Features

• Top-Class TomTom Traffic: Time-saving traffic congestion avoidance, trusted arrival times backed by comprehensive traffic information and real-time updates, all via your TomTom GO Essential Sat Nav.
• 6-month speed camera alerts: Stay updated, under the speed limit, and safer along the way. Keep going with live services on your sat nav by switching over to a subscription after your trial ends.
• Hands-free calls via Bluetooth: Get the ease and convenience of hands-free calling and, with that, enhanced road safety. Simply connect your phone to your TomTom GO Essential Sat Nav via Bluetooth.
• TomTom Europe map updates at no extra cost: See what is up ahead with your GO Essential Sat Nav! Effortless navigation, exceptional clarity, and routes around road closures and other traffic hassles.





• Wireless Connectivity: Stay updated quickly and easily with the TomTom GO Essential GPS Sat Nav. Get regular software and Euro map updates with the convenience of built-in Wi-Fi. No computer needed..Smartphone Messages: End the on-the-road distractions! To keep your focus on the road, opt to have your messages read out loud effortlessly via TomTom GO Essential GPS Sat Nav's functionality.

It's very easy to fix to the windscreen, it's just a matter of pushing the mount against the glass and rotating the locking ring. To start up the unit, press the power button and the GO Essential is ready to accept commands. The screen is responsive and the menus are easy to understand. Once you input your destination, the TomTom selects the fastest route available, but we get the option to choose from three routes - so we can select what best suits us.

Following the TomTom’s guidance is plain sailing. The display is bright and clear, even in sunlight - and there's an option to make the screen dimmer at night so it isn't blindingly distracting. The spoken instructions are timed well with the prompts chiming in a reasonable amount of time before the action is needed, so there's none of that 'turn right' as you're passing the turning point malarky.

The bar on the right side of the screen shows the details of your journey: time, distance left, petrol locations etc and also highlights any upcoming traffic on the route. Redirections were great; while attempting to leave a crowded football ground, the TomTom GO Essential changed our route to better suit the traffic conditions.

The in-built WiFi connectivity means maps and software updates can be done without the device needing connected to a computer, and 'lifetime' Europe map updates can be downloaded for free for the duration of the 'useful life of your device'. The sat nav also accepts voice commands, and is compatible with Siri and Google Assistant.

The TomTom notifies us when we receive a text or call, as long as the smartphone is paired via Bluetooth. Although, it didn't always automatically reconnect via Bluetooth, meaning we had to sit in our car for a few minutes attempting to pair our phone to the device again.

If we click a text message notification when it appears on the screen, the TomTom will read it aloud for us. Downloading the companion app - TomTom MyDrive - also gives us the ability to take some of the pre-planned Road Trips, but the majority of these are outside of the UK. Annoyingly, we also can't select a particular country, so we have to scroll down the list to find the Road Trips that say GBR next to them

Our Verdict

We like the TomTom GO Essential, it's a powerful sat-nav packed full of features at a decent price. However, we can't help but compare the sat nav to the free smartphone application Waze - which, in our eyes, offers helpful directions, including alerts for live traffic updates, police, accidents, road hazards and traffic jams. It gives us real-time updates for a wide range of things, as well as showing if we're going above the speed limit.