TomTom One LE Packaging - whose safety?

[activinet]

Sorry guys. I just needed to get this gripe out. A lot (most) small electronics packaging is the plastic blister pack, which is a pain in general. TomTom went two further, for the worse, on this. There is an internal second blister pack which also needed to be cut open. There was this metal triangle thing on the hanging hole which was also holding the blister pack pieces together. I literally had to tear and slice this monstrosity apart in the BB parking lot with a swiss-army knife, being careful not to damage the TT in the process!

This took forever to unwrap! There is a gps commercial on tv where a couple are stuck in a traffic jam, the woman pops into a store, comes out with a new gps in a box, opens the box in an instant, and voila the gps is working and directs them out of the traffic jam and on their way. I don't recall if this is TT or not. The point is, that was far from my package-opening experience.

Why must we be treated as criminals?

 

[Jim101]

Maybe TT owns stock in this product:
http://www.enjoyzibra.com/openit/

Jim....

 

[activinet]

Maybe TT owns stock in this product:
http://www.enjoyzibra.com/openit/

Jim....

Could be, next time I'm at the TT online shop, I'll look for this.

 

[danjreed]

I agree, I wonder how many units get returned with scratched screens, cut cords, and blood.

Mine took at least 3 min to cut apart with an X-Acto knife.

I have one of them fancy blister pack tools, its only so so for the real thick plastics....

 

[bobby101]

if i ever get another tt in the same packaging, i am going to get out my jig saw-load up the plastic cutting blade and let it rip-
all the time cursing the idiot who designed this package and WISHING i could use the jig saw on HIM/HER

 

[tomlouie]

No kidding. Who wants to have to cut through bullet proof polycarbonate in order to unwrap a product? Yeesh.

 

[Tazzy]

Opened one up today and it's a wonder I didn't total it, had to use pliers and a knife and scissors. PITA

 

[Rick F.]

Opened one up today and it's a wonder I didn't total it, had to use pliers and a knife and scissors. PITA

ROFLMAO, this is my experience as well. I started opening my TT very carefully with an exacto knife - just in case I had to take it back. After about 2 minutes, I was ripping it apart with plyers, scissors and knife. Sheesh!!

 

[busta]

I made the mistake of trying to cut the package open with cheap scissors; ended up snapping the handle of the scissors. Next I tried shears, but could not cut close enough to the plastic seam to pull it apart. Next I had to use a knife to separate most of the seam. Once I thought I had all of it done and about this time I forgot about the metal clamps; I started pulling it apart, the metal clamps popped off, one of them hitting me and bouncing off my glasses. The rest scattered around the room and I had to jump to quickly pick them up before the cat decided to eat them.

 

[twistrman]

I got a TT One Xl for x-mas and it came in a box with just some light shrink wrap on it. I had it open in about 3 seconds. Doubles as a good place to store my TT when not in use right now til i get a case. It even had a extra thick plastic slip cover inside that fits over the screen to protect it.

 

[Penultimate]

There is a gps commercial on tv where a couple are stuck in a traffic jam, the woman pops into a store, comes out with a new gps in a box, opens the box in an instant, and voila the gps is working and directs them out of the traffic jam and on their way.

I got lost on the way to the store when I went to pick mine up. So I'm thinking, "Hey, I'll just get out my new TomTom and see where it guides me!" The first clue that it wasn't going to be that easy was when one of the metal clips hit me in the eye.

What previous posters have failed to mention is that the packaging continues to be a hazard even after the TomTom is removed. You try to throw it in a trash bag, but shards of indestructible plastic punch through, seeking out any opportunity to stab people when they least expect it.

 

[Soulcoffr]

Yeah, those metal clips around the hanging hole were dangerous. Once I managed to breach one of the side seams, I gave up on the scissors and just used brute force to open it. Mistake. Those little clips went shooting everywhere.

Makes me wish I had my tin snips at Christmas.

 

[Dusty64]

I was cleaning my car out today and found one of the metal clips that was sent flying at machII and hit me between the eyes drawing blood I worked in the automotive aftermarket and electronics industry for 12 years and never ran across anything like the TT packaging.

 

[resqguy]

Its all marketing. At a certain price point, the manufacturer wants the product out front where the customer can buy it with little trouble. Some are turned off by not being able to "touch it" because a product is behind glass, or squirreled away out of reach. Did you notice the sensortag sticker inside the package too? Thats the kind of thing they put on things that have a high theft potential, ie: on a rack in "general population"...

 

[danjreed]

Put them behind glass anyhow, where I got mine, they had them locked away under the counter..

Blister style packing has given consumers a new bloody double edged sword... prefect minty products, never touched by humans until you open them... or fill up land fills with plastic for 5000 years while you use your tom tom covered in blood on the way to the hospital.

Frankly, I prefer the idea of the "spider" metal straps that stores remove at the counter when you buy someting still in a "box"..

good reading:

http://plasticsurgeonopener.com/files/azrepub.pdf

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=263448

 

[ryno1974]

Bought mine from Circuit City while traveling through the US on my way home to Canada. The CC label on the package said there was a 15% restocking charge for returned product with damaged packaging. That night at the Holiday Inn i spent a half hour with a Honda key (BTW, the dullest key ever made) only to nearly lose an eye to the freaking metal clip.

AWFUL packaging (I am ironically enough in the packaging industry), Not to mention an environmental nightmare.

Love the GPS, hate the package.