#281625 - 18/05/2006 14:11
TomTom Go 910
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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I bought a TomTom Go 910 on Friday, and thought I'd quickly throw something up here.
Initial impressions:
1. It started up in Dutch, rather than with any kind of setup wizard. Not ideal. Since I bought it from Dixons (sorry, Currys.digital), I don't expect them to have sourced it from Holland, so I'm puzzled by this.
2. Lots of alternate voices. None of them sexy enough. You can download John Cleese for a reasonable price, though.
3. It takes an age to sort out where it is the first time. To be honest, I don't know how long it took. It didn't work propped up on the windowsill at work; when I left it on the sill at home, it had sorted itself out by Saturday morning.
4. The screen's really nice. Wide screen, touch-screen, and visible in reasonably bright sunshine.
Other impressions:
1. It works absolutely fine in my Focus, which has a heated front screen. This was something I was worried about.
2. Once it's sorted the first time, it takes about 2 minutes from that point onwards.
3. The Windows software is a bit too skinned.
4. The speed camera warnings are too soon.
5. It's got an iPod interface. I've got an empeg. Nuff said.
_________________________
-- roger
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#281626 - 18/05/2006 14:16
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: Roger]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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Quote:
It takes an age to sort out where it is the first time. To be honest, I don't know how long it took. It didn't work propped up on the windowsill at work; when I left it on the sill at home, it had sorted itself out by Saturday morning.
Cold start is a dificult thing for any GPS, but it sounds like they're not using a newer GPS chipset. Either way, when a GPS has no idea where it is, you need to get it somewhere where it can see the entire sky, and not move it until it gets a fix. Anytime it loses the datastream from the satelite it has to start all over.
Matthew
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#281627 - 18/05/2006 14:25
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: Roger]
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old hand
Registered: 14/04/2002
Posts: 1172
Loc: Hants, UK
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You were sucked in by the new (slightly sucky) TV ads? ( #1 #2 ) "Roger Roger, do I bear left or right?"
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#281628 - 18/05/2006 14:39
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: matthew_k]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/05/2001
Posts: 2616
Loc: Bruges, Belgium
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Quote:
Cold start is a dificult thing for any GPS, but it sounds like they're not using a newer GPS chipset.
Oh yes, they are. They're using a SiRF Star III chipset, which is the most recent and most powerful you can find for these sorts of devices at the moment. Time to first fix always takes a bit longer than a regular fix. On the 910 this also takes a bit longer because of some issue which I cannot really comment on, but suffice it to say that TT is working on that and it should be fixed with an upcoming firmware upgrade.
Getting a fix is also highly influenced by the fact that the device is in motion or not. Always try and get a fix before setting the car in motion if you can.
_________________________
Riocar 80gig S/N : 010101580 red
Riocar 80gig (010102106) - backup
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#281629 - 18/05/2006 16:03
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: BartDG]
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old hand
Registered: 14/04/2002
Posts: 1172
Loc: Hants, UK
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I bought a Rikaline bluetooth GPS module to use with my Nokia 770 and the speed of the thing is amazing, cold start on a small window sill was about 90 seconds and warm start is about 5 seconds, often quicker. It uses the SiRF Star III chipset too, pretty amazing considering 15 minutes was normal for the earliest consumer receivers.
Gareth
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#281630 - 18/05/2006 18:25
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5916
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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I bought a Tom Tom One for Eryl, same basic hardware and software (except for the screen). I am very impressed with it, it can get a solid lock even in the centre of our house or my office building.
When they sort the 910 firmware out it should get a lock much quicker. The Go gets a lock from cold in under a minute in the car. It can get a warm lock, like when it has been turned off for a couple of minutes, within a second or so.
They fact that started up in Dutch would suggest it had been turned on before. When the Go starts from a reset it first shows a screen with all the languages on before you see anything else. Presumably the 910 does the same.
I am wary of the 910, with its mini hard drive, it looks like quite a few people had failures on the old hard drive model. Doesn't that sound familar...
_________________________
Remind me to change my signature to something more interesting someday
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#281631 - 18/05/2006 19:46
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: andy]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/05/2001
Posts: 2616
Loc: Bruges, Belgium
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Quote:
I am wary of the 910, with its mini hard drive, it looks like quite a few people had failures on the old hard drive model. Doesn't that sound familar...
Where did you read/hear that? I don't believe I've ever known a GO's HD to fail. (doesn't mean it can't happen, of course...)
_________________________
Riocar 80gig S/N : 010101580 red
Riocar 80gig (010102106) - backup
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#281632 - 18/05/2006 21:05
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: BartDG]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Quote:
...it should be fixed with an upcoming firmware upgrade.
That's good to know. In fairness, I was trying to use it at work, and we have metalled (?) windows, which makes that kind of thing unreliable.
Now it's sorted, I'm happy with it.
One thing it needs to work out is that, from my place (on the A1, North London) to the M4, attempting to drive down past Camden and then out on the Westway isn't a great idea.
Fortunately, when I ignored it and drove the way I always do, it didn't throw any (take a U-turn) hissy fits; instead it worked out an alternate route pretty quickly.
_________________________
-- roger
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#281633 - 19/05/2006 04:18
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: BartDG]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5916
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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Quote:
Where did you read/hear that? I don't believe I've ever known a GO's HD to fail. (doesn't mean it can't happen, of course...)
A mixture of Amazon reviews and GPS related forums. There seemed to be quite a few reporting failure 15-18 months in.
_________________________
Remind me to change my signature to something more interesting someday
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#281634 - 19/05/2006 06:30
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/05/1999
Posts: 3457
Loc: Palo Alto, CA
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Damn you, I've been trying to resist a 910 for a while now! My Navman 630 (with US & EU maps) is fine but fiddly to use - no touchscreen  Has anyone taken one apart yet? Wondering what type of drive is in there (2.5"? 1.8"? Make?) Hugo
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#281635 - 19/05/2006 08:27
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: andy]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/05/2001
Posts: 2616
Loc: Bruges, Belgium
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Quote:
Quote:
Where did you read/hear that? I don't believe I've ever known a GO's HD to fail. (doesn't mean it can't happen, of course...)
A mixture of Amazon reviews and GPS related forums. There seemed to be quite a few reporting failure 15-18 months in.
Hmmmm... Strange. I run the (insert shameless plug here:) MyTomTomGO.com forum, and I also moderate on the Dutch daughter site. I cannot recall ever having read that a user complained about a harddisk failiure. So I don't really believe they are very common...
_________________________
Riocar 80gig S/N : 010101580 red
Riocar 80gig (010102106) - backup
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#281637 - 19/05/2006 12:30
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: andy]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Quote:
They fact that started up in Dutch would suggest it had been turned on before.
Yeah, it would. Except for the fact that it was still shrink-wrapped. Odd.
_________________________
-- roger
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#281638 - 20/05/2006 07:43
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/06/2001
Posts: 2504
Loc: Roma, Italy
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I was considering buying a TomTom Rider, to be used both in car and on a motorbike. But I am afraid it may be using some older hardware than the latest TomTom series (that 910 belongs to, right?). Does anybody know anything about this? Should I wait that the TomTom Rider gets updated, before buying? Thanks! 
_________________________
= Taym =
MK2a #040103216 * 100Gb *All/Colors* Radio * 3.0a11 * Hijack = taympeg
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#281639 - 20/05/2006 07:53
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: Taym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/05/2001
Posts: 2616
Loc: Bruges, Belgium
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Quote:
I was considering buying a TomTom Rider, to be used both in car and on a motorbike. But I am afraid it may be using some older hardware than the latest TomTom series (that 910 belongs to, right?). Does anybody know anything about this? Should I wait that the TomTom Rider gets updated, before buying?
Thanks!
No, it's actually the other way around: the Rider was the first TT model which used the new hardware (SiRF Star III etc), and all the other models (ONE, 510, 710 and 910) came out later.
The only difference between the Rider and the other TT PND's is that TT chose to use Navteq maps wih the Rider instead of Teleatlas maps for some reason.
TomTom has only just this week announced the "European Rider". The only difference with the 'old' Rider is that it already has the upcoming new firmware installed and ships with the complete maps of Western Europe. The hardware remained the same, but still, it's probably worth waiting another week or so for this 'new' model.
_________________________
Riocar 80gig S/N : 010101580 red
Riocar 80gig (010102106) - backup
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#281640 - 20/05/2006 09:01
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: BartDG]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/06/2001
Posts: 2504
Loc: Roma, Italy
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That's interesting. So, I guess the only two significant differences between the 910 and the Rider are: smaller display, memory card instead of hdd. I am seeing on their website that also cpu and amt o ram meory are different, but I guess they don't make a significant difference in practicl terms, right? And, Navteq maps. Are thei worse than Teleatlas? Thanks for all the info!
_________________________
= Taym =
MK2a #040103216 * 100Gb *All/Colors* Radio * 3.0a11 * Hijack = taympeg
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#281642 - 21/05/2006 03:57
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: altman]
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enthusiast
Registered: 16/02/2001
Posts: 373
Loc: Switzerland
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#281643 - 21/05/2006 15:46
Re: TomTom Go 910
[Re: Roger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
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Quote:
Other impressions:
...It fits perfectly in the front pocket of the original empeg bag.
_________________________
-- roger
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