Tom Tom One - I just don't get it!

[ftogpx 0]

I've just bought one of these puppies for my girlfriend who has just passed her driving test (watch out everyone ) and i've been trying it out myself on some routes that I know very well. I was wondering how it actually calculates the routes because it never seems to take the best one. I know you have the option to use the fastest route or the shortest route, but either way, it always seems to take me on a round about way. For example, I knew I had to take a right turn (on to quite a major road) but the TT told me to carry on and then take the next right which eventually leads back on the road I would've taken! Also near my house, all I had to do was take a left then a right to get home, but no, the TT wanted me to go all the way down the high street and then loop back round! It all seems very strange and i'm not sure if I want to use it on routes that I dont know as I'll always feel it's taking me on a longer route than necessar. You cant beat a good old map IMO!

[cooperman247 0]

I don't have a Tom Tom, but it seems that all Sat Nav's look at the electronic map and take the shortest route. Mine takes me off a good A road, down a less than B Class road and then back onto the A road again a few hundred yards down the road. IMO they are good for local roads only. So use a map to get you in the general direction of where you are going, then use Sat Nav to get you to the final destination

Just my 2 cents worth

[Ari 0]

I love my TOmTOm and it's helped me enormously a few times. But when I'm using it on routes I know (I sometimes have it on to maybe find an address in a town I know how to get to for instance) it sure does have some strange ideas of best routes sometimes...

[lottiefox 21]

Tom Tom is a god send for my job as I have to go all over the place to some mad addresses in towns I've no clue of. Completely brilliant for things like that. BUT, it often then tries to bring me home a completely different route!!! Went to Hackney, easy peasy, down the M1 and into the town and bingo. Then it brought me home across the top of London to find the M40!! Why FFS?!!! The other thing I hate is that it will KEEP trying to get you back to a motorway even if you turn off because of accident, traffic etc. It only recalculates ages after the first few turnings from my experience. Plus it once tried to take me over extremely scary narrow rock laden mountain passes to get to a house in Wales - fastest route my ass!!

But overall, I LOVE it, and frequently tell Tim Tom Tom how marvellous he is in the car.

[CarMad 740]

Lottie when it does this click into find alternative and then avoid part or route and click the motorway you want to avoid.

It will then route you away from it but still back home / to your destination avoiding that road. If you find its cleared further up and you want to get back on then just click cancel and route again and the odds are it will use the motorway again.

[CarMad 740]

[ QUOTE ]

I've just bought one of these puppies for my girlfriend who has just passed her driving test (watch out everyone ) and i've been trying it out myself on some routes that I know very well. I was wondering how it actually calculates the routes because it never seems to take the best one. I know you have the option to use the fastest route or the shortest route, but either way, it always seems to take me on a round about way. For example, I knew I had to take a right turn (on to quite a major road) but the TT told me to carry on and then take the next right which eventually leads back on the road I would've taken! Also near my house, all I had to do was take a left then a right to get home, but no, the TT wanted me to go all the way down the high street and then loop back round! It all seems very strange and i'm not sure if I want to use it on routes that I dont know as I'll always feel it's taking me on a longer route than necessar. You cant beat a good old map IMO!

[/ QUOTE ]

You see a while ago I had to go cross country to skegness and the route that was chosen by my passenger was as the crow flies and it was a nightmare that took far longer than we originally thought.

On the way back I said lets use the sat-nav. The route it choose certainly wasn't direct but it was quicker in the same rush hour traffic by over an hour.

My passenger bought one the very next week.

[lottiefox 21]

[ QUOTE ]

Lottie when it does this click into find alternative and then avoid part or route and click the motorway you want to avoid.

It will then route you away from it but still back home / to your destination avoiding that road. If you find its cleared further up and you want to get back on then just click cancel and route again and the odds are it will use the motorway again.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have done this, but its a mixed result for me - I sat on the M1 trying to get to Potters Bar and the M1 was closed. So I told the Tom Tom "avoid M1 junctions.. whatever" - it thought...then said "no alternative route"

Overall its fab though.

[sayerbloke 6]

I bought a TomTom One yesterday. Well, it was my brother's idea so we went 50/50 on the cost.

Used it a couple of times and then sold my half to him; I didn't like it. I'd rather keep my PDA SatNav and use that... even though it did get a whole convoy of us lost in the summer on the way to Drusillas!

[nightmare 0]

used one for a year now great things but still have to use road signs and ur brain !!!! dont beleve every thing it tells you.Told me to do a right turn at a junction with a no right turn sign!!one or two addresses ive put in not found strange!!,out comes the back up A to z . But over all great things gets you right to the door and saves the stress but somtimes takes you on a slightly strange route

[iceman2002_uk 0]

I'm running a road angel navigator 6000, and its fantastic, camera alerts and sat nav.....and it was same price (199.75) as the tom tom! and that was from an audi dealer!!!

[edo 0]

Factory systems seem (not sure why) much more intelligent. The system in my A8 (with TMC) hardly ever puts a foot wrong, and has even found a coupe of short custs I didnt realise exsisted.

However, like all technology, a certain amount of user intelligence is required. Just besause it is a computer doesnt mean it is correct!

[Vertigo1 0]

I know a lot of people who still use TT3 due to the routing problems with TT5. Apparently the whole application was re-written for version 5 and the routing logic is much worse than the older version.

Certainly I've seen it do some very very stupid things. The all-time best was when I was coming home from London to Birmingham and was travelling up the M1 (to then go M6,M42). The damn thing kept telling me to turn off at every junction of the M1 and as soon as I passed the junction it would start telling me to turn off at the next. When I checked what route it was trying to take me I found it wanted to make me cut across to the M40. Err, what!?

[jdcampbell 0]

I have Tomtom 5 on a PDA and I can't really fault it. But then if i think it's suggesting something daft I just ignore it or ask it to re-route. I have not used any of the Tomtom GO or similar all in one devices so I can't comment if they work exactly the same way. I've been using Tomtom since version 2.

I have used Road Angel Navigator and Road Angel Navigator 6000. The former is dreadful, the 6000 is much better, but I still don't think the software is as good as the Tomtom. The 6000 is great because it is completely self-contained and has an 8 hour battery life, so you hardly ever need to have it connected to power.

I've also tried the Snooper Indago. I liked it more than the Road Angel products, but still not as much as the Tomtom.

One of the best things about the PDA I use is the transreflective screen, which means it is still clear in bright sunlight. The Indago was very poor in this respect and the Road Angel isn't great. I don't know if the latest versions of the all in one units have trans-reflective screens yet.

I'll be trying the new Talex units with integrated TrafficMaster soon. I'll post a review when I have done so.

Doug

[CarMad 740]

Its now at Tomtom 6. Anyone who hasn't updated theres go to Tomtom.com and download the new HOME application and it will update it for free.

One thing Tomtom are very good at is not standing still, with each new release it gets better and has more features some useful some not.

[Ari 0]

Is that just for PDA's, or can I update my TomTom 700?

[Durrsaku 0]

You should be able to upgrade yours too Ari.

[jdcampbell 0]

[ QUOTE ]

Its now at Tomtom 6. Anyone who hasn't updated theres go to Tomtom.com and download the new HOME application and it will update it for free.

One thing Tomtom are very good at is not standing still, with each new release it gets better and has more features some useful some not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you update the PDA version 5 to version 6? I thought you now had to buy the software again. ....

[gizze 12]

I have to say that I have never found any portable device any good, the TomTom One has just gone back, its routing is nothing short of bloody awful!

I had a Navman iCN 510 that was a little better but kept loosing signal, so was no good, now have a Gamin Nuvi 310d which is alright, but still tries to take me off main roads to shave 2 miles off a 3 mile journey, what's the point of that!?

The nav in the BMW, bith e46 and the 535d was spot on, always went the way I would choose on a journey. Not sure what system and maps they use but very impressive. The Audi Nav is pretty good too, much better than portables.

None of the portables apart from the navman seem to let you select main roads, you get shortest, quickest even offroad, but why not main roads?

[jdcampbell 0]

I don't think you can update from version 5 to version 6 on the PDA can you? My understanding is that you have to pay for the new software. Am I wrong?

[jdcampbell 0]

[ QUOTE ]

........ still tries to take me off main roads to shave 2 miles off a 3 mile journey, what's the point of that!?

[/ QUOTE ]

I thiink you have to accept that the routing cannot be infallible and if you know that your 3 mile route is better than the two mile alternative you just have to ignore it for that section of the journey. The algorithms associated with fastest and shortest routing calculations have by their nature to be somewhat genralised; there's no substitute for local knowledge.

The Talex Transonic 6000T has some route profile options which may go some way towards addressing your issues: you can set the car type to be: fast car, standard car, slow car or motorbike. And you can set the route type to be Fast Route, Short Route, Optimum Route or Scenic Route. As yet I have not got to fully understand the implications of all these permutations, but I suspect somewhere in those options is a routing algorithm that would get close to what you want.

I have a demo unit you can try if you want to evaluate it (subject to an appropriate refundable deposit).

Doug

[Biffa 0]

I've found the following with TomTom:

<ul type="square">

[*] Quickest - uses the quickest roads (motorways wherever it can)

[*] Shortest - tries to get you their using the shortest phyiscal route even if that means doing 20mph all the way

[*] Quickest avoiding motorways - this is the best for me, always tends to send me on a route I would take myself. Mainly A roads etc.

Overall its saved my bacon, but if I *know* where I am going I only have it on for the speed display