TomTom Navigator for PPC Update V5.10

[Manni]

For all of you who've got a problem with VGA support or GPS connection, this update is supposed to get it right...
Good luck!

[bigray327]

Originally posted by Manni
For all of you who've got a problem with VGA support or GPS connection, this update is supposed to get it right...
Good luck!

Figures, the day after I buy Mapopolis maps again. Oh well, Tom Tom... you snooze, you lose.

[Rambler]

And TomTom 5 still isn't available in the USA yet.

[Humphrey]

Yes it is! It has been available on Outpost.com for over a week.

[Scottwood2]

Outpost states to call for avalability.

I heard that some are haveing problems with this new version (5.1). Please post here if you try it.

I tried the 5.0 version and I like the new features a lot. I have not played with it much though. I was told that the 5.0 version still has the VGA lockup problem. Hope that is fixed in 5.1.

[Humphrey]

No lockup problems so far. It does seem to take a *really* long time to start up though.

I noticed MobilePlanet.com had it a few days ago.

[Scottwood2]

Originally posted by Humphrey
No lockup problems so far. It does seem to take a *really* long time to start up though.

Can you give us an idea of how long it takes.

The 4.0 version would take maybe 5 second and 5.0 seemed about the same.

Thx

[Humphrey]

First I should say out of an abundance of caution and concern I installed TomTom Navigator 5 into FileStore (iPAQ internal flash ROM). Everything takes a lot longer to load from there but I travel *all the time* and can not afford to do constant rebuilds of my iPAQ from the road...no way!

That said it takes 20-30 seconds to start-up. For your reply I did this very basic count using a digital clock's second "hand". I performed it 4 times and each time it loaded in about 20-30 seconds. Once it gets going though it is really fast and responsive! Those of you using TomTom from main RAM should get a much, much faster load times. TomTom really did a great job on the overall system though.

The very slim and oh so light Bluetooth GPS unit actually tracked FOUR satellites indoors!! I mean I was on the second floor of a four story building. DAMN! I was in the middle of the hallway doing a TomTom software only demo for a client when that client decided to turn on the GPS unit to see if it would find a satellite (it did). I was roughly 35-40 feet away from the window. I guess the new SiRFstar III chipset and 20 channel all-in-view tracking didn't hurt either.

The pictures don't really do justice to the size of the GPS unit. This thing is really compact. It almost fit perfectly into my pants coin pocket. It hung out about 3/4 of an inch. To get a better idea of the GPS unit's size, if you own a Nextel i830 cell phone flip up the LCD lid...now look at the bottom keypad section. That's almost EXACTLY the size and thickness of the TomTom Navigator 5 BT GPS unit.

The GPS unit consistently (for good or bad) took about 30 seconds to get a cold start fix. It was a mere few moments once the unit was "hot" to get another fix if needed or required.

I really, really like the look of the User Interface (UI). Clean. Very clean. I do think a part of the UI is NOT "Out-of-the-Box-First-Use-Ever" (OTBFUE) friendly. I have never used GPS before so that was a crucial test for me. I did spend about 15-20 minutes tapping away to acclimate myself with GPS. The actual GPS locating part was cool, fun and engaging. It was the "Preferences" section that is waaaay to complicated. My goodness you will NOT get anywhere quick if you need to change an option!!! Forget about it. Did I mention you will get lost in the "Preferences" section?...oh, ok. Carry on...

Speaking of looks the packaging is awesome! You feel like you received a special gift once you open it up. Nice touch TomTom.
:-D

I recently purchased a 2GB Sandisk Ultra II SD card so I felt compelled to load the entire map collection onto it. I loaded all of the U.S., Canada, Hawaii (isn't that the U.S. too??), several female and male voice prompts and something called Major Roads of America Map. It came to 1,055MB (a sliver over 1GB). While finding or modifying locations the maps refreshed relatively fast from FileStore. If they were in RAM they would probably load almost instantly.

The documentation was not nearly as good as the packaging. Very sparse and many languages crushed onto small pages.

Overall as a first time GPS user I would give TomTom Navigator 5 BT a 7 out of 10. One and a half point deduction for the confusing "Preferences" section and another 1.5 point deduction for the lack of Traffic and Weather services that the competition offers here in the U.S.

A couple of things to note:
1)Test Unit
-HP iPAQ hx4705
-128 RAM/128 ROM (PPC Techs RAM Upgrade)
-All Critical programs loaded in ROM (9MB ROM space left)
-TomTom tested in "normal" Portrait mode
-BT and WiFi on simultaneously (some TomTom services require it)
-Used iPAQ/GPS battery power
-My CF GSM/GPRS card was not behaving so I have no GPRS info to report...sorry.

2) TomTom does provide Traffic, Weather and Safety Camera (red light camera) services BUT it is only for areas OUTSIDE of the U.S. at this time.
3) Though TomTom includes a automobile charger/adapter if you want to recharge the GPS unit in a hotel, at home, etc you have to purchase a separate A/C adapter and I couldn't find one on their site at the time I purchased my product.
4) The activation process drove me crazy!! TomTom should rework this process. It took me a while to find my Software's Device Code (Hey I never used GPS before remember?). It's not one easy step and you need Internet connectivity.
5) DVDs of maps should be a buyers option. TomTom supplies like 9 Cd's. Whoa!! The Pocket PC maps I chose (the entire U.S./Canada/Hawaii/Road maps) seem to be on CDs 1 & 2.
6) Did I mention the packaging was awesome?!

[Scottwood2]

Very nice review!

Thx

[baltar]

Hi,

I am an European (Holland) user of TomTom 5 in combination with the HX4700 and a Globalsat BT318 BT-GPS.

I also had the two major problems: not able to find GPS and the VGA freeze problem.

So far both problems seem to have disappeared although I didn't use TT5 for more than half hour.

Now I am very pleased with TT5. The new features are very useful and it looks awesome.