Farewell TomTom

[adidas1124]

I have given up on TomTom... here's why:

- I can't deal with the constant crashing, needing me to hard reset the unit.
- I can't deal with having to power the device on and off manually... auto on/off should be standard
- I can't deal with having to manually "Clear Route" once I reach my destination so the device doesn't crash and reboot over and over again once I get back in the car.
- I cannot see the screen when sunlight hits it
- Routing/Rerouting takes a ridiculous amount of time
- Traffic reporting is not as good as on my GO720T (that I replaced because TT won't offer lifetime traffic on that model)
- Lack of 2D direction of travel up... minor, but I don't like 3D maps
- The time it takes to acquire a sat signal upon start up
- The unit not using "my last known position" by default when planning a route (while waiting for sat acquisition)

My Garmin 1390LMT does everything that the TomTom's lack. I disliked Garmin a year back, but I didn't give a higher model a try until recently.

Edit: My TomTom is an XXL550TM

 

[Oliverokk]

Me Too

I have 2 XXL 540TMs that I got last December. My butterfingers dropped one and it landed on a sharp edge hitting the screen that cracked in three places. It turns on but when I push on the screen, all I get is a color blur in that area. I replaced that one with a Garmin 1450 LMT. It is much better in most respects but it has its routing problems. So it goes. The Garmin updated flawlessly unlike the TomTom. Its a keeper. Will use the second TomTom in the wife's car.

 

[revmrf]

I have given up on TomTom... here's why:

- I can't deal with the constant crashing, needing me to hard reset the unit.
... my 540 has not crashed once since I purchased it over a year ago
- I can't deal with having to power the device on and off manually... auto on/off should be standard
... Mine powers off when I shut the engine down
- I can't deal with having to manually "Clear Route" once I reach my destination so the device doesn't crash and reboot over and over again once I get back in the car.
... again my 540 is stable
- I cannot see the screen when sunlight hits it
... placement... you can get around it - give us a break
- Routing/Rerouting takes a ridiculous amount of time
... not so with my system
- Traffic reporting is not as good as on my GO720T (that I replaced because TT won't offer lifetime traffic on that model)
... really???
- Lack of 2D direction of travel up... minor, but I don't like 3D maps
... I don't like 2D maps
- The time it takes to acquire a sat signal upon start up
... mine take 30 seconds
- The unit not using "my last known position" by default when planning a route (while waiting for sat acquisition)
... huh???


My Garmin 1390LMT does everything that the TomTom's lack. I disliked Garmin a year back, but I didn't give a higher model a try until recently.

Edit: My TomTom is an XXL550TM
... so's mine, and it's a keeper

See above for my inserts

 

[canderson]

- I can't deal with the constant crashing, needing me to hard reset the unit.

That isn't a common issue for a 540 except as discussed below on route cancellations. We might have helped to resolve that one here.

- I can't deal with having to power the device on and off manually... auto on/off should be standard

There's a menu setting for that under "Battery saving preferences". Sounds like you never spotted it.

I can't deal with having to manually "Clear Route" once I reach my destination so the device doesn't crash and reboot over and over again once I get back in the car.

Of all the complaints, I'll have to concede that one. I just do it automatically now. It's only a problem about 1/3 of the time, but that 1/3 is usually when I'm in a hurry in the morning, so I clear the route as I roll down the street towards the house at the end of a trip.

I cannot see the screen when sunlight hits it

True with just about any resistive LCD touch screen combination if you don't find a good place for it, and in a vehicle, that's not always easy. I've found that very high (near the mirror) or very low positions in the cockpit work best. I never use the windshield. The 1390 you bought has a capacitive screen like the newer TomTom 1XXX and 2XXX models. If screen visibility was such a problem in your particular installation, the 540 was not your best choice. I'd note that the 540 was identical to your old 720 in this regard, however... just a little larger version of the same problem.

Routing/Rerouting takes a ridiculous amount of time

I see you used to have a 720. That unit employed a 400MHz processor. The one you replaced it with uses only a 266MHz processor. You shouldn't expect quite the same performance. A 740 would have given you more of the same feel.

Traffic reporting is not as good as on my GO720T (that I replaced because TT won't offer lifetime traffic on that model)

You could have purchased a cable that would have given you traffic until the year 2044 or so. You should have asked here. We have recently had a thread on that very topic, and it's not the first. More to the point, the RDS/TMC traffic cable function obtains the same data regardless of which model you're running. Unless you had your 720 tethered to your cell phone for traffic before, there's no difference in what is being received.

Lack of 2D direction of travel up... minor, but I don't like 3D maps

I prefer North up myself, but again, the option was to go with a 740 instead of what you did buy. I also find the forced auto-zoom on the XXL540 to be a problem -- another reason I replaced my 720 with a 740 and not a lesser unit.

The time it takes to acquire a sat signal upon start up

Can't speak to that, having not owned a 540, but I am surprised to hear it.

The unit not using "my last known position" by default when planning a route (while waiting for sat acquisition)

Now that's odd. I can use my 740 to at least identify my destination, or is that not what you mean? It does wait for a satellite lock before planning the actual route, however.

 

[adidas1124]

That isn't a common issue for a 540 except as discussed below on route cancellations. We might have helped to resolve that one here.

There's a menu setting for that under "Battery saving preferences". Sounds like you never spotted it.

That is not in the menu on the 550

Of all the complaints, I'll have to concede that one. I just do it automatically now. It's only a problem about 1/3 of the time, but that 1/3 is usually when I'm in a hurry in the morning, so I clear the route as I roll down the street towards the house at the end of a trip.

True with just about any resistive LCD touch screen combination if you don't find a good place for it, and in a vehicle, that's not always easy. I've found that very high (near the mirror) or very low positions in the cockpit work best. I never use the windshield. The 1390 you bought has a capacitive screen like the newer TomTom 1XXX and 2XXX models. If screen visibility was such a problem in your particular installation, the 540 was not your best choice. I'd note that the 540 was identical to your old 720 in this regard, however... just a little larger version of the same problem.

True... I keep mine at stereo level so middle of the center stack

I see you used to have a 720. That unit employed a 400MHz processor. The one you replaced it with uses only a 266MHz processor. You shouldn't expect quite the same performance. A 740 would have given you more of the same feel.

I never looked at the processor speed (I should have not assumed they were identical)

You could have purchased a cable that would have given you traffic until the year 2044 or so. You should have asked here. We have recently had a thread on that very topic, and it's not the first. More to the point, the RDS/TMC traffic cable function obtains the same data regardless of which model you're running. Unless you had your 720 tethered to your cell phone for traffic before, there's no difference in what is being received.

No, it was RDS/TMC - however, I didn't like the multiple cables of my 720's TMC.

I prefer North up myself, but again, the option was to go with a 740 instead of what you did buy. I also find the forced auto-zoom on the XXL540 to be a problem -- another reason I replaced my 720 with a 740 and not a lesser unit.

Exactly, auto-zoom was not selectable on the 550

Can't speak to that, having not owned a 540, but I am surprised to hear it.

Now that's odd. I can use my 740 to at least identify my destination, or is that not what you mean? It does wait for a satellite lock before planning the actual route, however.

No, it doesn't even show the map when you set a destination, you have to select whether to "Wait for Signal" or "Plan using last known position" (my 720 did the latter by default.

I have entered my input in-line

 

[adidas1124]

Garmin vs. TomTom - from my POV

And, I'm back... I always do this and I should learn.

Garmin is a pile of junk. I just replaced my 1390LMT with an XXL 540TM.

-The ads drove me crazy for the "free" traffic. The lack of multiple incidents at a glance is something I missed.

-The Garmin gets lost at the most inopportune times (where it thinks I am on roads a few blocks over) and will keep recalculating (which it announces it's doing every 3 seconds).

-The routing of the Garmin is so far off the TomTom, it's crazy.

-The Traffic reroutes won't happen automatically until there is a 24+ minute delay on your route

-Does not factor in the traffic delays into your arrival time.

-Traffic delays are not displayed on the normal driving view map like TT... they are on a colorless grey map overlay that it switches to when you get close to a delay.

-The ball mount is a joke... it moves constantly

-The screen is really unresponsive, in that you really have to press on it to hit buttons (which in turn moves the Garmin on that horrible mount)

-I will like having the non-easy menu that was my hatred of the XXL 550TM.​

I bought a 540TM and not a newer 2xxx series because I already have the pro-clip mount for the XXL and don't really feel like spending another $30-40 on yet another mount right now.

Hope this helps someone who is thinking about getting a Garmin.

 

[Oryxs]

Adidas1124

Interesting to read your post. I just bought my first tt, 540tm wte, after a lot of research. After traveling from Vancouver to Calgary via Edmonton , I was fedup with my garmin. I had so many routing issues eg on hwy1 it would take me up one onramp just to cross over and join the route on the other side, show routing down gravel logging routes etc. Was going to replace it with a nuvi 1490 but after this trip will try TT, as I also travel in Europe a lot.

 

[canderson]

Adidas1124

Interesting to read your post. I just bought my first tt, 540tm wte, after a lot of research. ...
... as I also travel in Europe a lot.

I think you've made a good decision for N.A. / Europe hopping.

A bit of advice in that regard .. your WTE, with 4GB of internal memory, has the capacity to hold the entire Western Europe map if you need it. You'll need to safely copy and store the North American map to your PC before you do it, but you can avoid the 'segmented' map issues in Europe that way. The current Western Europe map will no longer fit in 2GB. Whether that matters to you will of course depend upon whether you're traveling very far while in Europe.

We've got a pretty good thread on that around here somewhere.

 

[Abb0]

And, I'm back... I always do this and I should learn.

lol, I'm the same. I'm pleased to see someone else has my "problem" as well