Tom Tom

Bob
I do not travel through towns very often and the Tom Tom was telling me I was exceeding the speed for that location 50Ks and I immediately took my foot off and thank goodness I did.
Ian

Graham,

The 720 does spoken street names too.

It's just a matter of selecting a "computer voice" which is required to perform the written names to spoken names.

What's all this upgrading anyway?
My 720 has had regular map and software updates ever since I have had it. Just a matter of installing the Tomtom Home software and it serches for updates each time you connect it to the PC.

Better still, it's all free. (well included in the initial cost of the unit)

Bill

Mine is a Tom Tom 500 and the only reason I have it as I traded it in on some other equipment.
I joined Tom Tom home because the unit said it had sereies 1 maps and to upgrade to series 3 I had to pay $149 so i did that and upgraded whatever needed upgrading at the same time.
It appears that it is still a year behind as I had to go to the Twine factory to see darren and when I got to Nabiac it told me to turn right to get on the Gloucester Road but not wanting to drive over the medium strip and have a head on with northbound traffic I turned left and went over the overpass just past the Nabiac pub.
If I didb have the saved camera incident I would have been swearing about the $149.
Ian

To Sandman
I am aware of that, according to the website all the 7** series do but it not set as a default.

TOTOM offer a free map upgrade within 30 days if when u buy one if it doesnt have the latest map. After that you have to pay for it.
Interestingly mine has a map with a series number like 0501.0501 and on the website they are selling 0501.640 which is obviously later but it says I have the latest. Those numbers are not exact but give the idea.
I intend to ask them about that.
Corrections and software updates are free.

All maps are not completely up to date as how could they be.
Roads are changing all the time and faster than the maps are produced.
However have heard of some roads several years old not being included or accurate.
I guess nothing is perfect.
Will be fun when Adelaide change all the speed limits in the city.
Have to wait and see.

You can look in the TomTom and see what map version you have.
You can also look on the net and sometimes find them as well.

Graham,

Your information is contrary to my experience matey.

When I connect the 720 to the computer, it automatically searches the Tomtom website and downloads any updates required.
This includes the occasional software changes, GPSFix and Mapshare updates.

Mapshare is always in a state of flux, as changes to existing road conditions occur and feedback from users are reflected in the updates.
How long does this take?
Not sure. (I'm not a Mapshare contributor)
I guess there are many locations where Tomtom don't receive updates from users, as they rely on this feedback to remain as accurate as possible.
Also, there would certainly be a delay due to processing, etc. but I'm confident Tomtom is as "up to date" as it possibly can be.

I also have a copy of CoPilot I use on the PDA on occasions, but this is not updated on a regular basis like Tomtom.
With CoPilot, you need to pay around the $150 mark for a complete upgrade as new versions are released every few years.

How serious are Tomtom?
A couple of years ago, I purchased a map of Hong Kong to use while holidaying there. The original map showed the Chinese pronunciation of street names, plus the names in Cantonese as well.
This was useless to us and I emailed Tomtom stating that Hong Kong was a multi-cultural destination and printed maps and street signs show the names in English and Cantonese.
To my surprise, I received a reply from Tomtom stating it was policy to produce local maps showing local language but admitted places like Hong Kong were special and had passed on my comments to their development Department.

About three weeks later, was advised (through Tomtom Home) that there was a free Map Update for Hong Kong available for download.
Lo and Behold, my Hong Kong map now showed the street names in both English and Cantonese.

I was quite impressed with the response from a "user" although I must admit with all the buildings, etc. the practical use of The device while in Hong Kong was not realised and a paper map proved to be much more functional.


Bill

Yes you are correct it does do that but Complete map UPGRADE to a newer version as in what I said are NOT free.

Look on the website and you will see there is a map on there ver?????? which is later than mine but I cant download it without paying for it.
As I said in the box it says, if a NEWER VERSION map is available WITHIN 30 days it will be free otherwise you have to buy it.

I also have Copilot version 8 and have had extensive dialog with the makers in the USA as to why it wont do certain things and I finally got the answer that after VERSION 10 which is the version here in Australia now THEY WILL NOT BE SUPPORTING ANY NEW VERSIONS HERE and it will no longer be available.
I didnt speak to the Aussie distributor ,only the American maker.
Ver 11 has been out in USA for some months and I asked when it would be available here. The answer was NEVER.
So much for that if it in fact happens.
Am much happier with my TomTom Go 730 than the nuvi 310 I had previously.
Cheers

Do any of the Tom Tom units show the tracks on StrzeleeckiBirdsville and Onnadata. When i did the Savanagh Way from Kurumba to Darwin in 2006 my Navaman iC520 went walkabout it only showed bitumen roads. Cant evem het a response from Navman on how to get latest map chip.

Dont really know but they are mainly street navigators.

If u go to the gpsastralia forum there is a section on how to unlock some navman units to runoffroad maps.

www.gpsaustralia.com

Colin,

Outside of Cities and major towns, the only display you may get is the road, or track you are on. No other detail.

The Tomtom and most other voice guided navigators are for use in metropolitan areas and major country towns.

For Country driving you need something like OziExplorer and Natmaps running on a PDA or Laptop, or Hema Navigator, or the Garmin Nuvi with Shonky Maps or Mapsource.

Bill