Owners of the new GO 710 or 910 range are already familiar with it, but now every owner of a TomTom PND will be able to make use of TomTom HOME. Starting today, version 1.2 is available as a free download from the TomTom website.

CeBIT

TomTom already annouced HOME (for PC and MAC) at the CeBIT fair last March. With this application, managing your TomTom PND will become much easier. Installing and removing firmware, maps, POI's, voices, colour schemes, itineraries,... all of this can now literally be done with a push of the button. HOME also enables you to make a complete back-up of the harddisk or SD card of your TT PND, and 910 owners can manage their photo's music (mp3) files, audio books and iPod with it.

As already stated, HOME is completely free and maintained by TomTom. You will be notified of new releases, and you will be able to upgrade your version of HOME through the internet. HOME is shipped with an extensive and clear help function, and with a manual which describes all of it's functions.

Nice, but...

The complete control over your TomTom PND which HOME gives you is very nice. This means that it becomes possible to plot routes beforehand, and then download those routes to your PND. Also, Traffic is compatible with it, because it's even possible to check the actual traffic situation of pre-built routes. Yes, this is all done on your computer!

Unfortunately, there's a 'but' also... Here this 'but' consists out of the fact that the route planning option requires TomTom firmware 6.x. And because this firmware still isn't available for the 'older' GO's, this means that owners of a Classic, 300, 500, 700, ONE and RIDER still won't be able to use this function for now. The only ones that will be able to use it currently are the lucky owners of a 510, 710, 910 and the freshly announced 'European RIDER'... The planning option also doesn't work on MAC yet.

The actual release date of the new 6.x firmware is still undetermined.

TomTom HOME 1.2 is available for download on the PLUS section of the TomTom site.

If you'd like to share your experiences with HOME, or if you have questions about it, you're welcome to post them on our forum.