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TomTom XL Live Europe
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Dimensions / Weight | 123 x 82 x 27 mm / 185 g | ||
| Antenna type | Hammerhead / Built-in | ||
| Screen size / tactile | 4.3 inches / Yes | ||
| Autonomy | 3 h | ||
| Maps / Countries included | TeleAtlas / Europe | ||
 Show all specifications
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| Software | TomTom Navigator 8.41 |
| Memory | 2 GB built-in (no card reader) |
| Traffic info | Yes / Yes (HD Traffic) |
| Multi-destination routing | Yes |
| MP3 player / Photos | No / No |
 Hide specifications | |
Vincent Lheur
Test date: June 24, 2009
Test date: June 24, 2009
TomTom Live, IQ Routes, GO ... feeling lost?
Feeling lost in TomTom's growing range of sat-nav options? Here are a few points to help you find your way:
- From Spring 2009 onwards, every model will include IQ Routes, but there are some earlier models that are still on sale which don't have this feature, which recalculates routes based on the average reported speed of real vehicles. This means you can follow a different route based on the time of day or the day of the week.
- ''Live'' models include services which require a real-time connection to TomTom's network (speed camera position updates, HD Traffic, weather reports and so on). The first three months are included, after which these services require a monthly subscription. All Live models also include IQ Routes, even if this isn't always clear in the name.
- The GO x40 series include both the Live services and IQ Routes, as well as several high-end features (Text-to-Speech, photo viewer and MP3 player, and even a gyroscope on the GO 940).
- From Spring 2009 onwards, every model will include IQ Routes, but there are some earlier models that are still on sale which don't have this feature, which recalculates routes based on the average reported speed of real vehicles. This means you can follow a different route based on the time of day or the day of the week.
- ''Live'' models include services which require a real-time connection to TomTom's network (speed camera position updates, HD Traffic, weather reports and so on). The first three months are included, after which these services require a monthly subscription. All Live models also include IQ Routes, even if this isn't always clear in the name.
- The GO x40 series include both the Live services and IQ Routes, as well as several high-end features (Text-to-Speech, photo viewer and MP3 player, and even a gyroscope on the GO 940).
It was just a few days ago that we tested the TomTom One IQ Routes Edition, an affordable GPS that's simple, easy-to-use and remarkably effective. We've also added its bigger brother--the XL IQ Routes Edition--which is almost identical but has a 4.3'' screen in place of the 3.5'' display on the original model.
Today, we're looking at an extended version that includes TomTom's Live services. Called the XL Live, this latest GPS has all of the features of the XL IQ Routes Edition and adds the Live services, which we tested on the GO 740 Live.
To sum up: the XL Live is an upgraded version of the XL IQ Routes Edition including all of the real-time services from the GO 740 Live. We won't go into a lot of detail on this latest model, as you can consult our two recent tests for more inforamtion.
The main advantage of the Live services is the inclusion of a dedicated SIM card allowing GPS like the XL Live to connect to TomTom's network to gain access to:
Hardware
The XL Live has stripped this back to the bare minimum, but the quality is excellent. It's worth noting that the 4.3'' screen is easy-to-read, and the useful EasyPort stand packs a very practical support into a small space.
There isn't a remote control or a memory card reader, and TomTom's aim is clearly to offer the most features at a low price.
Handling
There's not much to say here: TomTom's menus are still the most intuitive out there and any first-time user should have not touble at all getting straight to the features he wants. And more confident users can dwell on the very complete range of features in the various sub-menus.
Using the Live services allows to get a rapid fix on your position, as you can download information about satellite positions. You can also use Google to search for addreses.
The XL Live doesn't have voice recognition, a feature which isn't very mature even on those GPS that do include it.
Navigation
Once again, we have the same excellent route planning and navigation that we found on TomTom's previous models: excellent handling of multi-lane roads, diagrams of key exits, speed alerts, pleasant vocal instructions ...
Speed camera alerts tend to arrive a little late, but you can increase the default warning in one of the menus.
The only real missing feature is Text-to-Speech. As this GPS can't read out the names of streets and roads to take, it doesn't gain a five-star rating in this section.
Its main strength, of course, is all of the rich features proposed by the Live services, and, in particular, HD Traffic, which covers every single street, not just important routes like on the TMC system.
Nevertheless, you can't expect to entirely avoid traffic jams and accients, and even the current fastest route can be subject to delays.
It's also possible that you can get caught up in a delay that HD Traffic mention, which occurs when IQ Routes determines that it's normal for that road at that time of day; your estimated arrival time is updated accordingly.
What can happen even more rarely--although we did experience it--is that an incidend holds up traffic for a few minutes before HD Traffic releases an alert. There is an inevitable time-lag betweeen the two events, of course, and if you're unlucky enough to arrive on the scene during this time, you'll get caught out. The good news is that you shouldn't be held up for too long as you'll be very near the incident itself.
Extra Features
No Bluetooth, no media player, no PIN code protecion: the only extra features are the Live services. But they're excellent! All you need to do is type 'pizzeria' into Google to get a list of the nearest Italian restaurants to a location of your choice--your current address, anywhere along the route or at your destination.
Today, we're looking at an extended version that includes TomTom's Live services. Called the XL Live, this latest GPS has all of the features of the XL IQ Routes Edition and adds the Live services, which we tested on the GO 740 Live.
To sum up: the XL Live is an upgraded version of the XL IQ Routes Edition including all of the real-time services from the GO 740 Live. We won't go into a lot of detail on this latest model, as you can consult our two recent tests for more inforamtion.
The main advantage of the Live services is the inclusion of a dedicated SIM card allowing GPS like the XL Live to connect to TomTom's network to gain access to:
- HD Traffic updates covering all of Europe. The recent launch of roaming services allows you to use the service all over Europe, no matter where you buy the GPS.
- information on fuel prices at petrol stations along your route. It's a neat idea, but during our tests we found that the information supplied contained a number of gaps. The details were out-of-date in a number of cases and we had a few nasty surprises in some cases.
- up-to-date satellite positions for a quicker initial location
- address look up using Google Search
- automatic updates of speed camera locations
- weather reports
The XL Live has stripped this back to the bare minimum, but the quality is excellent. It's worth noting that the 4.3'' screen is easy-to-read, and the useful EasyPort stand packs a very practical support into a small space.There isn't a remote control or a memory card reader, and TomTom's aim is clearly to offer the most features at a low price.
Handling
There's not much to say here: TomTom's menus are still the most intuitive out there and any first-time user should have not touble at all getting straight to the features he wants. And more confident users can dwell on the very complete range of features in the various sub-menus.Using the Live services allows to get a rapid fix on your position, as you can download information about satellite positions. You can also use Google to search for addreses.
The XL Live doesn't have voice recognition, a feature which isn't very mature even on those GPS that do include it.
Navigation
Once again, we have the same excellent route planning and navigation that we found on TomTom's previous models: excellent handling of multi-lane roads, diagrams of key exits, speed alerts, pleasant vocal instructions ...Speed camera alerts tend to arrive a little late, but you can increase the default warning in one of the menus.
The only real missing feature is Text-to-Speech. As this GPS can't read out the names of streets and roads to take, it doesn't gain a five-star rating in this section.
Its main strength, of course, is all of the rich features proposed by the Live services, and, in particular, HD Traffic, which covers every single street, not just important routes like on the TMC system.
Nevertheless, you can't expect to entirely avoid traffic jams and accients, and even the current fastest route can be subject to delays.
It's also possible that you can get caught up in a delay that HD Traffic mention, which occurs when IQ Routes determines that it's normal for that road at that time of day; your estimated arrival time is updated accordingly.
What can happen even more rarely--although we did experience it--is that an incidend holds up traffic for a few minutes before HD Traffic releases an alert. There is an inevitable time-lag betweeen the two events, of course, and if you're unlucky enough to arrive on the scene during this time, you'll get caught out. The good news is that you shouldn't be held up for too long as you'll be very near the incident itself.
Extra Features
No Bluetooth, no media player, no PIN code protecion: the only extra features are the Live services. But they're excellent! All you need to do is type 'pizzeria' into Google to get a list of the nearest Italian restaurants to a location of your choice--your current address, anywhere along the route or at your destination.Pluses
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Live Services
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Small, handy EasyPort support
-
Efficient and easy-to-use
Minuses
-
No Text-to-Speech for reading out street names
This GPS has the very best navigation available. The only things it's missing are a few extra features which have been shaved offer to give a better price.
