Conclusion

Compared to other iPhone carkits and car holders now available, the TomTom Carkit is compact and really easy to attach to the windshield. If you take the combined price of the TomTom navigation software and the carkit the total sum is pretty steep (total €200 for TT Western Europe and TomTom Carkit). It might be even cheaper to opt for a standalone satellite navigation system. But if you want to navigate with your iPhone, then we would advise choosing the combined package, although you’re not required to use the TomTom Carkit with the TomTom navigation software. Any iPhone navigation software (Navigon, iGo, Sygic, etc.) will work together with the TomTom carkit.

GPS reception with the carkit is noticably better, as is obviously clear in the video review. And although we hate to beat a dead horse, the carkit doesn’t come cheap. Passive iPhone car holders for under €20 are just about everywhere: just hit eBay or DealExtreme. But this is not a really fair comparision.

Unfortunately most people just look at the price tag and not at the build quality. If you would compare the TomTom Carkit to the more advanced iPhone car holders, which easily sell in the 60-80 euro price range (Brodit, Carcomm), then €99 euro for a combined car holder, gps-enhancer, Bluetooth carkit and iPhone charger is suddenly looking a lot more reasonable. There’s also another big plus of the “little piece of plastic” (as some have called it): it’s really light and folds easily in a compact package so you don’t have to leave it in the car.

We found it really hard to come up with the right score for the TomTom Carkit. A 7,5 would be too low considering all the combined features. On the other hand, it’s still €99 euro which is a lot of money. With a slightly cheaper price TomTom would have easily gotten an 8,5, but we’ll settle it with an 8.

Voici traduits les avantages et inconvénients :

Les Plus

  • design compact
  • Positionnement plus précis et rapide que le GPS interne de l'iPhone
  • Nombreuses fonctions : Bluetooth, appel main libre, haut parleur intégré
  • Insertion et retrait aisé de l'iPhone
  • Fonctionne avec tous les logiciels de navigation routiere iPhone

Les Moins

  • Solution onéreuse : environ 200 euros si l'on ajoute le prix du logiciel et du kit , ce qui correspond à des solutions autonomes neuves par ailleurs
  • Les connections sont du mauvais coté par rapport au conducteur , à droite au lieu de gauche
  • Une allure un peu 'cheap', qui pourrait faire croire que l'on en a pas pour son argent

Voici la vidéo du test :


Videoreview: kit TomTom iPhone

Une vidéo à voir en cliquant ici si vous nous lisez sur iPhone / iPod Touch

Acheter kit TomTom iPhone 4 :

Retrouvez tous nos billets sur la navigation routiere iPhone.


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