1. It's Either Buy A GPS Or A Divorce, Revisited

Man, it seems like a long time since Part I of this story saw the light of day. It has been over two months. Let me tell you why it has taken so long to bring you Part II. It took me until just the other day to get the TomTom Plus feature working on my Go 700 evaluation unit. TomTom Plus lets you download updated information into your GPS including current traffic data, specialized points of interest, new voices to guide you on your trips and new map colors. But before you can do this you have to pair the GPS with a supported Internet capable wireless phone, set up an account on the TomTom website and register your GPS with the company. To make a long story short, though paring was easy and I was able to set up an account and register, I couldn't complete any downloads for most of the two months since Part I was published.

I'll tell you more about TomTom Plus and my adventures in phone data land later. Right now, because it's been so long since we last talked, I need to give you a little of the back-story from Part I.

As I mentioned in Part I, I'm a typical male. One of my major Y-chromosome related faults is that I hate to ask for directions. Sometimes I can literally feel the daggers my wife shoots at me with her eyes as we twist and turn endlessly through unknown highways and streets seeking our destination. It's not that I haven't tried to find a technological crutch for my aversion to asking for directions. I've been looking for a good Global Positioning System (GPS) device for a long time. I must have looked at 15 GPSes over the last few years. None met my requirements. When I bought my beloved Toyota Prius last year I was tempted to get the highly touted GPS system that comes with the car, but the additional $4,000 the unit and a few non-essential extras add to the car's price tag was more than I was ready to pay.

After getting lost while driving with my wife two months ago in the Westlake Village/Thousand Oaks area where TG Publishing's offices are located, I decided to ratchet up my search for a GPS device. I looked at various units from the usual suspects, Magellan and Garmin, in local stores. They didn't impress me all that much. Then I discovered the Dutch company TomTom. Its GPSes looked most promising, especially the Go 700 model. I got my hands on one and began testing it out.

So, to summarize, at the start of my TomTom Go 700 testing I was sick of getting lost and it seemed to me that my marriage was on the line. That's a pretty good motivation to find a workable GPS system.

I was pretty happy with the Go 700. At the end of my tests. I wrote:

"The TomTom Go 700 is a well thought out GPS that's easy to use. It's also loaded with a range of great features including a number of easy to use options for building and modifying routes. On the highway it's, here comes that word again, easy to use with its bright and well designed touch screen display, accurate animated 3D maps and fine selection of direction-providing voices."

"On the downside, the case should be made slip proof and that miserable windshield mounting bracket should be redesigned. And, it should be possible to regularly update the maps and points of interest that come with the Go 700. Nevertheless, the Go 700 is still the best portable GPS I've ever used."

Before I update you on my tests, give you my final take on the Go 700 and tell you about the state of my marriage, I want to show you once again the device's very impressive feature set. You'll find that in the table in the next section.

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