Q for the cage satnavisti

My Tomtom GO700 has now failed for the third time in a year. I started it
tonight to enter the last couple of waypoints for my holiday and it has lost
all its maps. I leave for France in less than 48 hrs. I've emailed their
customer support and I will be phoning them persistently tomorrow for an
urgent replacement, but I'm not holding out any hope. They've had it back
twice and can't fix it, and they don't make the 700 any more.

So, ye Wise Ones, what recommendations for a satnav for the cage? If Tomtom
don't somehow come through with a new unit before I leave I shall be buying
a new one (not a Tomtom, obviously) and seeking recompense from Tomtom under
the Sale of Goods Act or some such. New nav needs to have street-level
mapping for Europe and be useable straight out of the box if possible.
Seamless mapping without swapping cards around would be good. Something
more portable than the mini-TV size of the TT would be good too.

Any thoughts welcome.

TIA.

 

Zumo.

 

Wot he said.
Zumo 550
It works straight out of the box, and does what it says on the tin.
Pricey mind, but worth it as it comes with an amplified mount for the cage
and a different dedicated bike mount.

--
Greybeard



FLHTCUI UK-07 Mk II
Trumpet Trophy 1200 new one coming soon!
Garmin Zumo 550, To get me home!

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

Oh and I got mine from here;
http://www.gpssite.co.uk/

No relationship, just excellent price and service.
I be a happy customer.

--
Greybeard



FLHTCUI UK-07 Mk II
Trumpet Trophy 1200 new one coming soon!
Garmin Zumo 550, To get me home!

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

RAC road map of Europe, £9.99.

 

heh - you can get them cheaper in the discount-style bookshops.

I'm a big fan of both maps and Satnav - they're similar, but not
analogous tools.

I tend to use maps (both online and paper) for /planning/ journeys.
But Satnav is more convenient on the move, because you can use them on
the move, and - crucially, Satnav has a much finer granularity than
maps, so it makes the last 500m of the journey to somewhere you've
never been before so much easier.

 

De naranja.

--

Paul.
CBR1100XX SuperBlackbird (Buen mueble de patio)
BOTAFOT #4
BOTAFOF #30
MRO #24
OMF #15
UKRMMA #30

 

That's the only time mines been of any use. When you find yourself in a
maze of streets it can take away the pain of searching for street names
etc. Mine found the hotel I was looking for in Seville effortlessly.
Without the satnav I'd have been scratching around for hours.

--

Paul.
CBR1100XX SuperBlackbird (Buen mueble de patio)
BOTAFOT #4
BOTAFOF #30
MRO #24
OMF #15
UKRMMA #30

 

Agreed - I use a similar method - replacing the paper map with Autroute.

Then ITNConv.exe for exporting the route from Autoroute to TomTom ITN file.

I've had my original Tom Tom Go (Classic) since they first hit the streets.
I update the maps (Western Europe) when they release a new version.
But - touch wood, the things been rock solid, never having a problem.
I guess thats the benefit of solid state vs small hdd's in units like these.
Mine has been dropped on more than one occaision as well.

 

Got one. No, got several. Wouldn't be without a map, anywhere, but
there's a lot a satnav can do that a map can't. Having both is the
ideal.

 

Agreed. And a map won't shout at you to remind you of your upcoming
turn-off after 100 miles of uneventful motorway. DAMHIKT, etc.

 

also, a map can't inform you via mobile phone/bluetooth about
temporary roadwords etc. Or speed cameras - both of which my
relatively inexpensive satnav can (tomtom one)

 

I think you're right. Last time I spoke to a guy at Tomtom (second
failure, April 07) he virtually admitted as much. He said that
failures in service were almost unknown for the solid state Tomtoms,
but coughed a lot when I asked if it was the HDDs on the GO700 that
were problematic.

 

Oh yes. I do a run from South Wales to Brighton for work quite often,
and always take the satnav for the camera alerts. It's saved my bacon
more than a few times.

 

it's not exactly surprising, though, is it?

 

No, although if both you and I are unsurprised that solid state is
more robust than a HDD in an application like this, one wonders why
this hasn't occurred to Tomtom as well.

 

Price is still the factor, compare the price of a 40GB HDD to 40GB worth of
DRAM modules. http://www.dramexchange.com/

I think the small factor drives (1" & 1.8") are pretty damn robust in
general - knocks and drops etc
When you attach them to a semi flexible mount in a vehicle that has constant
vibration and occaisional multi directional shock, then its a data disaster
waiting to happen.
Thats why people like Hitachi design drives (Endurastar) for automotive
purposes.
Being 2.5" though I guess they tend to be ousted by the likes of Tom Tom in
favour of smaller drives so they have a more compact end product.

 

The tomtom 5 on my pda lost all the info on 2-3 occasions. After the
first one I kept a backup of the tomtom and itn folders, and just
dropped them back in as needed.

 

I'm going to try that tonight, although all the waypoints I have
stored since I last backed up are lost. It may work, but I have no
confidence it will be for long. Setting off the France tomorrow, ho
hum. Which reads a bit like an excuse for a new toy.