[No1Joker]

With them both being about the same price. What are the practical differences between the two and would you prefer one over the other?

Also is the RDA Traffic plug-in actually worth it? I know its compatible with both of these units.

Thanks

[No1Joker]

At the moment the older Go 530 is about £160. Which seems like a much better deal than the IQ XL @ £150 especially given the extra features included.

We went into Halfords for a demo (on their clearance stock) and the "kid" who got sent over was utterly useless, my wife knew more about the units than he did.
We started off by saying we'd like to see how good the voice commands and text to speak were... answer "they are not available on the 530"
As if by magic some little pixie had smuggled those features onto the 530 while he wasn't looking
He almost crawled under the display in embarassment. The best bit was we did the whole demo and not only did he try and push the garmin halfway through, when he switched it off the display read "Warning! Do not leave your TomTom Go 730 in your car"
It wasn't even the 530 (would've been a good deal at £160)

EDIT: We are going to pass on the Traffic plug-in and use the TrafficTV Iphone app instead. It seems to include more info and actual live camera streams for almost the same £35 cost.

[steve33shoreham]

I have this dilemma too trying to find a tomtom for my Dad for Christmas, so if anyone has either your recommendations would be appreciated.

The main advantage I can see on the 530 is that you can connect your phone to it via Bluetooth for handsfree which is very useful; although not sure the iPhone can connect up to it?

[No1Joker]

Originally Posted by barneyb12

Its great that I can put songs on the sd card and transit them to my car radio. The music stops playing well a call comes through and with my iphone connected through bluetooth I can talk handsfree.

This was posted in another thread, so i think iPhone compatibility is a

The voice commands weren't convincing TBH (and they weren't the same as the TomTom website video), you still have to select which one from the list (if it recognises what you've said.)

The 530 has a quoted 5 Hour battery compared to a 3 Hour one on the IQ XL.

[drumbeat]

I purchased the Go 530 about a year ago when in a deal at Halfords.

All in all I am very pleased with it. I especially like the Bluetooth Mobile connection as I never had a hands free kit before, also the Advance lane Guidance is great on Motorways and big junctions. Only used the Traffic Receiver on a few long journeys but seemed to work ok and notified you of trouble ahead.

So this would get my vote. Only thing I have found, and this is probably either me not setting it right & maybe happens on all Sat Nav ? but if you just enter a postcode for somewhere it does'nt always take you directly/exactly outside to the place you want !

Hope this helps.

[No1Joker]

Originally Posted by drumbeat

Only thing I have found, and this is probably either me not setting it right & maybe happens on all Sat Nav ? but if you just enter a postcode for somewhere it does'nt always take you directly/exactly outside to the place you want !

Hope this helps.

Thanks very much for replying. I've never had a bluetooth either and it was an added bonus (if only to legally say i can't talk and i'll phone them back!)

Re the postcode thing. I found this out to my expense on one of my first long distance treks to the M4 Severn Bridge Travelodge.

I Put in the postcode and it sent me over the bridge. Half-way across the bridge it told me i had reached my destination

Turns out when you only put in a postcode it'll take you to the half-way point of that road.

Not as bad when we went to Preston and user-error put in the wrong postcode. Ended up about 30 miles where i wanted to be at 2 o'clock in the morning.

Needless to say i double check the final destination a lot more now.