If you’ve read my previous Sat Nav reviews, you’ll know i hadn’t used one at all before trialling the TomTom One XL Traffic last year, and whilst majorly impressed with it, I admit it didn’t quite have a large enough effect to change my somewhat outdated habits, so i have continued to plough on with a mix of paper maps, and online route planners and mapping tools, and, as such, I’m still getting lost and still getting frustrated as I’m stuck in traffic with no real hope of getting out of it. With all this in mind, I was quite pleased to be offered a chance to trial the new TomTom One IQ Routes Edition, might this be the one to make me finally take the plunge and buy one for myself?<

I won’t bore you with a review of all its standard functions, just take it as read that it did everything the last one did just as well as before, (although this time it wasn’t the XL version, so the screen was a little smaller). I’m happy to say it easily met all my expectations in terms of ease of set up, fast satellite connectivity, and simple, straightforward, most importantly accurate route planning ability. The somewhat demanding tones of ‘Jane’ directing me through traffic were remarkably familiar, despite it being over a year since our last ‘encounter’. I was certainly content to have a TomTom back in my car.

So, where is the IQ Routes Edition different then?

Well, the premise is that, rather than routes being based the speed limits of the roads you’re going to travel, this model assesses its routes based on average recorded speeds over each stretch of road.  To enhance this, already quite powerful feature, the IQ Routes allows you to specify what date and time you plan to travel. The result of this, is a variation between routes – what it shows you for a Saturday afternoon may will be very different to what it offers up for first thing Monday morning. For those in busy towns and cities, I can see this being invaluable – If of course it works!

And so to the tests.

First off, I ran it though a number of routes, up and down the country, using its wonderful demo mode... 2+ hours of journey, compressed into less than minutes, but with each twist, turn, roundabout and lane change carefully articulated by ‘Jane’ to give a very realistic journey without leaving the comfort of my garden chair (or even putting my cuppa down!). Sure enough, as I changed my day and time details the routes altered; sometimes it was the roads indicated that changed and sometimes only the overall timing. So far, this was exactly as promised.

Finally, I’d had enough of playing, and got it into the car. I planned a relatively easy route across London, but one that used one of the most notoriously busy roads possible, and set off for the first trial late-ish on a Friday evening. There could be no complaints from me. It was clear and accurate route wise, and almost to the minute in its time calculations.

But to make certain of its capabilities, I needed to do the same test in different driving conditions. So, on the following Monday, during rush hour, I set off again... As I tapped in the address, a different route came up, this time avoiding the known busy roads, and a slightly extended journey time was suggested. Off I went, and yet again I had an easy time of it. The route was a good replacement for the main road, and whilst the timing was a little bit off, overall it was close enough not to worry about. Perhaps the other drivers holding me up had an IQ routes ‘Jane’ telling them where to go too!

So, the verdict? In all honesty, I was delighted with it! I grudgingly gave it back, but a TomTom is still very much on my wish list, and the IQ Routes Edition would certain fulfil all my criteria.

Available at Amazon, and at the usual online and high street retailers.

SRP is £149.99 for the UK/Republic of Ireland version and £169.99 for the European version, and more details can be found at www.tomtom.com