TomTom in Central London

digitalbullet · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 08, 2004 Posts: 30

I used my iPaq 4150 and BT TTN3 is central london last night for the first time.....aint it crap!??!?

I kept losing signal when I was in and around Covent Garden and Leicester Square. It took me a while to find my way around because I had to go further out where there were fewer buildings, figure out where I had to go and then get there without using the PDA as it just kept losing signal.

Has anyone else experienced this? I refuse to believe that all SatNav products behave like this in cities so are there any solutions?

pgchimp · Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2004 9:29 pm Post subject:

Hi

My experience is totally the opposite. I had cause to travel to London last month to two places within the conjestion charge. I did not carry a paper map so left home entirely dependent on Tom tom 3 with a wired Leadtec mouse.

I travelled down from Shropshire dependent on the Nav system, and it never let me down, even when in the conjestion charge area, around High holborn i was picking up between 5 to 7 sats continually

I thought i would have problems with the high buildings but not so, using Neils post code programme i arrived outside the Front doors of both buildings first off

I cannot fault the system , it works for me

pgchimp

digitalbullet · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 08, 2004 Posts: 30

This makes me wonder now if my GPS receiver is faulty? But Im regularly picking up 6-7 satellites when Im out and about.

Can anyone else add their £0.02?

NickE · Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2004 10:55 pm Post subject:

Only used it a few times in London, but always worked absolutely perfectly; areas like Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Strand etc. Always plenty of satellites in view, response spot-on.

iancjc · Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2004 11:57 pm Post subject:

This could be due to where the receiver is situated in your car and whether your car has uv filters or heater elements on the windows.

How many sats do you see outside of town? I have an extenernal antenna on my bt haicom unit and even though it uses the generally accepted inferior evermore chipset I get 9 - 12 sats in the countryside and 6 - 8 in London.

To test the receiver take it to a place with a clear few to the sky (outside your car) and give it a go. If you can't get a fix then I would return the unit - if you get a good fast fix then look at its position in the car.
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TyTn II (WM6.1) / tomtom one v2
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digitalbullet · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 08, 2004 Posts: 30

I am quite sure the unit is ok as I regularly get satellite fixes of 6-9. I willbe driving into London again soon so I will see if changing the position helps. Thanks guys.

oisky · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 10:27 pm Post subject:

If it helps, I regularly get 8-9 sat locks and don't really lose sat lock - except when I drive through london. So I get the same problems that you get! I just learn to live with it!?!
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andrewjh009 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 25, 2004 Posts: 7

I had no problems with using my tom tom 3 and ipaq2210 in central london but did have some problems with bridges and things around the docklands area where i was staying overnight but this is to be expected i guess Smile

Griff · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:37 pm Post subject:

Hi
I drive in central london every day and I use a ins jacket for my ipaq used to work ok with the co pilot software lost signal some times but when I upgraded to tom tom nav it lost the sats all the time bought a re rad and now i get six plus sats all the time when out of london i get nine sats most of the time

Davidb67 · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 10:19 pm Post subject:

I was in London last week, and took my BT GPS with me to guide me when i got off the train at Liverpool St to a new design agency we've started using. On foot, i was barely up & out of the tube station steps before it got a lock on sats, and hey-ho, my previously programmed "walk" route gave me spoken directions through earphones (i was listening to music too!), no probs.

carl_w · Lifetime Member Joined: Mar 13, 2004 Posts: 242

Where did you put the BT GPS receiver? I've not had good luck with this in the past (walking in central London), but since then I've sent the GPS receiver back to TT under warranty for a BT problem, and its replacement seems to lock onto a lot more satellites. I may give it a go again tomorrow.

andygrove · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 11:42 am Post subject:

In your pocket, or a back pack, doesn't really matter. I use the Emtac one in my backpack while crcling and it works fine

Andy

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