TomTom Navigator 5

[Mark Booth]

I think I'm going to add Bluetooth navigation to my Zire 72. I see that TomTom's Navigator 2004 is being replaced by Navigator 5. The new "5" version includes a newer, apprently better (longer battery life but larger in size), Bluetooth GPS receiver. But I can still find a few deals on the Navigator 2004 package. Perhaps even saving as much as $70 off the "5" version by going with the 2004 version.

Does anyone have any further information on the "5" version? I've checked over TomTom's site and, frankly, they don't really give you all that much information.

Also, can I just buy TomTom's software (or some other navigation software) and buy any Bluetooth GPS receiver I want?

Thanks!

Mark

[Mark Booth]

I spoke with TomTom about Navigator 5. They expect it to ship about mid-June. They informed me that a Macintosh compatible install disc will be included (yeah!). They also told me that the new Bluetooth GPS Receiver they are including with Navigator 5 is MUCH improved over the previous version.

I have one on pre-order and I'll report back to this thread once I receive it. In the meantime, there is an excellent review of the new product on a British site:

http://www.pocketgps.co.uk/tomtom-navigator-pda-5.php

Mark

[Mark Booth]

I just received confirmation that my TomTom Navigator 5 package has shipped! I expect it before the end of the week. I'll report back on my findings this weekend or, at the latest, first part of next week.

Mark

[Mark Booth]

Well, if you are an Apple Mac user, hold off a bit on ordering the TomTom Navigator 5. It is SUPPOSED to be completely Mac compatible. TomTom promised me this in a phone conversation. And, yep, sure enough, they have a Mac installer program but running the installer is about as far as you get. I get nothing but a constant error messages that the "Conduit Manager" and "TomTom Conduit" are not installed. Both of them ARE installed and they are installed in their appropriate spots (right where each program PUT them).

The problem is this... TomTom is so worried that somebody is going to steal their Navigator 5 application that they have it encrypted on the installation CD. Now, the simple and logical method to make this work would for the TomTom installer application to put the necessary application into HotSync's "Install Files" spot so the very next Hot Sync would install it. It wouldn't matter if you used USB or Bluetooth to HotSync, it would simply be installed. But, no... TomTom has got to control the entire process and when you click TomTom's "HotSync" button in their installer application, I get the above error every time. NOTHING gets installed on my Palm.. in fact, they don't even attempt to sync.

Yet, if I activate HotSync from my Palm it all syncs up fine with either Bluetooth or USB. But since the Navigator 5 application isn't among the "Install Handheld Files" section of HotSync, nothing gets installed.

Yes, I've deactivated iSync Conduit. In fact, I went so far as to completely reinstall my entire Palm Desktop software so it was all set back to its "defaults". Still no go.

The problem is with the TomTom Conduit. Their software put it in the right place but Conduit Manager (HotSync Conduit Settings) does not recognize it as a compatible Conduit. Clicking on ANY other conduit in the conduits folder will auto-launch HotSync Manager. Clicking on the TomTom Conduit does diddly.

I'm sure I'll get some "should have bought a PC" type of comments but that is not the point here. TomTom assured me that they had a WORKING installer for the Mac. Instead, it looks like I get to be a beta tester. This kinda stuff really pisses me off and I'm inclined to send it back and get a Garmin GPS and be done with it.

Mark

[WyreNut]

Have you contacted either Tom, or Tom concerning the Mac installation problems?

Doesn't sound like you have anything out of the normal realm.... It should definitely work right out of the box!

WyreNut

[Mark Booth]

As fate would have it, UPS delivered the software today about 10 minutes AFTER TomTom closed for business for the day.

I will be on the phone with them first thing in the morning. But, quite frankly, I don't have any confidence that they will have an easy solution. TomTom is based in Europe and I suspect all of their programmers and all of the technical people that will know what might be wrong are located there as well. And besides, I think there is a fundamental bug or problem with the Mac installer. I think the TomTom Conduit file is just not compatible with the Mac. It's as if the installer installed a PC version of the TomTom Conduit.

Anyway, I hope I am wron and that TomTom will be on top of the problem and not let up until they have it solved, and quickly. I just dread the idea that they will attempt to treat me like a total computer novice and try to step-by-step me through the same steps I've already taken about a dozen times now. I HATE that!

You can be sure I will share my TomTom technical help experience here.

Mark

[Mark Booth]

I was up at 5:30am (pacific) this morning to call TomTom (eastern). I spent close to an hour on the phone with their tech rep. I sent him (via E-mail), screen shots of exactly where all of the TomTom software was installed on my HD, where the TomTom Conduit was installed, and proved that Couduit Manager was installed too.

In a nutshell, he can't explain why it won't install to the Palm. He agrees that it appears that I've done everything correctly and everything appears to be installed as it should be on the Mac's hard drive. It just won't sync over to the Palm (all other sync conduits work fine). He needs to contact the folks at TomTom headquarters which, of course, is in the Netherlands. So, he probably won't be hearing from them until Monday.

In desperation, I went ahead and shelled out $40 to download Missing Sync (Palm) for the Mac. This third-party syncing program gets rave reviews and one of the things it touts is that it is compatible with more third-party Conduits. And, since "Missing Sync" is mentioned in the TomTom alert box (not installed), I decided to give a try.

NO DICE! The TomTom Conduit doesn't show up in Missing Sync either. That's $40 down the drain because I wouldn't have purchased the program otherwise. Although, I have to admit that I like Missing Sync's interface better than HotSync. Plus it allows me to mount the SD card on my Mac desktop and it syncs MUCH more quickly than HotSync.

Bottom line, I've got a $300 door stop sitting here and I'm pretty darn pissed about it.

And, apparently, I'm not the only one. Googling the web for "Navigator 5 Mac" doesn't bring up a lot of pertinent hits but one of the ones that it does bring up is this one:

http://www.palmclub.nl/forums/showthread.php?t=20427

It's on a site in the Netherlands and, of course, it is in Dutch. Bablefish didn't do a very good job on it but, as best I can tell, roughly translated, the message says:

"Today TOMs TOMs 5 has arrived. The good news: Mac become supported. The bad news: it does not really work."

That was dated June 5. I tried to E-mail him and ask if he ever found a solution but posting to the forum or sending an E-mail requires a registration and I wasn't successful in getting that accomplished due to the language barrier.

I hate PAYING to be a beta tester for software companies. Heck, this is more like Alpha Testing!

TomTom Navigator 5, at least for installing from a Mac, gets a BIG thumbs down from me so far. I'll update if anything gets resolved.

Mark

[Mark Booth]

I finally successfully navigated the Netherlands forum and got an E-mail off to the fellow from that forum. If he speaks English and/or can get it translated, maybe he might be able to help. I'm hoping, that since TomTom is based in the Netherlands, he might have found the solution since June 5.

I've also been on the phone with TomTom USA again. Guess what, they have ANOTHER Mac customer in the US that called this morning and is trying to install Navigator 5 and having the exact same problem I am having. His comment to them, "Just get me a properly working TomTom Conduit and I can finish this install".

It seems that the folks at TomTom USA are working on a resolution but I really have my doubts that they will be successful without help from the Netherlands.

Forgive me, I'm not usually this negative but I'm tired of banging my head against the wall. How on earth can a company release a product that simply WILL NOT WORK? Didn't SOMEBODY think about testing it on a Mac first?

BTW, to eliminate the possibility that something about my Palm software install was causing the problem, I went ahead and installed Palm Desktop on my PowerBook G4 running Mac OS 10.4.1 (Tiger). Connected up my Palm Zire 72 and made sure it would sync OK with HotSync (it did). I then inserted the TomTom application install CD and tried to install the TomTom software to my Palm.

NO DICE! Same error message. This, on a "pristine" system (brand new install of Palm Desktop) running the very latest system software.

Very frustrating and I think TomTom should be paying me by the hour.

Mark

[Mark Booth]

At the 11th hour, the folks from TomTom came through! Turns out the TomTom Setup application that is included on all of the installation CDs has been updated since the CDs were made. The included Setup application is dated May 15, 2005. TomTom USA provided me with a link to a newer version dated June 3, 2005. They just got it from TomTom Europe today and immediately posted it to their web site. This newer TomTom Setup application installs a DIFFERENT TomTom Conduit and the new one WORKS. It is recognized by both HotSync and Missing Sync!

If any Mac user is trying to install their new TomTom Navigator 5 software using the Setup application on the CDs, give up! Download this one:

http://www.tomtom.com/3243

Once you've got that one downloaded, open the TomTom Setup 1.0.4 disk image (.dmg) file and then drag a copy of the 1.0.4 version of TomTom Setup to your hard drive. You can then eject the disk image. Mount the TomTom installation CD and then be sure to double-click (run) the TomTom Setup application (version 1.0.4) on your hard drive, NOT the one on the CD. It will automatically step you through the install process and this time it will work! You will need to specifiy the SD card as the installation destination from the approriate dialog (you MUST have an SD card in your Palm for both the application AND the maps). At some point, you'll be asked to Hot Sync. Since I have installed Missing Sync, selecting TomTom's Hot Sync didn't work (error message). But I expected that. No big deal because, this time, when I initiated a HotSync from my Palm device (via USB connection), it launched Missing Sync on the computer and the TomTom Conduit did its thing to sync the TomTom files over to the Palm.

Once you've done the install with the application CD, quit the installer and eject the application CD. Now mount the Map CD #1. Again, run the TomTom Setup appllication on your HARD DRIVE, not the one on the CD! This time you will be prompted for which map you want to install. Just follow the prompts, changing the CD's as needed. You will have to do a HotSync again when you are done to move the files from the Mac to the Palm.

WARNING: It takes a LOOOOOONNNNNGGG time to sync over the maps. A REALLLY long time. Just California alone must have taken between 45 minutes and an hour! And, unfortunately, Missing Sync doesn't really give an accurate status bar. It just sort of sat in the same spot for at least a half hour (I finally gave up and left the room and checked on it again later... it was done).

After you get through all of that, you have to jump through a few hoops to configure your Navigator software on the Palm and then to register your maps with TomTom via a special registration code and device code. All big time anti-piracy measures.

So, after all of that, which I just finished about 30 minutes ago, I finally had a working Bluetooth GPS on my Palm Zire 72. It took a little while for the Bluetooth GPS module to lock onto enough satellites to know where it was at, and a bit more time for the Navigator 5 software to "see" the Bluetooth GPS, but it's working now. I've entered the route to the restaurant we will be going to tonight and I guess that is when I will see how well it all works.

Whew!!

Mark

[WyreNut]

Congrats on your perseverance...sounds like you truly worked up an appetite!

WyreNut