Moved from TomTom Rider to Garmin Zumo

MadDogMcQ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 22, 2007 Posts: 17

Over the last 18 months, I've bought 3 TomTom Riders (original one at £500), 3 TomTom One's, 1 TomTom 300 and 1 TomTom700. Plus I've recommended a heap more!!

But when I recently went to buy a new TomTom Rider, I was told by EVERY shop I went to that they had no stock and couldn't get any more from TT. They all said there was a new model coming out and thats why TT dropped the price to £250 to get rid of all the old stock and make room for the new one.

I wrote to TomTom on two occasions and asked them directly if this was the case. Both times, they simply said "we cannot confirm that". So I've now decided I should no longer support a company which doesn't support its customers. I've just ordered a Garmin Zumo 500 UK and a Nolan Bluetooth N102 Helmet.

TT can kiss my a$$

WWA · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 05, 2005 Posts: 21

On a personal choice level who am I to chide, but just out of curiosity... how does dropping the price on old stock and NOT stiffing the customer equate to poor service?

MadDogMcQ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 22, 2007 Posts: 17

Hi WWA,
I guess I should have told a "fuller" story. Having spent quite a bit of money with TomTom, you can safely assume that I was a fan of their equipment and I considered myself to be a loyal customer.

When I bought the 3rd TomTom Rider (the other 2 had gone with the bikes I sold), I started to have a problem with the mount. This problem was the well publicised one which result in the TTR losing its connection and switching itself off as you rode along. I'd seen this issue raised so many times on the forums and here I was with exactly the same thing.

No prob, thinks I. I'll ask TT if there's a quick solution and they say that I'll have to return the unit to them (in Holland). Okay, so I do this and a couple of weeks later, the item is returned and seems to work fine. Then a few weeks later, it happens again! To be honest, I wasn't too bothered because I had the bike on Ebay and was about to sell it.

Before buying yet another TTR for my current bike, I wrote to TT and pointed out that I was concerned about the mount-problem and asked if they had updated or modified it due to all the problems. Their reply was...

"Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Support.
We are not aware of any current plans to replace the RIDER in the next year, nor have we received any word about new docking solutions.
Kind regards,
TomTom Customer Support"

In other words, we're telling you

-all. Loyalty to the product (not to mention familiarity) led me to take a chance and buy another one, so I went to Halfrauds and was told that they had none and couldn't get any more. They reckoned that a new one was coming out very soon. Okay, so I go to Curry's Comet, all over the place, even in surrounding towns!

When it became obvious that there were none to be had, I wrote to TomTom and asked them when the new one was due because I'd be willing to wait a few months for a great new product. The answer I got back was....

"Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Support.
With regards to your enquiry we unfortunately cannot confirm that the TomTom Rider is discontinued.
We apologize for any inconvinience caused.
With Best Regards
The TomTom Customer Support Team"

I don't know about you, but I think that I deserved better than that! What a $hite way to treat a loyal customer!! Like I said before, they can kiss my ass!

WWA · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 05, 2005 Posts: 21

Yeah I hear ya - thanks for the clarification. I think the big problem is that with companies of this size, nobody's ever on the same page at the same time. For example, with your situation:

Obviously TT Sales knows there's a new product or refresh coming out - they slashed prices to liquidate inventory. Support is ALWAYS the last to know.

Now, obviously the retail buyers know, too. They've just gotten a bunch of RIDERs for half off. The floor team was certainly never told, but they should have noticed the price drop on their own since this happens ALL THE TIME in liquidations.

You know what they say man: "trust your gut". Next time you see a familiar tech product for half-off, there is a new one coming, regardless of what the support monkey says.

AndyCr15 · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:08 pm Post subject:

How do you find the bluetooth helmet performs? Can you patch an MP3 player into it?

Do you get the N102 and then the £35 for the mic and speaker, or is it built in?

Sorry, a bit off topic...
_________________
TomTom 6 - SPV M5000 and WM6
Garmin Zumo 500 on Honda TransAlp

www.lanarchy.co.uk for LAN gaming near London

Darren · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:17 pm Post subject:

No manufacturer would confirm the pending release of a new model. It would immediately kill sales of current stock and that would be bad for both manufacturer and retailer alike. You won't see Garmin telling you any more about forthcoming models until the official announcement!

We have yet to hear of a new model from TomTom although the rumour mill is rife. It is likely though. I would be interested to hear your opinion of the Zumo. I'm a biker and use a RIDER, the Zumo has some nice features but i personally dislike the Garmin UI but would value a comparison from someone who has had the opportunity to use both.
_________________
Darren Griffin

MadDogMcQ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 22, 2007 Posts: 17

Soon as the gear arrives, I'll get it all working and write a bit of a review. To be honest Darren, I'm a bit wooried that I won't like the Garmin UI either. The TTR will take some beating! The one BIG plus for me is that you can pre-plan your journeys on the PC and save your tracks.

Anyway, we'll see. Smile

Darren · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:58 pm Post subject:

One great idea is the address entry has been re-jigged for gloved hands, takes a bit longer but works very well, can't do that with the RIDER.
_________________
Darren Griffin

MadDogMcQ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 22, 2007 Posts: 17

The Zumo's not arrived yet but the Nolan Helmet did. £360 from www.customlids.co.uk including the Basic Kit (speakers & mic) plus the BlueTooth Kit. Sadly, it gets off to a bad start cos the BT device is faulty Evil or Very Mad

so it's being sent back for replacement.

In answer to your question Andy, the £175 helmet with £35 Basic Kit will give you speakers and mic but the BlueTooth is another £150. You could of course plug an MP3 player directly into the helmet (with a £12 multimedia lead) but I don't think the MP3 player's internal amp would drive the speakers to levels which you could hear when riding a motorbike! I'll test it as soon as all the gear gets here.

It's just struck me that this is all getting a bit expensive Confused

Zumo - £390
Nolan - £175
Basic Kit - £35
Btooth Kit - £150
Multimedia Lead - £12
PMR Radio Lead - £12
TOTAL = £774

Crying or Very sad

AndyCr15 · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:53 pm Post subject:

Okay, I myself have just bought this on ebay -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=180098628376&rd=1&rd=1

The cheapest I could find was £180, so I was happy to get this at £107.
_________________
TomTom 6 - SPV M5000 and WM6
Garmin Zumo 500 on Honda TransAlp

www.lanarchy.co.uk for LAN gaming near London

Lazydaisy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 28, 2007 Posts: 1

On the subject of bluetooth connectivity. Do any of you riders know if I can bluetooth a Nolan communication headset and block on helmet to an autocom unit? to make it wire free? Got an autocom unit and hoping to get a new Nolan helmet might as well make use of the comms capability if it works. I intend using my pocket pc with Tomtom attached to my arm in a waterproof bag. Sholud work but there'll be lots of wires!

Lazydaisy

MadDogMcQ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 22, 2007 Posts: 17

Okay, so I finally got round to fitting the Zumo to my Guzzi and had a quick play. You can read about it on my webpage.....

http://www.mcqart.com/xj600/garmin_zumo.htm

Tom

Mullet · Frequent Visitor Joined: Dec 12, 2005 Posts: 1051

deleted

AndyCr15 · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:05 am Post subject:

Does anyone know if it's an option to buy the Zumo 500 and then upgrade to the Europe maps later if you decide/have saved up some money?
_________________
TomTom 6 - SPV M5000 and WM6
Garmin Zumo 500 on Honda TransAlp

www.lanarchy.co.uk for LAN gaming near London

Eldar · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:13 am Post subject:

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