Discussion
my sat nav has packed up so i'm looking to buy a new one.i'm looking at the tom tom live models but they dont have aux out connection.i need to hear my sat nav through the car audio and also my autocom on my bike.how do you guys listen to your units?
Edited by chimalsu on Tuesday 14th December 11:18
I have a TomTom Go 720.
That allows me to either:
1. use the inbuilt speaker, which I can just about hear with the roof off; or
2. use the aux-in on my Pioneer Head Unit, which is easy to hear; or
3. has a built-in FM transmitter, which actually works quite well.
2 - is the loudest, and works well with the TomTom controlling my ipod at the same time.
Most of the time though, I just glance at the screen for guidance - the voice guidance is secondary for me.
That allows me to either:
1. use the inbuilt speaker, which I can just about hear with the roof off; or
2. use the aux-in on my Pioneer Head Unit, which is easy to hear; or
3. has a built-in FM transmitter, which actually works quite well.
2 - is the loudest, and works well with the TomTom controlling my ipod at the same time.
Most of the time though, I just glance at the screen for guidance - the voice guidance is secondary for me.
I have the TomTom GO 910.
Its discontinued now but you can get a factory refurbished unit with everything in a sealed box for £160.00 including postage & a 12-month TomTom warranty.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TOM-TOM-GO-910-Car-GPS-Sat-N...
That may sound like a lot for factory refurbished unit but this sat nav was £350.00 when new.
It has just about every feature you could ever want including a 20 Gb hard disk with 12 Gb free & an MP3 player.
That's enough space for 1000’s of MP3 songs, obviously it has the aux socket you are looking for too.
I hooked mine up to a 12v power source and plumbed the auxiliary 3.5 jack into the back of my Pioneer head unit.
Put the head unit on AUX and listen to your music, when the sat nav gives you instructions it automatically pauses the music, then seamlessly returns to the same place in the song when the instructions stop.
All this at a volume you can hear even at speed with the roof down.
In addition to the touch screen everything is controllable from a palm sized Bluetooth remote control so you don't need to place the sat nav within reach, this greatly increases your options on where the unit is fitted.
There are lots of other features like text to speech and bluetooth connectivity, it even reads out your incoming text messages from your mobile phone.
TomTom seems to have done away with a lot of 910's features on their latest models, the 910 was a very expensive flagship tour de force in its day and still does way more than any other current sat nav out there.
I met TomTom at the Festival of speed this year and they told me they will never do another sat nav with MP3 because they were concerned about safety litigation in the USA, their biggest market.
I can thoroughly recommend the 910, the interface and mapping are excellent, it will do everything you want and much more besides.
Its discontinued now but you can get a factory refurbished unit with everything in a sealed box for £160.00 including postage & a 12-month TomTom warranty.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TOM-TOM-GO-910-Car-GPS-Sat-N...
That may sound like a lot for factory refurbished unit but this sat nav was £350.00 when new.
It has just about every feature you could ever want including a 20 Gb hard disk with 12 Gb free & an MP3 player.
That's enough space for 1000’s of MP3 songs, obviously it has the aux socket you are looking for too.
I hooked mine up to a 12v power source and plumbed the auxiliary 3.5 jack into the back of my Pioneer head unit.
Put the head unit on AUX and listen to your music, when the sat nav gives you instructions it automatically pauses the music, then seamlessly returns to the same place in the song when the instructions stop.
All this at a volume you can hear even at speed with the roof down.
In addition to the touch screen everything is controllable from a palm sized Bluetooth remote control so you don't need to place the sat nav within reach, this greatly increases your options on where the unit is fitted.
There are lots of other features like text to speech and bluetooth connectivity, it even reads out your incoming text messages from your mobile phone.
TomTom seems to have done away with a lot of 910's features on their latest models, the 910 was a very expensive flagship tour de force in its day and still does way more than any other current sat nav out there.
I met TomTom at the Festival of speed this year and they told me they will never do another sat nav with MP3 because they were concerned about safety litigation in the USA, their biggest market.
I can thoroughly recommend the 910, the interface and mapping are excellent, it will do everything you want and much more besides.
thanks for the replies,the 910 looks a good unit but a bit bulky for the bike.i wanted one of the newer live models.there must be a way round getting the sound through the radio.i spoke to someone at tom tom but i might as well of spoke to the wall,said they had never came across this problem.i could get a blue tooth radio for the car are there any bluetooth recievers that plug into the aux socket?
chimalsu said:
thanks for the replies,the 910 looks a good unit but a bit bulky for the bike.i wanted one of the newer live models.there must be a way round getting the sound through the radio.i spoke to someone at tom tom but i might as well of spoke to the wall,said they had never came across this problem.i could get a blue tooth radio for the car are there any bluetooth recievers that plug into the aux socket?
Yep, the 910 is bulky and the handsfree function isn't all that good because it will only output the callers voice to the tiny internal speaker.For some reason this is the only audio that doesn't come through the aux socket, its the only thing that lets it down really.
However I have decent handsfree kit in my company car and my TVR time is my own for pure pleasure so the rest of the world can naff off when I am driving the Chim.
I refuse to take calls in the TVR.
I wouldn't use the 910 on a bike as I would worry about it getting wet, a bike specific sat nav with bluetooth connectivity is the way to go.
You could always upgrade your head unit to a bluetooth one, you then have a wireless auxiliary connection and one less wire to hide.
You can then swap the unit between the Chim & the bike really easily.
It's also possible to connect two aux inputs into one, with a bit of patience and a soldering iron. I wanted to do this so that my satnav and an MP3 player could both be used through the car stereo. My beautiful assistant in the passenger seat can then be in charge of music and the satnav can be in charge of navigation. And then all I have to do is aim.
To do this you basically get two 3.5mm sockets and wire them together, but you need to put resistors in series to prevent the output from one device damaging the other device (low impedance outputs, not designed to have a signal pushed at them). I mounted mine in the dash, one each side of the radio. Obviously, I damaged the veneer in doing so, but apart from that it works a treat.
To do this you basically get two 3.5mm sockets and wire them together, but you need to put resistors in series to prevent the output from one device damaging the other device (low impedance outputs, not designed to have a signal pushed at them). I mounted mine in the dash, one each side of the radio. Obviously, I damaged the veneer in doing so, but apart from that it works a treat.
If you have a smartphone, you may be able to download a SatNav program to that and have the audio play via bluetooth or a wire. If you get a mounting kit you can even see the screen.
This is the solution proposed by the guys who fitted Bluetooth to my RX8. I have yet to work out how to transmit from my HTC phone to the unit (lack of effort on my part, to be honest), but since the SatNav on my phone is well thought of by the community, might well give it a go.
Also 1 less box in the car.
Rich
This is the solution proposed by the guys who fitted Bluetooth to my RX8. I have yet to work out how to transmit from my HTC phone to the unit (lack of effort on my part, to be honest), but since the SatNav on my phone is well thought of by the community, might well give it a go.
Also 1 less box in the car.
Rich
I want a sat nav with reprogrammable voices (I know there is a Brian Blessed version somewhere). I want to switch between - say - Warren Clarke, Neil Nunes, Lily Savage and Dervla Kirwan
But most of all I want one which argues back when I ignore it, and gives as good as it gets when I swear at it.
But most of all I want one which argues back when I ignore it, and gives as good as it gets when I swear at it.
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