Review: TomTom XL LIVE IQ Routes Europe

It is only a couple of months since TomTom last refreshed its XL range of mid-range PNDs. But while the last iteration carried forward some high-end features from the company’s flagship GO LIVE series it lacked that range’s most cutting-edge feature: HD Traffic.

The XL LIVE rectifies that, building a SIM card into the unit, giving users near real time access to traffic information.

Cosmetically the XL LIVE is virtually the same as the IQ Routes Edition with a recessed 4.3” display, stylish black finish and robust build quality, the only significant difference is the small ‘LIVE’ logo at the top right hand corner.

Once again you’ll find the EasyPort car cradle conveniently attached to the back of the speaker – still the best car mount we have come across – and the familiar lush interface onboard which we found responsive to the touch from either a driving or handheld position, though its Live updates can impact into performance ever so slightly.

To compensate for the lack of Bluetooth support the XL LIVE comes with a built-in sim card and a 3 month subscription to its Live services, the highlights being HD Traffic, Fuel Prices and Google ‘Local’ Search utilities, all of which have a real practical side to their nature and are not just a bunch of gimmicks thrown into the pot.

For example out on the road we were running low on fuel and needed to find a nearby petrol station quickly, so at a set of traffic lights we got the device to search for the nearest and cheapest one along our route and saved ourselves a couple of pence in the process! Not a lot of money, but it all adds up.

We also found the internal POI were a little out of date in places, which again is not so much of a problem as we could tap into the Google ‘Local’ Search utility and browse for additional POI. This is more detailed than any built-in POI system we have seen, offering some useful information such as a star rating (ideal for restaurants), payments accepted and even the ambience of the place.

You can also add your own custom POI, with an icon representing the location on the map, and then set alarms to go off when approaching.

As for the HD Traffic we were really impressed with the level of traffic alerts and accuracy that the service provided, however as the updates are sent OTA it can be susceptible to blackhole spots in a similar fashion to mobiles and there was an impact on the redraw rate of the maps and initial route calculation performance.

It’s not really a problem when calculating routes below say 30miles, but for lengthier trips it can take significantly longer, depending on the traffic severity.

We didn’t mind this as much as because if it saves us time during our journey the extra dearly at the start is a minor inconvenience.

Besides out on the road you can get the unit to automatically find the best route around traffic problems if you don’t want the hassle of browsing through alerts manually and the bar that appears to the right side of the screen clearly indicates any potential traffic incidents along your route.

Map detail on the whole provides a minimalistic approach which did prove less of a distraction when driving and we particularly liked the Advanced Lane (motorway) Guidance and the road speed warning system which shows up at the base of the screen.

Safety camera alerts also proved to be fairly accurate, though we did need to utilise the onboard correction utility to mark a missing ‘static’ camera on our test route, updates should then be available via TomTom Home (mobile camera updates OTA).

Generally routing performance was stress free, the onboard GPS receiver could maintain our position without a hitch, route-recalculations also seemed a little quicker than from our previous experience and its IQ Routes technology, which factors in real traffic speeds and time of day, did provide a boost to route efficiency on a number of journeys.

Voices directions lacked text-to-speech capability for speaking road names but the clarity was otherwsie excellent and you can always download additional voices from TomTom Home or get the latest Map updates via its Mapshare program.

Overall the XL LIVE provides a respectable cost saving if you are looking for a TomTom with European maps and Live services (compared to the GO740), especially as you can now use the latter in all supported countries with one subscription payment, however its initial price tag and ongoing costs are still going to dampen its appeal to the average consumer.

Price (as reviewed): £250
Map coverage: Europe
Web: www.tomtom.com

Verdict: 8/10

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