Blue & Me Sat Nav - What a waste of money!

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Blue & Me Sat Nav - What a waste of money!

JacqueM

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Hubbie bought me a authentic Blue & Me Sat Nav so I could have it on the dash, nice and tidy with no unsightly wires - what a waste of money it was. I now borrow his TomTom and put up with the dangly wires!

- The maps are hopeless compared to the Tom Tom One and out of date.

- It is not intuitive to use

- but WORST OF ALL - it wont let you enter postcodes for destinations!!!

It lets you enter half the postcode, but then starts asking for street numbers etc - are they having a laugh or wot!

So if you are thinking of buying one - DONT BOTHER, ITS ABSOLUTELY RUBBISH! :mad:
 
Hubbie bought me a authentic Blue & Me Sat Nav so I could have it on the dash, nice and tidy with no unsightly wires - what a waste of money it was. I now borrow his TomTom and put up with the dangly wires!

- The maps are hopeless compared to the Tom Tom One and out of date.



So if you are thinking of buying one - DONT BOTHER, ITS ABSOLUTELY RUBBISH! :mad:

IT ISA TOM-TOM SYSTEM! :rolleyes:

May i suggest you read the manual.
 
dunno....OP didn't even bother to let everyone know what car she owns (sure you are right about the 500 though), just joined to moan...
:life:

EDIT - available on doblo & punto evo ( http://www.fiat.com)

True, when i first saw the topic i was "wtf its obviously tomtom ya plum!" + it has full post codes etc... then realised, pretty sure the 500 has the "Sat Nav" option.

Hmm, googling accessories websites... Fiat seem to be removing the older style "Sat Nav" unit i saw from there website.

But google images can always find it!...

500andbluefiatmenavigatorepersatellitare.jpg
 
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I guess I did join to moan - I don't like seeing a hard earned £200 wasted on a substandard product.

I have a Fiat 500 for my sins, and the Sat Nav is not a TomTom (at least there is nothing anywhere that says it is), and looks exactly as in the picture that Blank2k2 has posted.

Despite being a female of the species, I have managed to read the manual, and no there is nothing in there that indicates how you enter a full postcode, As previously stated, "It lets you enter half the postcode, but then starts asking for street numbers etc"

If there is a way that you can enter postcodes, as with any other Sat Nav we have ever owned, then I'll take back what I said, otherwise I consider it more than a waste of money - it's a total rip-off!
 
I guess I did join to moan - I don't like seeing a hard earned £200 wasted on a substandard product.

I have a Fiat 500 for my sins, and the Sat Nav is not a TomTom (at least there is nothing anywhere that says it is), and looks exactly as in the picture that Blank2k2 has posted.

Despite being a female of the species, I have managed to read the manual, and no there is nothing in there that indicates how you enter a full postcode, As previously stated, "It lets you enter half the postcode, but then starts asking for street numbers etc"

If there is a way that you can enter postcodes, as with any other Sat Nav we have ever owned, then I'll take back what I said, otherwise I consider it more than a waste of money - it's a total rip-off!

Blue&Me Sat Nav Sounds like a lemon to me tbh, unfortunately Fiat don't seem to drop the price of there extra's as they get dated over time, almost no doubt the Sat Nav would be worth alot less by now. (n)
 
I guess I did join to moan - I don't like seeing a hard earned £200 wasted on a substandard product.

I have a Fiat 500 for my sins, and the Sat Nav is not a TomTom (at least there is nothing anywhere that says it is), and looks exactly as in the picture that Blank2k2 has posted.

Despite being a female of the species, I have managed to read the manual, and no there is nothing in there that indicates how you enter a full postcode, As previously stated, "It lets you enter half the postcode, but then starts asking for street numbers etc"

If there is a way that you can enter postcodes, as with any other Sat Nav we have ever owned, then I'll take back what I said, otherwise I consider it more than a waste of money - it's a total rip-off!


I had one of these. Why is it so important to have a full postcode search? All you need is the first part ie. "AB1 2" and then the road name. It will only navigate to the road name that is in that particular area code. The navigation is OK once you get it going, always got me where I wanted to go. I think you should have done some research before blindly buying it if it wasn't for you. The dealer probably won't accept a return.

I had a sat nav in my Stilo which didn't accept postcodes at all ;)
 
Hi,

I know this is an old post in fact VERY OLD but as people do search and read I thought it may be worth giving this some clarity from what has been said.

I did put a post in the 500 section despite I later saw Blue&Me had it's own section when I read through some 52 pages (not 52 posts) 52 pages it was all about mobile phone issues and I like the OP here was looking at the sat nav side.

https://www.fiatforum.com/500/479872-blue-me-map-vs-blue-me-tomtom-2-a.html


It is apparent the Blue&Me the OP bought was the Blue&MeMAP(Magneti-Marelli) introduced 2007 and whilst had some unique features for phones, voice and music, the Sat Nav side was most certainly CR4P as I was to find out on our 2010 car with the 68R wireless dash mount.

Thankfully it was superseded around 2011 by partnership with TomTom using the GO 1000 Live 4.3 inch screen and far far superior sat nav functions. It was also bespoke to Fiat/Alfa/Lancia and integrated the Blue&Me features.

That said there are still plenty of the old Blue&MeMAP new old stock being sold off and a total waste of money compared with a secondhand TomTom2 Blue&Me.

The local dealer said it was not possible to fit the TomTom instead as the car was programmed for the Blue&MeMAP. Indeed as we took the plunge and bought the TomTom2 we discovered it could not be paired to get the Blue&Mefunctions to work on the TomTom2 and just gave a failed message. The SatNav still functioned though as a normal TomTom would.

A work colleague of mine looked into this and downloaded all the programmes for both devices on the official Blue&Me website (hacky we call him so say no more). He studied the programmes and found the unique script line that lets the car identify it has a TomTom Blue&Me installed in the dash port and not Blue&MeMAP. This was then programmed through the USB port in the car and instantly the TomTom was paired, the start up screen and blue me graphics were changed to the actual car model with a full menu showing fuel driving eco etc.

Lots of pictures in the 500 forum of it being done so I totally agree with the OP and the moans back then were fully justified. The Blue&Me combined with the TomTom is absolutely superb, overall it is smaller but the screen itself is much bigger.

So anyone suffering with a lousy old Blue&MeMAP do yourself a favour and treat yourself to a secondhand TomTom Go 1000 Live Blue&Me. My car was a 2010 model year so predated the intro of the TomTom partnership but at least had the dash port. It does also require a mating cradle for the TomTom but remains the same regarding the dash insert so no dangling wires. All works fine

Farrah
 
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I bought my tomtom live recently for £40 from Facebook market place, works perfectly and was being sold by a guy who used to have an alfa but had got rid and didn’t need it anymore.
 
Hi to all.

I have Abarth 500,2010 year ,with Blue&Me MAP (Magneti-Marelli)

Please, do you maybe have, some user manual for it, i have lost mine.Can pair it with blue Me, but satellites can not to, pick up my location.

Which maps it use?

Farrah@

Do you have SW ,with thet unique script, maybe i do it like you.Find some TomTom Go 1000 Blue Me,and to use it with bluetooth.
Can thet Sw changes,to put navigation on the speed dash screen, like it is with Blue&Me MAP?
 
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Hi to all.

I have Abarth 500,2010 year ,with Blue&Me MAP (Magneti-Marelli)

Please, do you maybe have, some user manual for it, i have lost mine.Can pair it with blue Me, but satellites can not to, pick up my location.

Which maps it use?

Farrah@

Do you have SW ,with thet unique script, maybe i do it like you.Find some TomTom Go 1000 Blue Me,and to use it with bluetooth.
Can thet Sw changes,to put navigation on the speed dash screen, like it is with Blue&Me MAP?

Farrah ;)
 
Hi,

I had exactly the same problem with the MagnetiMarelliMAP with the SW map card. Everything worked including phone, media etc except it just would not find the satellites and when putting in an instruction to drive to all that worked until last button when it just said cannot find current position move to a road.

In the end we gave up and decided to upgrade to the later TomTom mainly because our main interest was actually a decent satnav and not really the other additional features of Blue&Me. The MarelliMAP really is not a very good satnav for using nowadays and graphics very poor compared with a TomTom.

So we bought off ebay a complete system TomTom2 as the TomTomOne and TomTom2 both have non interchangeable cradles for the satnav but all do fit the dash 68R slot for power supply. Worth noting the dash point is just a power supply and all the information from Blue&Me to the device is done via bluetooth.

Our car was a 2010 and the Fiat Dealer assured us it was NOT possible to fit/pair the later TomTomOne or TomTom2 as the factory had programmed the Blue&Me for the MarelliMAP.

We proceeded however believing they were wrong on the fit capability for satnav use but maybe right for pairing for Blue&Me. My advice is go for the TomTom2 albeit we did not even know there had been a previous TomTomOne Blue&Me that initially replaced the MarelliMAP. Prices vary on ebay from £50 to £200 depending on whether secondhand or NEW.

Things to look out for on purchasing is the year of the MAPS revision. Most are Europe including UK/RoI but some date back to 2011. Then make sure of full functionality as TomTom had a bug on downloading/updating firmware that took away the auto power on/off. No one knows if this was caused by downloading over wifi as TomTom were and are evasive. Going through the full reinstall is a very complex process and I have read reports of people losing the whole Blue&Me feature of the TomTom2 device which drastically reduces its value to just a basic TomTomGO 1000.

Then you have to think about the LIVE service which are only free on a new device for the first year and cost £40 per annum annually to upkeep so not many will have this working and TomTom usually deactivate the internal simcard after 3 years if no contract so check the card is still active if LIVE services is going to be used. Then be cautious of the NEW ones as unless unopened box and never been switched on it is possible the LIVE services could have been inadvertantly initiated for the free first year as this is done over the internal simcard and NOT connecting to the computer as is done the free first latest maps update so most likely maps can successfully be updated to latest 04/2020 revision.

So now you have all the information on buying the best TomTom........now for pairing..........whether the MarelliMAP, TT1 or TT2 the manuals really are a bit of a waste..........they may look a nice thick pamphlet but that is because it is in 45 languages and just a couple of pages of basic info and certainly will not cover how to 'pair' a TomTom to a car that had MarelliMAP................that is where 'HACKY' my work partner comes in..........AND it is possible despite dealers 'No-WAY' .

It requires a WindowsPC, (MACusers no good) a 1GB memory stick and downloading an app like notebook+++ that can deal with modifying different file types. It is quite simple but long winded step by step process and too much info to add here but for the TomTom2 the cars Blue&Me config file code line has 5 characters that need to be changed to tell the car it has a to recognise it has a TomTom fitted.

If and when you get to wanting this information then please come back and ask and I will get Hacky to take anyone through it.

Sorry it is a long response but thought better to cover the initial pitfalls. I have put up pictures in a post of the before and after working perfectly now in our 2010 Fiat car but the process also works for Alfa's.

https://www.fiatforum.com/500/479872-blue-me-map-vs-blue-me-tomtom-2-a.html



Farrah
 
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Hi to all

Farrah@

Thanks for infos.

Is it TOMTOM 4CS01,only option for 2010 ,500 model,or there is and some other Tomtom model, with or without blue&me,better or with bigger screen?
 
Hi,

Sorry Xenon for a very late response I seem to only get notified of responses if I have started the post so I will have a look in settings to see if there is a box I have not ticked to get notified if I have chipped in on someone elses post.

To the best of my knowledge now there are basically 4 satnavs that were made for the early cars for fitting into the dash mount 68R slot. Then also some of the later TomTom models were made available with cable&screen suction mounts if no 68R.


The first was the magnetimarelliMAP Blue&Me with microsoft/chrysler and IMHO is useless.

Next came the first TomTom (basically a TT (one) similar to the XL but partnered with chrysler added software spec) so with Blue&Me integrated feature. This was quite good albeit graphics now would appear a bit dated but had its own exterior SD card slot to update or change maps. This was silver and had its own CRATT unique cradle for the dash 68R or could be fitted with cable and screen mount if car had Blue&Me but no 68R slot. Basically the 68R slot was just a 12v power supply and the voltage conversion was done inside the cradle.


Then the TomTom2 Blue&Me with all the LIVE services came along and with vastly improved graphics with lane control, overhead road signs and even buildings and trees and stars in the sky at night. It also came again with its own unique cradle known as CRATT2 but appears two different designs are available one with a front release and the other with a side release. I have not fully established this as only seen pictures of the 3 TomTom cradles but these are the only two compatible ones for TomTom2 and generally whilst ALL models including MMMap fit the same 68R dash slot the cradle themselves are then specific to the satnav model. The TomTom(one) cradle has noticeably round finger pushes on the side where as the TomTom2 has square ones

Yes basically the TomTom2 is a 4CS01 model which is a TOMTOM GO LIVE 1000 with a 4.3 inch screen. It is much slimmer and neater than both the previous models and achieves the larger screen by a smaller surround. Originally came again with Blue&Me but then I believe TomTom or Fiat realised there was a small hole of a market for those cars that did not have Blue&Me but could have a 68R dash mount fitted so the same model was launched without Blue&Me but loaded with the Chrysler marques and graphics of all the cars and vans in the range. This provided nothing else for interacting with the car but the TomTom had its own voice command and BlueTooth phone linking.

Regarding size you can just squeeze into the cradles the TomTom GO 1005 Live which has a 5 inch screen but you cannot get this model with the integrated Blue&Me software.

We have successfully now updated early cars 2009 onward and installed the TomTom 2 updates up to a 2015 500 model and done two 2012 Alfa Mito's. As of yet not tried anything around 2007/08

When I say we it is my software engineer who has managed to decode the BMConfig files which are then uploaded back onto the car through the USB port to tell the car it has a TomTom2 installed and not a TomTom(one) or the original MMMap.

It was 'Touch & Go' as the main Fiat dealer said it was not possible:bang: and when during the update to the car the radio suddenly splurted out in Italian :eek:we looked at each other and just laughed as honestly we figured we had just screwed the cars software. That said suddenly the message came up update completed. We then fitted the TomTom2 and paired it to the car and all was well.:yum:

To be honest we all like it although the screen is smaller than later inbuilt models it is better suited in line of sight and allows the cars data much easy read with graphics on the TomTom screen rather than what just comes up on the speedo cluster.

Secondhand ones now selling from £50-80 on ebay it really is a good investment and if anyone has the old MMMap really is a fantastic improvement.(y)

I am more than happy to be corrected on anything written as certainly not a specialist, just bought a car for the daughter a few months back and been bored during the lockdown isolation so finding things to do:worship:


Farrah
 
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