Review by Stewart Stryker for TomTom One 130S 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished)
Rating:
The Good News: Mine arrived in new condition, no way to tell it was refurbished except the box says “Road Tested” (i.e. someone took it for a drive before they returned it, so you could buy it!) and it includes a note in the box saying it has a 6-month limited warranty and that you’d have to return it directly to TomTom. The text-to-speech (TTS) where it reads the street names works well, though a bit wordy with highway exits (e.g. “Turn right ahead, take Exit 1 South onto Route 91, Route 10 connector” is a lot of words to listen to for a single turn.)

The Bad News: Another review here said his map was 9 months out of date. At that point I could have canceled my order because that didn’t seem to far out. But my unit’s maps are 15 months out of date, which is too long. Even worse for me, their MapShare technology will only work with maps less that 12 months old, so that new technology I’d wanted to try won’t work.

This unit only comes with 3 voices (my original TomTom ONE 300 included 9-12 voices).

The mini-USB connector in the base is very sticky/picky and it takes a little bit to plug it in. At least at first.

But to me, the savings of buying the refurbished unit is totally negated by having very old maps and no access to MapShare. So I spent $60 to update the US/Canada maps, which made my total cost $10 more than if I’d bought the new unit!

Review by Rob from Vermont for TomTom One 130S 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished)
Rating:
DON’T use a Mac to update the TomTom using TomTom Home, because the “spotlight” feature on the Mac screws it up, which will make your device show a flashing X (basically, error). I played with it for a few hours, before I gave up. Came into work the next day, and hooked it up to my PC there. Called Tech Service. They told me all I had to do was uninstall the TomTom Application and reinstall on the PC and all would be well. Worked. So, in short:

1. Use a PC to do all of your TomTom updates. Right out of the box you will need to update some features via TomTom home [...]

2. Your map will be out of date, because it is a refurb. To get the updated map without paying go to the “Tools” menu on TomTom Home (it is in the tool bar at the top of your screen). Clicked on “Use Newest Map Guarantee.” I clicked on that, and it said that there was a newer map available and to click on “Download” to download and install it now. It will take over an hour, because the new map is 872 MB. Not sure if this works more than once, but it will save you the $50 you would otherwise spend if you purchased the updated map. I see some on this review panel did just that.

Review by Anton Tobias for TomTom ONE 130 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished)
Rating:
Here is the latest in TomTom technology. The TomTom 130. This latest development from TomTom will be perfect for first time GPS buyers who are looking for something simple, compact, and accurate. For previous owners of the TomTom One however, this is no reason to upgrade.

The product itself is as close to perfection as I’ve seen in a basic GPS device, hence the five star rating, but then again so is the TomTom One 3rd edition that was released late last year. The TomTom 130 model is basically the TomTom One with a few minor upgrades. The most notable would be the new flip and fold mounting capability. Instead of the standard suction cup mount that TomTom owners are used to owning as a separate component (one that slides in and out of the back custom grooves of the TomTom itself) there is now an attached mount that folds into the unit for easy storage. This is convenient but in my opinion and like the other minor upgrades, no reason to toss out your old TomTom One in exchange.

iPod has set the standard for a lot of electronic thresholds, none being more noticeable than the size and depth of its products. To some it up…slim is in and the TomTom 130 is even slimmer than its big brother the TomTom One weighing in at a 6.1 ounces and only 1 inch in depth. Here are the some minor specs:

Unit Size: 3.8″H x 3.2″W x 1″D

Display Size: 3.5″ (Diagonal)

Weight: 6.1 oz

Also worth noting is the TomTom 130 now boasts a 3 hour battery charge instead of the paltry 2 hour that left TomTom One owners completely dependent on the cigarette chargers in their cars. 3 hours isn’t exactly a wealth of time but it is an improvement and a little more realistic.

Also included with the product is TomTom’s exclusive Map Share feature that allows users to make their own map corrections and share them with other TomTom customers through their online connection using the TomTom Home software on their PC. This service is free of charge.

This has been the subject of some confusion among TomTom users and should be pointed out. Some customers mistakenly think the Map Share updates they receive are entire map upgrades. This is not so. Although TomTom does provide its customers with Map Share updates free of charge these only include minor map modifications, such as dead end streets that weren’t marked properly or points-of-interest that were marked out of place. These Map Share updates do not include the miles of new roads being built every year across America & Canada. In order to receive these major map updates customers will have to pay for them.

Of course the TomTom 130 will already come included with the latest Tele Atlas which is now version 720.1802, and although TomTom has major map upgrades throughout the year most customers (including myself) will be content with just paying for an upgrade once a year. This guarantees that you will always have the latest maps with the newest roads.

Like the TomTom One 3rd Edition the TomTom 130 comes with a “Help Me” button which when pressed opens features such as “Phone For Help” which displays emergency numbers for the current location (such as and typically 911) “Drive To Help” which show you the quickest way to the nearest police station or hospital and a “First Aid Guide” which is provided by the British Red Cross.

Also included in the safety features is an option to sound a custom alarm if any of the following occur:

1. When approaching a school or church

2. When driving faster than a set speed

3. When driving faster than allowed

The 130 still uses the same TomTom touch screen user-interface so prior TomTom users will already be familiar with the controls but with such a user friendly design even new customers will have the hang of it in no time. The screen is a bright 3.5 inch full TFT color LCD with 320 x 240 pixels that supports 64K colors.

For first time GPS buyers this unit is perfect because of its price, portability, latest maps, outstanding user-interface, and simplicity. For someone looking to upgrade to something a little more advanced try the TomTom 130S with text-to-speech capability (verbal pronunciation of street names).

Review by W. Copeland for TomTom ONE 130 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished)
Rating:

I really liked this GPS at first, esp. the ability to download updates, pictures and even voices all for free. However the speaker quality was very poor, tinny, and hard to hear, even after I made adjustments in the menu.

I called Tom Tom, hoping that I had a bad unit and it could be swapped for one with better speaker quality, they said, unfortunately, due to the compact design, all the speakers in that line are the same quality. Reluctantly I returned it.

Amazon has a great return policy.

I then bought a Garmin Nuvi 350, and wow, the speaker quality is much better.

Review by S. Harvey for TomTom ONE 130 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Factory Refurbished)
Rating:
I recently bought the Magellan Maestro 3225 and, after 5 days, returned it because it was really user unfriendly. I then got the TomTom for the same price and I love it! So many more features than the other one. One thing I love is that it gives you a choice of route and background colors so that you can decide what color scheme works best for you. Also, gives you several choices of voices to choose from, which is nice. The British one is so polite! HA HA! I would highly recommend this device, and at $150, it’s a good deal. One thing — I highly recommend downloading the Mr. T voice … There’s nothing better than to be told to make a left up here, fool! I pity you!