Upgrading your TomTom GPS Voices

So... you've got your brand spanking new TomTom or Garmin GPS in-car Sat Nav system home. It's been ripped out of the box and is now eagerly being plugged into your vehicle on the front drive. The excitement is insurmountable; the atmosphere can be cut with a knife. You program the unit to take you into town, a route you know so well, but will it tell you the correct route?

"At the end of the road, turn left" the voice chirps. Oh no, that sounds awful, I couldn't listen to him for 4 or 5 hours on a journey. You stop and select the New Zealander voice. Try the male then the female, all appalling!!

Luckily there's a market for replacement TomTom Voices via the internet. Go online and do a search for "TomTom voices" and you'll be able to download a single voice or a selection of voices for around $10 per voice. The web-based company TomTom Voices.org have a selection of easily installed voices ranging from Clint Eastwood, Elvis, Sean Connery, Stewie and Peter Griffin from 'A Family Guy' as well as Beavis and Butthead, the South Park crew and more. Just select the voices you want (there's often a 'special' with 4 voices value pack for a fraction of the individual prices), go to checkout and pay securely with your credit card or via your PayPal account. The payment is always secure, papal being a really safe way to make online transactions.

After payment, check your emails. You'll be sent an email receipt for your purchase, plus a link to download your items. Save the file to a location of your choice and unzip it using WinZip or similar. Most people have this on their computers these days. You'll end up with a folder with 4 files in it. One is a character image, the second a file called ***.chk with the *** being the name of your character. Thirdly a ***.vif file. Also a document with installation instructions is included with each download.

Follow the instructions to install your TomTom Voices, select it via your TomTom device or TomTom Home and head out for a drive to give it a go.

I've found that these additional voices really make the journey a lot more enjoyable, the kids love it (be careful not to use the explicit characters with kids in the car) and you can change the voices easily throughout the trip.

I'd really recommend getting yourself a few additional voices for your TomTom GPS. I love them and am sure you will too.