I can’t help but post about it – I love my TomTom One.

We recently had to take a trip out of State. In this day of Google Maps it’s not hard to plan a driving route but my wife and I figured that, with our two young children along, it was time to grab a GPS we always wanted… just to have that extra help.

We grabbed the TomTom One (3rd Edition) and really didn’t have time to do anything other than plug it in, turn it on, and take the five minute on-screen tutorial.

…that was all it took!

I have to say the touch screen, graphics, voice responses, and everything were so well done that we were able to roll out of our driveway during a fog and snowstorm and head to our destination (also boasting several rounds of snow and bad driving conditions) but the confidence the TomTom gave us was absolute. I don’t know how I ever lived without this little baby?

Other than the usual confidence in seeing that there were always at least 8 out of 12 satellites tracking our car at all times (even in the boonies where cellphone reception fails) I walked away with two, very favorite features:

1. The customizable display that tells me how many miles (and total and segmented time estimates) to the next turn (and what type of turn it’ll be (right, left, highway interchange, left lane, right lane, etc.) but also the estimated time to the final destination. I could look at my display and basically say “Honey, I don’t even have to read a road sign for another 300 miles and when I do… TomTom wants me to hang a left.” That was the most comfortable way to navigate I’ve ever seen.

2. Night map mode. Never mind that it’s incredibly thoughtful that the TomTom folks understand that, at night, you really don’t need a bright, glowing display shining in your face in front of a dark foreground out the windshield. Never mind the fact the night maps can be customized to give you logical but darker palettes for night use. No, my favorite feature of night maps is the set that looks like a modified Stealth Fighter night-vision-goggle vision! How cool is that? I felt like pilot on a night mission over foreign territory (except, of course, the fact I was driving a 2008 Sienna soccer-mom-van but that’s neither here nor there). I was Mission: Go!

Anyway, if you have any traveling to do (far or near) grab one of these puppies. I’m so in love with my TomTom One that I might even start talking dirty to it. It’s useful to get to another State but also handy to quickly take a traffic detour and still find the nearest park, movie theater, mall, coffee shop, gas station or wherever – in your own city or somewhere unknown.

Oh, and the additional, downloadable John Clease voice is totally worth it. “Bear right, Badger left!”

Thanks to Clompers for making his nice photo available for CC use.