TT 910 - Beware of dodgy connection to car mount !!

tedkay

Well I had my new 910 for a day and discovered that the connection to the car mount was faulty, causing the connection to fail repeatedly and switch the unit off and on when I was driving along, as the connection was made and then failed repeatedly(why the hell do TT have to make it that when the car power is disconnected the damn things switches off - why can't it simply revert to battery power and stay switched on??!!)

Anyway I took it back to Halfords where they checked it and confirmed the problem in the car. The slightest fingertip movement on the unit caused the connection to fail. Halfords guy then checked their demo unit which was mounted in their glass case on the car mount - and found that theirs had the same fault. They then opened a box and tested another unit on the same mount - all was fine. So they established that it is the unit at fault - not the mount.

So out of three units two had the fault. It doesn't bode well if that average is across the board......??

Halfords swapped my unit out for the good one with no fuss, and to be fair they were very helpful throughout, and didn't try to fob me off.

So I would advise anyone buying one from a retail outlet to test the car mount before you drive away from the store - connect it up and wiggle the unit about in the mount a bit (it doesn't need much pressure, just put a finger under it and rock it gently up and down) to copy the way it moves when you are driving along. If the green light goes off and on yours is faulty too.
If you buy online you will have all the hassle of sending the unit back....

TT have also done away with the option on the earlier GO's of plugging the power direct into the back of the unit and bypassing the mount, which would get around this problem - that decision may well come back to haunt them.

Apart from this I am impressed with the unit in general. I did experience problems with the password not being accepted quite often on the original unit (so far so good with the replacement). I hope it's not a common problem because the password option is long overdue) - OK, I know - it can still get nicked if I'm daft enough to leave it in the car, but at least I will know that the scrote who nicked it won't be able to use of sell it!)

Andy_P

tedkay

Andy_P · Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 5:43 pm Post subject:

I like it... just like I like the way my car's lights turn off when I turn off the ignition.
I can't believe so few cars work like that. Why put in a buzzer to warn you you've left the lights on when for less effort they could just switch them off for you. I'm dreading going back to a car where I have to remember!

tedkay · Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 6:06 pm Post subject:

hegedusa · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 27, 2004 Posts: 55

I too have the same problem - every few minutes, the unit just switches off and I've identified that the go seems to have a bit of a loose connection when on the mount. Just touching the mount on the left and pushing slightly up seems to disconnect the power.

I agree that it's annoying that the tomtom switches off when external power is removed. They really ought to have put in an option to choose what to do.

Just to make matters worse, the cigarette lighter plug is loose as well, and every hour or so, that falls out. Maybe I'll just run it on the battery and remember to charge up every morning.

Interestingly enough, this is the first car I've had where turning off the ignition turns off the cigarette lighter power. And even more strangely, I don't have a "lights left on" buzzer: when you turn the ignition off, the lights go out completely. It's a Saab. Maybe they all do this.

Anyway, I'm impressed with the new 910.

JimmyTheHand · Frequent Visitor Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 386

mikealder · Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:23 pm Post subject:

I must admit I also had this problem for the first couple of days, intermittent though. After a while - a couple of days (I call it learning the device is fine) either I have learned to mount the device in the holder correctly, single handed for fit and or release, or the mount has "worn in" over time, it got better after the first week, probably 70 insert/ releases over this duration. Mike

PatC

tedkay

PatC

kieronishere · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 24, 2006 Posts: 23

well I've started getting this problem now, can't seem to get it to click into the car mount so that the power led comes on. After lots of wiggling I can get it to click but then after 1/2 hour of driving today it lost power out of the blue and turned off. Very irritating.

mikealder · Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 9:49 pm Post subject:

It needs a firm "shove" into the mount to lock it into place, try rotating the go device down onto the mount whilst holding the attachment arm, when you get a feel for how it locks into the mount its actually easy to do with one hand, it does take practice, and I believe a number of insert/ releases to "wear" the two components together.
I found the best way to explore this (and learn) was to have both halves (the GO-910 and the car Mount, but not attached to the windscreen or any cables) in my hands and mate the two together a number of times also try the release button to reverce the operation, this way you can feel what is going on - give it a try - I have had no problems with the mount since - Mike

kieronishere · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 24, 2006 Posts: 23

it will click into place with a firm shove just as you describe but the green led doesn't come on. After considerable wiggling I hear a second click and bingo it's on. 1/2 hour of driving and suddenly it turned itself off i.e. it had come "unclicked". I'll have a further play and come back with my findings. It "clicks" into the home dock fine with the led coming on everytime.

Helicam · Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 3:56 pm Post subject: [b]Poor connections[/b]

Like many others it seems, my TT GO 910 suffered (now returned for a refund) from an unusable intermittent connection with the mobile mount. Same as described elsewhere, DC power is dropped with even the slightest movement and this often causes the unit to shut down. Did not try audio out connection, external antenna connection, external mic connection, but presume that these too will be equally intermittent.

I am disappointed that I have had to return my 910. Everything else about it is very impressive. I cannot understand how Tom Tom have released the product with such a major design flaw.

I am posting this observation to add to all of the others in the hope that Tom Tom reads them all and properly addresses this problem with a revised connection mechanism.

Have read that others have 'hit lucky' with perhaps the second or third replacement. this does not fill me with confidence. I will probably end up buying another soon as apart from the connection problem, the TT910 is a great toy!

I originally purchased my TT 910 from Maplin for £469.99 (using a £30 off internet voucher). They collected the faulty unit free of charge so at least the brief ownership of a TT 910 did not cost me anything.

Carl

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