TomTom Go 910

Quote:

---

I did find other problems with it, such as in the middle of cities it would lose it's signal or it believing you to be on a service road when on an interstate and directing you accordingly. However, most of these faults, I believe could be put down to a poor GPS receiver. I would be very interested to see how this software works when hooked up to a 'proper' receiver, not the one supplied my Microsoft, but I will never know. I was suitably convinced of the need for a satnav system whilst away from home, so I have bought a TomTom 910 system.

---

This thread follows on from my experiences with Microsoft Streets & Trips which led me to buy a TomTom Go 910.

I'm really not a fan of depending on GPS. Everybody I know who does, express similar problems. Like going to an unused entrance, or getting there by via a strange and complex route no local would every use. I think they have their place but I think, for the most part, I will stay with using S&T for pre-planning purposes and maps for on the road makes more sense. I prefer to have typed up directions from S&T that say simple things like "take exit 82 and go south on I-5" vs. listening to "turn left, turn right, blah, blah" works for me. But I would love to hear how your experience with TomTom sometime.

I have used various satnav consoles in the UK. First one was a dreadful thing called, I think, Carin back in the (mid?) nineties. All it ever used to say was 'when possible, do a u-turn'! After that experience I said I'd never use another. A year or so ago, after picking up a speeding ticket, I decided to invest in a speed camera warning system and, for some reason, got a little carried away and bought a Road Angel Navigator. Once again I hated it and I sold it on eBay within a couple of months of getting it.

Since then I have used a TomTom several times (borrowed) whilst driving on mainland Europe. Each time it has worked flawlessly, taking me from door to door without incident. With the 910 model containing maps of the whole of the EU and Eastern Europe, as well as the US and most of Canada, I'm hoping it lives up to my expectations. I'll report back here once I've had chance to test it. The one thing that I'll really miss is the ability to create routes before I leave home.

Maybe the 910 is better than models my friends have had in the past? I'll look forward to your further reviews on this when you used it more.

I had the miserable experience of sitting for 40 minutes at the local City Link depot this morning while they found my parcel. Fantastic. Got the thing home and... the damn thing didn't seem to work! The online support site said to press the reset button and even provided a helpful picture illustrating where said button was located. Over and over I pressed it to no avail. Several hours later I finally discovered a little button which seemed to do the trick when I pressed it... it did everything they assured me the reset button would do but, wait, it couldn't be the reset button. It was in the wrong place to be the reset button. I guess it must be the magic button. That, or their instructions are out of date. Thank god I didn't throw the thing against the nearest wall!

Well, after a frustrating start, I'm loving the 910! I've used it for a few days at work and, simply entering the postcode, it took me right to the door. I have been back from a long drive down into France for a day or so and... it worked flawlessly. The ability to find a point of interest en route is always useful but I am loving the ability to call them right up on the hands-free at the touch of a button. That feature will be fantastically useful when tracking down a hotel or motel whilst on the road.

I used the Magellan RoadMate 760 in 2005 and covered 11,500 miles with absolutly no problems at all, apart from when we were in LA. This was the only time it struggled keeping up with too many lanes and changes to deal with in such short durations. If you don't plan on going to LA then this system is perfect. We lost the power on our truck for 2 days and boy did we realise how much we depended on it.

Just got back in from my Bristol trip and can happily report that my TomTom Go 910 ran faultlessly for the entire 2,000 miles of the trip. I was seriously impressed which, for me, can be taken as a real complement to it. There was just one instance where we encountered a problem and that was when using a database of POIs that I'd downloaded from the web so it couldn't even be faulted for that. A+