No this is supposedly the muppet proof, only does directions type thingy.

I've got the phone, I've got a laptop, I've got a PC, can't see why I'd need a PDA - but then it probably wouldn't take someone long to convince me

Have the PDA ( iPaq) Version, £299 from PC World (other retailers are avaliable!)

Both very good, found it works well with no errors

Nigel has TomTom Go, Expect he will be about later, Maps for Go were updated last week, Had e mail notification even though have other system

Hello Derek, welcome back from wherever you've been.

I have a Tom Tom Go, as others have said, it is very good, and could probably be said to be the best of a bad bunch.

Its very easy to move between vehicles, very very easy to operate, the operating system has just been updated ( version 5, free upgrade ), and this has a lot more reatures, avaoid motorways, fastest ruote, walking route, cycling route, avaoid toll charges etc etc etc.

As it has an in built lithium battery you can set your destination without being sat in the car.

The 3D maps are very good, but as with all these systems there always seems to be errors, the maps are done by a kraut company  and occasionally you come across some strange errors, it knows about things done a couple of months ago, then occasionally wont know about a junction thats been there for 20 years.

The screen is a tad too reflective, would have been better with a matt finish.

Jane sounds gorgeous !

It has never gotten me lost yet, recovers very quickly either from its own error, or if you turn the wrong way, in fact that is probably the most impressive bit, just how quickly it re-calculates when you ignore it !

It now has postcode search, which is very good, apparently, from the blurb, only the UK and Netherlands use the postcode system, which I thought a little strange.

It doesnt cover Southern Ireland, it would seem nothing else does either, a few of the very expensive ones cover Dublin etc ( see my post in the Irish forum ).The whole of Western Europe ( if you purchase the relavent maps ), but not ROI ???????

It isn't cd driven, which I think is a boost.

You can download a free camera overlay for it, and soon you will be able to subscribe to traffic master and it will route you around jams automatically if you have it set to do so.

For the price, ROI excepted, I think it is fantastic value, bought mine in Febuary, its cheaper than the Road Angel camera detector.

Hi Derek

Nigel has pretty much covered all the plus points on the TomTom GO , there really aren't any major negative points on these units , I know the return rate for machines with faults is very low ( I test GO's everyday )

The new units are superb with the full postcode search and enhanced menu options , you can now deternine how you want the route planned ie quickest , shortest avoid motorways etc . With the introduction of TomTom traffic you can now also get up to date traffic reports sent to the unit . Although this is an extra service and you will need a bluetooth enabled phone and a GPRS connection

If you are planning on doing a lot of european driving then the TomTom Go 700 ( should be released in June) will have a 2.5 gig hard drive with full european maps pre installed .

Also the GO 500 and 700 are bluetooth enabled and have microphones and software built in which will allow complete hands free connection to your bluetooth phone if desired .

If you have any specific questions about the units please feel free to ask Derek as I actually work in the technical department for TomTom's main distributor

Cheers

Stuart

Stuart me old bean !!

I have the GO, not 300, 500 or 700, as I bought it in Febuary.

I have trouble understanding the blurb on the website.

How much are the maps for mine, (europe), and can I just pay online and download them.

When will the Go camera overlay be available ?, and will it be better than the free comera overlay I have now ?, and will it have a user update feature, like the road angel, for ones not  already on the database ?

Any plans for the ROI maps, as I havent heard from customer services yet ?

Bet your really glad you told us where you work now lol

Nigel

To upgrade to the new software which will give you the full postcode search, iteniary planning and route selection (shortest quickest etc) and the new map of GB is 79 Euros

If you also have the full maps of Europe ( the 6 CD boxset ) you can upgrade this as well . The upgrade cost for this is 59 Euros .If you don't already own the european maps these can be bought either as country specific maps pre installed on SD's , or on a set of cd's which you would then install onto your own SD cards The set of CD;s retails at £99.99 , the country specific SD's retail at different prices depending on which contry you are buying  

None of these upgrades are avaliable to download i'm afraid , they both will have to be sent from TomTom in the Netherlands . Have you recieved an email from them with all the details of the upgrade on ? If not PM me your email address and i'll send you a copy

As far as i'm aware there aren't any plans for ROI maps currenltly , I believe this is due to the fact that the map detail currently avalaible for ROI is very limited .

The new GO speed camera overlay which is part of the TomTom plus package is avaliable to download from TomToms website for 69 Euros , to be totally honest I haven't seen this database yet but I would take a guess that it is pretty similar to the free ones you can download , however I think it will be updated far more frequently ....if you can update the system yourself by just adding the camera as a POI , thats what I do if I come across one that isn't in the database I have

Hope this all makes sense and gives you the answers you wanted  , if you have any more questions feel free to ask i'm happy to help

Thats great mate, except the dowload for postcode search etc is free, and downloadable, cos I've already done it, its version 5, and details came with the e-mail from tom tom, you just need a current product code number, which I have on the cd supplied with the unit.

So I've got all the latest stuff, and it is a good bit better than the version 4.2.

If I bought the major roads of Europe stuff for mine, which I think the price is ok for, what size memory card would I need to have all my present info, plus the new stuff ?

What is the largest memory card mine will read ?

Also, I bought mine in Febuary, and they have now updated the GB maps, I thought it was a bit off for them to want to charge me for the update, but I can never get a direct answer from customer services, can you find me the actual position on this, I wouldnt mind paying a small fee, but to expect me to pay full fee after only two months is a bit "off" in my opinion.

Many thanks

Sorry I didn't make myself clear ...yes you can download the version 5 software for free but that doesn't upgrade the maps as you know and I think that the postcode function can't be used fully with the old maps ....correct me if i'm wrong here though as that hasn't been confirmed to me by TomTom

With regards to the upgrade I can totally see your point and the last time TomTom did an upgrade they offered a special lower price for people who had bought the product within 2 months ( i think ) have you only emailed tomtom ?? I will PM you a uk customer service phone number I have

Installing european maps .....firstly do you want just the major roads of europe or do you want the full coverage ? ( the price of £99.99 is for full maps on 6 cd's  ..the major roads only are included on the cd you get in the box with the GO ) If you buy the full maps  you won't be able to get these all on one memory card as they are too big , for example the whole of france is 256mb ....what I would reccomend to do is to keep your GB map  on the card you got with it then get a 512mb or 1gb sd card and install the maps on there as you need them .

If you only want to install the major roads that came on the cd in the box then a 256mb card should be enough for all the data

Yours will read a 1gb card fine

Does what I have said about the maps make sense ( sometimes i even confuse myself )

It all makes sense, I only upgraded to Version 5 last week, and so far I've had no problems at all with postcode search, but I've only used it twice.

I'll make a point of using it even when I dont need to, and see what happens.

I'll ring the customer service number you gave me, and let you know what they say.

Stuart

Sorry mate, your not going to like this bit.

That number you gave me is the same one I got from the website.

Last Tuesday I must have rung that 15 times, and I'm not joking, its answered by a machine which tells you all the operators are busy, and then tells you to ring back later.

Its just done it to me again.

Does anyone actually work there ?

Nigel ...PM'd ya

Got it mate, thanks for your efforts.

Just for Dereks benefit, if you buy one, make sure you get the latest maps.

If it has been on the shelf for a month or so, you'll get the maps I've got, which are out of date, and rather surprisingly , despite Stuarts efforts, they won't discount the new maps to me.

So it seems like a great little unit, with very poor customer service.

I was going to buy the 6 cd set off them, today, but I wont now, I'll look for copies off the net lol.

Where can I get a memory card from Stuart, that doesn't involve using Tom Tom ?

Nigel I will PM you a website as i dont want to be seen as advertising

Derek if you do decide to go for one look for the GO 300,500 or 700 depending on spec you require if you see a straight forward TomTom GO this will have the older maps on

Nigel it still might be worth trying them again yourself the person I spoke to didnt seem that helpful but usually when i do speak to them they offer a good service ,sometimes the customer speaking to them directly gets a better response rather than me saying that i'm ringing on behalf of a customer

BMWE34sport wrote: Nigel I will PM you a website as i dont want to be seen as advertising

Cheers Stuart, its not advertising if your helping other members, and even less so if your helping me

I'll have a squint then put a link on here for other interested parties.

It looks good :

http://www.widget.co.uk/asp/product.asp?recorprod=1&product=554 - http://www.widget.co.uk/asp/product.asp?recorprod=1&prod uct=554

Thats in Hertfordshire like yourself, wouldn't be the one you work for would it ?

Stuart/Nigel

Thanks! With your post tennis you've helped me make up my mind. I'm going to go with the 700 as I believe that has all the European maps preloaded and living in Southern France but working in Holland I'll be dooing a good bit of driving - when I'm not sending my airmiles ballistic!

I think I've to wait til June for the 700. If Tom Tom are Dutch then I should be able to get it at a better price here - so long as its all in English!!

Thanks Again!!

Derek M5 wrote: Stuart/Nigel Thanks! With your post tennis you've helped me make up my mind. I'm going to go with the 700  Thanks Again!!

Posh git lol.

If as I suspect Stuart works for the site named above, pm him, see what discounts you can organise

Mine arrived with all languages, I deleted everything except English to free up space to download the camera overlay.

Not posh, just read that it can be a pain crossing borders if you don't have all maps on board, cna't have wifey getting lost with the monthly wine quota now can I?

I didn't realise it can in all languages, deleting the ones you don't need was a sensible approach Nigel, stops any comedians form changing languages on you when you're not looking - happened to my mobile when in Singapore, after a few beers someone thought they'd change the phone language to Thai not realising that we'd not be able to read it to change it back a again! Still I found a very helpful young Thai lady waiting outside the hotel who helped me out!

Rhys wrote: ..and changed the phone menu back into English

But of course.... what were you thinking Rhys?

yup I do work for that company , although not in the sales department i'm in the technical department , so I don't get any comission  

Derek the 700 does come with all the european maps pre loaded so that is the one I would reccomend you go for , and it is due for release ealy June

skull ...which GO do you have and which scamera datbase do you have as you should be able to set it up to give a beep when you are within a certain distance from the scamera

You should have also got a CD rom in the box with the major roads of europe

Derek M5 wrote: I've got the phone, I've got a laptop, I've got a PC, can't see why I'd need a PDA

you won't get me to convince you as I am in the same camp, i only use my pda for satnav 

Ally is right, I have an HP Ipaq 2210 with TomTom Navigator 3, added the free CheckPOInt software ( http://checkpoint.oabsoftware.nl/ - http://checkpoint.oabsoftware.nl/ ) to warn me of upcoming Points Of Interest, downloaded from POIplace ( http://poiplace.oabsoftware.nl/index.php - http://poiplace.oabsoftware.nl/index.php)  and pocketgpsworld ( http://www.pocketgps.co.uk/uksafetycameras.php - http://www.pocketgps.co.uk/uksafetycameras.php )

As TomTom can only handle 5 digit postcodes at the moment (rumoured to be resolved in the upcoming v5.0), another nice little addon is this one from http://www.digitools.co.uk - www.digitools.co.uk ... err, actually it isnt now, cos he's been busted by the ordnance survey for breach of copyright, but i've got a copy that ill put up on the ftp server for download if any bmw forum users want it?

Nigel wrote: soon you will be able to subscribe to traffic master and it will route you around jams automatically if you have it set to do so.

they have TomTom Traffic available for use with a GPRS mobile phone?  sorry, just noticed Stuarts reply earlier (note to self:  pay attention!)

BMWE34sport wrote: Nigel To upgrade to the new software which will give you the full postcode search, iteniary planning and route selection (shortest quickest etc) and the new map of GB is 79 Euros If you also have the full maps of Europe ( the 6 CD boxset ) you can upgrade this as well . The upgrade cost for this is 59 Euros .If you don't already own the european maps these can be bought either as country specific maps pre installed on SD's , or on a set of cd's which you would then install onto your own SD cards The set of CD;s retails at £99.99 , the country specific SD's retail at different prices depending on which contry you are buying   None of these upgrades are avaliable to download i'm afraid , they both will have to be sent from TomTom in the Netherlands . Have you recieved an email from them with all the details of the upgrade on ? If not PM me your email address and i'll send you a copy As far as i'm aware there aren't any plans for ROI maps currenltly , I believe this is due to the fact that the map detail currently avalaible for ROI is very limited . The new GO speed camera overlay which is part of the TomTom plus package is avaliable to download from TomToms website for 69 Euros , to be totally honest I haven't seen this database yet but I would take a guess that it is pretty similar to the free ones you can download , however I think it will be updated far more frequently ....if you can update the system yourself by just adding the camera as a POI , thats what I do if I come across one that isn't in the database I have Hope this all makes sense and gives you the answers you wanted  , if you have any more questions feel free to ask i'm happy to help

Have they started rolling out the upgrade offers for registered TomTom 3 users yet?  I subscribed to the tomtom5 upgrade mailing last month via email and haven't heard anything so far

Stephen - Not yet , we are expecting to recieve the full version of Navigator 5 at the beggining of June so my guess would be as soon as that starts to ship they will release details of the upgrade .

I assume it will be the same sort of process as when they upgraded 2 , you pay an upgrade price and they then send you the new CD

Skull - You should be able get the GO to warn you as my one does and it has the same speed camera datebase , try the following

Go into the change preferences menu
Then go into the Maintain POI menu
Then there should be a Warn when near POI menu , select that
The select the catergory ( ie the speed cameras )
Then select the distance to warn you from
Then select the sound of the alert .............and you should be away

Stuart.

You have been very helpful, and although not actually in the Central region, would your company like to be on the Central reco pages ?

As it has an internet side location shouldn't be an issue.

You can email me on this is you want, and heres what we have already to give someone at your end an idea of what it looks like.

http://bmwcarclubgb.co.uk/regions/centrl/recommends.htm - http://bmwcarclubgb.co.uk/regions/centrl/recommends.htm

I'd need a piccy of the building or perhaps the showroom or workshops to keep it in the same format.

As i was saying to Nigel you have to get the upgrade directly from TomTom which will include the new maps and the version 5 software , they charge 79 euros for the upgrade

Maps for france pre-installed on an SD card are £89.99 or you cna but the cd set for the whole of europe for £99.99 then buy your own SD cards and install the maps .... I would defintley recommend this option if in the future you are going to do more European Trips

Stuart.

All the info is greatly recieved, but as with opie oils, you have to do prices etc by pm or e-mail, sorry if I confused you.

Picked up the Tom Tom Go at Schipol airport Thursday, 714 yo-yos or 474 pounds for those of you still using the old stuff. Seems do as stated on tin, well impressed!

Doubtless many daft questions will arise as I try to use more of it's features, I'm male and therefore allergic to reading manuals