TomTom XXL 540-S

TomTom XXL 540-S

By Jamie Lendino

While the $299.99 (direct) TomTom XXL 540-S offers up a large 5-inch screen and a well designed, integrated mount in a slim package, it lacks some of the more advanced features of competing units, such as real-time traffic updates, an MP3 player, and connected services. Still, it's a good value and a solid choice for anyone looking for a capable midrange GPS with a large display.

Design and Features
Measuring 3.5 by 5.2 by 0.9 inches (HWD) and weighing in at 8.9 ounces, the 540-S sounds thick and heavy, but it's a bit misleading, since those figures account for the detachable, foldable EasyPort mount. TomTom's trademark mount can be tricky to tighten, but it helps keep the unit simple and compact despite its large display. In the box you'll also find a USB car charger, a USB cable, and an adhesive disk for mounting the unit on your car's dashboard.

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Its larger-than-average 5-inch LCD is what sets the 540-S apart from the 4.3- and 4.7-inch screened competition. TomTom doesn't publish resolution specs for the display on the 540-S, but I can safely say having the larger screen leaves more real estate for accurate button taps, and just makes things easier to see at a glance, which is a very good thing, especially if your vision is less than perfect.

TomTom preloads maps for the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, Canada (all 10 provinces and three territories), and 35 percent coverage of Mexico. Even so, keep an eye on the company's Web site; if TomTom releases a map update within 30 days of your purchase, you can download and install it for free. The unit has seven million points of interest (POI) preloaded. On first bootup, I spent a few minutes answering prompts, selecting map color schemes, and choosing the voice I wanted. After that, I was ready to go. Each time I started the car, the TomTom XXL 540-S locked in within about 15 seconds—an impressive result considering my test location in rural Massachusetts.

On the Road
Tap the screen once and you'll bring up the icon-based main menu. It lets you navigate to a specific destination, find an alternative route (once underway), add a favorite address, or configure various settings. From here, you can navigate to specific street addresses, city centers, zip codes, or cross streets. You can also build an itinerary of multiple destinations.

Keying in addresses was simple with the on-screen QWERTY keyboard in my tests, though the keys are a little small. Every time I plotted a route, the 540-S asked if I had a particular time I was trying to arrive by—something that competing Garmin and Magellan units don't do. TomTom's IQ Routes system calculates the quickest routes using actual average speeds of travel collected from millions of users over time, instead of using just posted speed limits. The idea is to give you a more accurate real-life estimation of how long each trip will take.

As with many TomTom devices, the bottom information bar is packed with details, including current road speed and speed limit, estimated arrival time and distance remaining, as well as the requisite distance until the next turnoff. The 540-S displays upcoming exit signs in a floating green box on the top right, rather than displaying them in a fixed bar across the top like with Garmin units. The Advanced Lane Guidance feature was especially welcome: Whenever I approached an exit or interchange, the unit displayed a 3D view of the highway, the appropriate exit signs, and a flashing arrow indicating exactly where I should head. Plus, the 540-S displayed this much more often than the Garmin nüvi 1690, which generally reserved its 3D lane guidance for only the most complicated exit ramps.

On the audio side, the 540-S pronounces street names like most comparable units. It did a reasonably solid job in my tests, and even got the local dialect correct (such as knowing to say "WUH-ster" for the city of Worcester). A few nits: there are no real-time traffic reports, which are standard on various competing Magellan and Garmin units (in both paid and ad-supported varieties). The 540-S can hook into TomTom's LIVE traffic service, but only if you attach an optional traffic receiver—a bit lame for a late 2009 model. In addition, the 540-S's user map graphics look somewhat dated. Details are sparse, and the road map is generally fairly useless until you approach an upcoming turn, even when zoomed out six or seven levels.

Other features: the 540-S supports Bluetooth for connecting to a cell phone, though TomTom claims only a few dozen supported handsets (and few are current). There's no MP3 player, side-mounted card slot, or FM transmitter. If you're looking to save a little, TomTom has also released a companion unit, the $280 XXL 530-S, which leaves out the Advanced Lane Guidance and maps of Mexico, and has a smaller POI database (although TomTom doesn't specify how many entries). The XXL 540-S's Advanced Lane Guidance is worth the extra $20 alone, though.

Overall, I like the TomTom XXL 530-S. Competing devices appeal mainly due to interface variances more than differences in feature sets (which, besides the omission of traffic updates, are relatively small). An alternate option: Magellan's Maestro 4700 rings in at the same $300 with a slightly smaller, 4.7-inch touch screen, but it lets you control the unit with voice prompts—albeit with mixed results. If you don't need a big screen and you want to pay half the price, check out the $150 3.5-inch One 140-S, our current Editors' Choice, which offers most of the XXL 540-S's features. Also, the $270 Garmin 265WT is a 4.3-inch version of the 3.5-inch 265T, a former Editors' Choice. While it offers real-time traffic reports, it lacks the 3D lane view that comes with the TomTom models.