Although some of us are wondering what PNDs are still doing on the market, because we can all see that they are slowly being absorbed into a mobile phone, these navigation devices even receive maps and traffic lifetime updates nowadays, which is alright. TomTom has done this for some of their TomTom XL and TomTom XXL models, in order to bring them up front in the market race against the soon to be all-powerful smartphones.

“The nation’s roads are changing every day, so TomTom is proud to offer Lifetime Map Updates on our portable navigation devices,” said Tom Murray, vice president of market development for TomTom Inc. “This feature, in conjunction with TomTom’s Lifetime Traffic Updates, offers our customers the assurance that they will always have the industry’s most accurate maps and the real-time traffic information they need for hassle-free navigation.”

I am sure that some Americans are lost without their iPhones, which is why if switching to a PND for orientation reasons, the Lifetime Map and Traffic Updates' impressive information offer will probably be appreciated by those few future users. The Lifetime Traffic information is being updated every three minutes, they say, while the maps will be renewed every few months. This leaves room for a lot of interpretation, of course, but I'm sure that TomTom's PNDs will be updated quite often if their producers want to keep them popular on the market.

The models from the TomTom XL and XXL ranges will come at various prices starting at an MSRP of $195.95 and will come with Lifetime Maps Updates, Lifetime Traffic Updates, or both. The devices that will feature traffic updates will also integrate TomTom's very own IQ Routes system set to guide users according to the time of day they want to travel in. This offer is available only in North America.


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