TomTom Car Charging - Not recommended?

[STiG911]

Missus purchased a TomTom (forget the exact model) a couple of months back, and resolutely believes the word of the Halfrauds person, who told her that using the car charger was not recommended - charge it indoors instead.
Given that a car charger is supplied FOC and a mains charger is optional, that's the first alarm bell ringing.
Anyways, I've been using a normal USB lead connected a generic USB charger and it's been fine. This morning, Wife needs SatNav and asks for mains charger as unit is flat and 'Sales guy said not to use the car charger'. Can't find the normal USB lead so figure one the same would be fine.
No. Gets an irate call telling me that the lead won't fit, and now it's my fault that the SatNav is flat. This, despite her having driven for at least 40 minutes when the thing could have been charging off the car...
So, basically, what's the deal here? Do we avoid the carcharger at all costs? I've looked on the TomTom site, and they actually sell a wired-in charging cable get-up, so what's the difference?

[redweapon]

what use is a car SatNav if it can't be charged in the car ? take it back and demand a refund, then buy a proper one.

[SonicShadow]

The in car charger isn't very good, therefore we recommend you purchase the official TomTom home charger kit for only £19.99!.....



....is what the sales guy probably said. The in car charger probably doesn't provide as much power as the home charger, so in the past poor charge cycles would have reduced the life of the battery. With modern batteries though this really isnt a problem - the only thing that can cause problems is a complete discharge. That is unlikely to happen though.

[Podie]

Absolute horsest. No issue with a car charger.

[BoostMonkey]

Only ever used the in-car charger, and battery has been fine for 2 years.

However the software on my TT XL Live Europe loves to crash and lock up, but thats a whole other matter.

[STiG911]

Thanks all. Figured it was a load of Horse-turd.

[daz3210]

Possibly another problem is that people get fond of using them plugged in all the time too, thus not giving the battery chance to discharge.

The limited use I give my sat nav means every time I need it I find it flat, so I have to use the car lead.

[S2Mike]

I bought the TOM TOM from Halfords and have only ever charged it in the car, no problem at all. Sometimes it takes a while to workout where it is if the charge has gone down a bit low but fine after ten minutes or so plugged in and left alone to sort itself out.

[Dean4545]

does anyone no if i can up date the maps and speed camra on my tom tom 1 for free

[lookatmypussy]

My bike garmin and car tomtom are both hard wired, so permanently charging. The guy from Halfords is a minge....

[sy534534]

The guy at Halfords is on a targeted KPI, big pressure to sell any accessory with a satnav. This is why he may have misinformed you. There is NO requirement to charge from the mains.