Tom Tom Go 700 – not overly impressed

[racefan_uk]

See, all these comments about parts from TomTom going wrong.

As I've said before, they might not be the trendiest, but Garmin are a damn sight better (and cheaper) than TomTom.

It's what McGregor and Boorman used on their round the world trip. Took plenty of punishment and kept going.

[jackal]

Garmin [+]

Not quite sure how or why tom tom has become the default choice, or how people put up with pda's as well.

[madou]

Just come back from a 2 week driving holiday in Europe with my newly acquired Tom Tom Go 700. I have to say I’m impressed with it. I encountered the following problems:

1. Lost GPS for several seconds in Lugano, I think due to tall buildings and surrounding mountains

2. It got a bit confused on new business parks and new slip roads

3. Would not boot once, reset required

>> Edited by madou on Friday 9th September 10:12

[t1grm]

Update: Drove from Barcelona to Calais last weekend and it kept its signal for most of the time and didn’t go off on any hair brained non-existent motorway exits. However this was a pretty straightforward route with not much town driving. It did keep its signal through Paris which was handy. Is it possible different parts of Europe get a stronger signal than others?

Also Tom Tom have responded to my email and have posted a replacement bracket to me.

So the jury’s still out for me.

Interestingly I was in a taxi equipped with a Tom Tom in Barcelona the other day and it kept its signal all the way to my apartment in the centre of town. My one looses the signal as soon as I get off the ring road. I didn’t ask the guy if he had an external aerial or not but I couldn’t see any extra wires.

[madou]

t1grm said:

Is it possible different parts of Europe get a stronger signal than others?

Should just depend on how much of the sky the system can see, which has been my experience

[LongQ]

madou said:

t1grm said: Is it possible different parts of Europe get a stronger signal than others? Should just depend on how much of the sky the system can see, which has been my experience

Unless there is something about the vehicle that causes a reduction in signal - heated screen or heat reflective coating for example.

My experience with signal reception is that if signals are a bit poor for whatever reason Tom Tom will still have a reading when my Road Angel has none. If signal is extrememly weak or strong but only from 2 or fewer satellites, then both units will have a problem.
Tom Tom with ASN will attempt to keep going anyway but I think ASN works best if you are on a known road in a tunnel. Nowhere else to go and it can try to estimate where you are in preparation for exiting at the other end. If you are on a raod with junctions it could not be so sure. If it's getting patchy signal strength - moving under trees for example - if could be more difficult for it to work out where it is than it would be in a tunnel.

You can turn the ASN off though I'm not sure how you could use that to prove anything. Either way if the screen changes to monochrome there are signal strength problems.

One thing that might be more of a problem with a 700 in the Med area is temperature - could get very hot with the disk and high temps behind a vehicle windscreen. Just a thought.