TomTom still bad?

[TheVictor]

Hi guys, been on here for a while now, figured I should just make an actual account.

So I recently decided to pick up the CX-5(first new car!) and I'm debating if I should pick up TomTom or not. I read through most of the threads involving the NAV but I wanted to get a better feel for what you guys think of it since getting the vehicle.

Has TomTom come out with any updates to fix any bugs or are they still oblivious to these issues? Not being able to set a destination while driving or voice recognition doesn't bother me too much, I'm more concerned about the reliability of the actual navigation and directions it gives. I think the biggest thing I read was that if you veer off the given route, instead of giving you a new one, it keeps suggesting you turn around and follow the original route.

I read that the maps works best in the USA and UK but how is it for Canada? Does it actually give you better routes based on traffic/construction/accidents?

Granted I don't see myself using this to navigate to places more than 100km away but if I'm not sure if I want to drop $700 on an SD card if all it can't even give me efficient routes to nearby areas.

 

[garyd9]

I have no idea how well the maps are in Canada, but otherwise it's a functional system. I've had better, but I've also had worse.

I often drive past turns and it usually just reroutes without any U-turns. (In some cases, it does ask me to turn around, but if I ignore it, it'll eventually figure out another way - assuming there is another way.)

My biggest concern with tomtom has always been that their maps in the United States aren't as good as Navteq provided maps used by Garmin. (My understanding is that the opposite is true in Europe.) They seem to be better these days than they used to be, but still not as good as Navteq. On the other hand, the tomtom software allows you to edit their maps on the device (and even to submit those changes to tomtom for sharing with other users and submission to tomtom for official map updates.)

I haven't actually seen any cases of re-routing based on traffic/accidents, as I tend to drive only on secondary roads that don't have traffic data.

If you have a smartphone, there's probably a tomtom app available for it. It might be worth your money to pay for the app for a month to get a feel for their maps and routing algorithms.

Take care
Gary

 

[xtrailman]

TT isn't bad a navigating, my previous two Nissans would insist on a u turn to get back to the original route, easiest way round it was to cancel and restart the route.
Directions such as turn left or right often don't mean turn left or right but rather BEAR left or right.

Then we get the straight on at the island 2nd turn, which can mean left on the island not straight across as implied.

The real killer in the UK is the usability of the "live" services, my 3 week old car has also broken, no live services now work!, and TT seem incapable of making it work, so at present the cars booked into the dealer, but I'm not expecting them to resolve the issue.

IF IN THE UK DO NOT BUY THE NAV, at 700 it is a complete joke, you can buy better stand alone units with traffic and life time maps.
Again in the UK you have to pay around 50 for live services, and much more for annual updated maps, avoid buy another car with a sat nav that works.

 

[xtrailman]

TT isn't bad at navigating, my previous two Nissans would insist on a u turn to get back to the original route, easiest way round it was to cancel and restart the route.
Directions such as turn left or right often don't mean turn left or right but rather BEAR left or right.

Then we get the straight on at the island 2nd turn, which can mean left on the island not straight across as implied.

The real killer in the UK is the usability of the "live" services, my 3 week old car has also broken, no live services now work!, and TT seem incapable of making it work, so at present the cars booked into the dealer, but I'm not expecting them to resolve the issue.

IF IN THE UK DO NOT BUY THE NAV, at 700 it is a complete joke, you can buy better stand alone units with traffic and life time maps.
Again in the UK you have to pay around 50 for live services, and much more for annual updated maps, avoid buy another car with a sat nav that works.

 

[bamirault]

I'm debating if I should pick up TomTom or not.

Now THAT"S an opinion-drawing question. My spouse and I have found the Mazda Tom Tom system to be handy. That being written, if you are considering this as a simple add-on to your order, at the price we would not do it again and instead would rely on other means; either a portable device or a GPS-enabled tablet. Bearing in mind that I never modify a portable device while on the move, but my spouse is always the navigator when we travel and she does manipulate portable systems, consider the following.

Mazda does not allow non-voice manipulation of the device while on the move (and DON"T get me started on the joy which is Tom Tom voice activation) while portable systems do not have this restriction.

Mazda Sat Nav includes maps which are only updateable by paying a fee. Many portable systems include lifetime updates.

It is not readily possible to plot your own route to a destination if for example you want to take a specific set of secondary roads to take advantage of a view or to avoid specific major highways; nor does the Mazda Sat Nav allow you to upload to the device previously charted routes from other sources. Using her desktop computer my spouse has used GOOGLE Maps to plot a vacation trip from Ottawa to Tennessee utilizing mainly secondary roads and identifying fuel stops and overnight stops which she then uploaded to her GPS-enabled cellphone. We used this for this trip rather than the built-in system as the Tom Tom would not allow us to upload the trip we wanted to make.

From the above you can read some of the limitations inherent in the Mazda Sat Nav. If the limitations do not deter you, I do confess that the implementation is visually pleasing. The screen is sufficiently large, the buttons and touch screen easy to manipulate, and the installation is loose-wire free. Enjoy your choice.

Brian

 

[Mogambi]

IF you don't mind having an extra thing hanging off your dash, forgo the mediocre Tom Tom navigation system, and buy a Garmin 3790T or something. I got mine for $150 refurbished from Walmart. SOOOO much nicer than the Tom Tom. Voice activation actually works, maps more accurate, POI database better, screen faster and maps overall much more pleasant to look at. Plus free lifetime map updates.

 

[TheVictor]

Thanks for all the response! Been so busy trying to prep insurance and paper work over the phone to get this car ready for the end of my vacation haha. Quite the pain, wasn't really expecting so much hassle!

It's a really dumb reason but I really hate the look of additional devices hanging and floating around the dash. I think I'll heed the warnings and wait/think it through before buying it. It definitely is a lot pricier than what you would normally pay for a separate device but having it built into the car is a huge plus, aesthetically.

I definitely wouldn't use it to plan any major trips since I don't normally travel by road when it comes to vacations. It is nice to see my surrounding area when I'm in unfamiliar territory which is why I feel TT might be adequate enough for my needs. Again $700 is pretty steep...

 

[GAXIBM]

I ordered one for $450 US$ but not sure they ship to Canada, the install is easy. In addition to looks on dash and risk for break ins, for us that are getting a bit hard of hearing or if you like loud music, it makes a big difference to have the front speakers muted when the directions are announced. Also using car speakers the announcement volume can be a lot higher than most portables can provide without distortion. Once loaded with destination the system works well for me and the traffic info and routing/rerouting works well as well. My grandson really likes the "Dark Vader" voice I put on it as well. I find the maps OK but not as up to date as Garmins for speed limits, POS etc.

 

[Latitude Adj.]

I was wondering yesterday if Tom Tom has caused any divorces. My wife was ready to hit it and me with a hammer, if you are married you know that anything wrong is your fault!
Ist off the maps are awful, the cross street next to my home has the wrong name and TT shows it going off thru the woods. There are a lot of paper roads on the map that are not there.
Yesterday I put in the zip code for Ocean City MD, and up pops Ocean City Maryland, good, I start typing in the street and it suggest the right street, good, I type in the address and hit done. TT calculates a trip to Delaware! I finally get it to take another address in OC MD and we hit the road. As we get closer it has us on the road I have used in the past but every once in awhile it takes us off that route for a senic tour, at first I thought they were short cuts but one was 40 miles long and then dumps us back on the same road.
Time to remove my portable Garmin from my wifes car that only goes to the store and mount it in the CX-5
Oh, someone mentioned voice control, mine keeps saying voice control not available for the country selected.

 

[nizzy1115]

I was wondering yesterday if Tom Tom has caused any divorces. My wife was ready to hit it and me with a hammer, if you are married you know that anything wrong is your fault!
Ist off the maps are awful, the cross street next to my home has the wrong name and TT shows it going off thru the woods. There are a lot of paper roads on the map that are not there.
Yesterday I put in the zip code for Ocean City MD, and up pops Ocean City Maryland, good, I start typing in the street and it suggest the right street, good, I type in the address and hit done. TT calculates a trip to Delaware! I finally get it to take another address in OC MD and we hit the road. As we get closer it has us on the road I have used in the past but every once in awhile it takes us off that route for a senic tour, at first I thought they were short cuts but one was 40 miles long and then dumps us back on the same road.
Time to remove my portable Garmin from my wifes car that only goes to the store and mount it in the CX-5
Oh, someone mentioned voice control, mine keeps saying voice control not available for the country selected.

I see 2 faults,
1. update your maps.
2. User issues since you choose the state before address. it would not send you to another state unless you tell it to.

 

[propofol]

I wanted the Xenon headlights and had to get the tech package which came with the TomTom GPS.
It does take some getting used to especially the voice commands. I find it not as intuitive as my Garmin which comes with free lifetime maps as well.
Haven't had any significant navigation errors/issues while using it in Ontario and Quebec.
YMMV.

 

[TheVictor]

I'm wondering now, I have the GS trim so it comes with the touchscreen display and it has the NAV button. It seems like I'm only missing the SD card with the software. If that's the case, could I just buy that and stick it in that little slot?

 

[Kelseyx]

If you actually have the SD reader located near your left knee then you should have had the SD card with the TT software with your car. I would go to your dealer where you bought it and they will get you one.

 

[Latitude Adj.]

I see 2 faults,
1. update your maps.
2. User issues since you choose the state before address. it would not send you to another state unless you tell it to.

1. I don't want to pay for newer bad maps

2. Since I started in NJ I had to enter the zip code 1st or it would look for the address in Ocean City NJ. It accepted OC MD as my distination, it accepted the street, just not the address. Admitedly Coastal highway is called Philadelphia downtown but Garmin and Google maps know that, just not the POS TT

 

[GAXIBM]

1. I don't want to pay for newer bad maps

What about your free map update? What is the version of your maps?

 

[TheVictor]

If you actually have the SD reader located near your left knee then you should have had the SD card with the TT software with your car. I would go to your dealer where you bought it and they will get you one.

They said it was a $700 charge for the software, I assumed the hardware was all installed on the GS and GT models. I guess I'll find out when I get back. Ugh I hate waiting, not enjoying this vacation at all now haha.

 

[nizzy1115]

I see 2 faults,
1. update your maps.
2. User issues since you choose the state before address. it would not send you to another state unless you tell it to.

1. I don't want to pay for newer bad maps

2. Since I started in NJ I had to enter the zip code 1st or it would look for the address in Ocean City NJ. It accepted OC MD as my distination, it accepted the street, just not the address. Admitedly Coastal highway is called Philadelphia downtown but Garmin and Google maps know that, just not the POS TT

So you can drop 30k on a car that you know will need map updates in the future as roads change, but cant afford or are too cheap to pay the small fee to get the updates and therefore refer to it as a pos and complain it doesnt have updated maps. Cant help stupid i guess.

 

[Kelseyx]

Don't let it ruin your vacation. Let's pray I am right and you are wrong. lol Really though, it doesn't make sense you would have the reader and no SD card with the software. Maybe you can borrow someone's to see if it works while you are on your vacation (local dealer). If you were in MN I would have you stop by and try mine.......

 

[TheVictor]

Thanks for the offer haha, unfortunately Minnesota is a bit far from here. Ah well, I'll figure it out regardless. WOuld be nice if I could just purchase the SD card though. I think they only cost about $200.

 

[jcolmn]

Hi guys, been on here for a while now, figured I should just make an actual account.

So I recently decided to pick up the CX-5(first new car!) and I'm debating if I should pick up TomTom or not. I read through most of the threads involving the NAV but I wanted to get a better feel for what you guys think of it since getting the vehicle.

Has TomTom come out with any updates to fix any bugs or are they still oblivious to these issues? Not being able to set a destination while driving or voice recognition doesn't bother me too much, I'm more concerned about the reliability of the actual navigation and directions it gives. I think the biggest thing I read was that if you veer off the given route, instead of giving you a new one, it keeps suggesting you turn around and follow the original route.

I read that the maps works best in the USA and UK but how is it for Canada? Does it actually give you better routes based on traffic/construction/accidents?

Granted I don't see myself using this to navigate to places more than 100km away but if I'm not sure if I want to drop $700 on an SD card if all it can't even give me efficient routes to nearby areas.

The Tom Tom Navi in the Mazda comes out of the box with the worst settings in my opinion.

I have worked with it to get it to work more like other navi systems to fix:

1. The 3d view switched to 2D with the map centered on the forward movement of the car
2. Turning off the automatically zooming back in feature if you zoom out
3. Fixing the above also allowed me to put it at a zoom that kept the most common street name showing up, rather than the random showing some streets, but not others, and only showing them after you passed them.

With all this it is much better.

What is still annoying:

1. In 2D mode with the map centered on the forward movement of the car, there is no compass.
2. The lack of updates for free
3. The lack of the ability to drag the map to see where streets intersect around like Toyota and Lexus navigation systems. You can zoom out, but many times the roads you are looking at dissapear.

Overall if you don't mind a phone mount from kuda or some other dash mounted GPS that can be a magnet for thieves, it is passable as a GPS. Still a big disappointment considering the possibilities.