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In this thread you may ask any Sat Nav based question.
No Questions About PCs (Unless its about the Sat Nav Interface). Please use the current "computer Related Questions" thread instead.
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Any of the above will be deleted. If the thread becomes difficult to maintain it will simply be removed.
This will hopefully give an easily searchable One Stop Shop for Sat Nav information.
This is Volume 11. It will not be deleted when it reaches a 100 posts, just locked and a new Volume started.
Previous Volumes are :- HERE
PLEASE NOTE:
When posting a NEW question, please "Reply to" the first message in this thread, i.e. this one. This keeps each question in it's own separate segment and stops each new question from getting mixed up in amongst existing questions. Also please remember to change the subject header.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 14/01/2010 at 13:50
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I had a lot of trouble getting a signal thru my 307 windscreen, which had metal particles in the glass to prevent heat build when parked in the sun. Are there any known problems with getting a signal thru the very fine wires in a Ford Quickclear screen please?
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I never had a problem in my Mondeo Mk III. I put the GPS receiver (mine was a Bluetooth one for my phone and PDA) and it worked.
On my Mazda which has a sunroof, I can even keep the GPS in the arm-rest and it works.
Original plan was to put it on the rear parcel shelf if it didn't work on the dash - this was before you had all in one units from TomTom. But this was 2003.
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TomTom worked fine in various hired Ford cars with Quickclear I used over the years.
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I'm sure my current TomTom would work - but never had it when I had a Mondeo. The TomTom and other newer GPS receivers are sensitive enough to satellite signals to work indoors. When you consider how weak the GPS signals are this is impressive.
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Satnav seems to work fine in my Focus (with Quickclear).
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Many thanks gentlemen, that is what I had been hearing but it is good to have it confirmed. I joining the ranks of the mimsers! I am passing on my 307 to my daughter and her husband and am getting a new model Ka, on the scrappage scheme! Loads of trouble getting any decent spec as they are built at the same plant, in Poland, as the Fiat 500 so there is a lot of arguing about who is going to build what and when. Even with a factory build order one cant get many options. I couldn't get USB/Bluetooth or parking sensors. Still, a Style + with a/s and metallic paint OTR for £7,500 will probably see me thru my motoring days!
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I've just fitted a very neat "Brodit" clip in my new car to hold my TomTom. It is now sited next to the radio on a "permanent" mount. Trouble is, the power cable which feeds it from the 12V socket is about 3 miles long and the device is now only about 6' from the socket. I could, use it as an in car washing line, coil it up with a cable tie or find a replacement power cable with either a shorter run or probably one with bendy coils in it like a telephone handset cable. Any thoughts as to where I might find such a thing? been trawling about on the net looking for a suitable cable but haven't found one yet.
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Humph,
You have an estate dont you? Does it have a power socket in the boot? If so, use your own idea and have an "in car washing line".
What better way to save money on drying your clothes :)
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Which TomTom is it? Most use mini USB for charging so a 12v USB charging point plus short USB cable may be all you need.
Or did you get an active holder for the Brodit with a long cable?
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No it's a museum piece TomTom 700. Works fine though. I just had to attach a mounting plate to the Brodit but it has a jack plug type thing rather than a mini usb.
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Hello Humph Backbridge these Brodrick clips where do i get one?I have Tom Tom Sat Nav.
Moved to the correct sequence in the thread
Edited by Pugugly on 31/10/2009 at 10:23
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Try here :-
www.dsldevelopments.com/
Edited by Pugugly on 31/10/2009 at 10:30
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How far is the fuse box - I picked up a switched live from there by using half a modified spade fuse in an unused fuse location, a inline 12V fuse carrier and 12 V inline socket from Maplin which the TomTom plug goes into.
Permanantly wired and switched by the ignition unlike the lighter socket in the Octavia.
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I understand most smart phones can now get google maps free. Has anyone tried it?
Any good? Does it do away with the sat-nav?
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I use them on my Blackberry - they work well enough on foot in a strange town for example. IMHO not good enough for car use.
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The problem is you can't store the maps you need on th ephone ahead of time, so it has to download the maps when it needs them. When I tried it it was managing to load the map where I had been 10 seconds ago but not where I was going. Proper SatNav (I use CoPilot 8) has all the maps loaded on the SD card and doesn't suffer this issue.
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Its not "free" per say. If you use it a lot it could end up costing you data download charges.
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Depends in your mobile contract though - internet access is free with my O2 deal.
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check your contract, you could have a data download limit
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"reasonable usage" is what they say. Not had to pay anything this year.
Edited by Pugugly on 31/10/2009 at 09:17
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Tesco PAYG charge me £4 per Mb. That's on a bog standard PAYG. I believe one can buy various packages if one is a regular user.
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Regarding Google Maps
Three (3) have a deal that suits me with a Nokia E63.
On `pay as you go` every time you top up with £10 you get three months of free calls to other `3` mobiles and 150mgs of internet. Also the phone has a Skype app and phone to phone (or to computer) Skype calls are unlimited.
I found the Google Maps app connects to `3` - but that you can get it to connect via free WiFi hotspots along with the browser. This is (or rather was) a locked handset (unlocked by 3 themselves for £14.65)
I don`t know whether it`s because of this - but the Maps App always connects to 3 first - although you can switch to WiFi when it`s logging in.
All the other internet bits and bobs, such as email and the internet radio app can be set to `ask` first which connection to use.
I used the map application for a while though before I realised it was using up the free internet allowance - only 20mg used in a couple of weeks of this.
Two weeks - dozens of call back and forth to my wife (she has a 3 mobile) Skype calls (in all totalling 9 hrs) and internet roaming and total cost so far 40p used of the £10 top up.
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From the IAM, no less.
"Misuse of satnav means road users are ?driving blind? says IAM
...
A recent survey said that 20% of women and 30% of men have blindly followed a satnav into the middle of a field ..."
Right.
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When I was looking for work as a truck driver a couple of years ago, at interviews I laughed off the question of satnav, saying I found my way around the old-fashioned way, using a road atlas and a brain.
One agency said they couldn't take me on until I had my own satnav as some of their clients required all agency drivers to come equipped with one.
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Well, that explains why I used to get those infuriating rings on the windscreen after an agency driver had used my lorry at the weekend!
Pat
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Can any one tell me if any Sat Navs can use Ordnance Survey Grid References, rather than the usual Post Codes. I want to be able to use one to find car parks or laybys in the country, and post codes aren't really relevant.
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A sat nav using OS maps will. But it won't be able to guide you there using turn by turn directions.
It may be better to turn the OS references into points of interest or favourites on a sat nav unit.
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My Tomtom 720 can use lat & long, I think you will need a hillwalking type of satnav for OS grids.
I breathed a big sigh of relief today, my Tomtom survived me replacing its battery!
Edited by Old Navy on 11/11/2009 at 21:20
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"I breathed a big sigh of relief today, my Tomtom survived me replacing its battery!"
Was it an easy operation, i might try and replace mine as it is going flat quite quickly now ?
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My TT720 does not hold much charge either. Not a problem in car but annoying. Coming up to two years old and not used all the time.
I have OS maps on my phone courtesy of View Ranger.
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It was more fiddly than difficult, I downloaded step by step pictorial instructions, the replacement battery (from Batterymill) came with tools including a plastic "priser". You will need to unplug several connectors including a ribbon connector which has latches.The scary bit was prising the battery from the circuit board, the sticky tape they use is good, just take your time! I replaced the battery with (less) double sided tape.
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Sounds more involved than replacing a battery in an old iPod 3G of mine a few years back. That was easy.
To cross-reference threads.... I used have Linux running on that too at one point ;-) And used to SSH to my iPod touch which runs MacOS X.
Edited by rtj70 on 11/11/2009 at 22:01
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Thanks for the information
Andy
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Garmin can also use latitude/longitude-you can get these co-ordinates from Google Earth.
Edited by jc2 on 23/11/2009 at 08:39
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I have currently got a pretty basic TomTom that I inherited from a friend (a TomTom One, I think).
I was planning to upgrade to something a bit more sophisticated, and was particularly interested in the IQ Routes functionality, which seems to use real world data from other users to calculate real world times.
The concern I have is that I have been using the TomTom route planner built into their website, which seems to use their IQ Routes and HD traffic technology behind the scenes.
The HD traffic seems to work quite well and the route planner often gives me different routes than my current sat nav, but I have one concern. Specifically the estimated journey times (which seem to use IQ Routes) seem to be way off the mark, especially for journeys that I take from North London into Central London. It will usually produce an estimate of roughly half the actual time the journey takes. Indeed changing the time of day seems to give very similar estimated times (just tried it now and got 30 minutes if I travel now, 11:30pm on Sunday, and 35 minutes if I travel at 8am on Monday).
I am quite keen on the TomTom from the reviews that I have seen, and I just wonder if London might be a bit of a blind spot for it (which might rule it out for me).
If anybody has any experience of this, I'd be very interested to hear.
Edited by SteelSpark on 22/11/2009 at 23:27
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I was reading the other day that the bottom has fallen out of TomTom shares because Google are coming up with something which will have the same functionality but for free. So look before you leap...
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I have a Tomtom with IQ routes built in, don't confuse this with the subscription "Live" system. The IQ system works on historical data, and works well, especially driving from north of Edinburgh to the south where there are several routes with varying amounts of traffic. It will not work as well if the alternative routes have similar traffic levels. As always nothing beats local knowledge.
Edited by Old Navy on 23/11/2009 at 08:07
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Second thought, I don't know what is happening with your journey times, doesn't sound right. In urban areas with similar traffic levels on all routes the IQ routes system will give the shortest route if that is what is selected in the planning options.
Edited by Old Navy on 23/11/2009 at 08:47
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I may be blind but I cannot find the general Sat Nav thread.
Anyway with the impending arrival of the Fiat 500 I will need a Sat Nav (Outback has it as standard). So I want the following items: -
Bluetooth synch to my Blackberry phone
Post Code search
It would be nice to have: -
Speed/Traffic Camera Warning
Traffic Information and automatic Avoidance
Any recommendations?
Thanks
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Assuming you want europe maps, tom tom 730, 740 or 750
I use the 720 (not available now) with the pocketgpsworld camera database.
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Thanks
Just realised I am going to the USA in July. Which machine would also let me download USA maps?
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Better off goin' on a plane Espada. Quicker.......
;-)
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A plane has its own satnav. :-)
I find my Tomtom 720 very good, any of the Tomtom "Go" range should fit your requirements.
Edited by Old Navy on 05/12/2009 at 18:37
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I too have the TomTom Go 720 and very good it is. You can purchase additional maps for all of USA or parts. The current Go range is the 9xx. I think Halfords are selling off the Go 940 at the moment for £199. This one also has maps of USA and Europe.
Amazon has it at £239.
www.amazon.co.uk/TomTom-940-Satellite-Navigation-S...C
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Did I not tell you I have bought James Bond's Lotus Esprit?
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Currently looking at Garmin nuvi 765T and 1490T, both around £170 on Amazon, with smallish price variations elsewhere.
1490 was introduced around May 09 while 765 is older, around September 08. Both offer similar functionality, so presumably the 765 won't be around too much longer. The few differences appear to be:
765 ? lighter, remembers location of car when removed, has MP3 player, audio book reader, FM transmitter, headphone jack, 3D view, /stereo/ bluetooth.
1490 ? larger 5" screen, slimmer.
The 765 had a bug this year which is now fixed, apparently. 1490 seems to have some ongoing snags according to some reviews; e.g. multiple destination sorting is flawed.
Which of these two would you plump for? The 765 is time-served, cost more in its day, and hopefully the bugs are sorted. But will support be withdrawn in future? The extras on the 765 don't seem to matter much ? should they? The 1490, OTOH, is the next generation and so problems are still being ironed-out; perhaps a software update away. Is the larger screen worth having, or is 4.3" big enough?
Also, I haven't found out what the relative processing abilities are: does the 1490 have faster processor / larger onboard memory?
Any opinions, experiences and info gratefully received!
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Which of these two would you plump for?
The TomTom 750
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The TomTom 750
Thanks AE. The thing that puts me off TomTom is having to pay for Traffic updates (they are part of the LIVE subscription, I understand) whereas Garmin include Traffic subscription for life...
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Looking at the Garmin website it seems that the Garmin traffic system is what Tomtom call TMC and is transmitted in the UK on the Classic FM frequency. This is not the the same as the Tomtom Live subscription system.
Edited by Old Navy on 24/12/2009 at 21:37
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Thanks gents, I'd obviously made a duff assumption there. Will now do another round of comparisons . . .
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Happy Christmas to all - I am doing a 12 hour shift but not busy! My TomTom has the facility, I think/thought, to put in a full UK postcode and then offer you the house number and off you went. My Own postcode relates the the 24 even numbered houses in my road but it now seems that I have to put in the first 3 items and then pick the road from a drop down list. The machine accepts a full postcode but there is no "GO" button to initiate a search or route planning facility.Any ideas please? I have read the manual - it is ambiguous.
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navigate to / address / postcode / enter postcode /house number /ok /
then you get the choice of route (fast short etc)
Done
Bingo
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Thanks for that AE. I am at work without the kit and can't try what you say. I have had the thing 2 years and that is my exact recollection of how it is meant to work. Perhaps a Reset" is required. I'll try it when I am home and report back. Thanks for your input
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Being idle at work I have been to the TT site and there is known 'problem' re searching full post codes i n UK & Holland. The cure is to download a zip file of the postcodes and get it into the device. I may give that a try but I value your comments and help, of course, AE!
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It sounds like the post code file has got corrupted. Do you have a recent backup of your TomTom?
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Yes indeed! I haven't used the post code nav facility for ages so the likelihood is that the back up would be corrupt! I will give it a try when I can. I am working today and the next 3 days and shan't have much home computer time! Many thanks for posting on your fesitve days - I appreciate it.
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Which version of the map do you have. I might be able to send the missing post code files zipped up.
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You are all being welll beyond helpful! I will post when I can get home and check map versions etc
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My TT 720 has the latest updates but the maps do not have number data for all roads. If it does not have the house numbers it gives the road name for the relevant postcode and a box displays "House numbers not availiable for this street" for a few seconds when in the browse map mode.
Edited by Old Navy on 25/12/2009 at 19:29
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I have noticed this ON but have assumed that it is upmarket/snobby areas where houses have pretentious names rather then numbers. The Laurels, The Beeches, Dun Jet Setting and the like!
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Both my and my daughters roads and surrounding roads are about 10 years old and do not have number info in the TT maps (yet).
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You'll have to bite the bullet and go for map updates ON! Not cheap! To update your old map is £36 and then another £36 for 4 updates in the next 12 months. My partner has a Garmin and the speed cameras are £20 per country, par annum, whereas TT give you most of Europe for £20 so it is swings and roundabouts on the costs of the extras.
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 25/12/2009 at 20:20
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Many thanks for the help; I am doing 12 hour shifts at work and don't have time to fix my TomTom. However, there is a known fault with a corrupted postcode file, I have downloaded the Zip file and have the instructions for how to unzip it and get it into my device, when I can find the time. Respect to those who helped on Xmas Day and Best Wishes to all for 2010. Case closed - thank you
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You'll have to bite the bullet and go for map updates ON!>>
As I said above, my TT is up to date. I subscribe to the update service and get new maps every 3 months.
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My Apologies ON - I didn't read both your posts! I have updated maps but they don't show a four year old hotel and its surrounding roads in the area of Wroughton, near Swindon
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 26/12/2009 at 11:55
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No problem AS, TT's idea of "up to date" is a bit different to most peoples. They seem to be OK with main routes but have a problem keeping up with new build residential areas.
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TomTom gets it's map data from the mapping company they bought. They have to take a set of map data that will be out of date before it reaches a TomTom unit due to the work needed to convert it and compress it to fit in a particular space.
The problem is this data is often very out of date for some places. But things can be improved if users of the map data sent corrections etc. This can then trigger the companies like Navteq to send out the mapping vans to that area.
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Many thanks for the help. Apart from doing "back-Ups" I also copied the complete contents of my TomTom into my desktop. In there I found a complete file of UK postcodes and I am now navigating properly. That said the databse doesn't know the name of a street which has existed for 4 years but it is better than nothing
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I use my TomTom quite a bit' usually involving the M6 (sigh).
On a couple of occasions the sucker has worked loose from the windscreen and the whole thing has fallen down making me jump out of my skin. Gives the passengers a laugh tho'.
Notwithstanding the safety side, the embarrassment and the fact that I might break the thing or mark my dash, Does any have a foolproof method of making sure that their SatNav stays in plays please.
I even tried putting the sucker thing flat on the smooth horizontal bit of the dash on my Nissan but after a couple of miles, once again, it came tumbling down into the footwell.
Any sensible helpful suggestions please? Is there something that I can buy that is fairly unintrusive but works?
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Check out ( Brodit ) website, not cheap but will solve your problem
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I will attempt to find the reference/supplier of a hugely successful alternative TomTom mount that I bought on ebay. I had the problems you describe with the original one and I left it in a hire car in Germany and never saw it again. The one I bought has a very large sucker and a lever/ratchet mechanism to force the plastic sucker onto the screen and a trigger release to get it off; it also has 2 elbow joints and a rotating swivel for the device itself. Its is the bee's knees or dog's things and cost about £6.50. More info to follow, probably tomorrow
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Thanks Both.
Just had a look at the Brodit site. Goods look promising but website not that helpful.
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Another vote for Brodit, good kit!
www.dsldevelopments.com/
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www.dashmount.co.uk/manufacturers.htm
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A shed load here on ebay, including ones similar to the one I described in my earlier post
tinyurl.com/y9kknje
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I bought a friction mount for my Garmin. It's brilliant and the sat nav doesn't budge.
It is also very easy to remove from the car as it just sits on the dashboard. Here's the link, but I'm not sure if it will fit the Tom Tom. buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=8100
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My son in law has an Arkon friction mount and finds it very good, as Robbie says easily hidden and moved from car to car.
Edited by Old Navy on 29/12/2009 at 20:42
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Have a look at this, small and discreet. I bought one ages ago so I can use TomTom on my bricky PDA and it works well. Just stick the magnet to your dashboard and the small light metal bit on the back of your satnav.
I have got a company TomTom and the sucker that comes with it is rubbish. I tend to use my own satnav more. Not sure how to link this up:
www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=128236
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Simple question really, I'm dithering between the two makes, I want a basic SatNav with W Europe maps as well as UK. TomTom seem to have terrible customer service but are more popular, Garmin got a Which best buy. Which should I buy?
TomTom XL Classic Western Europe Satellite Navigation System - £109 on Amazon
Garmin Nuvi 255W Widescreen Satellite Navigation System with Full EU Mapping-£103 on Amazon. Personal experience and prejudices gratefully received.
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I bought my Garvin 760 because of the alleged poor service from Tom Tom. It has been excellent, and on the one occasion that I needed help - to download new mapping - Garmin were brilliant and talked me through the process.
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I have Tomtom Navigator 5 running on a PDA. It is completely outdated now and AFAIK can't have the latest maps installed. On the occasions when I have needed support from Tomtom I have emailed them and their response has been within a couple of days and has resolved the problem. To me that was satisfactory. I find the Tomtom menus very intuitive and easy to use and their traffic information (delivered to the PDA by GPRS) was accurate and useful. Their speed camera data is often inaccurate and slow to respond to camera removal.
I have only limited experience of other Sat Nav's for comparison.
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I'd love a Sat Nav but can't justify the expenditure, really, as I don't go anywhere with which I'm not familiar.
However, over Christmas, Idealworld, the shopping channel have been flogging a TomTom 'Start' for about £89. The trouble is they don't mention that it does NOT have the facility for specifying a Motorway-free route!
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>>The trouble is they don't mention that it does NOT have the facility forspecifying a Motorway-free route!
Does it have an "itinerary" mode, if so that can be used to programme waypoints which will keep you off motorways if you are allergic to them.
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Does it have an "itinerary" mode if so that can be used to programme waypoints which will keep you off motorways if you are allergic to them.
Don't know. Someone else, elsewhere, commented on this fact and thought that there was a way of getting a similar result within its programming but I wasn't really interested from a personal standpoint. Anyway there are plenty of more able alternatives.
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Not a lot in it in really. I have a Garmin 200 with European mapping and it does everything I want it to. Very straightforward and intuitive to use - you won't need instructions. To my mind Garmin compares to Apple in the computer world, more elegant both in design and operation.
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TT charge £20 a year for full Europe speed camera locations - Garmin charge £20 per country. If you go to Italy thru France, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Austria this is a lot to pay! I have had a TT720 for 2 years and it has been satifactory, apart from the windscreen mount coming off the screen from time to time.My fingers are a bit ctubby for using the QWERTY keyboard but a stylus is fine. The customer support, by telephone and/or e mail, is very efficient and knowledgable.
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>>The customer support, by telephone and/or e mail, is very efficient and knowledgable.
>>
Things must have changed since I contacted them.
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TT charge £20 a year for full Europe speed camera locations
The database from PocketGPSWorld is better. And if you submit a new camera and are the first to do so, you get lifetime access to the database for free.
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Very straightforward and intuitive to use - you won't need instructions. To my mind Garmin compares to Apple in the computer world more elegant both in design and operation.
On the other hand I have found that people find the TomTom much more intuative and easier to use than to the Garmin.
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A useful comparison review:
www.sciuridae.co.uk/TomTom_one_xl_vs_Garmin_200w.h...m
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I need to replace my Tomtom V1 XL which got knicked, would the Garmin 205w be an ideal replacement? I am not bothered about speed cameras but I do need it to bleep if I exceed the speed limit.
I've seen the 205w online for £86 or £99 in Halfords. Its around £130 in most other places.
According to Which? the 205 is easier to use than the 200.
Edited by Rattle on 01/01/2010 at 13:55
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From the manual (downloadable from the Garmin website):
"Your nuvi alerts you when you are approaching a safety camera and can warn you if you are driving too fast"
Have had a 205W for a couple of months and find it's a good basic unit - limited experience with the "safety" camera aspect, but seemed to pick up all the ones I'm aware of driving across Spain recently.
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I was just off the M4, South-West of Swindon and asked my TT to plan me the fastest route to Stow-on-the-Wold, to the North of Swindon. It thought about it for a while and then said No Route Available". I then asked it for the shortest route and it came up with a route parallelling the M4 up ice-bound lanes to join the M4 at J15 one junction to the East. As I was within 400 yards of J16, at which I could join, I wasn't too impressed! Question is how could the device think there was no route at all between any 2 locations in UK?
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It may be a map glitch. My TT would not recognise Klillington Lake services on the M6 on the original map it was supplied with, an update cured it.
Edited by Old Navy on 04/01/2010 at 10:35
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A quick sat nav question, I've just bought a new Polo which will be delivered in a couple of weeks. I assume from the offer in the brochure of a 'smokers pack' that there is no lighter socket, which is where I thought sat navs normally plug in. Where do you plug in the unit if you don't have a lighter?
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There should be a ciggie lighter disguised as a an Aux Power unit somewhere - world and his dog have MP3s and Sat Navs bound to be one.
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'smokers pack' that there is no lighter socket,
Car will have the power socket but not the lighter itself. A plastic cover will be provided for when there is nothing plugged in. The 'smokers pack' gives you the lighter and maybe the missing ashtray (if it's missing).
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