I looked at product reviews on lots of different models. This one had a good screen quality rating and is 4.3 inches, so he can see it well. I'm glad I didn't go any smaller or with a lesser screen. He wouldn't have been able to see the maps clearly and would have to rely on voice instructions. He's 45 and his eyes aren't that bad but he does all his work on computers and is used to good/large monitors.

First, let me say after reading most of the reviews here and now having had the 340-S for about a week now, I can write my own preliminary review.

- I received the unit as promised for a decent price: $119. I had no trouble installing the TomTom Home 2.7 app- I use Windows 7 Pro. I went through the initial updates with no major problems.

- I did have a minor glitch: When running initial updates, I was asked by Windows if I wanted to run Scandisk on the TT drive. It was at this point, during additional updates I received an error waring that the updates could not be completed. I ran the Scandisk as recommended by Windows and retried Updates: successful. Same thing on the "Use Onetime Map update" got about 90% and then it fail, No Maps! I called Support and the support tech walked me through how to restart the map download to device. Worked well.

Like any product, there will be some quirks to how it works and is maintained. But for the price, I am quite satisfied.

Parting thought: I only wish I could reduce the size of the map by say, leaving out Mexico. I do not travel there , in a car at least. As it is, I can only have one computer voice available at one time.

just received my new GPS today, plugged it into my mac, and installed tomtom's mac version of their home software. everything has worked well so far and the free map update installed fine. there are two main things that purchasers need to know:

1) space is very limited on the device. there is only 2 GB of internal flash memory and out of the box there was less than 50 MB free. the very first thing you should do is to delete voices in languages you don't use. this will free up a couple/three hundred MB. they can get backed up to your computer so you could always put them back in the future. once a bit of space is freed up you'll be able to update the device without issue. after removing spanish and french voices, running update which installed a new dave voice, and then installing the free map update i was left with 89 MB free. when i tried to run update before removing the voices, the unit warned me about lack of space and aborted without creating any further problems. maybe the mac version of home is more robust than the windows one in this respect.

2) the device only supports USB 1.1 transfers which max out at a bit over 1 MB/sec and can be slower. so doing a full backup or a map update will take quite a while (1-2 hours) and this is normal.

for me, those limitations are more than offset by the large, bright screen, text2speech capability, crowd-sourced map/route updates, and cheaper southern africa maps (we're moving there soon). especially given the cheap sale price i found. i will provide updates as i put unit through paces on cross-country trip and then intercontinental move.....

I've been in the market for a new gps and I decided on this one. Of course I saw all the reviews talking about the map update problem. I decided to email tom tom to get their take on it. I was told that yes the updated map is alot bigger but if you go into your tom tom home application on your cpu and delete a couple of those silly voices that we never use first. Then the map will fit just fine. Remember, you always have the option to re add those voices later from tom tom home. So does a need a little work from us to be perfect...yes, but it makes it worth it as tom tom is hands down the best Navigation out there!!

This unit is worth buying just for the IQ routes! The most important feature of any GPS is its competence in routing. I have owned several brands of GPS, including Garmin and Mio. This one has the best routing yet! It always seems to choose a route that a local driver would choose. Some local drivers could even learn some better routes with this thing.

The text to speech voice works well. Like other TomToms, it is very easy to customize in terms of the information you wish to display on the screen.

The screen could be brighter. The windshield mount does not hold as securely as one would wish. I use an Arkon vent mount.

With value and cost in mind, this GPS ranks near the top. A comparable Garmin is $400. The features on the Tom Tom Live 740 are not worth the additional cost. Traffic and LIVE features are imperfect on most GPS models at this time unless they are coupled with cell service. Even then, they are still imperfect. There are a few errors on the map, but they are easily correctable with the map correction feature. I recommend this GPS product highly.

UPDATE: I took advantage of the free map update. Now my tomtom is bricked. Will have to send back to be replaced under warranty. Bummer.
UPDATE: Received new unit, did free map update, problem corrected. I do love this GPS unit.

UPDATE 10-29-09
I tried out the Magellan 1470 Roadmate with lane assist to find out how good that lane assist was. Magellan uses small highway signs on their GPS with a tiny arrow on the sign showing the lane to be in. These signs are tiny and hard to read and you need to find the actual corresponding highway sign and then adjust your lane to what is shown on the GPS. This works fairly well EXCEPT at night when the actual highway signs are lit up and sometimes poorly lit up or sometimes not lit up at all. It's very nerve wracking to try to read a tiny sign on the GPS then find the actual sign on the highway, lots can go wrong. The TomTom lane assist shows the highway signs and the total lanes on that highway and puts big green arrows on the lane(s) you need to be in. I used this Magellan 1470 on a 900 mile trip and was always a little uncomfortable with their lane assist. IMHO the TomTom lane assist is far superior to the Magellan even tho the Magellan was a super GPS in every other way, much better in POI locating than the TomTom. Bottom line, if lane assist is your cup of tea (like it is to me) get the TomTom, if looking up POI's are your bag, get the Magellan.

ORIGINAL REVIEW
I've owned a Mio, Garmin, Navigon and now the TomTom XL 340-S and thankfully I never hooked mine up to a computer after reading all the problems incurred by others and mine works just great, finds the satellites within a few seconds. The main reason for so many different units is my hunt for a good lane assist feature, this TomTom has a fantastic lane assist. Here in southern California on these freeways you need to know what lane to be in well ahead of time and boy does this TomTom deliver precise verbal and visual directions. On the freeways you start getting verbal directions two miles away from your next maneuver, lots of time to change lanes, on city streets the distances vary based on your cars speed, very nice feature. The Navigon had very good graphics but TomTom's are much better. I was a Garmin fan but they are way behind TomTom in features for a reasonable price. The only thing I find behind the Garmin and Navigon is the computer pronounced names of some streets, mainly Spanish names, the TomTom mangles them more than the others but with the street name showing at the right top side of the screen its no big deal, most street names are pronounced perfectly and "Dave" seems the best at pronouncing the street names . The TomTom has so many nice features the other brands are left in the dust IMHO.