back to article TomTom GO 530 Traffic

Bearing a close resemblance to the 520, the GO 530 is the entry-level unit in the new TomTom 30 range, which has now replaced the well regarded and popular 20 series. Retaining the trademark TomTom curved, slightly rubberised casing, excellent build quality and 4.3in screen, the GO 530 is a classic case of if it ain't broke, …

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  1. Joe

    “a-five-oh-one-two”

    Thank god it doesn't say “a-five-oh-one-two” because that would mean there's a road somewhere named: A5-O12, instead of A5012, you see the roads in this country are labelled quite precisely with a letter, then a series of numbers; not a letter, then a mixture of letters and numbers. In this way, you can make some kind of calculation as to the size of the road, and usually, what larger road it leads to/from.

    Please, you're a techie - for the most part - don't confuse the letter 'O' (oh) with the number 0 (zero)

  2. Ben Hambidge

    @joe

    Oh don't be silly Joe. (Almost) everyone reads road numbers this way.

    A404 = 'A four-oh-four', never 'A four hundred and four' or 'A four zero four'.

    There's no confusion, and there's a pretty clearly defined set of linguistic rules to how road numbers are said, clearly and efficiently.

    For example, two digit road numbers are said in full:

    A23 = 'A twenty three'

    exact hundreds and thousands are said in full:

    B4000 = 'B four thousand'

    A600 = 'A six hundred'

    Almost all other numbers are read out digit-by-digit, using 'oh' for zero.

    And don't tell me you never say 'oh' when reading digit 0 in a phone number!

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. steogede

    @joe

    >> Thank god it doesn't say “a-five-oh-one-two” because that would

    >> mean there's a road somewhere named: A5-O12, instead of A5012,

    >> you see the roads in this country are labelled quite precisely with a

    >> letter, then a series of numbers; not a letter, then a mixture of letters

    >> and numbers.

    >> ...

    >> Please, you're a techie - for the most part - don't confuse the letter

    >> 'O' (oh) with the number 0 (zero)

    There is no risk of confusion. You see the roads in this country are labelled quite precisely with a letter, then a series of numbers and then occasionally a letter in brackets e.g. A1(M). There is no danger of confusing the letter 'O' (oh) with the number 0 (oh) as the letter 'O' never appear in a road 'number'.

  5. Mark Browell

    Hey Joe

    I would be very sad to meet you in the pub...

  6. Ross Ryles
    Linux

    Linux Support

    Unfortunately the MapShare feature is not supported with a linux desktop. Despite TomTom using a Linux based kernel for the device itself.

  7. Hayden Clark Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Not well made, and probably unfinished

    I have a 720, and it's not good. The "A-5thousand-and-fourty-three" thing is infuriating - and just laziness and slackness in the internationalisation of the voice software.

    The early ones have different hardware, and don't support SDHC memory cards. Every time you update the map, you lose your favourites, unless you know the h4xx0r trick of copying a file.

    When I first got mine, the software had several glaring bugs in it. Fixed by an update, but indicating that it had been launched too early.

    It flips to night colours in the dark, but won't flip back in the day.

    The FM transmitter is weedy, and won't give a clear signal in any car I've tried it in.

    The battery is an ornament. After an hour, it's looking low - but there's no on-screen alert until its about to go. Charge time > use time.

    The locations of motorway sliproads are wrong, so that if you actually tried to leave when it says "take the exit" you are too late.

    Some features are buried in the seetings menu, and there's no way of customising the available features for a novice to use.

    All the sockets are along the bottom edge, so it won't sit on the dash in the car. If you put it too near the dash, the connectors will be damaged. There is no proper in-car docking cradle available. The right-angle USB plug on the car charger merely ensures that the USB socket will be damaged if the cable is pulled.

    And mine died, and TomTom are being very difficult about fixing it. Customer service is poor.

  8. MattK
    Stop

    Agree but it's buggy and crap in France

    Agree with the review mostly but having just put it's big brother the 730T through it's paces in Europe I love the features, just wish it wouldn't crash as often. I've had a constant reboot cycle on it until it was reset. I've had bluetooth bail out and not put any sound through the speakers (reset again). I've had voices say they're not available (this apparently is due to the Mac application that allows you to control the unit from your PC). Maps for France are questionable and inconsistent: It swore blind the empty motorway we were on was there but the fastest route was to come off and go on minor roads. In France we had unexplained detours off main roads etc. TomTom keep telling me to run a disk repair everytime I complain but I'm so bored of doing that I'm putting up with the bugs. Night mode doesn't always come on too... I could go on.

    Actually having said that it's the best unit I've ever had so I put up with the crap. Check out the TomTom forums, I'm not the only one. Be warned...

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Love/Hate relationship

    I had a TomTom Go 300 and now have a TomTom One, and I much prefer them to my wifes Garmin.

    But I'd be hard pushed to recommend the TomTom to anyone, because as a company they are so anti-customer.

    When I turn my car off, the power to the cigarette lighter goes off. The TomTom knows this (because it can tell me when it's charging), but TomTom removed the functionality that allows the unit to power itself off when the car is turned off. They claim this is a "safety feature" apparently, but it still works on the mroe expensive models (so apparently it's a safety feature for their bottom line). I also got bitten by the map update that ate my favourites. And I can never understand why a device that relies on unbelievably precise time signals from Satellites can't set the time itself, and just ask me whether I want to keep time in my home Time Zone or whichever Time Zone I happen to be physically in.

    And I automate the switch between night and day colours with the SunTime tool - http://www.webazar.org/tomtom/suntime.php?lang=uk

    By the way, where's their Eire place you refer to? The EU and the UN both have a country called Ireland as a member, but no Eire.

    http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/index_en.htm

    http://www.un.org/members/list.shtml

  10. Peter Appleton
    Thumb Up

    @TomTom7x0 users

    Never used one of the posher ones, but I did get a entry level TomTom One for Christmas and I am chuffed to bits with it.

    Never crashed once, maps are fine, update speed is fine (never missed a motorway junction), speaker is loud enough as long as you don't have your music on too loud, but battery's still crap.

    To be honest the added extras on the higher models (SD card slot, bluetooth, FM transmitter) don't really appeal to me. I just want it to get me from A to B, that's it.

    Maybe the Moral of this story is "Keep it simple and it won't break every 5 minutes"

  11. jason

    Cant understand why folks buy the top of the range models.

    Its a satnav to tell you where you need to go. So why do you need all those other features and most puzzling..a widescreen???

    TomTom One is all you need.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Upgrade your old TomTom !

    I have a 920T and it's superb, had none of the problems mentioned about the 720 above. What the article should have noted is that you can upgrade your maps on the old x20 models (of course, for money) and you then get lane guidance (with it's teething problems as noted).

    Anyone interested in a long debate between TomTom and Garmin should look here:

    http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2007/09/16/tomtom-go-920t-vs-garmin-nuvi-770

  13. Paul

    @AC

    >>TomTom removed the functionality that allows the unit to power itself off when the car is turned off.

    My new 530 has a setting to turn off when external power is lost, so I don't need to worry about that.

    As for "Where's their Eire place you refer to", Eire is the irish name for Ireland in the same way as the german name for Germany is Deutschland.

  14. MattK
    Thumb Down

    IQ Routes - Don't be fooled, they're not that smart..

    So I'll carry on with my rant on the 730T... If you planning a route with these, look at the alternatives at the time of day you're going and use your own IQ too. So the premise behind it is good however the delivery is sometimes too logical, for instance, going from home (South West London) to Heathrow the unit's "best" IQ route is way down the A3 (SW), round the M25 (N) and back up the M4 (E). Estimated mileage about 40 miles and about 40 minutes. I know having done that trip frequently I'd rather go the more direct route which is about 41 minutes and about 15 miles (and that's not the shortest, just the easiest). Of course all of this is dependent upon the time of day but I'd rather spend a minute longer in the car and do 25 miles less which is about two gallons of petrol for the return journey... So use the IQ routes, they're good, but use your own head first. Don't confuse IQ routes with the easiest or most economical. If only it told you the alternatives before you selected the route then I would be smarter. For instance Option A is 40 mins and 40 mins, Option B is 41 mins and 15 miles etc. I guess everyone reading this would be able to process this type of information a lot of people wouldn't...

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    TomTom

    Morning all,

    while I didn't have this model i had on of the GO's which i swapped for a garmin.

    After updating it initially it crashed and would not boot, so swapped it for a new one. I then updated that one a week later (didn't want to risk it breaking again) so again first update on the new one and it crashed again.

    This time I follow the instructions on the website and fixed it. Updates then worked fine for a month or so. So using the map update feature I went to update the map to the 2008 UK map, when surprise surprise it crashed and would not boot. As it was the 3rd time i decided enough was enough and swapped if for a Garmin.

    Cheers

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    I'll be sticking with my 520...

    There is little if not no real change to the hardware between the 520/530. The only real difference is software.

    If you were lucky enough to grab the upgrade to version 8.xx of Navcore for the 520 when TomTom slipped up a few weeks back; then you have exactly the same features as the 530.

    The only issue for now is the fact you can't actually use the iQ Routing or Advanced Lane Guidance as TomTom haven't release v8 maps for the rest of us just yet! (apparently they're still exclusive to the newer models and maybe for a little while longer!)

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    UK and Eire?

    Eire? Where or what is this place to which you refer?

    Either say Ireland, or the Republic of Ireland. Eire is the Irish language translation of Ireland.

    You don't say that you were on holidays in Españe? Or on the beach in Ελλαδα (Ellada)? So stop with the old patronising empirical references for a modern and prosperous country.

  18. Scott Mckenzie

    TomTom

    The best marketing strategy ever employed by Garmin....

    I used to think TT units rocked, then tried the entry level Garmin Nuvi 250, European maps etc, no pointless features and under £100!

    The new version is great if you live in the US as it speaks street names too, but pointless in the UK, so stick with a Nuvi 250 from Amazon and be happy!

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000OV16MQ?ie=UTF8&tag=spoavetstu-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B000OV16MQ

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Andy

    It is strange how the customer experience differs. I bought a Garmin Nuvi last year which broke on the first software update. It lost all its maps, effectively bricking it.

    I took it back and exchanged it for a TomTom 520. This has worked flawlessly ever since. I even use all the features, including the FM, Bluetooth etc with no problems.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Eire is not Éire

    >>As for "Where's their Eire place you refer to", Eire is the irish

    >>name for Ireland in the same way as the german name for

    >>Germany is Deutschland.

    Nope, Éire is the Irish name for Ireland - note that little accent on the first letter. And the English language (which is the language that these forums are conducted in) name is very definitely Ireland.

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