Hi from Toronto

[aruba50]

I have owned the 920T for about 4 days now and am starting to think it might have been a mistake. Here's why in order of importance to me:

1. Speed limits do not display at all so far, therefore no warnings will ever happen. This by itself, is a little annoying since the warnings are a great safety (ticket avoidance) feature. Of greater concern though is the real possibility that the map data has no speed limit info. How in the world can I expect intelligent routing if the decider (not G.W. Bush) does not know the road limits?? This is my third GPS (others were PDA based Mapopolis and iGuidance). The others all had speed data and displayed it at all times. Even given the outdated age of these maps, they seem to me to be of greater utility. I have seen some pretty weird routes that are probably a result of this. It will take a freeway over any other alternatives, even if there is a relatively main high capacity road that is much more direct (i.e. Eglington Ave. from 427 to Jane). My older GPS units came up with more intelligent routes.

2. No apparent way to create an itinerary. This is very rudimentary and a big miss on the software build.

3. The menus are poorly organized out of the box in that many frequently used icons are buried. There is a QuickMenu but it is limited to 5 items. There is no way to organize the menus yourself.

Having said all that, I do like many things about this unit.
The display is brilliant, even in very bright daylight and dark glasses on.
The audio speaker has great volume and clarity (this is important since I will not want to sit and listen to the FM xmitter option even though it works as advertised).
The favorites list works very well.
The FM traffic feature is cool even though the actual data is dependant on the local provider.

In conclusion; This unit has a lot of good points. It could be great IF TomTom really tried. I hope that the routing (speed) issues can be corrected and will be made available to the "top-of-their-line" 920T otherwise, I may have to make a change. It's that important!

John

 

[46jimbo]

Although I own a One, not a 920, I'll try to answer some of your questions.

1. Go to 'Change preferences', 'Safety preferences'. Make sure that there is a checkmark beside 'Warn when driving faster than allowed'. It is possible that this only works on highways (??). In any case, it works for me when I'm 5 km/hr over the limit.

And yes, these maps are rated for speed limits. This is part of the routing calculations.

As for routing, remember that the fastest route may be longer in distance than the shortest route.

2. While you are in the 'Change preferences' section, look for the icon 'Show more menu options', probably several pages in. This should make the Itinerary icon appear. This is just a guess on my part, because on my One, the 'Itinerary' icon is on page 2 permanently.

3. Search the forum for references to Birdman's website where he explains custom forums.

 

[aruba50]

920t

Thanks for your reply 46jimbo. I have selected the 'Warn when driving faster than allowed' option but I still have not seen ANY speeds displayed on the status screen as it should. Based on some other posters, this may be the norm for the 920 in that they rarely see limits appear on the display. This suggests that the maps don't contain much in the way of speed limits.

It is my belief that what is used for route calculations are speed limit assumptions based on the road type (primary, secondary etc.). This makes for quite poor, hit and miss results. I am aware that the fastest may be longer. I am not a complete newbie to GPS but am new to TomTom.

I did find the itinerary icon (don't know why I didn't see it before....brain infarct, I guess).

If you are getting regular speed limit feedback on your unit the maps are different (less compacted?).

Thanks again.

 

[(COP)Sli]

hmmm You shouldnt need a TT to tell you what the speed limits are you should be able to do that yourself.
But then again maybe you might if you are complaining about it.
If you look to the side of the road there is lil sighns on the right side of the road that have BIG numbers on them that is what tells you the speed limit.
Its a wonder how some ppl get a drivers licence.
A GPS is to help you get from point A to point B not to tell you how fast to go.

 

[46jimbo]

A GPS is to help you get from point A to point B not to tell you how fast to go.

Not true! This is a documented feature of the unit, so it should work.

(Did I sense a bit of snarkiness in the previous poster's reply? Not nice on this forum! )

 

[aruba50]

(COP)Sli, you miss the point by so far no GPS could help you find it!