Vote for your most wanted new features here

[Figgerty]

I almost love my new Go500, almost. The audio/volume level is terrific, the only gripe I had with my Go720. After a couple of months use I am unhappy with the battery and I have been caught out because I did not realise the battery level was low when I took it off charge. The battery level indicator is inadequate. I want a proper indication of the battery level and not the little symbol on the top right hand corner of the main screen. The battery life if supposed to be 2 hours and that little battery symbol does not seem to display the difference between 25 minutes and 95 minutes.

A proper battery indicator is required.

 

[Arno]

If you do a lot of walking, hiking or other activities where having a GPS would be handy, I recommend units like the Garmin Oregon 450 (prices have come way down on these, too).

My technophobe SiL does a lot of walking (or will again once her replaced hip replacements are fully healed) and walks criss cross in residnetial areas and park like settings and when she thinks it is time to go home has no idea where she is.

I would like to get her a device which she powers up and it will direct her for the shortest walk home.
No geocaching per se, just to get to her house again.

What would you recommend?

 

[canderson]

If you are willing to set it up for her ... a Garmin with decent screen loaded with the local OSM map for her area - they tend to include walking paths as well as streets. As she MAY stop moving from time to time, probably would not hurt to get one with a magnetic compass. A Dakota 20 is a little overkill in other ways, but has the essentials for her. You can load that map, and load Home as a waypoint, and it's two 'button' presses on the touch screen to send her on her way. She can either follow a map or just follow a compass arrow as best she can.

Certainly an option. A Dakota 20 can be had for about $145 on eBay.

Whatever you pick, it should have a simple UI and a true magnetic compass, and the ability to have free OSM maps loaded. The Garmin CityNav maps are a little pricey if they can be avoided for purposes such as this.

What area is she in? I could have a look at OSM map quality in that location.

 

[Arno]

If you are willing to set it up for her ... a Garmin with decent screen loaded with the local OSM map for her area - they tend to include walking paths as well as streets. As she MAY stop moving from time to time, probably would not hurt to get one with a magnetic compass. A Dakota 20 is a little overkill in other ways, but has the essentials for her. You can load that map, and load Home as a waypoint, and it's two 'button' presses on the touch screen to send her on her way. She can either follow a map or just follow a compass arrow as best she can.

Certainly an option. A Dakota 20 can be had for about $145 on eBay.

Whatever you pick, it should have a simple UI and a true magnetic compass, and the ability to have free OSM maps loaded. The Garmin CityNav maps are a little pricey if they can be avoided for purposes such as this.

What area is she in? I could have a look at OSM map quality in that location.

Thanks.
She is in Pickering, ON
https://www.google.ca/maps?q=Granby...&hnear=Granby+Ct,+Pickering,+Ontario&t=m&z=16

This may not work the way I had envisioned.
I thought I could just set the HOME location and when she is ready to return, power up the device to get left/right/straight directions.

She, like SWMBO, has no sense for directions.

 

[canderson]

Not quite that simple, but nearly, once it is set up. You'll be able to create whatever menu items you want on the main screen. Her process can be as simple as

Turn on unit
Press "Where to" button, and "Waypoint" button. Easy enough to remember that bit.
Select "Home" (or whatever you've chosen to call it), or any other location(s) that you may have provided for her to use, and the "Go" button. So that's easy too. Select the desired result and GO is all.
She'll be presented with a map, an icon indicating her current position, and a route recommended on the map to get her to her destination. It's just a matter of keeping your little pointer on the recommended roads/paths and you get where you're going.

'Simpler' devices that just point an arrow towards the destination will be 'as the crow flies', and it may not be possible to navigate a direct route like that!

 

[Arno]

OK, thanks, I'll check into it after the move.

 

[canderson]

Let me know if some screen shots would help.

 

[Arno]

Let me know if some screen shots would help.

That won't be necessary after your previous description.
At this very moment she is not yet up to more than 20-30 minute slow walks.

 

[Oldster]

I'll get things started with my votes:

A preference to decrease or shut off the 5 min u-turn delay - 5
Add a road via mapshare - 4
Auto-sorting of fastest order of stops on an itinerary - 4
Preference for browse mode while navigating (tapping will move the map rather than opening a menu) - 4
Tapless speech recognition - eg by yelling some type of voice keyword so you don't have to use your hands - 3
partner with Alpine/Kenwood/Pionner (or someone similar) and make an aftermarket in-dash tomtom/radio with at least a 7 inch screen - 3
Razr2 bluetooth support - 2
Time of day map features (road restrictions / turn restrictions) - 2

I'll get things started with my votes:

A preference to decrease or shut off the 5 min u-turn delay - 5
Add a road via mapshare - 4
Auto-sorting of fastest order of stops on an itinerary - 4
Preference for browse mode while navigating (tapping will move the map rather than opening a menu) - 4
Tapless speech recognition - eg by yelling some type of voice keyword so you don't have to use your hands - 3
partner with Alpine/Kenwood/Pionner (or someone similar) and make an aftermarket in-dash tomtom/radio with at least a 7 inch screen - 3
Razr2 bluetooth support - 2
Time of day map features (road restrictions / turn restrictions) - 2

Calculate speed on gravel roads at 30 km/hr (19 mph) not 10 km/hr (6mph) as present on TT1500 - 4

 

[sid_james]

.

'Simpler' devices that just point an arrow towards the destination will be 'as the crow flies', and it may not be possible to navigate a direct route like that!

I bought a Garmin HC way back in 2006 in order to be able to more or less abandon my car whilst on holiday, if i saw somewhere I fancied walking into, but didn't know the area. "Mark waypoint", get spare batteries, off I go. Follow the arrow (avoiding fences and cliffs) back to the car. Brilliant. You can fet these devices for £30 off the 'bay these days.

Have an Oregon 650t for walking and caching these days, with OS maps.

 

[canderson]

OSM maps are definitely the way to go. In some areas, walking paths are heavily covered.

As for "mark waypoint" .. chuckle. We get up into the mountains geocaching here and one general rule is "waypoint the car". Too often, the return path isn't the same as the original path (unless you take the time to build a track), and trying to find the car in the woods can be a right pain.

 

[Arno]

Just a feed back, canderson.

No use for my SiL any longer. she never recovered fully from the replacements of her hip replacements.
Now, after waddling for a hundred steps, she has to catch breath again.

 

[canderson]

I'm surprised. Unless something goes badly amiss, a hip replacement here is almost an in-one-day-out-the-next proposition and on your feet. Sorry to hear about her version.

 

[Arno]

Read again.
Her hip replacements 19 years prior the the replacement of the replacements was so great that she must have been responsible for at least another 100 women going through that fearlessly.

She was walking around 5 miles daily until she experienced excruciating pains.
Turns out, the plastic used for the cup hardened and shattered into thousands of shards.

The operation took 9 hours, removing everything before reaming the bone and she remained in hospital for seven days. Got transported to a recon unit where they made sure she would not get up to the washroom for the first 30 days.
When I first asked you it was 3 months after her recon and she was dying to take up walking again.

Well, so much for our "socialist" health care system.

 

[Eric Jones]

5 display routes in alphabetic order not load order

 

[Harry Ridsdale]

Must display POI pop up while in drive mode.

Get the picture:-

We are driving through Germany and my wife, who is watching the XXL says "there is a Netto coming up and we need some milk and bread and there is a Stellplatz not much further on and a little off to my side, do we want it?" I say "what kind of stellplatz" and she, looking at the symbol says "it is a services only" whereupon I say "excellent we'll go there right after Netto." and we do.

This kind of scenario happens daily at least.

Yours Harry

 

[Viseguy]

I find it astounding that my new GO 620 offers only one (1) computerized voice! With all due respect to "Samantha", it would be nice if there were at least one male computerized voice on offer. And would it be asking too much to have more than one of each?

This is a big step backwards from the variety of computerized voices available in earlier models. Surely the old voices still exist on a hard drive somewhere. Why are they not available for current models? I find it hard to believe that cost is a consideration. What's the big deal?

 

[canderson]

The old voices aren't compatible with the newer voice engine that pronounces everything. That said, I agree that it would be nice to have more choices.

 

[Viseguy]

The old voices aren't compatible with the newer voice engine that pronounces everything.

Ah, okay, that makes sense. So there would be some cost involved in developing new voices.... Oh, well.

Maybe the next-generation devices could have a single computerized voice that is customizable -- i.e., sliders to regulate voice qualities such as pitch, timbre, resonance, etc., to taste. I can dream, can't I?

 

[Figgerty]

I would like the volume to be as high as on the GO500 as I listen to instructions when driving and rarely look at the screen. I wear distance specs for driving and they work very well. But my close eyesight is starting to be a bit fuzzy now. I have tried varifocals & bifocals but have not got on well with either. I can't change specs when driving so having loud audio on my Tom Tom is so helpful to me. It is also safer not to have to look at the scree.

On a Go720 I was able to remove my sat nav from the car and use it to find my way around a strange town, mainly to find my way back to my car. The newer sat navs battery stays live for about 30 seconds after the engine is turned off. I know many use smartphones now but mine is either out of data or charge or I have left it indoors charging. The sat nav stays in the car and if the battery lasted longer it would be a boom.

I would also like my next sat nav to have a much larger internal memory. It is annoying to not be able to download a new map update due to lack of memory shortly after buying it.

Apart from the above, I love my Tom Tom and wouldn't be without it. It allows me the freedom to go anywhere without fear of getting lost.