x50 - What to expect?

andy-c1 · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:47 pm Post subject:

or just a unit that actually works out the box Very Happy

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TomTom 5001

DennisN · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:03 am Post subject:

technik · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:57 pm Post subject:

The new X somethings must be on their way soon, judging by the drop in price of the x40 versions. Rolling Eyes

Maybe we will get an x50 that has all the faults of previous versions built in, and some even older maps than what we have now, or maybe a version where you have to design your own map, as TeleAtlas seem incapable of giving us upto date maps. Laughing

andy-c1 · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:33 pm Post subject:

DennisN · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:00 pm Post subject:

When I had my sixth and seventh 720s (1 - 5 exchanged for handsfree "issue"), I found that using one for RDS-TMC and the other for handsfree worked beautifully. So I flogged my faithful old 700 to son in law.

So the 720 handsfree went and crashed. So I switched to handsfree on 920, RDS-TMC on one 720 and nothing but navigating on the other 720. So the 920 handsfree crashed. I got a new (free) ONE v3 and gave away 720 number 6. So I struggled for a very long time, alternately putting handsfree on the 920 and 720 (y'know, reformat and clearflash etc, etc, etc every couple of weeks).

Then I at long last pumped up the courage to ask son in law for my 700 back and he got a 720 in place of it. So now I have handsfree working on the 700, with 6.520 application and 675 map which all works, doesn't give me grief and gets me there still blabbering away on the phone. Alongside it, the 920 with v8.302 app (rolled back from rubbish 8.350 and then from equally rubbish "improved" 8.351 - still open ticket for two months over the volume "challenge"), RDS-TMC, IQ Routes, Reality View and ALG disabled, no way Mapshare, map 830, takes me along the same route! As does my PDA with TTNav 6 and 675 map!

Vive les improvements!! Thumbs Up

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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

Andy_P · Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 11:55 am Post subject:

I've always believed TomTom started out as a couple of VERY clever guys who invented the basics - navigation software - map data compression - and a killer user interface.

Also, as engineers, they understood how useful it would be to let other people come up with add-ons and improvements, so allowed this to happen.

But then at some point they either sold out or got swamped by a new team of administrators and money men. This new TomTom still use the basic "engine" but have lost the original brains who really knew how it was put together, so can't work out problems with it as it evolves, and nothing they've added on since then has really worked 100%.

They also decided their product was too commercially valuable to let anyone else tinker with it, so knocked that on the head for "corporate" reasons.

That's just my gut feeling... is there an "unofficial history" of TomTom anywhere that bears me out?

aerotec · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:25 pm Post subject:

I really like gluey's suggestion of a forward mounted camera. Have it recording the last 10 mins on to a memory card and a easy access save button on the even of an accident. That would actually be very useful.

I would really like to see the screen refresh improved through use of an improved processor. One of the main reasons I bought a new unit is because I have just moved to Leeds and there are so many tight turns my PDA with TT6 would not rotate ough as I turned a corner and in Leeds you can turn a corner at a tight A road and be presented with 2 dual carriageways forking off in differen directions but my TT6 screen would not refresh fast enough for me to interpret the lanes I am to take.

Sadly my 940 is not one bit faster and even with the wide screen does not give me that ability to react quickly.

gatorguy6996 · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:38 am Post subject:

Andy, I've always understood that the original core of Tomtom staff had a lot of roots at Apple, thus the sometimes over-the-top marketing. I haven't seen written backup to support that, but I've been told that by more than one source, and at least two of them have been in the industry over 10 years.

Both Garmin and TomTom had a solid base of engineering talent once upon a time, and research and development was a priority. The marketeers have now taken over IMHO.
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Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr.

DennisN · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:04 am Post subject:

matthewj · Frequent Visitor Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 751

aerotec · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:25 pm Post subject:

Well I bought a supposed top spec unit so I could get the nice 3D display so it annoys me to have to dumb it down, drop back in software versions etc to get it working ok. Harumph!

aerotec · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:29 pm Post subject:

It would need a redesign of the mount but I am sure they could have a camera built in to the screen mount and if you mount the actual device elsewhere then a connector lead could be used to connect the device to the screen mount/camera.

And thinking further a G-Sensor would be handy so it could auto save the footage if a rapid deceleration (aka crash) was detected.

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:55 pm Post subject:

As the high end TT models are struggling with under-powered processors at the moment, I'd rather they used any improvement in processor power to give a faultless performance of the core functions.

If you want a recording camera, something like the Roadhawk system (reviewed on here) would seem to do exactly what you want (it even includes G-force measurements).

aerotec · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:26 pm Post subject:

I quite agree.

I was thinking of the ideal world being a fully functional core device with added extras on top. But seems that is too much to ask of Tomtom at the moment!

DennisN · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 3:26 pm Post subject:

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