tomtom go.....dont do it

rob-bob · Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 9:23 pm Post subject: tomtom go.....dont do it

had tom tom go for two weeks now and all i can say is that it has been my worst buy for years...the unit alone is a superb idea but the software is such a letdown......it has loads of mini roundabouts missing from the maps...it gets you into the wrong lane.......you cannot avoid a road like the m1 as it will try a bring you back to it later down the route....you are going down a road that is one road and it says things like bear left(why!!!!!).....some junction that are straight over(i.e crossroads)it says bear left or right when straight on is the answer.......at a junction at the bottom of my road one way it says bear right(its straight on) if you come from the other way it makes you get in the right hand lane to go straight on but the right hand lane dissappears over the lights and make you get in the l h lane why is it not bear right both ways even if it is the wrong instruction......coming from the m25 i turned down the a40 for the next three roundabouts it tried to tell me to turn around and go back the way i came rather than find another route as per tt2.....it will keep you on the main roads even if there is a shorter way down a side street.....hammersmith broadway is no longer a roundabout,it tells you to turn left at the end of the road,then keeps sayin keep right then all of a sudden turn left which is dangerous on a roundabout of this size.....today i asked it to avoid the m1 near junction 13 it took me all the way through bedford and hemel hemstead back to the m25(now the original route was m1,m25 anti clockwise round to tha a3 as i live just off the a3)but when it got me back to the m25 it wanted to take me back to the m1 and down to the a406(north circluar)why did it not take me round the m25 as per the original route......you will get really fed up with keep having to look at the map as it keeps blurting out wrong instructions or lack of instructions at mini roundabouts....and this is for a small area mainly of hammersmith,chiswick and sheperds bush......i have sent some of these problems to tomtom on 6/10/04 and no reply yet....quality does not come to mind......sorry but after tomtom 2 on my pda this is crap

sonypc100 · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:54 am Post subject:

If this is the case, why arent tomtom putting the same mapping and functionality on go as they are on the PDA versions?

MikeB · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 4:29 pm Post subject:

The mapping is the same as the PDA version, it is infct slightly more current than the TomTom Navigator 3 maps as it contains the M6 Toll.

The software is supposed to be the latest "fool proof" routing software. It is intended as a plug and play solution, without all the bells and whistles in the PDA version. There do seem to be some mapping issues in the West London area, but in general it works very well, unless you want to tweek things as bit.
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Mike Barrett

sonypc100 · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 4:39 pm Post subject:

when do 2005 maps start flitering through

say you were thinking of buying go, would it be worth waiting to March 05 and then get a 2005 map set included, rather than buy a Dec 04 ttg and find its 2004 maps?

MikeB · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:42 pm Post subject:

It is difficult to say. Normally TomTom release a new set of maps with a major software release. This does happen to be once a year. I dont know if they will continue this with the GO, I would assume that they will.
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Mike Barrett

rob-bob · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:00 am Post subject: tomtom go

i have still got tomtom 2 on the pda never upgraded or i might have not bought tomtom go.....just that i would like the correct instruction at traffic lights if its a crossroad then straight on is straight on if the road is to the left a bit i dont expect it to say bear left if there is a left turn there aswell......and all the mini rondabouts that seem to be missing from the maps is terrible......hammersmith broadway is a very dangerous one as it is five lanes at some points and you cannot just say turn left.....my mum is using it in rotherham and she is having problems with it aswell....now i know it cannot be 100% accurate as roads are always being changed but it is nearly every day it gets it wrong.....tonight i wanted to go to 166 upper richmond road it took me to 416 not bad eh!!!!
i would not recomend this product to anyone.....i agree it gets you there but you are always having to look at the map to make out what it meant you to do...if im going down a road that has no traffic lights or roundabouts or giveway jcns in it i do not expect tomtom go to say a word but it will say all sorts of things that make you have to look at the map as you think it wants you to go somewhere else
and still no reply to my question from tomtom
cheers
Rob

delboy0754 · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 6:15 am Post subject:

It is after all a "Navigational Aid". What did you do BEFORE buying a GPS system. The Final say is the driver who can SEE road signs.

There's a lot of work and research goes into making maps of thousands of miles of roads, so they will NEVER be 100% accurate, as the roads get altered IE: traffic calming, mini roundabouts ( which are NOT shown on GPS ). You don't see mini roundabouts on paper maps. No matter what GPS system any one has, there's not ONE that's 100% accurate with maps.

Tonyabw60 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 21, 2004 Posts: 9

Hi All
Ipurchased a TTG a couple of months ago and have been very happy with it. I live in Chatham Kent, and I tried to go to an address in Dagenham in Essex which I know is north of the river Thames but TTG directed me to a Dagenham London which came up South of the Thames??? any idea's as to why this might be. I have upgraded the software to 4.4 also put in the speed cams.Could the new software have caused this.
Tony

Old_Phil · Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:14 pm Post subject:

I am afraid rob-bob's experience of the TTGO is a million miles different to mine. I live in Wakefield and had navigated to unknown destinations in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford, Shropshire and all points in between, with nothing like the hassle described here.

The only strange instruction I have had was in Milton Keynes where the map clearly shows you bear left up a slip road from a dual carriageway but the voice tells you to turn right! As this is a bit difficult on a dual-carriageway, I checked the map, say I needed to take the exit and all was well. You might think it was my own fault for wanting to go to MK in the first place!

Occasional roundabouts are missing (but then they are pretty newly built) and yes, sometimes the voice says bear left when it looks straight on to me - but when I look carefully there is usually a slight bend in the road and TTGO is right and I'm wrong.

I do recommend the GO to friends - in fact as soon as they experience it in my car they want one. It's not perfect; and I didn't expect it to be. But it is excellent value.

I can see why RB is less that pleased with his GO; all I can suggest is that his experience is not the usual one.

rob-bob · Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:04 pm Post subject: ttgo

delboy i know what it is but if you bought a car with aircon and it kept going wrong would you be happy if the dealer told you what did you do BEFORE you had it just open the windows...maybe i should take it on the bus as thats what i did before i had a car......and yes i agree alot of work does go into the maps and im sure they are not out of pocket for it either......but what im saying is if you have never used a gps system it prob is ok but used tomtom 2 on a pda before and the maps are worse on ttgo....why are they worse if i pay for a product that newer i expect it to be better than the old one

delboy0754 · Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 6:16 am Post subject:

Does the TomTom 2 show mini roundabouts, i doubt it, as they are put down over-night. As for being worse, it's never got me lost, as i use it as an aid to get where i'm going. It's also far better than having to stop every ten minutes to look at street maps. But if it gives strange instructions, so-what, a quick glance at the map shows you what it intends you do.

MrRubberGloves · Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 1:26 pm Post subject:

rob-bob · Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 6:01 pm Post subject: tomtom go

delboy i gather you have not used tt2 but you are willing to argue the toss over the maps... tt2 does show some roundabouts that are no longer on tomtomgo, maybe they were taken overnight!!!!....even on tomtom go there is a roundabout on it that is not on tt2 but guess what, it is not a roundabout.....tt2 never tried to make me turn right across a dual carriageway with a barrier in the middle this is meant to be an upgrade.....and as mr rubber says" every now and again the instructions given are different as to what actions I need to take " why is this acceptable.....i agree that it will get you there but at what cost....funny instructions and taking the long way round on the major roads.......you try and plot a route from rotherham to london and the try to avoid the m1 on tt2 on my pocket pc go to alternative route and press avoid m1 on ttgo you have to keep doing it until all the sections of the m1 that need instructions on have been removed....and as i said the other day original route m1 south to m25 anticlockwise towards my house hit traffic at jcn 13 so do the road block to avoid luton tomtom go takes me off the m1 through bedford and hemel hemstead to the m25 now tomtom go wants to take me clockwise back to the m1 away from my destination and down to the a406 and then anticlockwise towards my destination why does it not take me anticlockwise as per original route....improvement i think not....yes better than an a to z but not an improvement over tt2.....so lets keep using it and glancing at the screen for the wrong instructions...even things like the u-turn are annoying tt2 if you go wrong it just re-routes you tomtom go it keeps trying to make you do a u-turn......maybee tomtom just need to let you tweak it abit more like on the pocket pc...i.e turn u-turns off,avoid roads on route with one button push,change road speeds on roads to let you take an easier route

OZ · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 17, 2004 Posts: 165

Robbob, this is for you.
Today i had the most horrendous experience with the ttgo i was seriously considering going back to the pda.
I put in a route from Ashford International ( Eurostar Station) to go to Glyndebourne. First rote offered was Brenzett, Rye, Hastings etc, not bad but i didn't fancy this as it's a slow route through the towns. Went for the alternate route, near to Tenterden, sissinghurst, Lamberhurst, then the fun started, it took me right at Lamberhurst all the way up the A21 to Tunbridge Wells then onto the A26 through Crowborough onto the A22 then back onto the A26 at Uckfield through to Ringmer then onto Glyndebourne. Well by the time i got to Uckfield i was totally

off with this ridiculous routing so went straight on to Halland and right there to Ringmer. I know the whole of this area very well and although i knew i was being given a bum steer i went along with it for a while. If anybody knows Tunbridge Wells then you really dont want to be there unless you really need to be.
Anyway, on approaching Ringmer i was told to turn left, strange i thought,
but i did as i was told, a few hundred yards and then i was told to turn left again to go back towards Halland, well that was it i turned the thing off and it was close to becoming ltter ejected from a moving vehicle.
Seriously though, it was a real good job i knew where i was going otherwise i would have been in strife. As it was the route initially said 57.6 miles i ended up doing close to 70, and i ask myself WHY?.
OK this is the first time i have had a serious problem with the routeplanning but you are right when you say it isn't acceptable, i mean this wasn't even close, it was miles out.
If someone said to me that GO dosent allow you to plan a scenic/sunday Driver route i would say cobblers.

rob-bob · Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2004 11:08 pm Post subject: hooray

oz...
exactly what i have been saying all along tomtom go will get you to your destination if you dont know where you are....but if you have some knowledge of the area you can then see how bad it routes you....i think this is down to the software that keeps you on major roads....on the pda you can tweak the speeds of all the roads so there are quite close speed wise and that helps with the routing issues,the fact it keeps blurting out strange instructions along roads that dont need them is beyond me......
i just cant belive that people keep saying that its ok....my mum cannot read a map and that is why she has tomtom go so even glancing at the map is no help to her....tomtom need to let you turn the u-turns off as this is very annoying as if you know another route tomtom2 would just re-route you and tomtom go keeps trying to turn you around

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