also consider the XL IQ Live which is cheaper and more reliable as there is less to go wrong. Save you money and wait for your existing using to pack up before looking around at whats available in the market the x50 has just been announced but we will have to wait and see what delights that has to offer - Mike

AndyVaughan · Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:08 am Post subject:

if1977 · Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:57 pm Post subject:

To be honest i was always going to stick with the GO models but after Mike telling me about the only main difference being mostly no bluetooth i thought i would give it a go especially as halfords are selling them at £179.99 with 3 months free LIVE services also(think that is standard anyway). I think the XL is great, much faster and cant complain. Very Happy

_________________
NEW Tomtom GO 500 (hope it is good)
iphone (running all day, doesn't like it)
XL LIVE IQ Routes (Got stolen and miss it)
GO 510 (in drawer now, time for upgrade)

rescueme · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 03, 2005 Posts: 12

A number of our new cars are being routinely fitted with bluetooth handsfree kits, but they aren't going to retro fit the entire fleet. So I'll just have to stick to pulling over to use my phone. The company would probably tell me that it is not an essential item. But it.s amazing how useful my free minutes are for work business!

It's a real pity that the voice input doesn't seem to work, it really would help. Guess I'll stick with my trusty One and just have to pull over to input my destination before turning on the blue lights and sirens!!

I would really like to hear off anyone who has an x40 and sucessfully uses voice input. I'd love to give it a try, but don't know anyone with one..

HD Live is of no use to me, I go wherever I need to in the traffic, and the emergency equipment helps me battle the traffic when I need to get somewhere quick! Very Happy

DennisN · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:04 am Post subject:

Voice input for Navigation DOES work, providing it recognises your voice. I'm sure lots of people are using it successfully. I merely pointed out a possible pitfall.

My local Comet and Halfords both have demonstration models with large "Try Me" signs - go try him! Get hold of a spotty boy, tell him what you want to test and test it with a genuine address.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

Andy_P · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:15 pm Post subject:

My personal experience of voice control.....

I have a 940 and simply got bored of faffing around with voice control.

It struggles if the radio or other music is on, or if the window is open.

Or if I've forgotten which commands I can use.

And you still have to tap the screen several times anyway, so it seems a waste of space.

It's so long since I've used it I almost forgot it's on there.

AndyVaughan · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:59 pm Post subject:

DennisN · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:20 pm Post subject:

M8TJT · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:44 am Post subject:

DennisN · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:12 am Post subject:

rescueme · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 03, 2005 Posts: 12

The handsfree thing was purely an advantage. Even our work phones are not connected to car kits! Trade unions have far more important things to be doing??!!

It was the voice inputting I was really interested in. That would save me having to pull over to input a destination.

I'll get to halfords tomorrow to have a play!!

DennisN · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:56 pm Post subject:

AndyVaughan · Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:18 pm Post subject:

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