Portable, easy, fully featured Satnav.

I bought the Tomtom Go 700 because I wanted to give my partner a break from having to map-read on our holidays. Also because I've always wanted satnav in my car but never had a car with it built in (and the built in ones worried me - what if the one in the car I wanted wasn't any good?).

I've never use satnav before, and never owned any other GPS gadget. I live in London.

I also bought one because I thought speed camera warnings are a good idea.

I selected the TomTom Go 700 because it has the whole of Europe maps included, and there's no changing SD cards or CD roms. As I'm a designer, I wanted something that I liked the look of, not only the casing but also the interface.

receiving the goods
The packaging is pretty, modern and it felt like everything I was hoping for. I was surprised at how thin the manual was, I took a QUICK skim of it and decided that it must be so simple and intuitive that I didn't need to read on.

Took it out of the bag, presses the on button on the front, it booted up (happily surprised that I didn't have to charge it up). Within 20 to 30 seconds there was a map, in perspective, on the screen, with my location marked by an arrow. No extra bits, no logging in, no account, just this one little box. This was what I was hoping for, it had passed my first test.

Next I tapped the screen (it's touch screen), I realised that my fingers are a bit big (I'm 6'6" and have to have extra large watch straps) also my finger nails are short. However, I could use it quite easily, just not as easily as an average size person.

Within a minute I'd put in my home address and it had worked out the route home (I was at work). It had passed my second test. This was EXTREMELY easy, I was almost missing the 'figuring it all out bit' of using a new toy. I found it much easier to use than the simple mobile phone I've had for a couple of years.

I tested the Tomtom Go 700 in the car on my way home (I didn't bother using the mounting device at this point, just put it on my coat on the passenger seat.) Everything worked perfectly, signals were easy to hear, clear, with enough warning, but since it was on the passenger seat it was not in a safe place to keep looking at. The route it chose was not my usual route, but would have been just as quick if it hadn't been for all the 'traffic calming' (speed humps) measures. These are not registered on the maps, it would be a good idea if they were and there was an option to avoid them (my car has little ground clearance).

Once home I followed the instructions on linking it up to a PC (simple usb cable included) withing minutes I'd installed the UK speed camera locations and other POI's (points of interest) like petrol stations.
I've since tested the POI feature on the road and it's what I was hoping for.

I've enable the Bluetooth connection to my mobile - I was worried about this being difficult, but like everthing else with the Tomtom Go, it VERY easy. Haven't use the hands free calling feature yet - somebody please call me;-)

Next i'm going to subscribe to the Traffic warning service (you get a months free trial).

I use a PC regularly, but i'm not a techie.