Faulty tomtom gps unit

buphone · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 01, 2005 Posts: 36

I bought tomtom mobile 5 in July last year.

My tomtom gps unit turns stopped working properly today. It won't stay on. If I hold the 'on' switch down, the red 'charging' light comes on and the green 'GPS signal' light comes on for about half a second then it they both go off again. I have tried it with and without the car charger connected.

I suspect that the battery is completely dead but I am not sure. The tomtom website says that I cannot replace the battery myself.

Since it is less than a year old, I suppose I could send it back to Holland (I bought it directly online) and hope that they fix it but my previous experience with tomtom customer support has not been good. I can imagine a long delay and I don't like waiting without my tomtom working.

I see that replacement gps units are expensive. Any suggestions as to what I should do?

Thanks

lbendlin · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:41 pm Post subject:

Send it back to Holland, and bite your lip until it is back. That's the cheapest solution.
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Lutz

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buphone · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 01, 2005 Posts: 36

Lutz Bendlin wrote:
"Send it back to Holland, and bite your lip until it is back"

Wow. Thanks for the quick response.

Amazingly I managed to speak to a person in tomtom support just now. The person said that I should leave it overnight till the battery runs down and it will reset itself. If that didn't work, I should call back tomorrow.

I was very surprised by that but he sounded confident. I had left the unit on the car charger all day. I am not sure how it will lose its charge overnight if I can't turn it on. Any thoughts on this suggestion?

lbendlin · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:35 pm Post subject:

That would only work if you disconnect the battery completely . For that you would have to open the device. Which will void your warranty. Which is not what you want.

The longer you wait sending it back the longer it takes before you get the replacement.
_________________
Lutz

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buphone · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 01, 2005 Posts: 36

Yes. Perhaps I am delaying the inevitable. I did not have an opportunity to post it yesterday anyway.

I left it overnight as requested by tomtom support. I did not expect it to work today, and I thought perhaps the suggestion from support was part of a standard response relating to the almanac. However, I tested it just now and it stayed on, acquired a signal and worked for a 1 hour journey. So the original symptoms I reported have gone.

I find it hard to believe that a battery problem would be fixed like that, so perhaps it wasn't a battery problem. Ideas as to what it was would be welcome. I still the regard the unit as on probation but I am not so worried about it as yesterday.

Bizarre.

buphone · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 01, 2005 Posts: 36

It turns out that the gps unit was fine. It was just a faulty charger lead. Tomtom support was kind enough to send a free new lead.

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