We've got the latest, all-singing, all-dancing, all-new-design flagship TomTom GO 6000 on test right now – with its brand new design language appearance, offering a streamlined, "map-centric experience" making it easier for the driver to use and read, displaying only the most relevant information at any given moment.
The new GO 6000 retails at a £1 under £300, so the fact it now includes lifetime Traffic and Map updates (of 45 European countries!) and built-in mobile data for the first time is a good thing, as that's quite an investment.
But what you get for your money is a stunning six-inch touchscreen, which is larger than a lot of built-in sat nav devices. The supplied mounting bracket is also really good, conventionally sticking into position, then twisting to get it stable and solid.
Being used to the old TomTom menu system, we found it took us a bit of time to get used to the new layout, colours, sounds and all with the fresh and funky GO 6000. But, once you do acclimatise, there's no going back… it's really intuitive, clean and clever.
The TomTom GO is the only navigation device which allows you to start navigating in two taps, which is really simples when you're in a hurry, and the map with live traffic is the first thing you see – giving you an immediate overview of the traffic situation around your current location and your potential route - supplying you with instant options and helping you avoid traffic from the off. That's ace.
But the best feature by far is the ‘Jam Ahead’ warning for traffic incidents – indicated with the bar on the RHS – which tells you exactly when you’ll hit the jam, what type of incident it is, warns you in case you’re moving at a faster speed than the traffic ahead and tells you exactly how many minutes it's going to add to your journey. And, if it's bad it'll suggest re-routing, where possible. This use of real-time TomTom Traffic information is just amazing, and has saved us countless times getting stuck in horrible traffic jams on a number of occasions already… which more than justifies it's £299 price tag to us.
The GO 6000 is really good helping you stay legal too. Like the TomTom's of old, you get a central speed display, which goes orange when you wander over the limit and red when you're in points territory. But, even better now, the new RHS bar display that gives you traffic info. also calculates your average speed when you're travelling through a camera-monitored average speed check zone – again, changing colour to warn you if you're just, or miles over. This helps you stay points-free, at a glance – which is dead useful, especially in those frequently-found, nasty 50mph, narrow lane motorway roadworks the M25 and M62 are full of right now. And the GO also shows you the locations of solid-state and mobile zone Gatsos, which is helpful (although the updates for these are an extra £19.99).
Another top function we enjoy is when you're searching for a destination – the TomTom GO starts finding it and suggesting options from the moment you start typing… like a Google search. And it'll even list points of interest on the RHS of the search too.
And when you enter a city, the map goes all 3D on your ass, making it easier to relate the map to what you see ahead of you as a driver. This is really useful, and cool: When you approach a real landmark, there it is in 3D form in front of your eyes.
Our experience to date with the GO 6000 has been akin to my experience with the most recent Kings of Leon album. At first, whilst I knew it was good, I didn't like it as much as the last one. But, the more I listened/used it, the more it rewarded me with its apparent simplicity, but actual complexity.
The GO 6000 may not be cheap, but you get what you pay for and it comes highly, highly recommended by us at Road HQ.
