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Comment on TomTom XXL 540TM 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic & Maps Edition) by Pete

Pete — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:36:25 +0000

1,244 of 1,296 people found the following review helpful:

Still needs a few improvements to make it a great gps unit, December 17, 2009

Pete (USA) -

This review is from: TomTom XXL 540S 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

I bought the TomTom XXL 540S a few weeks ago. This gps is the big brother to the TomTom XL 340S. This gps just has the bigger and brighter 5" screen.

I have very mixed feelings about the gps. There are many things that I like about it, but there are also so many small details and functions that are lacking on it that TomTom either decided not to work on or decided to exclude. These little things that are missing drive me absolutely crazy at times and I don't know if I can stand them or not. I may consider returning this gps and getting either a Garmin or Magellan instead. I don't know yet. I really hope TomTom starts addressing some of these issues.

Some of my pros vs cons are below which I hope will help others who are trying to decide on a gps.

Pros:

+ IQ Routes (TomTom uses historical speed data for roads based on the time of day and day of the week, so that it can give you the best possible route)
+ Big 5" Screen, which is easy to see.
+ Very loud speaker. (Option in Volume Preferences to link the volume to your cars speed if you want)
+ Satellite acquition is fast (less than 10 sec for me). Shows usually around 9 satellites.
+ Map Color can be changed.
+ Can change the color of the car symbol in 3D mode
+ Auto Day/Night mode changes the brightness and color.
+ Ability to prepare a route with any Depart and Destination coordinates.

+ Shows the current street that your on at the bottom of the screen and the next street to turn on in the top right corner.

+ Advanced Lane Guidance on the highway is displayed really nicely. Shows an arrow with the lane that you need to be in and also sometimes shows a 3D sign for your exit. It is nice and big and it stays on the screen long enough to be viewed so that its clear to see where you need to go.

+ Status bar can be customized to how you like it. It can be displayed either horizontally or vertically. Can show the remaining time, remaining distance, current time, arrival time, your speed and the speed limit, distance to your next turn, compass, ect.

+ TTS (text to speech) instructions are very helpful in letting you know where to turn and also preparing you for your next turn as well. For instance it will say something like "After one qurter mile turn right". Then as you get closer to the street it will say "Turn right Main St. Then take the second left"

Cons:

- POI (Points of Interest) Map Screen shows the POI name, street and cross street, phone, city, and state. But it gives NO street addresses! So you don't know the address or what side of the street the POI is on, unless you call the place ahead of time and ask. All you get is a checkered flag shown in the middle of the street with TomTom saying "you have reached your final destination". On the Go model the POI Map Screen has a "Details" button that shows the street address, zip code, and food cuisine type for instance. Why TomTom decided to remove this on this model I have no idea.

- No AutoZoom enable/disable option (like on the Go model). You can manually zoom in or out on the map, but about 5 sec later AutoZoom will kick in and take you right back to what TomTom wants you to see. Its very frustrating because I like to zoom in and out sometimes so that I can see more map detail, but TomTom won't allow me to for anymore then about 5 sec. When I turn on the gps the zoom level that TomTom has picked is so bad that most all of the street outlines around me have completely vanished from the screen. All that I see are a bunch of street names just floating around on the map with no streets being shown.

- Doesn't speak which side of the street your destination is on. (If you enter a street address for a destination however it does show a little arrow on the map pointing to the left or right hand side of the street when you are approaching your destination. Along with a little checkered flag on the side of the street your destination is on.)

- Change Preferences screen is 6 pages deep and only has a button to advance foward to the next page. There is no back button. So if you say accidently go past the screen you wanted to be on you have to then press the foward button 5 more times just to get back to that page.

- No simple way to get into the Browse as Text turn lists display from the main screen.

- Browse as Text route instructions, the text and arrows for the turn list is just way to small. Also there is no Auto Scroll function. To view the next page of new upcoming turns you have to scroll down the list manually yourself.

- POI Map Screen in Night mode shows the cross street text in black, which is extremely difficult to see unless you get very close to the screen.

- 3D mode during the day the maps background brightness isn't consistent across... Read more

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Comments (41)

Comment on TomTom XXL 540TM 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic & Maps Edition) by David Pearlman "sound fanatic"

David Pearlman "sound fanatic" — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:23:20 +0000

526 of 542 people found the following review helpful:

Very solid GPS with all the essential features you'd want except voice recognition, July 21, 2010

David Pearlman "sound fanatic" (Arlington, MA) -

This review is from: TomTom XXL 540TM World Traveler 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Traffic & Maps and World Maps (Electronics)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

The GPS market has come a long way in the past few years. A decade ago, there were very few after-market GPS units, they were mostly expensive, and they were also mostly mediocre. The best units cost more than a thousand, and while they'd get you from here to there, didn't feature a lot of bells and whistles. Factory installed GPS units--then limited mostly to high end cars--generally cost $2-3k.

A growing number of portable GPS units have come to market in the past 5 or so years. Over time, the hardware has improved, the software has (for the best ones) gotten pretty good, and prices have (especially in the past year or so) dropped tremendously. (That last point--the tremendous drop in price--has forced many manufacturers out of the market. At this point, it is mostly dominated by names like TomTom, Magellan, and Garmin). There is also now competition from high end smart phones, most of which have a GPS unit built in.

(Amazingly--or perhaps not--the cost of factory installed car GPS systems has stubbornly remained around $2,000!)

While there has been substantial brand attrition in the GPS market, there is no shortage of choices. That's because each manufacturer now offers an almost ridiculous number of models, many of which are only modestly different.

GPS units can basically be differentiated as follows

1) Screen size (usually 3-5" diagonally)
2) Ability to acquire a GPS signal
3) The GUI (graphical user interface) presented to the user
4) Quality of the maps (how often updated, what geographical regions they cover)
5) Does the unit incorporate traffic data?
6) Quality of routing (how good are the driving instructions generated)
7) Does the unit offer text to speech? (Does it tell you the names of streets, or just say "next left"?)
8) Does the unit offer voice recognition
9) Does the unit incorporate blue tooth to communicate with your phone and/or FM transmission to play over your car radio?
10) Does the unit have expandable memory; play mp3s; etc?
11) How good is the included mounting hardware?

Let's take these features one at a time for this particular GPS, the TomTom XXL540TM

1) The screen size of this unit is 5". This is at the high end of current offerings by the major GPS manufacturers. This doesn't really buy you any additional "real estate", i.e. the resolution isn't higher than the small GPS units. It's just a little bigger. That IS useful, to be honest, and is also helpful as it makes it easier to maneuver the touchscreen menus.

2) This unit, like all the current TomTom line, does a great job of acquiring a GPS signal. It can take far less than a minute with clear lines of sight, and my unit was even able to pull up 5 satellites inside my home with the blinds drawn. I also have GPS units from Sony and Garmin, as well as a built in unit in my car. The TomTom is better than the Sony at getting a signal, as good as the Garmin, and slower than the built in in my car (not a fair comparison, since the built in gets a much larger antenna).

3) This TomTom has a very good GUI. The touch screen is reasonably responsive and most everything appears where one would, intuitively, expect it to be. My biggest complaint is that there are a LOT of options and option screens you can drill through--way too many to deal with while driving. The upside, is there is a "simple menus" options that will present only the most significant option screens. It should be noted that some of the recent TomTom models (e.g. the 550) have eliminated a lot of the options/option screens, leaving ONLY the "simple" menus. That is a big negative, since some of these deep menus are quite useful. Bottom line: Good GUI and stick to a model like this that at least gives you the option of the deep menus.

4) The map data is good, and this particular GPS comes with lifetime map updates. TomTom also has a "map share" facility, which allows users to upload/download map changes. That means if a bunch of users discovery that a street is closed, they can note this information on their GPS and that info will get transmitted back to TomTom, who then shares it with everyone else. In this way, maps get corrected very quickly. This unit includes maps for both North America (US/Mexico/Canada) and much of Europe. The inclusion of European maps will be considered a major bonus for some, and irrelevant for those who don't plan to take this outside this continent.

5) This unit includes lifetime traffic data. The value of this data will depend on where you live. Major cities have great coverage. Smaller cities frequently get poorer coverage. The traffic data is also sometimes incorrect. But on the whole, the traffic data is good, and reasonably reliable (where you can get it). It is transmitted over the FM frequency, and an antenna is built into the auto... Read more

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Comment on TomTom XXL 540TM 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic & Maps Edition) by R. Pertusio

R. Pertusio — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:37:51 +0000

2,713 of 2,733 people found the following review helpful:

My first TomTom and won't be my last!, May 13, 2010

R. Pertusio -

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: TomTom XXL 540TM 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic & Maps Edition) (Electronics)

History with GPS Navigation:
I've used built-in Honda (Alpine), standalone Garmin, and Ford 'Sync' audio GPS navigation devices.
I loved the Honda navi for its size, and I hated it because updates were sparse and expensive.
I loved the Garmin for being up-to-date but I hated it because it always seemed to change its mind a lot, or direct me into strange areas.
I didn't really care for the Ford Sync navigation, as it wasn't a visual navi. Included for free with the car, but I choose not to use it. Maybe only good as a 'back-up' in case the TomTom fails-- though I don't think it ever will.

I sold my Honda and needed a new navigation system.

I bought the XXL 540TM for...
1) Screen size
2) Frequent map updates (4x a year + Map Share)
3) Ability to customize it (lots of settings to play with)
4) Well Known & Quality (I've always heard 'Garmin' is the best, but when I've tried Garmin, I didn't like it!)
5) Lane Guidance
6) IQ Routes (figuring out which roads were best to use)

By the way, in case you were wondering the "TM" stands for "Traffic" and "Maps", indicating there are free traffic and map updates. I had NO problems entering the "Lifetime Maps & Traffic" code provided.

What's in the box:
-> GPS device itself
-> Window mount (with suction cup)
-> Dashboard 'sticky' pad
-> USB cable (to connect to PC)
-> Car Power adapter
-> Set Up Guide
-> Slip of paper with 1 code, valid for Lifetime Map/Traffic updates

The first thing I did was hook it up to my PC and run all the updates. (A newer map was available + GPSFix + Map Share.) It took about 1.5 hours to update all of it. After it was done, it took up about 96% of the 2GB built-in memory. (I didn't check how much it used before updating.) Not a lot of 'wiggle room' to add more features. No built-in SD slot to add memory, either.

One major downside is that I don't like how easily the device 'pops off' the windshield mount. (See further explanation under "The BAD" below.) I am considering getting a (non-adhesive) weighted/padded mount to put on the dashboard.

The GOOD:
+ Screen size met my expectations. Easy to see everything on the screen

+ Startup time (including time to lock onto satellites) seemed fairly quick

+ Roads were up-to-date and labeled properly. Didn't find any errors

+ Allowed me to customize just about everything I wanted to.

+ It functioned perfectly as a Navigation device. This is where I felt Garmin was lacking. With all the features a Garmin has, it never seemed to 'navigate' the way I liked. Of all the features, the 'Navigation' is the most important, and TomTom does it well from what I've seen.

+ It pronounced some 'hard to say' roads perfectly! I'm sure I'll find some that are not right, but Garmin/Sync had a hard time saying road names.

The "OK":
+- Traffic is only updated by RDS (sent by local FM radio stations). This is what I paid for. RDS updated only major roadways (Interstates) and marked some accidents / road construction / road closures. It only worked when the power cord was plugged into the accessory power port on the car (as the cord functions as the antenna.) I would have preferred TomTom's GO/Live line of products which has a built-in 'cell phone' to grab more detailed and current traffic information. But, these were out of my price range. The XXL 540TM does "just enough" traffic to make it useful.

+- It takes some time to calculate a long distance route. But, I also know that it is using IQ Routes to choose the best roads. It seemed 1 or 2 seconds longer than it needed to be, but certainly not a huge problem.

The BAD:
- Internal memory not expandable. 96% used up without any 'extras' installed? Hope I don't need more...

- When browsing maps (dragging my finger) it is a bit 'laggy'. I don't expect perfection, but it seemed sluggish. Fortunately, I don't plan to browse maps often, so I'll deal with it. I tried turning off Points Of Interest (POIs), and turning off 3D maps (using 2D maps instead), and it really didn't seem to make a difference. I'm impressed with the detail it showed, but wasn't thrilled about waiting 10 seconds for the entire screen to finish 'drawing'.

- Windshield mount seemed to 'pop off' too easily. When suctioned to the windshield, I have to use 2 hands to 'hold' the GPS and keep it attached to the mount while I adjust. I suppose it is useful for people who leave the mount stuck on the windshield. I prefer to remove the device AND the mount and hide them when not in use. (I figure a thief will know that the mount is for a GPS, and that the GPS is hidden in the car somewhere.)

I have yet to try this out on a LONG or COMPLEX road trip, but... Read more

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Comment on Red Line 60103 SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner – 15 oz. by Jerry Palmerino Jr

Jerry Palmerino Jr — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:50:24 +0000

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

I Trust It, September 25, 2008

Jerry Palmerino Jr (United States) -

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

I belong to an online forum of Colorado owners (coloradofans.com) and created a poll to see which fuel system cleaner the members liked best. This one did very well, so I tried it and I like the results. I have poured a bottle in the tank prior to every oil change recently.

I also like Techron, because it seems to give me a smoother idle over each tank of gas. Redline seems to bring out the raw power of my engine though.

I am not a mechanic, but it seems to work for me.

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Comment on Red Line 60103 SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner – 15 oz. by C. Perluss

C. Perluss — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:29:29 +0000

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

Raised my gas mileage 3-4 points, March 18, 2010

C. Perluss (Orange County, CA) -

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Red Line 60103 SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner - 15 oz. (Automotive)

My '06 Civic SI has about 40,000 miles on it. It had been getting around 22 mpg (mostly city driving) but even with long distance freeway driving (around 75mph) I'd only get about 23 mpg. I usually use Chevron or Shell gas. I also have used Techron fuel cleaner in the past with no results.

So I used Red Line SI-1 a few tanks ago, and my gas mileage has increased to about 26 mpg for my last few tanks. Right now I'm at 318 miles on one tank of gas, and i have one bar left on my fuel gauge (it's digital). Prior to the Red Line the best I'd ever gotten was 312 on one tank of gas, and that was after driving the ENTIRE tank on the freeway, and driving 10 miles with no bars left on the fuel gauge. Typically I would get 250-270 miles on one tank.

I'm stoked!

I will admit that using this stuff ain't going to do anything to help you if your injectors aren't clogged... but if you suspect they are, this is the fuel cleaner to get!

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Comment on Red Line 60103 SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner – 15 oz. by Glenn Carpenter

Glenn Carpenter — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:27:01 +0000

124 of 133 people found the following review helpful:

Best and most cost-effective product of its type, July 5, 2009

Glenn Carpenter (Golden, Colorado) -

Short version:

Among all fuel system cleaners I'm aware of, Redline SI-1 contains the highest quantity per dollar (based on manufacturer MSDS) of the critical fuel-system-cleaning compounds known as polyether amines (PEA). Primarily for this reason I believe SI-1 to be the best available and most cost-effective fuel system cleaner product at retail pricing. [...].

In my case it has not been necessary to use Redline's recommended quantity of approximately 3 oz per fill-up. The effects of 1 oz per fill-up are indistinguishable in terms of tested results (see my basis for this statement below). This results in an approximate cost of $0.35/tank or less than a tenth of a penny per mile. A full case at this usage rate is enough to treat 180 full tanks of fuel or to last approximately 80,000 miles. (Figures based 15gal/tank, 25-35mpg).

Long version:

As far as I know, every effective fuel system cleaner on the market uses a class of compounds known as polyether amines (PEA), in varying proportions, to effectively clean deposits from fuel system components, and particularly from fuel injectors, which can quickly impact engine efficiency and performance when not operating correctly. My understanding is that these compounds were first developed by Chevron and sold under the Techron name, and have since been made available to other blenders of fuel treatment products. Until recently BG 44K, Chevron Techron Concentrate, Gumout Regane Fuel System Cleaner, Amsoil P.I. Performance Improver Concentrate, and Redline SI-1 (among others) listed polyether amines on their Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) in proportions varying from approximately 25% to 50%. Most of these products no longer list PEA on their MSDS, having changed their terminology to disguise the precise nature of their products' constituent components. Whether PEA is still contained in those products is a matter of uncertainty. As of this writing Redline's SI-1 MSDS still specifies that the product contains 30-50% PEA. Consequently it is one of the few remaining fuel system cleaner products that undoubtedly does contain PEA in significant quantity.

I have been able to test the efficacy of fuel system cleaners in one of my own vehicles using a method I stumbled on after having its injectors professionally cleaned while out of the vehicle. The car in question uses a Bosch engine management system that reports fuel injector data to an on-board computer, which then uses that data to calculate and report instantaneous and average mpg to the driver. I noted after the professional cleaning that the accuracy of the reported mpg, when used to measure average mpg over each full tank of fuel, improved suddenly from a prior error of around -3% - -5% (that is, the reported mpg was ~3-5% below the actual mpg, or typically just over 1mpg low) to an error as close to zero as I could measure (that is, usually between -1% and 1%, fluctuating above and below a perfect "match"). This can be explained on the basis that the engine management system will compensate for a dirty injector by holding the injectors open slightly longer during each combustion cycle, in order to admit the proper amount of fuel. The on-board computer interprets that as a slightly higher rate of fuel consumption, reporting a lower-than-actual mpg figure.

After several thousand miles - not long - the perfect mpg accuracy I'd noticed began to deteriorate, likely indicating that the cleaned injectors were beginning to suffer from some sort of renewed impedance to fuel flow. Out of a desire to retain near-perfect injector performance, and also out of curiosity, I started experimenting with various commercially-available fuel system cleaners and keeping records of the results at each fill-up.

Leaving out the long details, I'll simply say here that the results were surprisingly clear and unambiguous. Each time I went several tanks without using a fuel system cleaner (usually as a result of simply forgetting to use it or not taking the trouble), the on-board computer (OBC) accuracy would deteriorate. This would fluctuate from tank to tank, of course, as a result of inevitable measurement errors, but the trend was very clear even over a small number of fill-ups. Returning to the use of a fuel system cleaner (Chevron Techron Concentrate, Gumout Regane or SI-1, all of which at the time did contain PEA), the accuracy would improve again very quickly - within 2-3 fill-ups. I began using the SI-1 exclusively seven months ago based on its apparent cost-effectiveness and since then I have reduced the quantity I use in each tank to the current 1oz per ~15gal fill-up. The results remain unambiguous. If I use this small amount of SI-1 consistently, the accuracy of the on-board computer is excellent, with an average error of below 1%, or a fraction the error rate seen when not using such a product.

Based on the above... Read more

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Comment on Dexter-Russell V-LO 9-Inch Carbon Steel Scalloped Offset Sandwich Knife by Robert F. Engelhart

Robert F. Engelhart — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:07:28 +0000

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent for price, April 13, 2010

Robert F. Engelhart (Saipan) -

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Dexter-Russell V-LO 9-Inch Carbon Steel Scalloped Offset Sandwich Knife (Kitchen)

I am in charge of the galley of an ocean going ship (Chief Steward) this is my third one of the same kind. By far it is the single most used knife in the galley. Easy for those with limited knife skills as well as seasoned profesionals. We use one that is 3 years old to cut thick heavy rope and line. The new one is excellent for slicing paper thin fresh bread, tomatoes, and hot meatloaf. The blade can be sharpened and will give 1-2 years of hard everyday use in a production kitchen or galley. The handle is better than others of simliar construction. Can be sanitized in a 180 degree commercial machine day after day. The blade is a no stain type steel so it always looks good too.

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Comment on Dexter-Russell V-LO 9-Inch Carbon Steel Scalloped Offset Sandwich Knife by ritzbits

ritzbits — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:20:56 +0000

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Great quality and comfortable to use, November 12, 2008

ritzbits -

This review is from: Dexter-Russell V-LO 9-Inch Carbon Steel Scalloped Offset Sandwich Knife (Kitchen)

I bought this knife almost 2 years ago at a commercial kitchen store, based on a salesman's recommendation-- he actually steered me AWAY from the >$100 name brand knives and told me that this brand is well-known in kitchens for its durability and performance.

The V-lo handle with a soft nubby texture is quite comfortable, and the raised position for the sandwich knife allows you to slice bread all the way through quickly and easily without banging your knuckles. I also appreciate that the handle is non-slip when your hands are wet (less of a concern for this bread knife, but definitely helpful with my santoku and paring knife).

I bought a few other Dexter Russell knives and am extremely pleased with the brand's performance. The knife is light but well-balanced, making it easy to leverage. The blade is still sharp (I use the sandwich knife about every other week for crusty french bread, and more often on softer breads) and the handle is intact with no peeling or separation of the different parts.

If I ever need to replace this knife, I'll be going back and getting the exact same one. Well worth my money.

Comments for Reduce Gas Price

Comment on TomTom XXL 540TM 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic & Maps Edition) by Pete

Comment on TomTom XXL 540TM 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic & Maps Edition) by David Pearlman "sound fanatic"

Comment on TomTom XXL 540TM 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic & Maps Edition) by R. Pertusio

Comment on Red Line 60103 SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner – 15 oz. by Jerry Palmerino Jr

Comment on Red Line 60103 SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner – 15 oz. by C. Perluss

Comment on Red Line 60103 SI-1 Fuel System Cleaner – 15 oz. by Glenn Carpenter

Comment on Dexter-Russell V-LO 9-Inch Carbon Steel Scalloped Offset Sandwich Knife by Robert F. Engelhart

Comment on Dexter-Russell V-LO 9-Inch Carbon Steel Scalloped Offset Sandwich Knife by ritzbits

Comment on Syntek Global Xtreme Fuel Treatment Home Business by MrThecromagnon

Comment on Syntek Global Xtreme Fuel Treatment Home Business by Penutr