General 500 blue and me satnav any good??

[loveshandbags]

Yes the NEW 'Blue&Me TomTom 2 Live' is a very different animal to the original Blue&Me TomTom. It now has all the features you could ever want (more or less) including full postcode entry, multi-level congestion colour coding to show level of congestion en-route, local weather etc etc and of course integration with the car on screen. Check out the downloadable user manual PDF for it... it is about 112 pages mind you. http://download.tomtom.com/open/man...refman/Blue_and_Me-TomTom-2-LIVE-RG-en-GB.pdf

I was hoping to give an 'real life' update on the B&Me TomTom 2 Live. I had read about compatibility problems with it across the various models so before I purchased one last week I contacted Fiat UK Accessories to make sure that it would work not only in a 500 but also in a MiTo. Their answer was that it would work with either car as long as it had the 'option 68R' port.

Anyway typical of my luck - it does not work in the early edition '09 MiTo despite Fiat updating the 'system' this morning. Generally I let 'things go' but I have been 'on the case' with a face to face with the warranty man in the Garage where the car was bought, Fiat CS where I left contact details to ring me and then I got a call back from Milan (an English speaking Louise) who took details of the problem. Solution is to replace the B&Me unit in the car (part costs €300+vat) and I gave her the actual part no.

Aside from the unit not talking to the B&Me in the car it's an impressive bit of kit. I have now realised that the reason that they don't charge for the 68R option is that they 'get you' when you buy the unit.

I'm hoping that it will come up trumps for me. I'm not looking for much.

 

[FloJo]

I'm still a bit unsure whether I'd like to have the satnav parked in the middle of the dash - the main reason for me putting off getting one! I usually fix right it in the righthand corner so I guess it might take a bit of getting used to.

 

[loveshandbags]

I'm still a bit unsure whether I'd like to have the satnav parked in the middle of the dash - the main reason for me putting off getting one! I usually fix right it in the righthand corner so I guess it might take a bit of getting used to.

I have trouble positioning the iphone (it was the 'sat nav' and safety camera alert) in the 500. I used to swap between a windscreen holder (to the left of the speedo) and to having it 'magnetised' to the metal part of the dash. I have less success with it off to the right of speedo particularly with the trailing wire for power since I was not using a proper Tom Tom app it gobbled the power. On the MiTo in the centre of the dash it seems perfectly positioned and I've got used to how large it is. It does seem not seem to impede on the view out the windscreen despite its 5 inch width. I haven't physically seen one installed in a 500 except for one posted on the FF to the left of the speedo. For the Abarth guys they have to come up with a more ingenious 'solution' because the boost gauge is in the same spot of the 68R option on the F500. In the picture they seem to have opted for a smaller 4 inch one. At the moment the A500 has no 68R option port but I'm unsure if the 'new' US model has one.

It was fun this morning with all the flashing messages on the sat nav between changing arrival times, safety camera alerts, alternative routings, traffic alerts (lot of road works going on), current speed and it going RED if you exceeded your speed limit. All nicely done without the nasty peeping that you get with the speed limiter on the car. Some of the Speed limits were incorrect on the readout where some sections had reduced limits of 30km in the city centre (showing 50km) and 100km on the motorway (showing 120km). Map updates are priced at £33 (4 allowed) for the year including the 'other 'safety' updates'. There does not appear to be any 'life time' updates as on the Garmin. If I can get the B&Me hook up to work I'll keep it. If not I'll probably return it on principle.

 

[nomader00]

i I have unfortunately the other sat nav ade by magnetti, does anyone know how I can get the maps updated they are UK & Island and 2008 maps.