It has been interesting, but I give up on TomTom, I am going back to a Garmin.
FYI: I purchased two TomTom 930T devices last weekend and will be returning them tomorrow.
I would like to thank the many in this forum who have posted priceless information without which I could not have made the TomTom work remotely like it should.
Still, the problems greatly outweigh the benefits. So thanks for the help, but I give up.
I am posting this so that others know what they may be up against. I suspect that the support in other places is better than it is here in Canada, but even around Toronto, I find the TomTom to be a poor cousin to the Garmin.
Our problems have included (in chronological order):
0) Unavailable voices: In spite of having installed them, most voices appeared ?greyed out? and unavailable. On advice from the forum, I deleted everything from the TomTom and re-updated from TomTom Home. After re-installing the voices, they finally work.
1) Unavailable voice response: Unfortunately, having removed and reinstalled, the voice response was no longer working. This was one of the three reasons for purchasing this unit. I liked the idea of not having to reach over and type in an address. I wish the VR system worked for more than just the address, but at least that was a nice feature. With help from this forum, I was able to create the file to re-enable the voice response and it works well.
2) One TomTom 930T does not know where it is. Neither knows where I live. The two units, in spite of both having the same quick fix updates, disagree on their location by 100m (300 feet?). They both think I live 150m South and around the corner from my house. It used to bother me when my Garmin missed my driveway by 5m, at least it was on the right side of the block.
3) I really like the POI display on the map. It would be nice if they were selectable. I don?t think the Garmin has this feature at all and I will miss it when I switch back, but so far I have found a number of these POI entries to be wrong. As an example, there is one marker for a restaurant near me and it did not matter if you drove south or north, you passed the restaurant before the icon on the screen went by. When travelling south, the TomTom showed the restaurant as south of the intersection. When travelling north, it was north of the intersection. Is it better to have a feature that misleads, or to not have the feature?
3) The FM broadcast sound quality is pathetic. I have tried a number of frequencies but they all carry a hiss that I find annoying. Other than that, I love the fact that it can play music and mute it when giving directions or answering the phone. (As a side note, the TomTom Jukebox is a joke. Where is the Play button? It looks like I have to pick a song and then it ignores the ?shuffle? option that I selected and plays things sequentially.) No matter, the hiss from the radio is unbearable. Although this was one of the three reasons for purchasing this unit, it is not a feature I can put up with.
4) No traffic signal. I drove across Toronto today at 10:00 and 18:30. Not once did I pick up a traffic signal. Even when doing 60 in a 100 zone. This was the third main reason for purchasing this unit. Without this, and without good sound through the FM, the only reason to spend all this money was the voice response system.
5) The final straw. On my Garmin, if I type in ?Home Depot?, it finds five within 30km of me. The TomTom, none, zip, zero. The TomTom lists four Loblaws (grocers) within 21km of me. The Garmin lists five. The closest one is missed by the TomTom, and no, it is not a new store.
In other words, I find the TomTom much more flexible, but not nearly as reliable, informative, or intuitive as the Garmin. Thanks again for all your help.
