Which tomtom for me

[Tommy_Belfast]

Hi All - I live in Belfast but travel to uk mainland about 3-4 times a year, I currently own a navman 520 which has been good but want a tomtom. I was told tomtom 730t or something T comes with lifetime traffic updates then someone told me its £7.99 a month so who is right.

All I want is a tomtom I can use in uk with full traffic updates thats not gonna cost a packet. I also want to be able to use it for when I go to Florida or Canada. I want a good tomtom with lot of features, so anyone with any ideas on what tomtom I should get and with the traffic updates it would be most helpful. I also want to be able to add voices the funny ones.

Tommy

[JimmyTheHand]

There are 3 ways of getting traffic on a TomTom

via an annual subscription and using gprs via bluetooth connected moible phone
TMC receiver - free to use, but only some models support - but can be real pita to get to get working (search forum for TMC)
HD Traffic - 540/740/940 only atm - costs £8 per month and only in UK (or country you brought the unit from as HD traffic is country specific)

I believe all the TomToms will allow different voices to be put on
_________________
J.

[mikealder]

To be honest living in Ireland only the RDS-TMC is a viable option and its hit and miss in terms of reception when in the UK, I have never tried it in Ireland but I do know they transmit the data needed for it to work. The receiver is free to use for life but will only work in Europe, if you go to the USA the traffic receiver won't work over there.

I wouldn't go for the GPRS service or Live service as these are both costly and require subscription, if you only intend to use it a few times a year to be honest it isn't worth it.

As to what device, you should be considering purchase of the units with USA and European maps from day one, this means the 920, 930 or 940 - have a good shop around and you can find the 920 for under £200 which is a real bargain - see This Thread you get the remote controls, RDS-TMC receiver and the device, it will accept custom voices - Mike

[DinAlt]

Hi Tommy,

There are currently 3 major model ranges available and these are further subdivided by the maps avaiable with them, they breakdown as follows:

Model Ranges:

X20, X30, X40 (higher number is new model) a T suffix indicates it come with a TMS aerial but this can be fitted to any of the abobe as an aftermarket fix

X20 and X30 are functionally identical once upgraded by software (upgrade is totally free if you buy a new unit) X40 is the latest model and comes with the new HD traffic functionality - this gives "live" traffic updates and other services via a sim embedded in the unit and requires a monthly fee. Verdict seems out over this new technology but it is very early days (at least here in the UK) as it was only released to the public this month. Note this functionaility on works in the county you live in - roaming is not currently allowed (don't know whether it's available near you) in the netherlands this can be retrofitted to any of the X20 or X30 units but atm TomTom won't state whether they're going to do the same in the UK

Map coverage

The first no. of the unit name tells you what maps are included, 5 means UK and Republic of Ireland. 7 means Western Europe and 9 adds North America to the mix

Recommendation
If you are definitely planning to travel to the US I would recommend the 920T as it would be cheaper to buy a unit with the maps and only use them occasionally than buy a cheaper unit and add them - there's a thred in this forum which details offers on the 920 which may help.

DinAlt

[oszim]

If it helps, I've just bought a brand new Go 720T for £161.00 inc delivery, off an Ebay supplier who sells ex-Argos stock, took just 2 days to get it. The unit has recently been superceded by Tomtom, but has all the 'bells & whistles' you could want, inc manufacturer's guarantee etc. Comes with RDS/TMC receiver and Western European Map, seems to work well, so far, but still early days. I also see that TotalPDA offering refurbished 720's for similar money
_________________
Go 720T
App v. 8.300 (9732/081830)
Western Eur v. 815.2003
Sandisk 8Gb SDHC
TMC/RDS 2V00.06
TT Antenna v.4V00.OB

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