TomTom ONE v3 Traffic + Athermic Windscreen Help

shrekshrek · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 6

Hi all, this forum looks great with lots of helpful people, so i thought i'd sign up and ask a quick question...

As title says, i have just purchased a TomTom ONE v3 Traffic Edition, its for my father who has previously owned a snooper camera detector. He has just been given a new company car (Peugoet 307) and ever since he has been driving it, his snooper wont work. After some research on these forums, im presuming he has the "dreaded" athermic windscreen.

So, my question is... should i just give in and send it back before opening it? Or should I test a few positions under the windscreen to see if it can get a signal by pure chance. Also, does this athermic windscreen affect the TMC reciever aswell? Im guesing it does as I heard someone on these forums mention that newer cars are like a "faraday cage", hearing this doesnt look good for me!

If anyone is in the same situation as me or can offer any advice at all, i'd be very greatful for your reply.

mikealder · Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 5:58 am Post subject:

Welcome to the forum, Athermic glass will indeed affect both the GPS and RDS signals, the GPS should be ok, the newer chipsets used are far more sensitive that the older devices. One problem though is your device has no external aerial socket (cost saving) so if it doesn't work you cannot add an external aerial.
For the RDS side of things I very much doubt that will work at all, at best the signal is weak to start with, knock out most of the signal with a shielded glass coating and you won't pickup a signal. Again no external aerial socket means there is very little you can do to improve the situation.
It is tempting to say try it out but be aware of the above, the chances of this working 100% are somewhere between nil and bu**er all - Mike

shrekshrek · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 6

mike, thanks for the help and your time.
Looks like this one is going to have to be returned then Sad

I will keep an eye out for a newer model that can either offer external GPS and tmc aerial inputs or that can bypass the athermic glass all together. The latter, while maybe impossible, is becoming more regular in modern cars, so im sure they are trying workarounds as we speak.
thanks again for the advice mike

philpugh · Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 4:54 pm Post subject:

Sometimes there is a 'window' of untreated glass around the rear-view mirror. Although I think it's a poor solution (tends to block some vision and just begging the police to stop you) try mounting the unit high up just under the rear view mirror.

Another tip would be to leave the unit on for a while before moving off - getting the initial positon lock is made more difficult if you are moving.
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Phil

shrekshrek · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 6

thanks for your input phil,
i have to however say that i dont think my dad would entertain those options. and if he was pulled over in his company car it could be pretty bad for him work wise!
tomtom really should add an external aerial port to their sets! it would solve alot of problems imho

mikealder · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:55 am Post subject:

I might be wrong with this but ONLY the Navman product range have external sockets for BOTh the RDS-TMC and GPS to make use of external aerials - Mike

Darren · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:24 am Post subject:

Just to clarify here, the GPS will NOT be affected by the windscreen on the Peugeot if it is a modern unit such as any of the current TomTom's Navman's etc. As such there is no need for an external antenna socket for the GPS.

The RDS-TMC is a different proposition though and given that it is a company car, I don't see how you are going to circumvent it even if the GPS you chose has the option to be connected to the car radio antenna?
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Darren Griffin

shrekshrek · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 6

ok, so the gps would be fine? if this is the case i can still use it and just sell the TMC aerial. Thanks Darren

Darren · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:25 pm Post subject:

shrekshrek · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 6

Yes i will test it and hopefully, it may work! If not it goes on eBay.
I usually research my purchases alot more before i buy anything, especially this expensive, but i got caught up in the christmas rush so as to get early christmas delivery :S

Bertie100 · Regular Visitor Joined: Aug 05, 2007 Posts: 112

shrekshrek · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 6

Well first off, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and wish you all a happy new year.
It turned out that it does work at ANY positions under the athermic windscreen, i have yet to try out the TMC antenna though. Will post an update on this when tested! Might be hard to differenciate though it the TMC signal is hard to pick up in the first place even with a normal windscreen. Will try anyways and post my results.

Thanks again for all the help guys, much appreciated.

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