56 replies to this topic

[christhegasman]

I have had the same with constant emails from TOM about my live update bells and whistles sat nav which is getting old they are offering me a great deal of a whole 10% off a new one 😂😂
I phone maps for me from now on it even one of the off line nav apps which are free and work fine without using 4g 👍🏻

[FLD]

Well, I agree it is a minefield and if I'm honest I don't know for sure if Garmin are better although my friends who have them say they are better than TT, we shall see!  It's just that I'm so angry with TT about what appears to be an utterly blatant and considered program of sabotage of perfectly good sat navs in the hope of selling a few new ones.  Thank you for the thought but I did an anticipatory update a few days before the 6th April, WNRO day, and it worked perfectly until the 8th April ie. after the WNRO date so that rather suggests that the update might have triggered the crash.

Sounds more like a deliberate obsoleting exercise

[Madmitch]

I think so too.  Anyway, the saga continues!  As mentioned I ordered a Garmin which was due to arrive today anytime between 7am and 10pm but this morning I got an email saying there was a problem and delivery was delayed, nothing about why or for how long.  Late afternoon I rang Amazon and asked the relevant questions to be told that it must have been out of stock when I ordered, no it wasn't said I there were 11 showing in stock, well perhaps somebody else ordered at the same time, OK but the computer would have known that if it really had happened and it said 11 in stock etc etc in other words the original circular conversation.  Put the phone down and then got another email saying it really was out of stock but order now for delivery when it is back in stock, AAARRRRRRRRRGH!!! Have now cancelled the Amazon order and managed to find the same model at about the same price not too far from here which I thought to collect tomorrow - except it is a bank holiday of course which I had forgotten.  I think I'll just walk. 

[hairy]

They must have had a lot of complaints - they sent me an update in the week.

[Madmitch]

Yes, I've had several emails about a special (not so special) discount to change and updates available too but it's a bit late now, I've bought a Garmin.  Still trying to get my head around how to set the thing up as it's completely different to the Tom Tom but I'll get it sorted.  One of our friends mentioned the other day that his TT had stopped working recently, he was not best pleased when I told him why.  As an exercise in customer relations this must be a massive own goal for TT but I've heard nothing to from them to suggest they are in any way bothered or concerned to have screwed so many of their own customers!  Truly amazing!!

[hairy]

Ha! just had another begging email from them. FRO!!

[Madmitch]

Joking!  Well, I've had this Garmin thing for almost a year now and I hate it.  Clunky, awkward, can't find a screen that gives a nice compromise between enough detail and not enough, and the pronunciation of French words by the computer generated voice would make even Peter Sellars turn in his grave, dire.  That said I will never buy anything TomTom again so I will have to learn to live with it!! No emails from TT though...………. 

[Madmitch]

Ha!  Spoke too soon, amazingly have just had an email from TT pushing an update for my Sat Nav that they crashed and trashed last year, how thick is that!!

[WrightStuff]

This seems like a load of hassle.

Why would you just not run Waze on a smartphone ?

Should always have a phone in the car anyway in case of breakdown.

[coldel]

I haven't had a sat nav in the car for a few years now I just use google maps or similar, I used google maps to do a 2500 mile euro road trip no problem at all, just download the maps in advance and its no problem. The search capabilities on google are much better than any sat nav, voice capability, much better waypointing etc. 

[Madmitch]

The answer to both the above is that I don't posess a smartphone!  I have a very small Samsung phone which slips into my pocket and is all I need for emergencies and a computer in the office which does everything else except photos for which I have a Canon DSLR.  I know that is antiquated but I am an antique with no interest in social media or Googling stuff at the dinner table etc etc.  Yes, eventually I suppose I will end up with one but I don't feel the need yet so will carry on without for as long as possible!! 

[coldel]

The answer to both the above is that I don't posess a smartphone!  I have a very small Samsung phone which slips into my pocket and is all I need for emergencies and a computer in the office which does everything else except photos for which I have a Canon DSLR.  I know that is antiquated but I am an antique with no interest in social media or Googling stuff at the dinner table etc etc.  Yes, eventually I suppose I will end up with one but I don't feel the need yet so will carry on without for as long as possible!! 

 

But but but you are on a social media - right now 

[Madmitch]

Surely not!  I thought the VX forum was somewhere to exchange real, useful info rather than fake stuff, and somewhere we all love and help each other and nobody posts stupid pictures of themselves pouting.  Perhaps we ne need a new thread on the merits / demerits of Social Media - or maybe not...…………………………..  

[Sutol]

My phone is a tool not an entertainment device. It means that when I go on a trip I don't need to remember my standalone camera,sat nav, laptop, dictaphone, iPod, it's all in one device, my phone. It's a no brainer.

[Madmitch]

Well, I don't have an iPod or Pad, a dictaphone, or a laptop.  The sat nav stays in the car so the only thing I carry is my very small phone.  I agree with you that a phone is a tool but in this one instance I prefer to carry a small tool rather than a big one!

[coldel]

Surely not!  I thought the VX forum was somewhere to exchange real, useful info rather than fake stuff, and somewhere we all love and help each other and nobody posts stupid pictures of themselves pouting.  Perhaps we ne need a new thread on the merits / demerits of Social Media - or maybe not...…………………………..  

 

 a very early form of social media, and believe me there is relatively as much rubbish spouted on forums as there is on facebook etc lol.

 

Social media for me has a number of benefits from a car owner point of view. On FB the events areas are really good for finding fellow car enthusiasts that I would have otherwise not known were there for example. If you know how to manage social media like facebook you can tailor it to be a great platform if you are a car fan, on mine literally 90% of what I see are just car posts and have picked up some great tips on the cars I own from there over the years I would have otherwise been ignorant of. I get that the perception is its full of rubbish, and if you don't know what you are doing, it will be, but invest ten minutes on the filters/groups/hiding stuff and you have a stream of super useful info. 

 

As the other chap said, I see my phone as a tool, its just a laptop in your pocket. 

Edited by coldel, 12 March 2020 - 09:23 AM.

[Ivor]

Google maps everytime, near real time traffic info, can share your location so people can track your inboundness, also smart phone : if nothing else run the what3words location app, been a true life saver for a number of people, try doing that on your sat nav, can't imagine not having a smart phone, or at least the stuff I'd have to carry to replace it, and that's just a £130 Moto G 6.

[coldel]

Yeah smart phones are incredibly cheap now, even entry level does a lot of stuff. Yes the real time traffic on google maps is unnervingly accurate, literally on a motorway as you see they yellow then the red, you drive straight into the traffic its literally to within a few metres accurate! Thing that ultimately frustrated me with sat navs was the clunky working, if I have a business name I often dont have a street number, sat navs rely on numbers and post codes. With Google all you need is the name and it points you right to the front door. 

[techieboy]

No need to use a smartphone as a smartphone, if you don't want to. Pick up a cheap new or second hand mobile and just use it as a slim satnav and speed camera alerting device, like a TomTom or Garmin of yore, with no SIM in it. Obviously, having a SIM with cheap data opens up the world of live traffic and camera (or "safety zones" in France ) alerting.

 

Personally, I can't stand Waze. It's like the Fisher Price My First Satnav system. It's interface, appearance and functionality are designed for 5 year olds and I wish Google would just bin it and roll it up fully, into Google Maps. Anything where you get "awards" for using it is a toy and can FRO.

 

I tend to use a fully paid up Sygic app with quarterly map updates and live traffic etc (funnily enough sourced from TomTom in a lot of cases for a fraction of the cost that TomTom charged/charges on their devices). T'was handy for 3,000miles around California/Nevada/Arizona/Colorado last year when mobile data (and voice) was non-existent in some of the National Parks and worked well in one of our hire cars that had Android Auto and Apple Car Play disabled but screen mirroring to the in-car screen was still usable.

 

I did, despite my hatred and distrust of Google's all seeing eye, use Google maps when navigating around and through San Francisco, as I figured if there was anywhere on earth it worked really well, it would be San Francisco. It did and managed to get us through the one way system and some temporary road closures well. Even managed to get us up to the Battery Point Golden Gate viewpoint despite that being almost cut-off by roadworks. The best San Francisco map we had was still a free paper map that showed the trolley bus, tram, ferry and bus routes. Think we got through three of those due to the amount of use they got.

 

Up until recently, I'd been using the excellent TomTom Speed Camera app (in overlay mode over the top of Sygic or stand-alone) for camera alerts as for a freebie, that had the best handling of average speed camera zones of anything I'd used. They've binned that now and built the same functionality into a full-on free nav app called AmiGo which seems decent enough though doesn't have downloadable maps. Just a heavier weight app than needed unfortunately.

 

I've tried Nokias HERE WeGo and that's okay and has worldwide downloadable maps though I think it needs a payment for some enhanced functionality but I still revert back to Sygic.

 

None of them are as good as TomTom stand-alone devices of old with the old itinerary functionality that they largely removed in later years. It used to be great to plan specific routes on Google Earth/Maps and copy them across to the TomTom and know exactly what route you'd drive. They're all too smart now, re-routing on the fly to make the journey quicker/shorter and ignoring your preferred route without much cocking about. They all freaked out to a greater or lesser extent when you asked it to navigate from Monterey to Carmel but using the scenic 17 Mile Drive through Pebble Beach instead of the 4 miles it was via Highway 1.
 

[coldel]

My FRO sat nav moment came when driving into Bruges and with all the road works the sat nav had no idea I couldnt take the route it wanted and kept redirecting me back to the roads I couldnt take, the signage on road was terrible so couldnt find the diversions. Google maps is a bit all knowing, its a bit big brother, but it does get it when there are bike events on etc. and road closures are in place where the sat nav just stupidly points you back at the closed roads the smarter google maps work out the way around. And yes, totally agree on Waze, its like a cartoon app designed for 6 years olds!

Edited by coldel, 12 March 2020 - 02:38 PM.