Hi! We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
But as we’re losing ad-revenue from this then why not make a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 7:18 pm Post subject: Some advice please ! thinking of buying Tom Tom Go
Hi,
I have been considering a sat nav product for my car, and have learnt about TTGo.
It sounds ideal, all in one box ready to go e.t.c, I am just looking for some advice really, ideally from someone who owns one of these already, is it any good and does it do what it says?
Im just looking for a product that is reasonably priced and does what it says, gets me from place to place.
Im from Leeds so any views from owners from Leeds would be much appreciated.
Joined: Nov 03, 2004 Posts: 251 Location: Earth where else
Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 7:33 pm Post subject:
Well i'm not from leeds, but i can say GO for it. You won't be disappointed.
Some will say maps arn't "upto date" But as you know, not even paper maps are 100% upto date. It does what it says, i wouldn't be without it now, if fact, it's never out of the car.
As long as you remember it's a navigational AID, you won't go far wrong.
Joined: Aug 14, 2004 Posts: 90 Location: Wakefield
Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2004 10:11 am Post subject:
Is Wakefield close enough? I have bought 4 GOs (one for me and 3 for relatives) and I can recommend it.
You need to have sensible expectations for ANY sat nave system; for example do not expect the maps to be 100% absolutely accurate - my experience around West Yorkshire is that the current GO maps are 99% accurate but you have to engage your brain sometimes.
As an example, in Water Lane Leeds when you want to head towards the M1, the GO insists you must turn left towards the station and then do a U turn at the Hilton Hotel - when in fact all you do is turn right. For some reason, the GO thinks this junction has a "no right turn" rule - which is not the case.
There has been some criticism in these forums over the maps - unjustified in my view - from people who have unreasonable expectations of the accuracy of GPS mapping systems. They take the view that unless the GPS maps are absolutely 100% unfailingly accurate they have been mis-sold.
If you do blindly follow the GO you will reach your destination, and have considerably less stress than trying to navigate in strange towns with a paper map spread over your lap. OK, you may know a better local route, because you have real up-to-date knowledge of local traffic conditions. Fine, do as I do and take the route you believe is best - the GO will quickly re-calculate to get you to your destination.
Add the speed camera database, accurate speed readout, points of interest to easy navigation and you have a winner.
I'm confident you will be very happy with your GO, or indeed any of its close rivals. I did look at the navman 510 as an alternative but I've stuck with the GO as the best buy for my needs.
You need to have sensible expectations for ANY sat nave system; for example do not expect the maps to be 100% absolutely accurate - my experience around West Yorkshire is that the current GO maps are 99% accurate but you have to engage your brain sometimes. . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . If you do blindly follow the GO you will reach your destination, and have considerably less stress than trying to navigate in strange towns with a paper map spread over your lap. OK, you may know a better local route, because you have real up-to-date knowledge of local traffic conditions. Fine, do as I do and take the route you believe is best - the GO will quickly re-calculate to get you to your destination.
Add the speed camera database, accurate speed readout, points of interest to easy navigation and you have a winner.
Happy navigating!
As a complete newbie to this, having got my TT-GO about a month ago, I totally agree and do as Old_Phil suggests. Given the price and performance, I'm very pleased with the product, even with its silly glitches like not being able to navigate across European (map) borders. _________________ Cheers, Doc L.
Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:16 am Post subject: Thanks Everyone!
Just to say thank you to the people who replied!
I found your comments very helpful.
I just have a couple more questions,
firstly if using TTGo and say i was on the motorway and the traffic comes to a standstill can you ask it to try and redirect me out of the traffic, an alternate route?
and finally does anyone know a good place to buy it from, good price and service??
Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:16 pm Post subject: Re: Some advice please ! thinking of buying Tom Tom Go
austhorpe wrote:
Hi,
I have been considering a sat nav product for my car, and have learnt about TTGo.
It sounds ideal, Thanks for your time.
I bought one about 4 weeks ago and generally I'm very impressed . The one box solution is neat and tidy . To avoid a trailing wire in the cockpit , I dont use the car charger but recharge it overnight in the house.
As others have said , set reasonable expectations . Its designed to help you find your way to unfamiliar places , not verify your favourite rushhour shortcut to work or display greater local knowledge .
Is is easy to load the Speedcamera database ( available on this site ). The solution is the one of the first based on Tom Toms common software platform , so some future proofing .
A few disadvantages -
-the screen is very reflective so in bright sunlight it can be difficult or impossible to read without placing your hand over it as sunshield - not a safety first solution. This may be solvable by buying an alternative mount. Tom Tom say they are going to launch a professional car mount late 2004 ( no sign of this so far ) , I beleive this will include permanent power and ICE replay & mute .
-As a non PDA solution you are more limited in the customisation or add-ons you can apply - eg a postcode front end has been designed for the PDA Tom Tom versions . There is a Go version via Points of Interest (POI)but its not as good - I have deleted it from mine .
-Mine came with a more uptodate map on the CD , it was only through this forum I discovered this and manually updated it. Some previous purchasers only got the older map - might be worth asking the shop for their returns policy if this happens to you . ( Buy from a retailer with a high stock turnover to ensure most recent version ).
- sometimes on start-up ( say 1 in 5 times ) it takes a minute or two to find a satelite fix - can be annoying as its unable to give you directions until locked on .
- other uses report in cities with many high rises it loses its signal , I haven't come across this but could well be true as it has momentarily lost signal driving through heavily wooded areas with overhanding trees.
- cars drivers with certain environmentally shielded or heated windscreens have reported difficult in getting a GPS signal - there is an aerial add-on for this
I have already recommended it to my boss ! Try Amazon for a good deal.
If you get in a motorway jam, there is a button labelled "avoid roadblock". You have to operate it manually, and you get the chance to guess how long the block is. Choice of four: 100yd, quarter mile, 1 mile 3 miles.
Joined: Aug 31, 2004 Posts: 124 Location: Leeds UK
Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:27 pm Post subject:
Hi,
I live in Leeds and use the TTGo daily. The mapping for leeds is quite good although it does get confused under the A58 tunnel and has a few errors such as telling you to turn right at kirkstall road morrisons when it means go straight on .
I would reccomend that you buy one .
Mark
From Halifax and working in Leeds and overall very chuffed with my TTG. The mapping data is a tad out of date, and one gets the odd bizarre route instruction, but i've used it as a complete newbie to sat nav and a relatively inexperienced driver to navigate to / round Manchester, Blackpool, Sunderland and Darlington recently without any major problems. It's not perfect, but neither is any paper map, and if you are driving on your own on unfamiliar roads it is a great help IMHO.
Examples of (minor) problems: M606 / A6177 junction map out of date following redesign of roundabout, M62/M1 interchange the map display is correct but the verbal instructions are wrong. The only time I have lost signal while driving was going through City Square in Leeds where the area is built up; I suspect any GPS system would struggle with this, though I will try it again with an external antenna if they ever become widely available.
I suppose the only note of caution would be if you have an athermic windscreen on your car and need the external antenna; they are pretty difficult to come by at the moment although one hopes this will resolve sooner or later.
I'm from York.... but now in Switzerland so haven't used it in the UK yet!
But I would reiterate what everyone else says.... it's a great piece of kit for getting you from A to B. If you're going somewhere you don't know then TTG is excellent. It will get you there... even if you take a wrong turn, decide to go via somewhere else or whatever. If you're travelling a route you know well, the TTG will often generate a route you might not choose, since it doesn't know the harder to predict factors such as traffic etc.
It really is just a plug n play device though... take it out of the box, switch it on and tell it where you want to go. Thousands of points of interest to choose from if you can't decide where to go!
No need to buy a car with satnav again.
If you have two cars, it can be easily taken from one to the other.
Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:13 pm Post subject: Everyone seems to agree its quality!! but...
Hi all,
Everyone seems to be telling me the same thing, its generally a quality product!
The only slight concern seems to be regarding the maps, and how upto date they are.
I have been looking on the TTGo site today to see if updates are available for the UK map, suprise suprise... I could not make much sense of it!
So just wondering if the maps can be updated after my purchase, for example as new roads are built (does not happen much) and when junctions are altered.
Once again many thanks for anyone who takes the time to help me out,
To be honest the maps are 99.9% accurate, in fact it is quite satisfying to tell the machine that you know better and it doesn't even swear back!
Any of the minor bugs you get with the software you can live with. Where the product is updated gradually based on user feedback and real life experience I genuinely believe it to be a great driver aid.
Customer Service is so-so but they get there in the end.
Overall I am really impressed with the product and would recommend.
As far as map updates go, the situation (having exchanged a few emails with TomTom and bellyached in these forums a bit) is as follows:
1. The map data supplied with a new Go will be updated from time to time. There is at present no way of checking which map version you have been supplied with without switching the unit on or browsing the supplied CD / SD card. Some people appear to have an earlier version of the map on the supplied SD card with a later version on the CD, which allows you to install the CD version onto the SD card using a computer.
2. While it is easy to establish which version map you have, the differences between the different versions in circulation are not clear; TomTom or Teleatlas (who provide the mapping data) have not stated what, if any, differences exist between versions.
3. Map updates for existing Go users will be supplied on CD, probably annually, at a reduced rate. I presume the rate is reduced in comparison to the separately sold SD card maps and the CD of European maps that are available from TomTom. There is no information yet as to when the next update is due.
Hope the above is a) correct, and b) helpful.
Also hope I have not over stated the few problems with the mapping data; overall I think my Go has been a good buy and i'd miss it if I didn't have it sat there on the dash.
Posted: Today Post subject: Pocket GPS Advertising
We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
Hi! We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
But as we’re losing ad-revenue from this then why not make a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in for private messages
Log in
