Poor US Maps and Directions - Case for Refund?

[keithmdw]

I purchased TTN5 Bluetooth for my PDA solely to use when visiting the US (which I do regularly). I have factory fitted sat nav in my car here so have no use for TTN otherwise.

Any way, to cut a long story short, on my first trip to the US since buying TTN, I must say that half the time I managed better without it due to it's poor map quality and ever poorer directions.

It would tell me to keep right (on a 3/4 lane road) and then tell me to turn left a hundred yards later!! Not posible in busy traffic.

It would say things like "turn right in 50 yards" when travelling at 45mph. Not possible!

It would ask me to keep left/right and then tell me to turn the opposite.

On some Interstate exits (which split into two after exiting) it would tell me to keeep to one side and then expect me to have been on the other and have to re-route.

I bought the thing, including the US maps less than a month before travelling, so they should be up-to-date.

As it has served me very poorly, and I am not confident in using it again for this purpose, do you think that I have a case for a refund? It clearly does not perform the task it claims to?

And if so, what alternative product would serve my US GPS needs better?

Another thing I noticed (not US specific), was that if I plotted the same route with the same parameters several times, I would get a different route every time. I noticed this when I accidentally cleared a route I wanted and tried to get it back but couldn't get it to plot the same one again!

Thanks

[lbendlin]

It all depends what area in the US you are talking about. In some areas TeleAtlas is better, in others Navteq. But on average maps are at least two years old. With the frantic pace of construction in the US you will hit more map errors than in Europe.

As for the different route results - already a minute change in positions can trigger a completely different calculation result. Especially in the near field around start and destination this happens quite often.

It is worth reminding that the purpose of this system is to get you from here to there in unfamiliar terrain. If you miss a turn - not a problem, the system will recalculate. You will reach the destination eventually. The system is not built to compete with your local knowledge.

TomTom will not tell you to

[keithmdw]

[Greenglide]

You must remember that when TomTom says "keep right" or "keep left" it is not usually referring to the lanes you are supposed to be in, it is usually used if the road divides into two and it is really means "dont take the left choice" or "dont take the right choice".

Even in the UK this can cause confusion, especially if the road divides into 3! In the States with exits on both the left and the right (in the UK exits from a motorway on the right are very rare) you can obviously get some very convoluted instructions.

I find that the voice instructions are insufficient, especially on complex junctions, under these circumstances the visual map is much more useful because you can then see the road some way ahead (but not always enough) to see which lane you should be in.

Speaking from experience with Trading Standards, a well known GPS retailer (I have so far resisted the temptation to name them) and TomTom over being supplied with out of date maps despite their advertising "latest maps available" the CD set is NOT the latest version it is very dificult to communicate the failings to Trading Standards (or any other such organisation) and the retailer merely repeats the incorrect statements the (allegedly) receive from TomTom. Peeling back layers of the onion caused TomTom to state "map version 562 is the current version", when I proved that 605 and 632 existed TomTom then confused things by saying the "current version is 5.3.2, version 6 has not been released yet!!) followed by "632 is only available by download from our website - it is not available in any physical media" which was clearly not true. Because I couldnt PROVE they were being economical with the truth (to put it politely) Trading Standards stated that there was no real case for them to take action but I could, if I wished, take legal action myself in the small claims court but they were not at all convinced that such action would be successful.

Just because you are in the right doesnt mean you can prove it! Any action to get a refund would presumably be defended by the retailer backed by TomTom who would do a very good job of confusing matters to ensure that the chances of winning would be very low. In this case you would need expert opinion to establish whether it was fit for purpose.

I think it is a lost cause with a lesson not to expect too much from SatNav products which, usually, you cannot try before you buy and all suffer from the timescales of map releases and map quality. UK maps are based on the Ordnance Survey which an excellent base of digital mapping down to very low level and regularly updated - if there isnt an equivalent in USA updated as regularly (its a huge country!) then the quality will not be as good.

[lbendlin]

I wonder which version of TomTom Navigator you are using in the US. The versions that I use do actually announce the turn after the upcoming turn. something like " Turn right then stay in the left lane" .
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[keithmdw]

I take your points about "keep right" and "keep left" and understand this. It wasn't always the case however. Often it seemed to simply refer to the fact there was an exit/turn on the other side of the road it wanted me to avoid.

On a particular Interstate exit I recall, the exit split into two on the slip road.

TT said take the exit and keep left. I did, and it turned out to wrong. What it wanted me to do was take the right exit and then keep to th eleft of that to turn left! Resulted in quite a detour!

I also found it would occasionally say keep right when it was clearly a turn, and the opposite sometimes. Bear right also didn't always mean right, sometimes it meant turn right, and turn didn't always mean turn, sometimes it meant keep. Complicated, but obvious on the map, so the software should surely have been able to tell me the correct instruction.

I was relying mainly on the voice instructions as my passenger was holding it (they ended up after a while having to keep an eye on the screen at many junctions and give me advice to help me). Granted, had I looked at the map myself I would see what to do. If I keep it I will probably buy a suction mount for next time to take with me so at least I can see the map when needed and my passenger can be free to do what passengers do.

Really would have been helpful to have it read road names out though (like my factory car unit does with numbered roads) as this may have been slightly helpful.

Even better would be my suggestion above that it tells you to turn left and then prepare to turn left in x yards, so at least you can position yourself after turning the first turn. Or even just an icon of the next turn would help.

I think much of this is failings of the software rather than the map. Although that said, the map was out-of-date in some areas, but I expected that as no map is 100%.

[keithmdw]

[lbendlin]

There is a preferences setting that allows you to switch the early warning on or off. Not sure if it is part of the standard menu but definitely accessible through the menu builder.
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[keithmdw]

[Mullet]

Preferences page 6, voice prompt preferences.

[Mullet]

[flyguy26e]

[keithmdw]

Screen scolls fine, and TT runs fine.

I am running it on a Dell Axim X51v 624MHz. Not a slow machine by any means!

[shilcor]

I've just returned from a Fly-Drive holiday where we drove from San Francisco down through Yosemite and Sequoa parks, to Last Vegas, then on to Los Angeles. I used TTN5.0 with the USA maps running on an HP2210 Ipaq all the time and it performed extremely well. I agree that some of the exits from the freeways are a little close together so you have to watch the screen as well as using the audio prompts so you don't take the wrong one. There were a couple of times when the roads didn't quite match the Tom Tom maps, presumably due to fairly recent road changes but on the whole, it was brilliant and I couldn't have got by without it, particularly driving in and out of AL on the multi-lane freeways. The "Major Roads of America" map didn't have all the smaller exits from the main freeways but seemed to have every other road I came across in the cities we visited although I did switch to the California and Nevada maps when we were in LA and Las Vegas and never came across a road that Tom Tom didn't know about. As others have said, when Tom Tom says "keep left" it doesn't mean TURN left, just "don't take the right option" if there's a split in the road.

[JMaples]

I was very interested to read of the comments about the inadequate mapping in the US and the ordnance survey map based system in the UK. I started with the UK map which I found fine.

However I have recently returned from travelling in parts of France and Spain having purchased the Western Europe maps for the purpose. And I am afraid that I found the maps out of date on a number of occasions and, more importantly badly lacking in important as well as minor roads which have obviously been in existence for some time. This often made the final destination difficult to reach.

There was also a curious lack of reference to some local airports making picking up and dropping people there difficult.

The lack of roads in France and Spain was a surprise as it contrasted badly with the position on the English map which is much more detailed.

My wife and I also found Tom Tom’s use of "Exit" in the audio system to describe more than one type of manoeuvre not only confusing but dangerous when coupled with the absence from the map of a road presenting itself at the time the command is given. More elaborate expressions are needed to explain clearly what are necessarily high-speed manoeuvres on motorways.

I wrote to TomTom because, in view of the high price of your product, I felt these points should have been mentioned in their description of your product and that therefore – like another correspondent on this forum - I was due some compensation.

The reply I got was clearly written by computer as it was essentially a repeat/rehash of the on-line apologia for the state of TomTom’s maps and did not address the points which I made.

The reply also completely ignored the point I made about the confusing and dangerous voice instructions.

To blame the map supplier is no answer to the bad quality of the French and Spanish maps. There are very excellent maps available for the area. Michelin is a name that springs readily to mind. If TomTom represents its product as being adequate it should have adequate maps.

A further request to TomTom to address the points that I made and consider the compensation which I asked for simply brought another computer generated answer off the point.

I intend to raise the matter with the UK Trading Standards body and would be interested to hear if any further people have had problems with the maps and instructions.

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