Review: TomTom Go Live 1000

[Simon]

TomTom's satnavs have long been a favourite at PC Pro, but with hot competition from cheap apps on the iPhone and free satnav on other smartphone platforms, it's facing a difficult task to convince people to pay top dollar.

The Go Live 1000 is its latest top-end offering, and as usual it's an evolution rather than a ground-up redesign.

Two aspects of the design of the 1000 immediately catch the eye, and the first is the new mount system. Initially, we were sceptical, but it turns out to be an improvement: a strong magnet, rather than a mechanical clip, now holds the main unit in the cradle and, in a nod to Apple's design engineers, the charging cable is also magnetic. If you're the type who chucks the whole lot in the glove box, it's a big improvement - just slap everything together and the magnets do the rest.

Read more: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/gps-satnav/362806/tomtom-go-live-1000

[Rik]

I just hope they get the software right, that's been a big weakness with my Go Live.

[Simon]

It sounds like more of a hardware revamp. 

[Rik]

Recently, they changed the file format for fuel prices, which caused that to fail, then followed up by doing the same to QuickGPSFix. On top of that, whenever you download a new set of maps, it tells you they are out of date for 2 weeks. 

[Glenn]

Another review http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/TomTom-GO-LIVE-1000-Reviewed-83794.php

[Rik]

I don't like the way they are locking it down, nor the inability to use 3rd party POIs.

[Glenn]

It's to try to extract as much profit per unit sold.

[Rik]

That was my thought. The single lead concept is clearly a cost-cutter.

[Simon]

But also a clutter cutter.  I wish they would put more 12v sockets into cars, so you didn't have to have wires trailing across the dashboard.  Or better still, dedicated connections for phones and sat navs.

[Rik]

It doesn't cut clutter, Simon, it just means you have to take the lead indoors to connect to the computer. Currently, there's one lead for the car and another for the computer.

[Simon]

Ah...