Introduction to the new TomTom GO920 & 920T
The TomTom GO 920 is the best portable GPS navigator the company has out right now. It was just released at the end of September so there is a good chance it will be sitting around the top for years to come. Some people might even call this device revolutionary with all the features it packs like a “Help Me” safety button that can help you find a hospital or contact the police(as long as you’re putting the Bluetooth technology to use) and MapShare that lets you add your own map corrections and POI’s to the TomTom community and get other people’s in return with the TomTom HOME software(another cool new feature). I’ve tried to put the best picture of the device together that I could without actually being able to review it. Another review will be coming when it is finally released hopefully in the next few weeks so check back soon or you can preorder yours today. I’ve preordered from Amazon.com, I’m finding they have the lowest prices on most of the GPS equipment I’ve purchased.
The TomTom GO 920 GPS portable navigation device will come with a suction mount, a car charger, a USB cord, and the software CD with a manual also on it. You will be able to order a home charger, a cord to connect your iPod, and some choices of carrying cases separately from the unit. There is also a RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver that you can purchase but it comes standard in the GO 920T which would be cheaper. The home charger is a nice add-on if you are traveling but you should know that the desk dock to connect the unit to your computer will also charge the battery.
The Design of the GO920/920T
The 920 is much slimmer than the old 910 was. It measures only 3.3 inches by 4.6 inches and is 0.9 inches deep. It would easily fit into your pocket or purse and weighing only 7.8 ounces it would probably weigh less than your wallet. It packs in a pretty big 4.3″ widescreen for such a small device and has a Lithium Polymer battery that can last around 5 hours before needing to be charged. It also has 4 GB internal flash memory that stores your maps of Canada, the USA, Guam, and Europe along with the POI’s. It can also be used to hold whatever you want. You can transfer files from your computer via the USB cord or load things like mp3’s or maps from a SD card. Like the 910 the GO 920 will come with a remote control and like the 720 there will be a microphone for things like recording your voice for directions and a speaker to play your voice directions, mp3’s, and phone calls. Built right into the device is an FM transmitter so if you’d prefer you can play all sounds through your car audio instead of the built-in speaker on the device.
Navigation & Core function of the TomTom 920
While you navigate your route the TomTom GO 920 will be giving you your directions in three ways. It will actually speak the direction and distance to the next turn and then the street name in one of twenty-two available languages in the voice you chose. If you don’t like any of the voice options and can’t find one to download then you can always take some time and record them all yourself. It will also give you written text on the screen telling you pretty much the same thing as the voice, it will give you the distance to the next turn, the direction of it, and the street name. The last way is show you the 2D or 3D map with your car on it and the route highlighted with an arrow pointing around the next turn. While the last two are pretty standard the voice directions are a bit ahead of the pack with the highly customizable voice, the text-to-speech, and having the FM transmitter to play through your car speakers.
The TomTom GO 920T is the other brand new GPS navigational assistant that TomTom has announced along with the GO 920. They are basically the same device except the “T” version comes with a RDS-TMC traffic receiver built right in. The traffic receiver will receive traffic reports that it will factor in to your route. This means if there is a traffic jam it won’t send you down that road even if it’s the shortest route or it has the highest speed limit. A high speed limit does no good if you cannot drive at it. The GO 920T will reroute you around the jam and give you the truly fastest route.
This is the most notable difference, and as the units continue to ship out and sell I will come back to this and do a more exhaustive comparison of the two, as well as get links to consumer reviews of tomtom go 920 and go920T for those wondering which is the most appropriate purchase as time goes on!
I have pre-ordered a TomTom GO 920 GPS and can’t wait to get my hands on it. It has a lot of cool new features that other companies just don’t offer. My favorite is the new software they’ve developed called Map Share that lets every unit make its own contributions to the map and POI database. This means the most up-to-date maps all the time, no more getting charged for updates like some other companies try. They’re even keeping it updated with the latest software and services for free with the TomTom HOME software. All this new software is going to mean big savings in my pocket. I’m big on text messages too so the text-to-speech capabilities with the Bluetooth technology will have the device reading them to me while I’m driving instead of me staring at the phone while driving. I hope the voice recognition software they have implemented will be able to let you write text messages just by speaking it but I haven’t seen anything on this topic. It would make sense though if it is on there anyways.
Review by: Ted, T (Thanks Ted!)
After seeing the press release saying what the new TomTom GO920 can do I wish I had never bought the 910. It has all of the awesome features that made me buy the 910 like the Bluetooth, the remote control, and the Europe maps plus so many new cool features. The Map Share is looking like my favorite new feature. They look like the only company that offers something like that. It only makes sense, you have so many people out there with these units why not have them doing all the dirty work driving around mapping the planet. The size is also way down. My 910 is like two and a half inches thick while the new TomTom GO920 is under an inch. Even though they made it so much smaller they found a way to pack in a 4.3” inch screen which is up from the GO 910’s screen size.
Review & Anticipation from: Jason, B.(Thanks Jason)
I’ve preordered myself a TomTom GO 920T. For some reason Amazon.com has it listed at only $599.99 while the 920 is $699.99. They seem to have these reversed, I was going to e-mail them when I thought to myself, hey, I can get the RDS-TMC traffic receiver for no extra cost. All changing the price is going to do is take that away from me. So if you were planning on ordering yourself a TomTom GO 920 from Amazon.com, get the T version instead, the only difference is it comes with the traffic receiver built in instead of paying over $100 for it separately. It wouldn’t make sense to pay an extra hundred dollars for the same device minus a feature that will cost another hundred dollars to add on.
Review & Anticipation from: Marcel, S.(Thanks Marcel!)
I have a TomTom GO 720 and I have already preordered a TomTom GO 920. There is a few features of the 920 that I am really interested in that I don’t get with my 720. One is the remote. The remote paired with the new voice command will be really handy in keeping my focus on the road and off the screen. I use my TomTom GO mainly for traveling because I do a lot of it. I’ll be spending a lot of time in Europe this year so the preloaded Europe maps makes it nice that I don’t have to go out and buy them on SD card. Having twice the storage on the 920 means I can fit a lot more songs plus if I do need more maps there is plenty of room for them.
Review By: Nelson, H (Thanks Nelson!)
