REVIEW COMMENTS: TomTom Navigator 5 Palm & Pocket PC

[farwellbooth]

Any idea when this will be released in the US? I have Nav. 04 which was released not so long ago.

[ntaylor]

[robbiex]

Updated Comments (8 July 2005)

The following is a summary of experiences to date with TomTom Navigator 5.
The hardware platform is a Toshiba e800 with a 1 GB CF card, a Toshiba SD Card3 Bluetooth card with a Toshiba Bluetooth driver, and a Globalsat BT-338 or TomTom 5 Bluetooth receiver. Operating system is Windows Mobile 2003 SE. TT initially listed the Toshiba PDA as compatible and then stated that it is incompatible. I can state that TT5 definitely runs on the e800 configured as above.

Strengths

Installation
Application software installed on the e800's CF with no problems.
Map download from CD-ROM to PDA without problems except that there is no way to know which CD to mount until you try one which then immediately tells you to load another.
CD to CF transfer is very slow via ActiveSync.
Start-up
The start-up steps were to turn on the BT-338, connect with Bluetooth and execute GPSGate. You can the execute TT5 and configure the GPS connection. It has the choice Franson VSerial which is correct except that no port number is displayed. Two virtual ports results in two identical "Franson VSerial" headings. Select one and TT recognizes the GPS and the program is operational.
Maps
The maps have an attractive appearance and are generally easy to read.
Routing
Routes are generated promptly and follow a reasonable path. Navigate to Address interactions are well designed and easy to use. The large sized virtual keyboard is a real plus.

Weaknesses

Activation
The map activation process is a nuisance and is extremely restrictive. No activation is required for the TomTom program itself.
Human Interface
The human engineering is generally poor. We have tried almost all of the widely used GPS programs and find TT very difficult to use. It has been especially difficult to get used to branching to the options display if you touch the map area of the screen.

Missing Features/Options

There is no routing by Lat/Long coordinates.
There is no display of Lat/Long coordinates when one touches a point on a map.
There is no display of coordinates associated with favorites or POI.
Street name sizes are too small and the font sizes cannot be changed.
There is no way to selectively display variable sized navigation parameters.
It is extremely difficult to switch from TT 5 to some other program that is resident in the background. This is due in part to the absence of the top toolbar.
There is no TTS announcement of street names.
You cannot change the size of the moving indicator.
There need to be user options to control the behavior of zooming. There is no way to either set zoom to a particular fixed level or to control zooming based on speed, type of city streets, or proximity to various route points.
There is no successive display of house numbers as one travels along a street. This is a very useful function that is available in some GPS software.
The Tele Atlas maps do not display many newer streets in our area that have been shown on Navteq maps for over two years.
The POI database is very limited compared with that of other mapping programs. For example, there is no category Banks and not one of the many gasoline stations in our city is listed.

Problems

It may be somewhere in the text, but I cannot find any mention of routing by Contacts in the manual or in the program itself. There is no icon to branch to Contacts.
Contacts routing requires leaving TT and executing Contacts. Selecting tools after choosing a Contacts entry gives one the option of "Navigate to". Selecting that results in TT being executed and the routing initiated.
TomTom does find a fairly good approximation to the location of some Contacts addresses. For others, there is a very consistent error. For example, the address 183 South Beach Road in Contacts is always located as South Trl 183. It locates the house properly when it is entered from Navigate to - Address rather than from Contacts. It appears obvious that the program doesn't know what to do with a Contacts street name that contains some initial duplicate text. In this instance, it sees the word South and chooses South Trail rather than South Beach.
Routing by Contacts stored addresses is a different problem compared with routing by selecting from successive user choices of city, street, and number. In the latter instance, the program suggests the possible choices of city, street, and number and in so doing identifies location information that the program and user both understand to identify the point of interest. This interactive process does not occur when TomTom tries find a location based on Contacts stored information.
There is certainly a difference between the formats of European and USA street addresses. Part of the reason for variability in user results may be due to how TomTom handles these differences in the address styles.
Location by house numbers typically has a 2-5 house error in most GPS routing software. TomTom’s location errors are consistently higher than that of other GPS programs that have been evaluated.
The moving object icon significantly lags behind the actual location.
Exiting TT consistently causes a system hang. (fixed)
Pressing the left arrow in the "City:" display before there has been a text entry results in a system hang.
TT hangs after running continuously for 1-2 hours. There is no response to touching the PDA screen or push buttons. The navigation display is frozen, but, interestingly, the audio instructions continue to be heard at the appropriate locations in a trip. There is plenty of PDA storage and program memory and no evidence of a significant memory leak. (fixed)
There have been many “random” system hangs the reason for which is unknown. There software seems to be generally pretty shaky and unreliable.
Home and new POI entries are apparently not stored until exit from TomTom even though the word “stored” is displayed. We lost these data when a hang occurred before there had been a normal exit following the POI entries.
Street names are inconsistently displayed. Some displays are missing almost all of the street names. The number and pattern of missing street names varies with the direction of travel, the zoom level, and the type of display. It is disconcerting because the street name that one needs the most is frequently the one that is missing.


TomTom 5 Bluetooth GPS Receiver

Strengths
SiRF Star III technology
Attractive packaging.

Weaknesses
The TT Bluetooth receiver is supplied with a 12VDC to 5VDC adapter, but there is no converter for charging from 110/220VAC.
The GPS receiver battery is not user replaceable.
GPS receiver performance, at least inside a building, is poor compared with that of the Globalsat BT-338.

[jean]

I have had the TT 5 for the last week and I found that it installed no problem at all on my Mio 168. I did use a new card but followed the instructions and it has worked a treat.
I find it loads quicker now when I input a route and although I have not been on a long distance yet, I am very impressed with it.
This week I am travelling from North Wales to the tip of Cornwall via Gloucester so that should be a good test for it.

We also had the Navman on test this last week and so disappointed in that - Far prefer TT5 every time.

[robbiex]

We have an updated version of Navigator 5 and are happy to report that we have had no further program hangs.
We have a requirement to do routing by address book coordinates. Navigator 5 lacks this capability, but it can be implemented using a combination of a custom application program, the TomTom 5 SDK and
Manfred Pohler’s TTNCF5 software package that provides a wrapper for using the TomTom SDK in the NET programming environment. Our software, NAVPDA2, is tailored to meet the requirements of the North American version of Navigator 5, but is compatible with the European version with minor changes.
The basic purpose of the software is to provide routing by Address Book stored coordinates. The technology can be easily implemented with Contacts, but we are using SQLServerCe for database management because of its greater flexibility and being able to store the data on CF or SD media.
Address book entries are searchable by one or more characters of the last name, first name, combined first and last name, ID number, telephone number and street address. A list of search matches is displayed, the user selects the one of interest and a summary of that person's demographic data is displayed. Selecting Routing by Coordinates results in the coordinate data being transmitted to a TTNCF5 wrapper that provides an interface to a TomTom "NavigateToCoordinate" API (application program interface). The end result is the generation of the route and its display by Navigator 5. The program automatically searches by street address if the coordinate data are not available for a given address book entry. In this mode of operation, the program uses code that attempts to resolve many of the TomTom address format recognition problems.
All data are user editable. There is a provision for the automated address book entry of the current GPS position should the user be at the location that corresponds to a specific street address.
The source code for NAVPDA2 is in the public domain and is available without charge. This does not include the commercial modules the licensing for which varies with the different components.

[Quantum]

Good to know Robbiex.

Despite everything I've ordered TTN2004 USA/Kanada. The North American version 5 has been indefinitely delayed, apparently because they want to revise the code to correct the problems we all know so well.

So I bought 2004, and will get a free upgrade to 5 when (if) it comes out. As a bonus, I paid less for 2004 at MobilePlanet ($124, vs $149 for v5), altho they're taking no more orders.

[Pedro-G]

[robbiex]

The TomTom Navigator 5 update should be available no later than next week.
I have both the TT and the Globalsat receivers. I prefer the Globalsat because of the longer battery life, removable battery and, at least under some circumstances, better sensitivity. This would be due to differences in the antenna, not the electronics. Both use SiRF Star III technology.
The TT is a nice slim design, may be more waterproof, and perhaps has better sensitivity when in contact with the body. This latter advantage is claimed by TT, but not tested by myself. The TT does look like a nice unit to hang from one's neck or belt.
I have used the Globalsat sitting on the car's dashboard in Florida in the very hot sun for many months without any failures.

[Rambler358]

[dp1]

I just got the TT5 navigation program for ppc and don't understand one thing, how can you plan a trip from one state to another? The program only lets you look at one stat at at time.

[wolf1231]

Excellent review of Tomtom Navigator 5, Dave. Many thanks for this.

I am however having some trouble with my copy of the software. While running the software, the following problems are noticed:

1. Under "Manage POI", the "ADD POI" icon is disabled and disensitised. No idea how to add new POIs or add speed camera locations.

2. Whenever I click "Petrol pumps" or "Tourist Attractions", it switches the TTN5 off. I can however, browse the list of nearby "restaurants".

The person I bought the software from, claims that I must have installed the software incorrectly, since I have used Explorer+sync cable to transfer files from the TomTom CD to my Pocket PC's SD card. He says that I should have used a card reader instead of the Pocket PCs USB-sync cable.

I have no idea what could possibly the reason. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Ray

[linknet]

[spiralx]

I bought what I believe is a hacked version of TT5 for Pocket PC from eBay (UK) just this week (£12 instead of £40) - which was fine by me, as I just wanted to see what it was like.

Well: after a day of it, I've gone back to TT3. TT5 has quite a few new features that are worthy of the name upgrade.

But I've gotten used to being able to quickly drop-down the map and the insutrctions from the navigator screen, and of being able to tap on the screen and immediately set that position as a favourite or as a destination.

I'm also used to having CheckPOInt 3.2 go immediately into TT5 but adding all those voice-descriptive POI extras on safety cameras. (TT5 on its own just makes these ridiculous noises which are completely meaningless and unhelpful).

In CheckPOInt 5, I have to wrestle through an intro screen first, which is a disaster if you're already driving and need instant access suddenly (caught in a queue and looking for alternate routes while keeping up with the car in front!), and every time I tap the navigator screen, it goes off into a small map version which then reverts to navigator when tapped again.

I will probably be forced into upgrading - eventually - but right now, it's too frustrating to have to spend the weekend re-learning what is already easy and second-nature.

I understand about TT wanting to make everything work from their core engine, etc., but the changes are a mixture of good and bad, and too much hassle to bother with - at least for now.

[Trigrem]

I read the TT5 5 review for PDA's and thought it good. However I now have TT 5 and think the review omitted to inform about what was missing in TT 5.
You cannot enter Latitude and Longitude and display on map.
You cannot transfer a point on the map direct to Itiniary which is useful when you are devising your own route to miss problem roads etc.
You cannot put in Driving speeds, which is important to such people as caravan towers or motorhome drivers. I know a reply in this forum stated that no other system does it, but surely what originally made TT attractive was what it did what others did not do.
Some features like the ability to avoid certain roads could be usefull but with the aforementioned ability to transfer points on a map to Itiniary made the feature is not necessary.
Altogether dissapointed with TT 5, would probably revert to TT 3 but unfortunately cannot have updated maps.
Probably best to ditch TT and look through the reviewa of other systems which offer Lat and Lon and the ability to devise an Itiniary direct from the map, like TT 3.
_________________
Slow Learner

[JSW]

So, to sum up, would you guys say that TT5 is currently the best general purpose GPS navigation program available for the UK?

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