The TomTom Go 500 runs the same core V 5.0 navigator software as the rest of the range making use of Tele Atlas maps, it's screen while definitely brighter than the outgoing classic is also a bit more susceptible to sunlight and shadows making the voice guidance more important on a summers day.

Operating the Go 500 on a daily basis is perhaps easier than the Classic model, improvements in data entry and a revised menu system make access quicker and more accurate, the keys are slightly bigger making the easier to use on the move. Despite the number of extra features the additional menu options seem to have been carefully thought out and grouped so that key feature like setting destinations and changing from day to night time screen colours are still a minimal number of taps away. Our only gripe is the clear route option has been moved from the first screen when you tap into the navigation system to 3 presses away.

Our journeys are made stress free with tom-tom's door to door navigation and the latest version of this classic now has full postcode support and a further improved interface making the Go take as little of your attention as possible thus keeping your eyes on the road.

The new maps and improved algorithms mean that the Go chooses the route we would pick on journeys known well to our team, we can only hope this is replicated on every trip but even navigating through central London the Go 500 seems to pick the most efficient routes. The full UK maps are provided on SD card and you can buy maps of Europe on SD to plug in if you plan to travel, you'll need to upgrade to the TomTom Go 700 and it's 2.5gb hard disk if you want all the European maps on one device.

We did have a play with TomTom traffic which is connected to the TMC broadcasts via Bluetooth and your phones GPRS data service, we've reviewed TomTom traffic separately and found that while reliable it is only as good as the traffic data which frankly isn't much good! The TomTom go 500 works exactly the same with traffic and although seamlessly integrated into the big Go screen it's data is still the weak point and not up to the standard of Trafficmaster.

The big question we wanted to answer in this review is does the Go 500 warrant the extra cash over the 300 and to do this we have tested and utilised the extra features that you are paying for. This is primarily the Bluetooth hands free calling system.

Many of the system that use Bluetooth can be a mixed affair, for a standard Bluetooth seems less than reliable and almost everyone that we meet has some Bluetooth problems. Sadly the Go 500 seems to have more than it's fair share of them. First up we paired our phone which is very simple given the large touch screen of the Go to enter the pairing code, once connected we had visions of being able to see the phones contact book and SMS messages. This was not to be as our phone a Nokia 6670 did not support the profile required to make this section of features work and looking through some of the popular Bluetooth enabled mobiles many do not have this either, or require firmware upgrades to the phones to make it work.

We've spoken with users who have managed to use the phone boom feature without problem and find that it is useful but the ability to read text messages seems to get the biggest thumbs up, of course you shouldn't be reading them on the move folks!

So we couldn't do cool things like dialling from the phone contacts, at least you can store your home number in the Go and have it on a one touch call, you can also call recently dialled numbers and the keypad is nice and big for inputting numbers to call.

Making and receiving calls is nice and simple and big chunky answer buttons and a very loud ring make taking calls easy on the move, but again the Bluetooth seems to cause nothing but problems with it frequently giving very poor connections and our callers complaining that we must be in a poor reception area when the phone is showing full strength. After many attempts and even trying different phones we have to conclude that it is the Go 500's Bluetooth that is the problem.

This seems further compounded by the poor microphone reception which is not very directional (it's housed in the mount) and manages to pick up far too much road noise at motorway speeds, we even gave in and got a cabled microphone to use as a lapel mic. This has improved audio quality but we didn't expect to have to do this and the TomTom hands free should work out of the box at all speeds.

One weird bug is that after a call is received the units navigation volume seems to drop to about 50% and it requires you to manually reset the level which is less than easy when on the move, clearly it's another bug that the first firmware update did not resolve.

All in all the Bluetooth hands free system is quite flawed, which is rare for TomTom when it's paired with possibly the best SatNav system on the market. Perhaps the holy grail of a Bluetooth hands free kit inside a great navigation system is just too much to hope for.

TomTom have also taken to pushing their "extras" which are downloads that you pay to add to your Go, for example you can add a speed camera map, again these are not really worth the extra as they have less than half the cameras that are available in the free pocketgps database.

As a navigation tool the TomTom Go 500 is first class but as a handsfree kit we had nothing but trouble and a frustrating experience and for £100 difference between the TomTom Go 300 (without hands free) you'll understand why we'd say go for the 300 every time. This is the first time we've found a TomTom product lacking but we are always honest and this serves only to backup what great value to Go 300 is with all that navigation power for around £350. You can read our TomTom Go 300 Review here.

Published - 17/09/2005

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