2007 SEMA - TomTom 920 portable GPS

As competition in the GPS market continues to heat up, TomTom showed its first voice-command activated navigation system at SEMA. (We recently tested the Magellan Maestro 4050, considered the first portable unit with voice recognition.) The 920 allows users to enter a street address by speaking it to the unit rather than using a keyboard, which the manufacturer says makes it the first portable unit with this capability. Other recently introduced voice-command units can only take voice commands for pre-programmed addresses or items from their point-of-interest menu. The 920 also can continue to provide guidance when it temporarily loses its signal, such as when going through a tunnel. Another new feature enables users to press one button for their current location in an emergency, or to note where they’ve parked their car to help find it later. Called “Help Me,” this also enables users with a Bluetooth-enabled phone to summon police or a wrecker with one button, akin to a core feature of OnStar. Priced at $599.95, the 920 is in stores now. The 920 adds a traffic receiver for $100 if purchased with the unit including a one year subscription, or $129.95 if purchased later. Annual renewals cost $60 for the service. 

Voice-recognition programming is a big safety benefit for any GPS system. Without a helpful passenger, a driver trying to program a system by hand while driving is a big no-no because of the distraction from driving. While the best factory voice-recognition systems work well and are comprehensive in capability, we found the Maestro’s abilities were limited. Hopefully, the TomTom works better.

No word on whether the 920 could talk to itself with a downloaded celebrity voice...

—Jim Travers

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Comments

[Shelly]

I am an American currently living in Bucharest, and bought the TT920T when passing through duty free in Amsterdam. I was told that the model had maps of Eastern Europe, and that I could download the map of Romania. Bucharest is a twist farm, and a traffic tangle so the extra features seemed great. However, now that I've opened the box and navigated through the setup maze, I find that the Romanian map is barely a main highway connector, and I don't see that TomTom has any maps for here available.

I can't find any information on how or where to find third party maps for the 920T, nor, if I did, how to get them into my machine. Can anyone offer any assistance?

I'd be grateful.

Thanks

[Sharla]

Is there anyone who is able to use the 920 with Verizon Wrls? What bluetooth phones are you using?

[mac mccaskie]

I own this and let me just say:

After one year, after the warranty had expired, the unit would not turn on. It had sat on the shelf most of the time, when I pulled it out for a vacation and charged it up, it would not start. Tech support said they would not repair it, they wouldn't even try!

If it breaks, you're SOL and it's trash!

[Ed Kiernozek]

Purchased a 920 in March 2008. Unit will not boot up after downloading the TomTom upgrade. Soft reset will not fix the problem. I can not get the unit to turn on at all to do a factory reset. Called TomTom and they said 1-year is up.....sorry. I will not purcahse another TomTom - customer service is aweful. A letter to corporate is being drafted.