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[Arno]

I would also like my next sat nav to have a much larger internal memory.

That may be easily solved on your GO 500 already by inserting a 32 GB microSD card.

I am surprised about the rather short battery life as my 600 seemed to last over an hour while checking for traffic with the smart phone; longer without traffic.
For connecting the 500 in the car are you using the single piece Cigarette Lighter Adapter with its hard wired microSD cable, as supplied with the device?

Forgot to add, GO 620 running 85 minutes before battery warning and an additional 17 minutes before automatic shut down.

 

[Figgerty]

That may be easily solved on your GO 500 already by inserting a 32 GB microSD card.

I am surprised about the rather short battery life as my 600 seemed to last over an hour while checking for traffic with the smart phone; longer without traffic.
For connecting the 500 in the car are you using the single piece Cigarette Lighter Adapter with its hard wired microSD cable, as supplied with the device?

I know the memory can be expanded, I have a micro SD card in mine now waiting to be used when I next download updates. But my point is that it should not have to have the storage expanded soon after buying a Tom Tom. I have never had to increase the storage on any of my laptops.

I used to use the my old GO720 out of the car for an hour or more & the battery lasted just fine, the GO500 was quite different from the start. I was so pleased with the increased volume when I bought it I did not pursue the battery issue when the retailer pointed out that was only meant for use in a car. I'm mentioning it now because I want my next sat nav to have a battery that can last for a while after leaving the car.

I know I can use a power bank but that is an additional gismo to charge and take with me.

I am using the dual adapter & cable that came with the Tom Tom to charge it. I think it was described as a fast charger. Should this make a difference.

 

[Arno]

But my point is that it should not have to have the storage expanded soon after buying a Tom Tom.

5 years in electronic terms is ancient.
Maps then were considerably smaller. On my GO 930 I used to have North America on the 4 GB internal and Europe on the 4 GB SD card. Either map today uses nearly 8 GB.

From the manual:

Charging your device
The battery in your TomTom GO navigation device charges when you connect it to the car charger or to your computer.
You are warned when the battery level is low or critical. When the battery is empty, the device goes into sleep mode.
If your device gets hot while connected to the car charger, the battery cannot charge. Once the device cools down, it starts to charge again.
Important: You should plug the USB connector directly into a USB port on your computer and not into a USB hub or USB port on a keyboard or monitor.

I am not familiar with the dual adapter but we have seen a lot of after market units that barely output enough amperage to power the device while connected.
I wander if anyone reading this can shed some light on it.

I have switched on my GO 620 WiFi and will revert once it shuts down.

 

[Figgerty]

5 years is a long time in technology terns but not everyone buys the technology as soon as it's released and if we believe in saving the planet for our descendants we should not throw it out as soon as a newer model becomes available.

This is the selection of charging items on Tom Tom (Eng) today. None of them have a fixed connection.
Mine is the High Speed Multcharger.

 

[Arno]

1.2 A port will keep up with the use while driving.
Are you sure you use the 2.4 A for the TomTom so that the battery actually gets charged during your drives?

If you solve your battery problem I would not suggest for you to buy a GO 520 at this time.
Nice to have a WiFi connected device but you would have to plug it in to the PC or a wall charger anyway to download the next map.

 

[Figgerty]

So if I drive for several hours my GO 500 will only charge sufficiently for use of the sat nav whilst driving. Why call it charging you may as well call it a power connect cable - and charge a lot less for it, I went through my sat nav stuff this evening looking for a fixed connection charger. I found two. One for a Go740 and one for the Go720. Neither of them fir the GO 500. I have other cables but they also don't fit the GO 500.

Tom Tom: why not be original and use the same charging connections for the next models as for the previous model range.

I brought my device in from my car and it is now charging, using my Android phone connections. I have no idea how long it will take to fully charge but I'm starting to believe the battery has a low capacity and no matter how long or far I drive the device will not last long when off charge..

 

[Arno]

... I went through my sat nav stuff this evening looking for a fixed connection charger. I found two. One for a Go740 and one for the Go720. Neither of them fir the GO 500. I have other cables but they also don't fit the GO 500.

Tom Tom: why not be original and use the same charging connections for the next models as for the previous model range.

Why are you posting that question in a peer-to-peer list when you should be addressing the TomTom company.

As far as connectors are concerned, when you plug in a USB cable to the PC you are using a standard Type A USB port. Electronics manufacturers were making devices smaller and came out with the Type Mini B, the one you are familiar with from your 740.
Smart phone were shrinking sizes and needed smaller connectors still and the Type Micro B became the standard.
That begs the question, why do you not use this mains plug and socket type any longer?
;->)

 

[Figgerty]

I posed the question on here because Tom Tom are supposed to be keeping an eye on what is discussed here and because the question came to my mind when I was looking through the different chargers and connections for Tom Tom.

I was not referring to the different connections to a PC I was referring to the ones for the car. Someone mentioned a fixed wire connection to the car cigarette lighter and the ones I found were not compatible with the GO500.

You said "I have switched on my GO 620 WiFi and will revert once it shuts down"

How long did it work after it was taken off charge?

 

[Figgerty]

1.2 A port will keep up with the use while driving.
Are you sure you use the 2.4 A for the TomTom so that the battery actually gets charged during your drives?

If you solve your battery problem I would not suggest for you to buy a GO 520 at this time.
Nice to have a WiFi connected device but you would have to plug it in to the PC or a wall charger anyway to download the next map.

What and where is a 1.2 A port. Same question for a 2,4 A. I use the charger shown in the Snip above, the High Speed Multi Charger. It came with the GO 500 so I presume it's the right one for the car.


I used my Go720/740 quite a bit indoors and updated the maps regularly and planned routes. When I bought the GO500 I charged it in the car mostly. Planning routes was much easier so there was no need to do it indoors. The map updates took too long and would tie up my PC for hours and then I couldn't do an update through lack of internal storage. I have a 16GB microSD card formatted in the device but have not done the map update yet.

 

[Arno]

I posed the question on here because Tom Tom are supposed to be keeping an eye on what is discussed here

Why?
TomTom has their own forum and, as far as I know, does not monitor what is discussed here.

I was not referring to the different connections to a PC I was referring to the ones for the car.

Since you use the fast charger you can use the same USB cable to connect in the car as to the PC.
If that works on the PC but not in the car I can only presume that there is something wrong with your fast charger or the 12V supply to it from the car.

You said "I have switched on my GO 620 WiFi and will revert once it shuts down"

I did make an edit later on and am surprised it does not show.

Start to low battery alert was 85 minutes and an additional 22 minutes to automatic shut down.

 

[Arno]

What and where is a 1.2 A port. Same question for a 2,4 A. I use the charger shown in the Snip above, the High Speed Multi Charger. It came with the GO 500 so I presume it's the right one for the car.

I do not have such a charger so I have to go by the web page
https://www.tomtom.com/en_ca/drive/accessories/chargers-cables/high-speed-dual-charger/
which shows that the port with some red plastic is the 2.4 A type (click 3rd picture in above URL).

 

[Figgerty]

The top middle charger came with the sat nav when I bought it, was a special price if bought with the sat nav, so that's the one I use. The Tom Tom website should not be promoting chargers if they don't charge properly.

 

[Arno]

The Fast Charge USB port is listed for 2.1A and should be doing a good job if it works properly.

 

[Figgerty]

It works when it's in the car and that's 99% of the time. So I will just put up with it until I buy the next model or I start using a smartphone app.

I must now sort out why my Go500 is recognising the formatted memory card but Tom Tom My Drive Connect wants me to format it.before updating the maps.

 

[Figgerty]

Why?
TomTom has their own forum and, as far as I know, does not monitor what is discussed here.


Since you use the fast charger you can use the same USB cable to connect in the car as to the PC.
If that works on the PC but not in the car I can only presume that there is something wrong with your fast charger or the 12V supply to it from the car.


I did make an edit later on and am surprised it does not show.

Start to low battery alert was 85 minutes and an additional 22 minutes to automatic shut down.

I didn't realise there was another TT forum.

The battery life of your GO620 off charge is very impressive.


My Android cable did not work although the connection fitted so I used the TT cable to connect to TT Connect and it worked a treat. It downloaded a map update to my sat nav but there was only 4 MB memory remaining. I then downloaded a voice of 66 MB but TT Connect didn't recognise that the memory card had been formatted. Checking the device on Settings it showed it was formatted for use on Tom Tom..

 

[Arno]

I owe you an apology.
Although I have been here as an end user since 2008 I either never knew or had forgotten that mvl said in the starter that TomTom was monitoring these forums.

If I think back, the battery life on my GO 600 was similar. As far as I know, the only difference between the 600 and the 500 was the size of the screen and their housings. dhn may correct me on that.

When I am at home, the device is either connected to the PC or to the wall charger that came with my cell phone.

 

[Figgerty]

I keep my GO 500 in the car all the time and it rarely comes in the house. It it did I would forget it half of the time, like my smartphone. I still have an idiot little phone which lasts over a week between charges and it is always with me.,

I posted my SD card problem on another Tom Tom discussion forum & will see if they can help.

Thanks for your information and help.

 

[- et -]

The top middle charger came with the sat nav when I bought it, was a special price if bought with the sat nav, so that's the one I use. The Tom Tom website should not be promoting chargers if they don't charge properly.

I have had that charger for several years and it has worked satisfactorily for me. If you have having problems, I would look for abnormal behavior with your unit, or cable problems. (FWIW, I have been surprised by the number of cable problems I have personally seen with USB charging cables on several types of devices - not just a GPS.)

- Tom -

 

[Old_Raft]

Please add my vote for.....

See multiple route options (fastest, avoid highways, etc) on a map before selecting one.

This would always be the top of the list, why? I make a long return journey to the same destination at least once a year where the only practical route is all motorways and major A roads. This is a long round trip eight hours minimum, the motorways are busy day and night (major road maintenance overnight makes this a nightmare {not joke or pun interned ) and so daytime is the only option.

Often due to very heavy traffic there are breakdowns, accidents, and regularly twenty mile tailbacks of stationary traffic , on a good day one leg (of two in a day) is four hours, this can be as on the return leg yesterday nearly eight hours, total time for the day nearly twelve hours driving.

At the sign of a tailback, accident etc. I leave the A road or motorway and plan a new route NOT on the motorways. The 6200 is set to "Fastest route" which for this specific destination is ALWAYS motorways. This means that I have to go back into Settings, Route Planning, "Always plan this type of route" to change the route to "Avoid Motorways" otherwise it just takes me back to the road I was stuck on.

All I would like is the "option" to have to "multiple route" options displayed when I select a route. Those who don't want the selection every time they plan a route could simply turn the option to see the list off.

Even if there wasn't an option to turn the selection off it takes but a second to chose what you want and you never know when this could be useful. e.g. Sat in a lay-by (if you can find one) trying to find a better route home.

I know the SatNav SHOULD choose another route but yesterday it added AN HOUR to my return journey which suddenly disappeared when I forced it to re-calculate by taking a short-cut I knew of close to home.

This was an option on my original Go 5xx when there the policy seems to be to add millions of features and options does the very handy and simple option missing ?

PS I am not sure when my last post was

 

[Old_Raft]

PS to my post, think of the logic of the options at present after navigating to the menu...,

Fastest Route (For this route is always going to be motorway and A roads)

Shortest Route (This is the real killer and is in my case never an option as takes 37 hours)

Most eco-friendly. (I would love this but I actually have to reach my destination this year)

Avoid Motorways. (Fine only when you don't want a mixed route, taking advantage of motorways when you can)

Walking (Handy if you are walking 200 miles)

Bicycle route (Should I call the ambulance before I leave and give them the route to find me?)

Lets say I wanted to leave the 6200 on the most practical option but "fastest" and "avoid motorways" are mutually exclusive so there isn't one.

The SatNav is to make life easier, having the menu where you need it is easier.