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How does the TomTom GO 600 GPS unit match up against Waze?

By Kenny Yeo - 18 Aug 2014

Final Thoughts

TomTom Traffic vs. Waze

Before we begin our analysis, one must appreciate that traffic can be unpredictable and therefore our findings here is not a definite verdict of the quality of both services. Rather, it is a general overview of both services based on our own experience and your mileage will most definitely vary since the commuting times are highly dependent on factors such as location and time of the day.

TomTom Traffic only indicated a jam on the CTE towards the city.

Waze has picked up the jam on the CTE as well as another major slowdown along Paya Lebar road.

The above two images were captured at the same time - around 10:55am on 15 August 2014 - and at a glance, it is quite obvious that Waze picked up on more incidents than TomTom. Most tellingly, TomTom Traffic has failed to capture what seems to be a rather serious traffic slowdown along Paya Lebar road. We also like how Waze shows the average traveling speed of the roads experiencing slowdown - this gives users a real quick idea of just how serious the incident is.

A complete standstill? O rly? Sometimes, it is hard to tell with Waze.

That said, this does not mean to say that Waze is superior in all instances. Since its traffic information is crowdsourced, there are times when users might wonder about its reliability. Take for instance, the screen capture above. A user has indicated that traffic at that particular stretch of road is at a “complete standstill”, but since the road is not highlighted in shades of red or yellow, Waze itself has not suggested that traffic on that road is anything out of ordinary, leading us to question the integrity of this particular piece of traffic information.

To summarize, while Waze is arguably more comprehensive and responsive, there are times when we would doubt the reliability of its information. On the other hand, TomTom's live traffic service takes a longer time to reflect new traffic incidents, but its information is likely to be more reliable.

 

Final Thoughts

All in all, while Waze is generally better and faster at alerting users to traffic incidents, TomTom’s real-time traffic update service is not that bad either, especially if you consider that it launched only about a month or so ago. Furthermore, TomTom fully expects that it will get better as more users purchase their devices and join their service.

That aside, there are certain advantages that personal navigation devices like the TomTom GO 600 have over smartphone navigations app. For one, they do not require a data connection to work. This is handy considering the shrinking data caps that telcos are offering. That aside, it also means that the TomTom GO 600 can be used overseas without the fear of incurring exorbitant data roaming charges. And while we are on the topic of overseas usage, the GO 600 comes bundled with a lifetime free map upgrades of eight countries around the region - Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau and Indonesia.

The GO 600 is quite easily the best standalone personal navigation device we have used, and if its price is too high for you, the more affordable GO 500 is a good alternative, despite its smaller 5-inch display.

All things considered, while TomTom Traffic is by no means perfect, it is a much welcomed new feature to TomTom’s personal navigation devices. And as personal navigation devices go, the TomTom GO 600 is easily one of the best that we have tested yet. The large display makes it highly legible and the new interface is much more intuitive and useful. The capacitive display also means inputs are more responsive, which is especially useful when you want to pinch to zoom. However, the TomTom GO 600 suffers from noticeable lag issues and hopefully this can be rectified in future by using faster hardware.

And if you find the S$349 asking price of the GO 600 too steep, the GO 500, which has identical features and capabilities, save for the smaller 5-inch display, is going for S$299. The GO 500 may cost S$50 more than the GO 50, but we think its well worth it for its capacitive touch display.

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8.0
  • Design 8.5
  • Features 8.5
  • User-Friendliness 8.5
  • Performance 8
  • Value 7.5
The Good
Live traffic updates
Free lifetime maps upgrades
Improved user interface
Easy to use
The Bad
Runs a little slow
Traffic information not comprehensive
Free alternatives are not bad
Could benefit from faster hardware
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