Whoo hoo, I’ve got a TomTom 940 LIVE

[Geordie Amanda]

I recently bought a 940 Live and as it is a pretty new model, I thought I would share my experiences of it so far.

The Good

The Size is fine and fits into a Bag or big pocket easily, once installed in it’s hinged case. The screen is the typical size of most of this range of TomToms and is pretty visible in all but direct sunlight. Also it is fairly loud and clear and the Blue Tooth phone connection works pretty well really, I find I have to shout up a bit on the motorway, but it seems to download the phone book from my TyTnII very quickly and easily (quicker than my BMW!). But what about the newer and more advanced features?

Well the IQ system really does seem to work (navigating around traffic problems) and the Advanced Lane Guidance really is a boon when you are approaching busy and complicated motorway intersections.
The FM Transmitter worked reasonably well and once I realised I had to store music via the TomTom Software (it stored it to the Micro Card I added), it worked fine. You can’t stick mp3s directly onto the card if you want the TomTom to recognise it (probably a simple fix for you clever chaps). You simply tune your car radio to the frequency the TomTom advises, although this is adjustable if it causes co-channel interference problems.

The unit is very quick to find it’s position from a start, just a matter of seconds if you have downloaded the Quick GPS packet and navigates the car brilliantly, keeping up dead reckoning if you are in a tunnel/built-up area/etc (it has built in accelerometers) and rerouting very quickly if you make a boo-boo. Which brings me to the ‘LIVE’ features………WOW! These really are good.

Find a Google address is simply brilliant. The built in sim card logs onto Google and you simply type in your destination in typical Google fashion and you are given the option to navigate there or ring the place. Simple and Superb. It is an addition to the usual POI database and I can’t praise it high enough. Sadly even though the unit has a Sim card you can’t send an address directly from your Laptop and over the airwaves to the unit in the same way as you can with my BMW sat-nav, but there again, you don’t need to.

Live traffic is also a very clever system. It uses Vodaphone’s own triangulation of it’s Mobiles and TomTom use this information to work out the traffic flow. It is actually tracking individual mobiles on roads and is much quicker to respond to eb and flow traffic. It certainly beats the TMC systems I have used and naturally it is incorporated into the IQ routing around the problem if a quicker route can be found.

It can do lots of other things too, like show you the local weather and search Google for things, all via the Sim card, as well as produce slide shows from it’s Micro SD card. I have customised my position indicator to be a little Mario Cart. This unit is so customisable.

One last feature. It can somehow (I don’t know how yet) be buddied up with friends who have ‘Live’ type satnavs and you can see where each other are in relation to yourself. Realtime tracking!! You can make yourself invisible too, just in case you aren’t where you are supposed to be

The Traffic Camera/Mobile Camera data base is supplied by Road Angel and I have always found that RA had the best data base for fixed cameras in the business. But………and it’s a big but………the 940 Live can update it’s mobile camera database on the movie via it’s Sim card. The theory is that if you detect a new camera you press a button, the co-ordinates are sent to RA and once confirmed (poss by a second or third confirmation??) the co-ordinates are transmitted to all the TomTOm Lives that subscribe to this service, within 3 minutes!! Also map alterations because of new roads etc are transmitted this way too. Fixed camera databases have to be updated via connection to your computer and hence it’s internet connection.

The Bad
Well it’s not that cheap and if you have the brightness up full and the volume is high, the unit struggles to get much past 2 hours running on batteries. But that’s all I can criticise really.

A great unit

 

[salvo's yellow punto]

looks great and sounds it too.about 300 pound aint it?do u think its worth it?

 

[Geordie Amanda]

looks great and sounds it too.about 300 pound aint it?do u think its worth it?

I think the 540 is the pick of the bunch probably, at least on value for money, but so far I can’t fault the 940 and don’t regret the purchase one bit. It is worth it I think. I have put a Buddies username into the unit and it showed me where they where on the map. Not only that but we have exchanged a few text messages over the TomTom network.

 

[Aircooledbug]

I got the TomTom 530, never let me down, great bit of kit!!

 

[grimwau]

When you say "The built in sim card logs onto Google" is this a chargeable service, ie. do you need to top up the card as with PAYG?

I'm also having trouble with battery life when using it hand held, about 2 hours as well.

In the tech specs for my 730T it says 5 hours so I do expect to get 3½ hours if I have battery saving options enabled. I have had loads of problems and have had to send it back twice already in 3 months of ownership and I can tell you that there custome suport is rubbish.

 

[Geordie Amanda]

When you say "The built in sim card logs onto Google" is this a chargeable service, ie. do you need to top up the card as with PAYG?

I'm also having trouble with battery life when using it hand held, about 2 hours as well.

In the tech specs for my 730T it says 5 hours so I do expect to get 3½ hours if I have battery saving options enabled. I have had loads of problems and have had to send it back twice already in 3 months of ownership and I can tell you that there custome suport is rubbish.

Currently I am in the Honeymoon period of free sevice, I will find out in 3 months what it cost. I think the camera/Road/Traffic service is around £4 a month and I am not sure about the sim card thing. Currently though, I can text my TomTom buddies for free on it. I’ll update the thread when I find out, unless someone can furnish us with the info first.

 

[j0nny]

wow, impressive unit! dont think its possible to get much better than that. read the review, very good. will be curious to hear what you think in the future. good luck with it

 

[Geordie Amanda]

wow, impressive unit! dont think its possible to get much better than that. read the review, very good. will be curious to hear what you think in the future. good luck with it

Thanks j0nny. So far it has performed faultlessly, even the Bluetooth Speaker phone works well. The Sedici isn’t the quietest of places to make a call, but so far everyone I have called has been able to hear me reasonably well.

I did find one tiny funny with it tonight however. I was travelling down the A1 and saw from the roadside traffic information thingies that it was closed at a certain point. The 940 said it was a long delay, but didn’t ask me if I wanted to reroute (I think the road had just been closed, but the effective delay hadn’t reached the critical point that triggers the reroute facility). Anyhoo I asked the unit to show me the delay and then took the option to reroute, it worked out very well as I missed virtually all the A1s diverted traffic and it only delayed my travel by about 4-5 minutes. Just a small quirk, but my TMC equipped 123D’s SatNav would have spotted it I think. Having said that, the 123Ds built in Sat Nav isn’t as clever in many ways, so overall I think the TomTom is very slightly the better unit!!

And before anyone asks…………………..I like to post in Pink font and it isn’t negotiable

 

[j0nny]

ah rite, well that would throw a discussion on tmc vs 3g info, but in ireland TMC doesnt exist so we have no real traffic help apart from IQ routes which is far from live lol. one question though, is the maps constantly on the unit? or are the constantly transmitted?

 

[Geordie Amanda]

ah rite, well that would throw a discussion on tmc vs 3g info, but in ireland TMC doesnt exist so we have no real traffic help apart from IQ routes which is far from live lol. one question though, is the maps constantly on the unit? or are the constantly transmitted?

The map was pre-installed and once connected to the Interweb I was told there was a new version of the maps available. HUGE file though, around 6gb! And that was just Europe! If there are diversions in place, such as major road works and enough people log this fact on their TomTom Lives' the map data is updated apparently. I don’t know hope the map data gets reset after the road works finish however, but I am guessing there must be some mechanism.

 

[mills705]

sounds good!
Im debating on the live or go models! All i can see different is the up to date stuff? but im not going to be driving miles upon miles... lol. Plus on tom toms website its only twice weekly updates apparantly compared to go's weekly. Im not wanting to throw money away as the lives much more expensive long term.
If i went for the 530 id b buying the camera updates etc though so im stumped what to do! lol.

 

[Geordie Amanda]

I feel I had better update this thread with a slight warning about TomTom. I am currently unable to subscribe to the ‘Live’ update service as they only accept Visa and Diners cards, I currently have a Maestro one. I have been in conversation with TomTom and they are looking into it, but I feel the problem will be unlikely to be rectified. This means that in around 4 weeks time my unit will no longer function properly and I will not receive any more updates on traffic or Camera sites. Brilliant!

I can not believe it, but they don’t seem able to set up a standing order because they use some second rate, third party collecting agency and unless I get a Visa Credit card or change my Banking arrangements to a different Bank (no chance, as I have Personal, Business, Mortgage etc with RBS), my custom would appear to be no longer welcome at TomTom. I hope for the best and a solution to be found and in fairness to TomTom, they have given me a free month of updates to try to sort this mess out, but……and it is a big BUT…….If you are in a situation like myself, you could become unstuck with TomTom. I will naturally take the matter further if I am left out in the cold by them, which is a shame as the customer service agent (Jay L) is incredibly helpful and returns emails with the hour!!!

Come on TomTom, don’t make me force a refund and go off to Garmin etc.