Time for a TomTom Go 6000 review including TomTom Traffic Lifetime. After I have tested various smartphones and tablets in the lifestyle blog in recent weeks, sometimes a special lens or a camera, I will now take the navigation device TomTom Go 6000 once more closely under the “female” magnifying glass. The test device TomTom Go 6000 is for about 4 weeks with me in continuous use and runs in parallel to the fixed navigation system in the car, plus GoogleMaps from time to time via the smartphone. For me the question – can the TomTom Go 6000 incl. TomTom Traffic Lifetime convince me completely.
TomTom Go 6000 – my personal requirements on a navigation system
For me it is important to use a navigation device that can be easily installed in the car, offers a large display and at the same time is still handy and in the best case can be quickly packed into the handbag during travels. My everyday life often looks like this, drop off rental car at the airport, catch the next flight and drive in a foreign city first to the appointment, before you want to drive afterwards (usually to the after-work traffic) towards the hotel. While I know many routes from the airport to the hotel, getting from some streets in Kreuzberg to Berlin-Mitte is still a bit of a journey for me…
At the same time, the device should include at least the most important maps for European cities and countries for me. My regular travel destinations in the last 12 months were among others – Austria, Switzerland, Italy (including Sicily), Spain (including Balearic Islands and Canary Islands), Sweden and Norway and that should offer me the navigation device in the best case also with current maps in each case.
My personal wish was also an intelligent system, which does not report me the traffic jam only when I have already missed the last exit, but often already gives me recommendations before the journey. A look at the map, avoid the roads marked as red as a traffic jam, (can so many Munich manufacturer in the fixed device unfortunately still not) and then suggest recommendations and alternatives. In addition, a lane assistant, which brings the driver safely in the appropriate direction, especially at obscure highway intersections and major cities.
Since my current car manufacturer kindly reminds me every half year to update the car and wants 99.00 EUR for it, map updates should be included and ideally done directly via the internet quickly and easily. Actually, not too many wishes – that I put to the TomTom Go 6000, but will it fulfill the wishes?
Unpacking and first switching on of the TomTom Go
A familiar packaging, some pictures on the back and the most important key facts, inside it contains the navigation device, a charging cable (and connection cable to the PC/laptop), a plug for the cigarette lighter in the car, a manual and of course the holder for the windshield with magnetic mount.
The first impression of the TomTom Go 6000 – wow, the device is really big – 6 inches – 15cm in diagonal and a still comfortable weight. But I wanted to have a big device, which is easy to read. It is very valuable in the hand, no protruding edges, as I still knew from my old TomTom navigation device (generation 2008/2009). It has not changed much in that respect.
The most important things included, a quick look at the quick start guide (okay how the mount is mounted on the windshield is clear to me), now I want to take the device also in use and make my first experiences.
TomTom Go 6000 review – Update & Laptop
Plugged the USB cable into the laptop (MacBook Pro) and the second plug directly into the navigation device. Helpful! The display lights up and tells me directly the domain I need to download the software under. Finally no more searching on USB sticks, in manuals, etc. – Switch on – enter domain – download file, install and after a short time the message “2 updates available”. In less than 5 minutes my device is up to date, maps updated and so far no additional cost. As a reminder, my car manufacturer would now like to have again 99.00 EUR for a new DVD.
One look at the TomTom Go 6000 and it is ready to go. For fun once entered the first data and I was surprised by the speed and good response on the display. It was time to take the device into the car and connect it.
TomTom Go 6000 review – mounting in the car and the first test drive
The mounting on the windshield worked without major problems, although from me with the usual suspicious and checking look, whether it is really firmly mounted on the windshield. Still a few times wiggled and it just could not come off.
The first trip with the TomTom Go 6000 was to take me from downtown Munich (Odeonsplatz) to the airport. For me, this was a route that I knew more than by heart and would usually have driven even without a navigation device. The time 16.30 clock not exactly the best choice for the route, but until the departure there was still enough time, so I could relax on the trip and could have spent even an hour before departure in the traffic jam.
For me as a Düsseldorf resident who lives more or less in Munich, the route was relatively clear, out of the city center, a short stretch over the Mittlerer Ring and then onto the A9 heading north. So far so simple. Estimated driving time 45-60 minutes.
While the built-in navigation device roughly confirmed my route, was at a “friendly” 44 minutes and indicated “gridlocked” traffic to the on-ramp to the A9 (but did not offer an alternative), the mobile app guided me a bit further through the city center and recommended to take the second on-ramp and thus avoid the first traffic jam. Travel time calculated to be about 43 minutes.
TomTom Go 6000 chose a route that I myself had not even thought of and showed me the traffic jam directly and recommended to drive straight out of the city, then a bit on the country road and so then via A99 to the A92. At first glance I would have rejected this route immediately, but I wanted to review the device and told myself “trust TomTom Go 6000″….
It is not easy when you know the route yet and just when you say you have to “turn right” but the navigation device says “left” it becomes difficult for me. The result was interesting. While the built-in navigation system has also asked me shortly before the A99 to turn and the route would have been instead of 35km now almost 48km long (remaining distance 24 km). I resisted and drove on and trusted TomTom once.
I reached the airport and took 44 minutes exactly with the TomTom Go 6000 and arrived relaxed – although with traffic (logical at the time) – but still flowing. The small additional way has completely saved me the chaos on the highway A9 and a look at the device showed me the delay from the city to the Allianz Arena “dark red” – delay about 30 minutes – traffic jam! Logical! It’s no secret in Munich at that time of day and yet there are some cheap alternatives that I expect from a good navigation device. The built-in device of my car manufacturer was unfortunately of a different opinion.
TomTom Go 6000 review – endurance test Berlin and Mallorca
Even though they say that in Berlin it is better to leave the car and use public transport, I wanted to try out a navigation device on some routes and see how the city was doing during the soccer world championship with public viewing events, closed roads, fashion week and of course demonstrations.
The conclusion in the narrow traffic with the large construction site on the street “Unter den Linden”, the narrow canyons of houses and the problems known from many systems to find a satellite was very positive. Although the car was parked in the underground garage, the signal was there at the latest when passing the barrier and before you thought about whether to turn left or right, there was a clear instruction. That’s how I imagine it – without waiting…
I had in the fourteen days in Berlin not once a situation, which the equipment did not know yet, independently whether Kurfürstendamm or Friedrichstrasse, whether Leipziger Strasse or Potsdamer Platz. If there was a problem on the street, I had the solution in advance (and also got to know new regions of Berlin). The device can handle the road jungle of Germany, but what about foreign roads and countries?
The everyday test should not give the TomTom Go 6000 a break and so the device was taken directly to Mallorca. Removed from the rental car in Berlin with a handle and integrated directly into a Seat Leon at the airport in Palma de Mallorca. The double question of the employees of the rental car station at the airport, whether I really do not need a navigation device brought me to the consideration to put once my TomTom 6000 on the table and to say, I already have everything. Hopefully I was not too brave. A paper map was given to me with a “smile” anyway, one would not know whether it works.
TomTom Go 6000 – Majorca – Palma, Soller, Alcudia – island tour
The drive from the airport without major problems and the route to the hotel was also not particularly difficult and I would probably have found it without help, the question that arose, however, how quickly the navigation device adjusts to the new area and what would happen if in the evening hours the traffic is somewhat stronger.
The trip from the airport to Son Vida are usually about 16km and are handled by the MA20 in 15-20 minutes. For me, however, it has become almost a tradition to first drive briefly through Palma, along the harbor and already thinking about where I want to eat in the evening.
Very simply changed the route criteria and selected “without freeway” and already a beautiful route was proposed to me at the cathedral of Palma, past the port and then into the mountains and in the direction of Son Vida. The route although 6km longer, but I wanted it so … simply Mallorca again experience something and the possible traffic jams were not yet present and would otherwise also thanks to TomTom Traffic Lifetime currently displayed (and not only in Mallorca – but already in 19 countries).
I used the navigation device TomTom Go 6000 the further week on all routes and also frequently selected the option “Avoid freeway”, because I had firstly time and simply enjoyed to drive over the small roads, to come into small villages and to see Mallorca once again from a completely different side.
I was myself very surprised how well the roads are recorded and also the perceived “secret” way to the lighthouse behind a bend TomTom already knew. The old and well-known sentence of navigation devices “Please go back to the original road” did not work anymore 🙂
To my amazement, I was on Mallorca not once abandoned by the device, there was always a signal available, whether Alcudia in the north or in the west in Soller and even in the narrow streets of Palma and even in the underground parking garage the signal was still present.
TomTom Go 6000 – TomTom Traffic Lifetime
You could also say my new friend the TomTom Go 6000 – as already described, I have already tested it in two countries and got used to it directly. I certainly still got to know new roads that I would not have driven so, but the times of known and also spontaneous traffic jams are somehow a thing of the past.
There was not one traffic jam in the entire four weeks that was not reported or indicated where I drove into. However, in most cases, I then opted for the recommendation and reroute and arrived with it always better (especially more relaxed).
What is for me with TomTom Traffic Lifetime but the biggest advantage, it is already included in the package, is permanently updated via the built-in sim card and also saves me the roaming costs abroad. I previously only knew the systems that were coupled with the smartphone and were sometimes very practical in Germany. However, if you use your navigation system regularly, you will have used up your data volume at some point. Abroad, there are even the roaming prices, where you think about whether you want to use it or rather calculate a traffic jam.
For me personally, it’s always a consideration whether I have to add “packages” with a provider or whether it’s already included in the device price. If I have to sign up for a subscription, which then costs monthly, I constantly reconsider. With the TomTom Traffic Lifetime package, I know from the start what I have, can use the service at any time, and don’t have to think about whether I’ve signed up for it, have to cancel it, or how I can use it.
I had also used TomTom HD Traffic at one time and already found the service very good, but the option with a trial period and a monthly fee afterwards put me off somewhat, although it is convenient, but only for rental cars it was “impractical” for me.
I found the information at the time to be already much more accurate than the regular navigation systems that rely on TMC, because what good is congestion information if there is still an exit I could have taken. My problem at the time was clearly the subscription package, which is why I decided against it.
The new package TomTom Traffic Lifetime closes exactly this gap for me and was one of the reasons why I wanted to test exactly this TomTom Go 6000. Included directly in the package and no additional fees. I know directly with the device, what options and offers I have and for a “lifetime”.
Buy TomTom Go 6000 – Price/Performance
Of course, when buying the TomTom Go 6000 should also take into account the price, which at first glance is certainly a bit more expensive than devices of competitors or even TomTom and has also made me initially somewhat doubtful. For me, however, there were two decisive factors:
Fixed devices in the own vehicle are always somewhat slow from the development, cost a multiple of an external device and often require up to 200 EUR per year for many updates. With a product life of 3-5 years, it is a simple calculation that the external device has more than paid for itself only by the current maps and in this case by TomTom Traffic Lifetime.
If you are often on the road, often want to use a rental car, you then appreciate the advantages of the “own” device. The most important data for the appointments are already pre-stored, just one push of a button and I know how to get from the airport to my destination. No tedious programming of the different manufacturers and delete all data again at the end of the stay. Depending on the rental car provider, there are often still costs of EUR 6.00 and more per day for the use of a navigation device.
At the moment you can get the TomTom Go 6000 for about 300-350 EUR at different providers (like Amazon). If you don’t want a navigation device with 6 inch screen diagonal, you can find the “little brother” – the TomTom Go 5000 (with 5 inch screen diagonal) already with prices of 250-300 EUR online.
Conclusion: TomTom Go 6000 review and TomTom Traffic Lifetime
For me personally, it is currently the best alternative to quickly get from A to B and to quickly find your way in foreign cities. The at first glance very large display has quickly turned into an advantage and guarantees a good view of the navigation device TomTom Go 6000 at all times.
Compared to earlier versions of TomTom and the crowded menu structures (of my device from 2008/2009), the new TomTom Go 6000 seems very tidy and easy to understand. The manual is really more for the bookshelf, as all the functions are practically self-explanatory.
Another very decisive advantage is the TomTom Traffic Lifetime offer, permanently updated traffic information, always the traffic jam visible before you even get close and once not the feeling when you are in a traffic jam, why has no one told me before. For me, an absolutely worthwhile purchase with a very good price / performance.
If you compare it with package prices of EUR 9.00 per month earlier and use the navigation device at least three years, the acquisition costs are already completely balanced. In addition, there are up-to-date maps four times a year, permanent software updates and further developments, and support that is always available for questions.
Those who would also use their device beyond their own data volume or abroad with roaming charges pay a multiple. Thanks to built-in own SIM card in the TomTom Go 6000 now no problem for me.
My impression from 2008/2009 has only been confirmed by TomTom and I am very satisfied with the device. My next vehicle will no longer have a built-in navigation system, but only a mount for the TomTom system and my current TomTom Go 6000.
I will now continue to test the TomTom Go 6000 over the next few months and then give you an update, with reports from Switzerland, Austria and Italy. At the moment I am very satisfied with the device.
