Mike, don't know if you've seen this vid ?
it's a Garmin/TomTom phone app comparison which is cool in itself and shows why the TomTom is a better choice but, it also shows how the TomTom works in real time.
the satnav version (non phone app) works pretty much exactly the same.
i couldn't imagine traveling or searching for unknown places in big cities without it.
imagine traveling through Wales: by the time you made out one of those 46 letter words on the road sign you're 3 miles down the road already...
marc