Go To Latest Video ReviewsRefine search for Car Tech
TomTom XL LIVE IQ Routes Edition Sat-Nav Review
| Author | James Morris |
| Published | 6th Jul 2009 |
| Manufacturer | TomTom |
| Supplier | Play |
| Price | £191.30 (Exc VAT) |
| as reviewed | £219.99 (Inc VAT) |
| Latest Price | Click here |
| Design |  |
| Features |  |
| Performance | |
| Value | |
| Overall | |
5 comments
Email
TrustedReviews NewslettersWhen we first took a look at TomTom's LIVE system in the shape of the GO 540, we could see it was a huge leap forward in sat-nav technology. Although further testing has shown that it's not completely perfect, we still think this is the most significant development for some years. However, LIVE has remained a premium feature, requiring a monthly subscription and is only available in top-of-the-range devices. So now TomTom has decided to give LIVE slightly more mass appeal by offering it in a lower-end model, the new XL LIVE IQ Routes Edition.
At first glance, the XL LIVE looks similar to its higher-end GO cousin. It sports a 4.3in widescreen and has the same general interface. However, the differences are obvious as soon as you try to mount the XL in your car. Instead of the streamlined Active Dock screen attachment now offered with the latest GO LIVE range, the XL keeps the Easyport of the XL and ONE.
This makes the whole unit simpler to move from car to car, as the mount can be left attached. But the device isn't that easy to detach and reattach to this mount, and you have to plug in the USB connection for the car power adapter first as well.
Fortunately, the core LIVE features remain unchanged. The main benefit is HD Traffic, which goes far beyond the capabilities of the usual RDS-TMC traffic services offered by other manufacturers. You can read exactly how this works in our recent article on HD Traffic, but in a nutshell it offers updates on more roads than services based on TrafficMaster camera information, and these are more frequent as they're delivered via mobile data link every three minutes rather than over an FM radio signal every 15 minutes.
In our long-term testing, we have found HD Traffic much more effective at avoiding nasty jams than anything which went before, although you still need to second-guess suggestions from time to time, as we explained in our detailed feature on the subject.
Newsletters
Register to receive the latest Reviews and News Headlines directly to your Inbox every day, and enter our regular competitions. More Info.
Latest 4 of 5 Comments
Have your say: Leave a comment below about this article.
James Morris said on 10th July 2009
tonyk said on 12th July 2009
Had one of these for over a week now, initially worked great but suddenly the system kept rebooting. Now the HD traffic comes up with TomTom server error unable to establish a conn... more
James Morris said on 13th July 2009
@tonyk Sorry to hear that. I think it must be a faulty unit, as I've had a number of HD Traffic-enabled TomToms over the last six months and, whilst they've occasionally ... more
HungryAvocado said on 29th August 2009
It seems that the price of the TomTom GO 540 LIVE has dropped so that it is almost the same as the XL LIVE.
Given that the 540 has the voice commands and bluetooth, ... more
See all 5 comments on this article.
Add your comment
You must be logged in to comment. Login or register here.
I'm most honoured to deserve that blame! Hope you like the TomTom.