Compare the Go950 and Go1000

[Footie]

Andy, you own the other TomTom I've been considering simply because it's preloaded with the N.American maps, can you explain what is really different between it and the 1000 and how you find it to use. BTW I'm coming from a Garmin.

 

[Andy_P]

Andy, you own the other TomTom I've been considering simply because it's preloaded with the N.American maps, can you explain what is really different between it and the 1000 and how you find it to use. BTW I'm coming from a Garmin.

Out of the box, the 950 has full Europe and US maps both loaded on internal memory. The Go1000 only has Europe.

When you update the maps on the Go 950 with your free latest map guarantee, the latest ones will be too large to both fit.
However, the 950 has a working micro SD card slot, so it's a simple matter to move one of the maps onto an SD card.
The Go1000 has no SD slot for expansion - a big minus point

The Go1000 is flatter and probably more "modern" looking than the Go950

The Go1000 has a much brighter screen, but it is also much more reflective, so that can be distracting when you keep seeing yourself or the sky in it.

However the Go1000 screen is also "multi-touch" so you can do swiping gestures to switch menu pages or "pinch" to zoom on the map (I never use it though)

The Go 1000 calculates LONG routes much faster than the 950, short routes are a bit quicker.

Sound quality on the 1000 is excellent.

Most people like the "magnetic" mount for the Go1000. I seem to be in a minority thinking it is a bit messy and ugly looking and I also prefer the positive button to un-latch the Go950 when you remove it from the mount.

the Go1000 has a 50 mile horizon for POI searches, which drives me mad.
On the Go950 I can search for a POI "near home" and it will still find a matching name on a POI hundreds of miles away.

The Go950 has proper Itinerary planning, where you can specify up to 48 waypoints or destinations on a route. You can also load and save those itineraries. This was promised for the Go1000, but all they have come up with is a pathetic ability to add a couple more waypoints on a normal "Navigate to..." route.

The Go1000 tells you what side of the road your destination is on (it usually gets it right), the Go950 doesn't.

The text to speech voice on the Go1000 is better quality than the Go950, but you only get one (female) one. The Go950 has a choice of male and female.

They both have voice command - I find it useless and never use it.

The Go1000 has some nice simplification such as if you plan a route when you don't have a satellite lock, it asks if you want to depart from your last known position. The Go950 just sits there waiting for a signal lock (You can get round that by coming back out to the menus and choosing "Plan advance route", but it's nice not to have to bother.

The Go 950 has intelligent keyboard layouts so the numbers appear at the top when you're most likely to need them.
The Go1000 cannot do that for some reason. This is really irritating when you want to enter postcodes. (Something like "W1A1AA" can all be entered from one screen on the Go950, but on the Go1000 you have to keep switching backwards and forwards between letter and number screens. Stupid!

You can access the file system on the Go950 and make your own backups etc. The Go1000 is a closed book.

I could go on....

All in all, I would LIKE to prefer the Go1000, but I don't.
There are too many missing features, and even the way they have "dumbed down" a lot of the words used on the menus annoys me!
In fact, I prefer the Go940 to the Go950 as that has even more features, such as the mp3 player and a better menu layout.

 

[kj6fk]

You can access the file system on the Go1000 and make your own backups etc. The Go1000 is a closed book.

I believe you wanted to say that the GO950 lets you make your own backups manually.

At the same time, is this feature something you really use? I mean, other than make a backup, what else can you do with the ability to see inside the filesystem? I can imagine people wanting to hack it , but for you and me, I'd think the ability in myTomTom to reinstall your content suffices (instead of manual backup)? I'd also think that making the internal files visible to users can also be considered a disadvantage- if you accidently remove a file, for example.

 

[dhn]

The advantages of having access to the file system are numerous:
1. Downgrading applications when an update has caused a regression error
2. Mass updating of custom ov2 files to a map folder
3. Deleting superfluous files when TomTom sends an incorrect map (such as including space-wasting megs of space by including cspeechXX.dat files on units withOUT a microphone)
4. Being able to recover from a 'no maps found' problem in many cases
5. etc, etc............

 

[mikealder]

I would add that with a full back up on your computer should the device memory fail (which isn't unheard of) you can simply copy the back up to a micro SDHC card (up to 32GB in capacity) fit it in the slot on the 950 and carry on using the device. This applies whilst inside and outside the 12 month warranty period.
Now look at the newer "clud" based devices (I know it should be "Cloud" but I prefer to drop the letter ) once the warranty has expired should anything go wrong what comeback or guarantee have you got that TomTom will honour a map/ software rebuild, you aref in the hands of the gods or more probably with a rather expensive door stop - If the memory fails inside the 1000 the device is dead, no recovery options as you can't fit a card neither do you have that all important back up, ever heard the expresion "I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole" as thats my own view of this new locked down system - Mike

 

[canderson]

At the same time, is this feature something you really use? I mean, other than make a backup, what else can you do with the ability to see inside the filesystem?

Why don't we just start with that premise?

"Other than make a backup"? That alone makes access to the file system a MAJOR benefit to the user. You have only recently arrived here, but if you read through the many threads, you will discover that we recommend a full OS (not Home) backup for any unit that permits it. Why? dhn has given you a few reasons. TomTom is not kind with their out-of-warranty policy, and we have no repair facilities here in North America. The old architecture allows us here to help many users with units that are "bricked" or unresponsive or otherwise badly behaved provided they have taken heed to our warnings about having a full backup of the unit. Apart from a major hardware issue, if a user has a backup of their map folder, we can get them out of almost any ditch into which they have fallen. If at some point TomTom begins to provide that same technical assistance with out-of-warranty devices, get back to us.

I'd also think that making the internal files visible to users can also be considered a disadvantage- if you accidently remove a file, for example.

That rarely happens, as someone here or in a tech support position should know. Even then, a user with a full backup can recover anything that is missing, so we can put them back on the road again.

All in all, the benefits to the USER far outweigh any advantages of the locked down, encrypted SSL mini-servers that are being sold at the present. Users are at the mercy of TomTom to manage any problems, and once the one year is up --- too bad.

 

[Andy_P]

I believe you wanted to say that the GO950 lets you make your own backups manually.

Confirmed.
Thanks for spotting the typo. I've now corrected my text.

At the same time, is this feature something you really use?

Constantly!
The other replies above have gone into some of the many reasons for wanting to have some control over the unit, so I won't bother repeating them.

....but for you and me, I'd think the ability in myTomTom to reinstall your content suffices (instead of manual backup)? I'd also think that making the internal files visible to users can also be considered a disadvantage- if you accidently remove a file, for example.

You seem to have a quaint faith in MyTomTom. Have you ever actually used it??? It's a complete dog!
Have you ever tried removing some POI files? You can only remove them one at a time so with up to four files per POI category, that can take hours to achieve.

Have you tried to buy a new map? It's apparently possible now, but can you backup your old map yet? I certainly can't! (So why would I ever attempt to buy another one?)

Both TomTom Home AND MyTomTom have shown they are capable of breaking units just as badly as the most incompetent user (and far worse than most average users),

In the case of Home, a user can usually be led through the steps to recover his content, but MyTomTom is capable of bricking a device (as is happening more and more) in a way that requires the unit to be physically shipped back to Amsterdam.

Do you see that as an improvement then?

 

[kj6fk]

Hornets Nest

I was just asking! Thanks for the explanations- it seems like the backup functionality is vital to work around the brick-ability of the device. Plus helps with bulk content updates, cleaning up extra files, etc.

Good to know- I'm a n00b, so I haven't ran into these yet.

 

[canderson]

Hornets Nest

I was just asking! Thanks for the explanations- it seems like the backup functionality is vital to work around the brick-ability of the device. Plus helps with bulk content updates, cleaning up extra files, etc.

Good to know- I'm a n00b, so I haven't ran into these yet.

Sorry you got such an earful, and perhaps we took advantage of you, but it is rather a sore spot here.

I just made a comment in another thread here that pointed out yet another reason, however minor, that we like the open access of the current system. In the event that a user pulls down an ephemeris file with a bad internal expiry date (not as uncommon as you might think), the user will no longer ever be offered another QuickFix download. We've also seen the odd incorrect/corrupt ephemeris file that slows down a true fix for the user. It is SO easy to advise the user to remove the files currently held on the PC and on the unit which allows the download of fresh - and one hopes correct - ephemeris data. Once the Nav10/11 units start receiving 'wired' QuickFix data through MyTT, it will be interesting to see how similar issues are managed.

As we say - provided the user has a proper backup of his map folder, it's possible to restore a unit to operating condition almost every time provided the hardware isn't broken... even if the unit is out of warranty.

That's been one of the concerns we've had about these new devices. Many units have been warrantied for one year, after which, TomTom has had a tendency to offer a user a $10 'loyalty discount' on a new unit and doesn't touch one that is 'broken'. TomTom offers NO real support/repair facilities here in North America. "Fixing" a unit still in warranty amounts to having it replaced with another unit (no repair available), and woe unto those who are out of warranty, even if the problem can be resolved by something as simple as reloading the firmware.

Garmin, by contrast, offers a more reasonable flat rate approach to units that need out-of-warranty work, which means that one's investment is better protected over a longer time. I find that the same unit is returned unless the original truly is unrepairable.

 

[canderson]

Hornets Nest

I was just asking! Thanks for the explanations- it seems like the backup functionality is vital to work around the brick-ability of the device.

Just to drive the point home a bit further -- here's another unit that TomTom will be getting back from a user... quite unnecessarily apart from the fact that these new models don't lend themselves to any other solutions.

LINK -> https://www.tomtomforums.com/tomtom-go-1000-series-2000-series-via-start-25/26593-tomtom-1505tm.html

With the prior architecture, we could resolve problems like this fairly readily if the user was willing to work with us on it. Instead, it goes back to the retailer, back to the distributor, and back to TomTom to sit in a pile until someone can possibly 'unbrick' it (with the appropriate tools) and be sent out as a refurb for the next poor guy who needs an RMA.

 

[Footie]

Looks like TomTom has listened to my concerns and worries about the 1000/1005 and transferring US maps to it because they have announced the new 1005 World model. Happy days.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B005TDJ0XQ