TomTom GO 920T
As of this writing, the TomTom GO 920T is the top of the line GPS system from TomTom. No holding back, no features left out for other higher end models. And for North American users the 920T and 920 is currently the only model to offer voice prompted address entry. This model also comes with a remote control, an RDS-TMC traffic receiver, and European map coverage in addition to the North American maps. So how well does it all work?
The TomTom 920T builds on what the 720 offers. There are many new features added to the 920, so we are only going to focus on the attributes that differentiate it from the 720. We’ll have plenty to cover. 
North America & Europe Mapping
The 920T adds mapping of both North America and Europe in the internal memory. If those maps are not enough– say you are going to Australia– then you can load maps onto an SD card and put the card into the empty SD card slot. There is only about 170 MB of free space left on the internal 4GB drive. Of course there is a pond in between North America and Europe, so to access the European maps, go to [Menu -> Change Preferences -> Manage Maps -> Switch Maps] sometime as you cross the Atlantic.
Voice Assisted Address Entry
I think what most people will be interested in hearing about is voice prompted address entry, with the question “does it work?”. In a word, yes. But there are some things you should know. There are two methods you can use to enter an address using voice prompts, the way that works and the way that doesn’t.
Spoken Address
Spoken Address is the way that doesn’t work. Well, that might be too harsh. When you select Spoken Address the 920 will ask you for a city, you speak the name of a city. The 920 listens for your requested city and responds with a list of cities that sound like what you said. Then you tap (yes, with your finger) on the city you are looking for. Next you speak the name of the street, wait for the suggestions, and tap on your street. This method is a hybrid between spoken commands and a purely touch screen input method. While it does avoid having to use a keyboard to spell things out, it still requires frequent taps on the screen to enter an address. If you’re going to go for it, you might as well jump in with two feet, so I didn’t like this method that much.
Spoken Address (Dialog)
This method is what most people will think of for voice prompted address entry. After entering this command, it asks you to say a city. After listening for your city, it presents you with a numbered list of cities that sound like what you said. You can then speak the number that represents the city you were looking for. If the correct match is at the top of the list, you simply say “one”.
The same goes for entering a street. You say the name of the street and the TomTom 920T responds with a list of streets that sound like they could be good matches, and you speak the number next to the name of the correct street. Once you have the city/street, you speak the digits for the street number. So you would say “one nine zero zero” for 1900. Assuming the 920 hears you right, you then can say “done” to calculate a route to that location.
So how well does it work?
I got in the car, started it up, and safely parked on the side of a highway where I would have some good background noise of cars speeding by. I also opened the windows a bit to let in more sound to better simulate the noise environment while driving. Then, I had a list of 100 addresses printed out and went through each one to see how often the TomTom 920 would hear me right.
The results? 92% pass rate. So there were four times that for whatever reason I couldn’t complete the address through voice prompts alone and needed to resort to the keyboard. That doesn’t tell the complete story though, there were a couple of times when it didn’t hear me properly on the first try and I needed to go back (something you can still do with voice control) and say something over again. That happened 28% of the time. So overall, 72% of the time it heard the city, street, and street number without me needing to repeat myself, and 92% of the time I was able to enter the address entirely with voice prompts, without touching the touchscreen.
72% might sound low, but even with those cases I didn’t need to use the touchscreen– I just had to repeat myself. And also there seems to be a bug whereby occasionally it doesn’t listen the first time you enter a street number. For example after selecting the street, the device asks you to enter the street number, the “waiting lips” appear in the top right indicating it is waiting for you to speak, but it doesn’t hear you the first time. The “green light” does go on… but nothing happens. Then if you speak the street number again it will recognize it just fine.
Had it not been for that glitch, which I presume can be fixed with an application update, the overall success rate on the first try would have likely been about 90%. Overall, i was happy with the results, but not ecstatic. It takes me a longer amount of time on average to enter an address by voice than it does by touchscreen. The difference is that you can keep both hands on the wheel. However I suspect most people are happy to enter their destination before they leave. And you do still need to occasionally glance over at the display to see when it is listening and to pick items from the list.
I see some room for a few other improvements as well. Sometimes after speaking the name of a city or street there was only one match for me to pick from. If there is only one likely match, why not automatically select it? Also when you enter a street number that is out of range using the touch screen method, a hint will appear showing you the valid address range for that street. The same thing doesn’t happen when using voice prompting, it simply won’t accept the number leaving you to wonder why. Even if you do recognize it might be because your number is out of range you are left guessing what a number in the range might be.
You might have noticed that nowhere did I mention state names. Changing states does require use of the touch screen. It will assume you want to search in your current state or the last state you searched in, otherwise you need to tap the state you want on the touch screen.
Two other minor issues are that it occasionally cuts itself of when speaking back to you. When it tries to say “Please state street” sometimes only “Please st” comes out. Finally, when speaking street numbers if you happen to say something that gets recognized as “cross street” I found it impossible to tell it “back” like I could when other mistakes were made.
While it may sound like there are a number of issues, let’s not forget that I did achieve a 92% success rate without touching the screen, and that is an A- in most schools. Also it isn’t uncommon to make typos while typing out addresses on the touch screen so I wouldn’t compare 92% against 100% as I’m not 100% accurate with my fingers on the touchcreen.
Voice Prompt Tips
Voice entry does take a little bit of practice. After the first few minutes I wanted to throw the thing out the window. A short time later I was getting better results, but didn’t think I’d use it since I’m faster on the touch screen. After spending a little time practicing I could see myself switching and using it.
I wanted to see how much of the voice prompting I could do without touching the screen, and here are a few tips to help setup your 920T to use voice prompting with as few touch inputs as possible.
- Setup Spoken Address (dialog) as a Quick menu item. This puts a small icon on the main navigation screen that allows you to start a voice address entry with one click rather than the four it would take you otherwise. Go to Menu -> Change Preferences -> Quick Menu Preferences -> and check the box ‘Navigate to Spoken address (dialog)’. Now when you want to enter an address by voice, just tap the new icon on the main navigation screen.
- Set the Route Summary screen to automatically disable. When activated, the Route Summary screen displayed after a route is created will automatically disappear after 10 seconds. You won’t have to click ‘Done’ after entering the destination. To change this setting to go Menu -> Change Preferences -> Planning Preferences -> Done -> and then select ‘Yes’ to the question about closing the route summary screen automatically after 10 seconds.
- Wait for the lips before you speak. The 910T will ask for you to speak something like “please state city” and then a set of lips will appear in the top right of the display. The 920 isn’t listening until you see the lips, and sometimes I was a little fast (or just impatient).
- Mute your stereo. This probably goes without saying, but the 920 might have some difficulty if it needs to figure out exactly what noise to listen to. I was able to enter addresses with the radio on at a reasonable level, but the accuracy rate did go down. Mute or pause the music and your results will certainly improve. If Tommy Tutone is playing you might wind up at street number 8675309 instead of where you were trying to go.
Remote Control
I’ve never used remote controls much with GPS devices– I typically mount them within arms reach so I never saw the need. And when talking with other owners who purchased devices with remote controls, many of them said they didn’t use them much either. But I was pleasantly surprised that they were fairly useful. I’m probably not going to run out and buy a remote for each of my devices, but it did grow on me.
The remote is very iPod like– not too many buttons, the top looks like a click-wheel, and nothing is labeled. Despite having ten unlabeled buttons, everything was quite intuitive. I never needed to pull out the manual to figure out what each button was for. In fact, the thing I had the most trouble with was just getting the (included) batteries installed. I had the right idea, but boy is that thing tight. The remote also comes with a little holder with an adhesive backing for mounting somewhere in your car.
The buttons are pretty smart and change their function based on the current screen. While navigating the up and down buttons zoom the map in and out. The left and right buttons change to the previous or next track. The center button sends you to the menu, and the volume up and down buttons change the volume of the voice prompts.
I couldn’t find many tasks that couldn’t be accomplished using the remote control. You can even go so far as to enter addresses with the remote, sliding across the on-screen keyboard with the arrow buttons on the remote. Address entry is not very fast at all when using the remote, but if your GPS is mounted too far away to reach, it will get the job done.
Enhanced Positioning Technology (EPT)
This feature allows the GPS to use its own “gut feel” to determine your location if the GPS signal goes away. Let’s say you are following a route and the road takes you underground through a tunnel… no GPS reception down there! So the device senses accelerations and decelerations to determine your movement and keep your position updated. Once you get a signal back the GPS location will take over and resume normal operations.
In the video link above you will see where we drive underneath a highway overpass and the GPS signal drops slightly, and you can see the EPT icon near the bottom right of the TomTom screen. Then after we come out the other side the GPS signal resumes.
I’ve gotten the chance to test this feature out in some of Boston’s best tunnels. The verdict? It isn’t as good as having GPS, but if it was why would we need GPS?
At the time I had three GPS devices on my dash. A Garmin Nuvi, a TomTom ONE, and this TomTom 920T. Soon after getting into the tunnel, the Nuvi would pretty much give up. It would say “Lost Satellite reception” and offer no assistance. Worse, the “error message” covered the screen so I couldn’t see what the next instruction was hiding behind the error message. I wouldn’t want to tap “OK” to that error message while in that kind of traffic, so a passenger did it for me.
The TomTom ONE didn’t perform much better, as would be expected. It seemed to try to estimate my position by just assuming I would continue on my route at the same speed. It too obviously lost my position, but tried to make some guesses about where I was.
So how did the 920T perform? Quite well! It continued to track my position quite well. Out of all the trips in and out of tunnels it correctly kept up with my position each time except for once. That time it seemed to think I had surfaced and was on a parallel street not far offset from my current location. So it didn’t work perfectly all of the time, but most of the time it was able to keep up with my position accurately and properly notify me of turns and intersections while underground.
While it didn’t perform perfectly, if I was going to be doing a ton of tunnel driving, I’d want something like the 920T with me.
Traffic Receiver
Since most all of the RDS-TMC traffic receivers on the market today are using the same underlying service (Clear Channel Total Traffic Network) I’m not going to spend too much time talking about the traffic service itself, but rather the design of the receiver and how traffic information is displayed and used on the 920T.
The traffic receiver is basically a long antenna with three suction cup mounts. It is, unfortunately, a rather ugly solution. The Garmin solution of an integrated antenna/power cable is much more elegant. Not many people go far without their power cable and the Garmin solution makes hiding away all GPS components much easier when leaving your car. Unfortunately you can’t use the Garmin receiver with your TomTom.
The TomTom RDS-TMC receiver connects to the bottom of the device, and sticks out a good inch. So if you have your GPS mounted with the suction cup mount to a horizontal surface (such as using the adhesive disc or with a third party friction mount) the screen doesn’t have enough clearance to be mounted 90° vertical. It will need to be at more like 60° which might make it more difficult to see the screen.
I also don’t see many people removing the receiver often when they leave their car. You would need to disconnect the three suction cups to pull everything down and that will just get too annoying. So instead you are left to give thieves a possible signal that there is a nice GPS in your car.
On the plus side though, it does put the antenna in a more optimal position to receive the traffic signal. In my testing it performed slightly better at finding a traffic signal than other antennas on other models connected to the same service on the same frequency. Despite having a better signal than most other receivers, my tests showed that I still didn’t get anywhere close to the range that the Clear Channel Total Traffic Network maps suggested I would get.
Once you are connected up and have a signal, the traffic information is downloaded into your device. On the right side of the screen a “traffic bar” will appear. At the top your signal status is displayed, and this location represents the end of your route. At the bottom, the beginning of your route is represented. If there are incidents along the way, those will be displayed along the traffic bar proportional to how far ahead on the route they are. If there is estimated to be a delay in your arrival time based on that incident, the number of minutes of delay will be shown. Also at the bottom is a number showing the distance ahead on your route where the next incident is.
If you are familiar with the “Browse Map” view on TomTom devices, you can also view traffic information on a screen like that. Road colors change based on the current conditions. We will have another article on the traffic service in the future, but wanted to give you a taste for now.
Purchasing Advice
If you are trying to decide between the 920 and 920T, the only difference is the traffic receiver. Regardless if you purchase the receiver with the 920T, or as an accessory to the 920, it will come with a 12 month trial subscription. However you will pay about $30 more for it as an accessory.
If you are debating about the 720 versus 920 or 920T there are more considerations. Many people will look at the 920/T due to the included European mapping. You will certainly save money by purchasing the maps this way, and will get a host of other features (remote, voice address entry) along with it. The maps of Western Europe are about $170, the remote is about $60 if purchased as an accessory. It is difficult to put a price tag on what voice prompted address entry is worth.
So if you are looking for European maps, certainly go with the 920/920T. If you want the remote or the voice address entry, you will need to decide if it is worth the additional cost. And if you frequently get lost driving underground– then a 920 or 920T is most likely in your future.
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Tim, great review, thanks. And nice video. I have no clue about the artist/song.
About the 920, quite honestly, I wonder how many people will really need *both* maps of USA and Europe on a regular basis. For me, I don’t want/need to pay extra $$$ for this.
Also, what puts me off about off about the 720/920 is the extra cable for the TMC receiver. Spaghetti dashboard! Throw in the extra 920 remote, and now I’m starting to feel my driver’s compartment get a bit cluttered…TMC cable…Cig lighter power cable…remote control…cell phone and coffee mug already in place. It is getting crowded in here!
Still…the techie in me does want to play with this feature-rich 920, and thus I can see this product being very attractive to some.
Thanks for the comments, PhillyChip. I agree, this device is for the person that wants the whole enchilada! Most people won’t need something this sophisticated for their navigation needs. But if you want all of the bells and whistles, this is it.
Tim, yesterday I’ve ordered TT 720 for my wife that will arrive soon. We live in NYC metro area and there are plenty of underpasses and tunnels in here. Is the TT720 will be so useless while driving underground? Should I cancel the TT 720 order and buy TT 920 instead?
Simon, many of the tunnels around where I live don’t have any intersections or exits underground. So once you enter the tunnel there is most often only one way out. Thus when the GPS in something like a 720 blanks out it isn’t much of a big deal as it will just pickup again on the other side.
However if you do frequently need to make exits or intersections underground and those roads are unfamiliar, having EPT in the GPS will come in handy.
Driving on the surface under an overpass really isn’t a problem as it will take more than that to drop your signal. However if you are driving downtown NYC around all of the tall buildings there could be times when EPT comes in handy there too.
Thank you very much for a timely and comprehensive response.
While driving inside a tunnel, my wife has to choose the correct lane between I-95 N, I-78 N and I-78 S (there are also exits on local streets).
I think TT 720 will not tell her in advance (before entering a tunnel what direction she should stick to) Am I right?
BR
The 720/920/920T all have a setting where you can tell it to list the “next street” in the upper right corner of the map view. So theoretically if you only need to make one turn in the tunnel then even with the 720 that “next street” indicator will still appear when you are in the tunnel. However the 920 should provide better guidance as to how far ahead that turn is and track your progress to the turn.
Tim, thank you so much.
Hi Tim,
Great report as usual. I think that i will stay with the 720. In Europe the 720 has voice recog and I don’t very often need US maps. If I bought it it would oly be for the latest gimmick factor. I will be interested however, in seeing if the 920 has as many software problems as the initial 720/Home.
Thanks again for all the good work.
Peebs24, the 920 uses so much of the same software as the 720 that I suspect issues with HOME on the 720 will be the same with the 920. However once they get fixed that too would apply to both models.
HI Tim,
Thanks for the excellent reviews. I have been looking out for a new GPS lately & have bene comparing quite a few. Can you really give some evaulation between Garmin Nuvi700 series, Magellan 4250 (voice to text) as compared to Tomtom 920T ( Voice recognition) and which one would be the best or better option.
Thanks a lot in advance , you surely are a $$ saver.
SKumar
The Nuvi 700 series doesn’t have any voice recognition capabilities. The Magellan voice recognition is used for specific commands like “go home” or “nearest hotel”, but not for address entry. Voice recognition on the TomTom is used for address entry, but no other commands.
Tim, I share others’ opinion here: excellent review. I am in the market for a GPS, and am torn between the TomTom 920T and the Garmin Nuvi 680. I have one question for you. A lot of reviews that I have read elsewhere have really trashed the routing engine of TomTom. Could you please comment on that?
Kausik – Put 10 people in a room at a party and ask them the best way to drive from your home to the next major city… You will likely get multiple answers. People argue over routes all the time so you won’t always agree with the route a computer generates for you. I can take any GPS I’ve ever used and find dozens of routes that it poorly creates. It would be easy to bash certain devices because it didn’t pick what I thought was the best device– but it could have picked what someone else might think is the best route.
With that said, I haven’t seen the 720/920 create routes that are significantly better or worse than most any other GPS on the market. The one thing that does sometimes become evident is that in rural areas it seems to be very, very conservative in time estimates.
You might find this article interesting as a result of my attempt to look at route quality with a good sample size and trying not to introduce any personal or regional bias.
Dear Tim, you are amazing. Thank you for the reply. I went through the article following that link, and I agree about the subjectivity. However, my question was not general in nature, it was specifically to you, to ask if you have had such an experience.
I was actively considering the Garmin 680, but I must say that after reading your review, I am leaning towards the 920T…
Kausik, overall I’m quite happy with the majority of the routes the 720/920 take. I certainly run into routes that I wouldn’t have picked myself from time to time, but not remarkably more or less often than other devices on the market.
Hi Tim!
I am an Au Pair from Austria and as I got lost on American highways several times already I was thinking about buying the TomTom 920. But, will it understand my spoken adresses when I speak German? Or do I have to speak English even when I go back to Austria next year? And can I even recharge it in Austria (we have 220 volt)? Thank you very much for your answer! Sabrina
Sabrina, I’m not certain, you would need to check with TomTom to be sure. I think it might because the German version of the 720T says “Spracheingabefunktion für Adressen”. But you would want to check with TomTom to be certain.
HI Tim,
Thanks for the clarification between the Magellan 4250 Vs TomTom920T (Voice commands). I just wanted to ask one more thing, Would it be possible that if the TomTom as a company wants they can put the functionality in the S/w to cover what Magellan s/w does (include more spoken commands)? Or is it h/w based.
I am asking this bcoz most companies start with a little and later cover up with all the functionalities the competitor has. Again, I know this is more of a Company strategy , but just wanted to know your opinion and some clarification whether this function is h/w based or s/w based.
Another question is what is the Max SD card size that TomTom920T can take (4GB or 8GB)
I am sure with the latest GPS coming out in the market this fall we all are keeping you pretty busy.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts as SME on this.
SKumar
Skumar, I believe it would be possible for them to provide such a software update and it likely wouldn’t require any hardware changes. However I wouldn’t bet too much on it happening.
Mr. Kumar, at the website, the blurb for 920T says that it can take in upto 8GB in SD/MMC cards. I had a similar question; 4GB upwards, the SD cards come in an High Capacity format (SDHC), but in order for them to work, they need HC compatible devices. I am not sure if 920T is one such. I have written to them, but have not heard from them yet.
Tim, based solely on your recommendations,
I took a jump last night, and ordered a 920T. I am looking forward to using it, and I shall get back with my experience.
Thanks for the review – very helpful.
I too have my new 920T coming in a couple days! It is my FIRST ever GPS and I know I may have gone over-the-top, but I wanted a unit I could speak to and have it respond back with specific turn-by-turn directions. I’ll be anxious to try out this feature and report back to the group.
Hi Tim,
I’ve got two questions:
1. About the Traffic antenna, do you think it would be posible to remove the suction cups and run the antenna up into the top of the vehicle… IE hide it out of sight? How long is the cord? Could we get a second antenna for a second vehicle?
My husband ran the Sirius radio antenna up into the top of his vehicle and he would want to do the same thing with this one. Being able to do this might be the deciding factor on which GPS my husband will be getting. (shhhh… It’s going to be a Christmas/Birthday present for him!!!!)
2. Has any one had any problems with having both a GPS unit and a satellite radio in the same vehicle? We can’t use the FM transmitter with the Sirius radio, so that would not be an issue. We live near a big city and couldn’t find a clear channel to use with the radio, so I am assuming that we would have the same problem with a GPS.
Thanks for all your help!!!!
1) You could remove two of the suction cups, but not the third which contains a controller chip. I’m not sure if you would get good reception from it in such a position. It is generally recommended to run them vertical on the windshield.
2) GPS doesn’t need to transmit FM. GPS itself doesn’t transmit anything, only receives. The RDS-TMC receiver just listens in for transmissions. It also doesn’t transmit any signals.
Can you comment on the 920’s estimated time of arrival calculation. Many 720 users have complained on the forums that the 720’s don’t display an accurate time estimate.
Certainly, Daniel. On an hour long trip I can almost always count on a TomTom getting me there about 10 minutes early. So it often seems too conservative and I’m not a fast driver.
Most Garmin devices I can count on being 5 minutes late no matter where I go or how much I drive past the speed limit.
So the Garmin is more accurate in the sense that the percentage it is “off by” is less… but personally I’d rather be 10 minutes early than 5 minutes late.
Hi Tim,
Just how useful is the Traffic version of 720/920? I ask because if, for security sake, you have to unbutton and hide the antenna every time you leave the car, then it seems like a lot of fiddling around. Is it worth it? Are there any other ways to get the radio info?
Peter, that is a tough call. Of course I don’t think most people will take it out of their car each time they use it. You will have to weigh the annoyance vs risk factor. It also depends where you live (if traffic is even available in your area) and your driving habits. Last night I was using it and it all of a sudden alerted me to slow traffic 3 miles ahead and I would be delayed about 4 minutes. Knowing I would be 4 minutes behind wasn’t a big deal, but at 65 mph on a busy interstate in the rain made me better prepared to slow down as we came around the corner quickly upon the slow traffic. If the jam is enough that another route is faster, it will do that for you.
Compare Tomtom 920 & Garmin 770. why Garmin always more expensive than tomtom. Is Garmoin a better unit in quality or some better fetures
Hi, Tom
IMHO Garmin is more expensive because you are paying extra for a lullaby Garmin performs for you on TV
Hi Tim,
“I don’t think most people will take it out of their car each time they use it.”
If we worry about the tea leaves looking for the tell tale rings on the screen how do we hide an antenna? Seems to me that if they see the traffic antenna they will really know that they are looking for a high end system. It will surely keep the replacement window industry busy!!
I didn’t say that I think they should leave it in their car. I just said that I don’t think most people will. If you are going to take it in and out of the car every time then you will need to device if that type of a receiver is worth the hassle. I likewise recommend that people remove the GPS from their car, but most people probably won’t.
Just as a follow up, in case anyone is interested about the 4GB/8GB SD card capability of the TomTom Go 920/920T; I had asked them if it would support the SD High Capacity specification that these cards seem to come with nowadays. This is their reply: Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Support. It is our goal to provide you with an exceptional customer experience. We are more than happy to assist you in finding the correct SD card for your TomTom GO 920T. The TomTom GO 920T, will not function with the high capacity SD cards. You will need just the standard 4 GB to 8 GB SD card. Just to give you a small tip you will be able to find these SD cards anywhere where you are able to purchase digital cameras.
On a related note, I can’t seem to find the TomTom Go 920T anywhere, and even the 920 is back-ordered in most online stores. I need to purchase a GPS device urgently, and may have to go with Garmin (against my original wishes) because of their much wider availability.
I didn’t see anything about the 920T having Multi Destination Routing. Is this missing from the 920T?
It has it Alan.
Hi Tim,
Your spec sheet bar says that the 920 does not come with a case and does not have an electronic compass.
In Europe it is being advertised as coming with a case??
Re the compass. Have they dropped the compass that was in the 720 etc?
Best regards,
Peter – An “electronic compass” in a GPS uses additional internal hardware to determine what direction you are facing without needing movement. Most auto GPS devices don’t have that. The 920 still has a compass you can display on the screen however. In North America it doesn’t come with a case, I don’t know about other locations.
“The 920 still has a compass you can display on the screen however.” That is the one I meant. They still advertise it with the bag but we will have to wait to see what happens when they actually arrive. Meanwhile, the price of the 720T continues to fall over here in anticipation of the 920t. I the past week it has dropped around €50.
Hi Tim,
Have spent past hour reading all your answers to questions etc. I just have a TomTom Go and would like to know the advantages of me changing to the 920 and if advantageous to do so have you any idea to when I am likely to purchase one in Newbury, Berkshire.
Martin – The original GO models were not sold in high volume in North America and I never spent much time with them so I don’t have much of a reference. However I suspect you would see many differences/improvements. I don’t know when they will be more widely available, sorry.
Is the trafic information so important?
I live in Miami and travel in US
I am first time buyer and confuse about buying Navigon 7100, TT 920 or Nuvi 760
Can you recommend it witch one to buy and why?
Did u ever get a chance to measure any slowness in the GPS functionality when the unit is playing MP3, also how good is the Fm transmiter.
Also, there are a few other intersting factors that would be good to know if you an make comments on these :-
1.If we know a phone number, and we know it’s there in the units DB, would it be able to search with that.
2. Also can we call out phone number the unit can recognize and search with that.
3. Also what happens if a call comes whiel the unit is speaking the direction, what gets precedence.
4.Are the songs sortable based on the artist, name etc
5.Does the phone book gets shared/ acessible by the GPS unit, I mean can we browse and make call using the bluetooth on the tomtom 920T, while using phone book from my bluetooth enabled phone
6.Lastly, is there a s/w that comes along with the Unit that is used to store the songs on the external SD cards, or just drag and drop on an external card would be good enough.
Wow… that was a lot of questions.. but you see , the more you elp us, give us an insight, the more we try to know .. But everytime you seem to excel / do better than expected..
Aleks – I guess that depends how often you are in traffic. I think it is helpful. You can compare those three devices here.
Skumar – (1) No. (2) I’m not sure what you are asking. It can call POIs that you have searched for by name. (3) Directions. (4) Yes. (5) Yes, if your phone is supported for that feature. (6) Either way.
Hi Tim. Can you comment on the accuracy of the 920T v. the Nuvi 760 or 660?
Accuracy of what aspect of the device?
Just received my new 920T yeaterday and I thought I’d share some very honest comments from the perspective of an admittedly very new GPS owner…
1. FWIW, TomTom does an incredible job of packaging. I am a Quality Assurance Manager by trade and someone put some design thought into this!
2. After getting it up and running (software installation om my PC went fine) one big issue has come to mind: While the horizontal format of the 920T may be “sexy”, I’ve quickly come to realize it may not be for me…and here’s why: while the diagonal screen measures 4.3″, the vertical height is just a shade over 2″. Then, when you realize the Status Bar measures a non-adjustable and non-removable 5/8″, the remaining vertical space available to dispaly the map is 1 1/2″. This is very dissapointing as a 1.5″ usable vertical map field is, IMHO, inadequate. Now, this may affect me more because I choose orient the screen so that the top is always my destination direction. If one were to choose top as North, then it would only be an issue 50% of the time. Actually, I considered this fact before I bought the 920T as I had used my friend’s Magellan 2200, with the more “square” format that provides considerably more “North bound” real estate. To check it out, I took it out to my car and mounted it on the center console. As suspected, the “viewable mapping” field is just too small for me when in a driving position. This one issue may make the 920T not for me. FYI, there is an option to move the Status Bar to a vertical position, which adds back the 5/8″, but even then the vertical field is less than the the “square” formats.
3. OK – the good news: the voice command address prompting is fabulous! Yes, you can actually speak directions and get routed to new destinations! It is almost, but not entirely hands free. To begin with, you need to touch the screen to select “Navigate to spoken address”. This command cannot be spoken, so there is “touch #1. Beyond that, you speak the city, the street and the address. Once selected, you must touch “Done” on the screen. After that, it’s all hands-free. In terms of speech recognition quality, I’ve only run three tests and they all went reasonably well. When I spoke the name of my city (Santa Barbara), it always came up on the top of the list. When I spoke the street name, it didn’t always appear at the top of the list, but it did appear on the list. FYI, once you enter a name, the verbal response is a spoken acknowledgement of the name at the top of the list only. If this is correct, you repky with “Done” or OK. If incorrect, you need to glance at the screen to see where the correct selection is listed. If the correct selection is, say, number three on the list, you speak “Three”. Then a voice-prompt will acknowledge, to which you again respond OK”.
4. The FW transmitter function works fine. I located an empty FM frequency, entered same in to the 920T and spoken propmts then came clearly over my FM radio. Nice, but it necessitates you having no access to your radio while in this mode. A trade-off of sorts.
5. (Ignorance showing). I need to get a compatible Bluetooth phone before I can check out this feature. But, again a Newbie here, for the life of me I can’t figure out the advantage of the Bluetooth Phone/GPS connection. If my phone has a Bluetooth coupled wireless earpiece, what additional feature do I gain by using the GPS in a wireless conversation? Is it merely the fact that I hear the person I’m speaking with through the GPS (or my FM radio) as opposed to a wireless earpiece? To me, wireless conversation is all about just that – wireless. Whether I hear my party through an earpiece or an external speaker is, I guess neat but by no means a “killer app”, as they say. Unless of course, I am completely missing the Bluetooth functionality of the GPS interface. Hopefully some of you seasoned veterans can set me straight on this one.
6. I looked on the on-line manual to see how to load photos on the unit (just to see if I could). But if I can, it’s very unclear how to do it. There are half a dozen stock scenery photos, which can be selected, but I’d still like to know if you can transfer photos from your PC to the 920T.
7. SD Card. Ther is an SD card slot at the bottom of the unit, but it is taped over with a note reading: “No SD required”. OK, but can I utilize an SD card if I’d like too? Again, checking the manual I saw no reference to this. Hard to believe there is no reference to an SD card whotsoever in the 87 page manual, but again maybe I missed something key here.
8. When a routing is displayed, the “next turn” street” is prominently displayed in the Status Bar. However the street you are currently on is displayed in very small (again, non-adjustable sized) font. I know on the Magellan unit this was in a much larger font. Again, no deal breaker but just an observation.
So that’s it for now – until I do some more real-life testing (later today). All in all, I’m not sure the “novelty” of voice address entry is worth giving up a larger usable screen. But too early to make this decision yet. As I said, I just got the thing yesterday and I want to play with it some more before I make any final decisions. Meanwhile, I hope I haven’t lulled everyone to sleep in the process! Thanks very much for your patience. This feedback on this forum has really helped me so far!
Steve, thanks for sharing your extensive thoughts.
1) I agree. (2) When moving the status bar over to vertical you get 2&1/8 inches vertical and 3 inches horizontal. That is the same vertical as I get with a Magellan 200 series. (3) See my Voice Prompt Tips 1 and 2 above, you can actually speak the “Done” at the end, you don’t need to tap anything once you begin the process. (4) Good to hear as people can have varying degrees of success based on their car and location. (5) The advantage is that you can tell your GPS to navigate to a POI and then call that POI. You can also see the caller ID information of incoming calls on the GPS screen rather than the phone that might be in your pocket. (6) You do that through the TomTom HOME software. (7) It is really only necessary if you want to store additional maps, photos, or music files and don’t have enough room left in the internal memory. Most people will never use it. (8) I think that you will find that when navigating in unfamiliar areas that you don’t really care what street you are currently on, but the “next street” is more important. I turn off the current street field to make more room for the map.
I managed to get my 920T in the ONE single store when one single piece was available, in all of five boroughs of New York, and New Jersey!!
I agree with Steve’s extensive review. Setting up of the device was not quite easy. There seems to be some conflict between the Home software and the account settings in My TomTom at their website. I could not enter my device code into their system. Though, with the 920T, I am supposed to get a year’s subscription of TomTom Plus, but there was no way to activate it; it asked for a product code which was nowhere to be found. I am going to play with it in a day or two, and shall post back.
Tim, thanks a million for the quick and complete feedback! I now better understand the Blutooth function & you’ve convinced me that the vertical screen space may be adequate if I just move the status bar to vertical orientation.
More on Bluetooth…is there a list of compatible cell phones I should consider that will (for sure) pair with the 920T? If I’m going to keep it (and it looks as though I may) I now need to know what phone to get. FWIW, my Verizon contract has now expired so I’m a “free phone agent” once again! Thanks again, Tim.
Kausik, as far as I know you don’t get a PLUS account for their paid PLUS services with the 920. I think there might be a trial coupon for a month or so. What you do get is a 1 year subscription to their traffic service (not PLUS service). That is activated once you first use the receiver.
Steve, you can check compatibility here. They don’t have the 920 chart posted but you are pretty safe to use the 720 chart.
Tim and Steve: Actually, bluetooth compatibility for 920 isn’t identical to 720. I have a Sprint Treo 700p and bluetooth works fine on the 920, but it doesn’t work on the 720.
DennisMisc, that is interesting because both my 720 and my 920 have the exact same Bluetooth application, byte for byte.
TomTom has finally posted definitive Bluetooth compatibility for the 920 on their website. It does not show up under the “Phone Compatability” tab, rather you need to go to the product section and call up the 920. FYI, here is the URL for the direct link:
http://www.tomtom.com/products/features.php?ID=423&Category=0&Lid=4
Sorry – don’t know if I can directly hyperlink! Also, I don’t know if this list is by any means complete. My sense is it consists of all those phones TomTom has been able to test and verify compatability to date. I’m particularly anxious as I now have my 920T, but am waiting to get a new phone based om B;uetooth compatability (and the ability to sync with MS Outlook).
Tim, I tried using the hands-free feature on the 720 for my Treo 700p at a BestBuy on one of the floor samples. I was able to get as far as pairing my phone to the 720, but I wasn’t able to make or receive calls through it.
Of course, I could have done something incorrectly, but I tried numerous times.
Since BestBuy didn’t have a floor sample of a 920, I went to a CircuitCity nearby and tried the pairing and the hands-free calls on their floor sample of a 920. It worked on my first try.
If the bluetooth application is identical between the 720 and the 920, then I guess I did something wrong and/or that the 720 (and/or my phone) was configured in such a way that didn’t allow me to make or receive the hands-free call.
Does the bluetooth application handle just the pairing and the data communication or does it also handle the hands-free calling part, making sure that it acts as a proper bluetooth handset for various phones, etc?
I wish I could test the hands-free feature on a 720 again, but since I don’t have one.. I’ll try it next time I go to the BestBuy. It definitely works on a 920, which I’ve been very happy with.
Where do you check the size of the bluetooth application?
I’ve started browsing the directories in the 920, and it’s pretty neat that you can edit things like contacts/contacts.txt and add phone numbers there.
“Get phone numbers from phone” only grabbed phone numbers that I’ve set as hotkeys on the 700p.
Well, I haven’t edited any files in the 920 yet, so if I somehow destroy it in the process, I’ll post it in the forums..
If you are using the 920 to play music (using the fm xmitter) do the navigation instructions take precidence over the music?
Just found the answer to my question on the tomtom site. Yes – music and navigation work together.
Another question: In the past, I have been burned by Magellan – despite online assurances that updated maps would be available annually, that only happened once in 5 years (and there was no announcement of the updated map and Magellan NEVER responds to email questions) The update was very expensive ($150). I am aware of Tomtom’s new Map update software (sounds kind of like doityourself corrections), but does Tomtom release whole new map updates periodically?
Dennis, I think there have been some Bluetooth updates as well so it is possible one floor model had the updates and another didn’t.
John, yes TomTom does release periodic “official” updates. They have been happening more than annually recently.
Tim,
I would like to use the 920 as the MP3 player, and it would be nice to use high capacity SD cards.
Do you have a link or the card brand/model to the 4 Gbyte (or larger) SD card that works with the TomTom devices? It is hard to find non high speed cards in stores anymore. I could order online, but I need to know for sure the compatible card. Thank you very much for your help.
To John Jones’ comment regarding music taking precidence over voice commands. What I understand from his response is that if you are playing music resident on your 920 that verbal commands will take precidence even when using the fm transmitter function. However, I can I listen to my car’s FM radio and then still have verbal commands come through the FM application (taking precidence when they occur)? I thought I actually read something about this but can no longer find the reference.
Leo, I don’t know what cards are compatible, but I think there is currently a discussion going on about that in the forums you might want to jump into.
Steve, no. When the FM transmitter it turned on it will constantly broadcast, even if no music nor voice prompts are “playing”. Thus you can’t use the FM transmitter and your car’s FM radio at the same time.
Taking up the matter of bluetooth compatibility again. If the bluetooth is the same on the 720 & the 920, why are the TT compatibility lists on their site so different. I use a Nokia 6111 phone which is listed on the 720 but not on the 920!!
HI Tim,
Can you please elaborate and expalin more on these features.
“includes Recording your own driving instructions, view documents, exchange positions via SMS and Bluetoothâ„¢ wireless technology”
So does this means we can record with our voice, but how many commands we have to record to meet the requirements. Also “View Documents” Does that means we will be able to read MSWord and Pdf files ??? And lastly, exchange Position by SMS, does it means that it can automatically or manually initiated respond to others about our location… is this doe ny the GPS unit or using our cell phone.
One last thing to confirm, is the Chipset SirFIIIDirect ??
Any insight would be very helpful
Thanks in advance
SKumar
Tim,
How is the color combination of the TT920T.? And is it any better than earlier model regarding the visibilty in direct sunlight. Also is there a feature for automatically switching to night mode (backlit) or switching back to day mode.
Thanks
SKumar
Again on 920 BT compatibility: The TomTom 920 specs only list phones by carrier, e.g. ATT/Cingular, T-Mobile & Sprint/Nextel. Verizon is not listed. However, some of the phones offered by Verizon ARE listed, but under the ATT/Cingular listing, i.e. the RAZR V3. Tim, given this, would you expect the RAZR V3 with the Verizon carrier to also be compatible with the 920? Also, as an sfterthought, I see no LG phones on the list whatsoever. Since I was considering the new LG Voyager, this is a bot of a dissapointment. Thanks!
Steve,
To talk to your point, I was thinking about getting an iPhone. It also is not listed. And because I thought i can use the inbuild feature to play songs from iphone as well ( in addition to the gps external storage songs) , that would too be a disappointment.
SKumar
SKumar, back to you! What’s a bit frustrating is not knowing if the BT phone compatibility list currently published by TomTom is intended to be an all-inclusive listing – or – just a listing of phones/carriers that have been tested to date! In my case, I went ahead and bought the 920T because of the advertised features & figured I’d find a BT compatible phone after the fact. Again, my main issue now is that Verizon is not at all listed and they are by far the most effective wireless provider in my area (Santa Barbara). Maybe Tim can weigh in in this one later…
Re phone compatibility on the 920.
TT support just sent me the following:-
Dear Peter,
Thank you for taking the time to contact TomTom Support regarding the Bluetooth Compatability of your device . My name is Harvey and it is our goal to provide you with an exceptional customer experience. We are always happy to help. Due to hardware and/or software issues we regret to inform you that your Nokia 6111 is not compatible with the Go 920T. We are constantly testing new phones, however, if one or more features are not functional we must deem the device incompatible. Please rest assured that TomTom is committed to making our services compatible with as many cellular phone models as possible. We regret any frustration this may cause. All of the compatability lists are available for your use on the Web Site. To view this go to http://www.tomtom.com, then clisk on the products tab, on the left side of the screen click all in one navigation and choose your device, then under the functionality tab you should see the Bluetooth compatability.
We hope this information helps! If you have any further questions or comments, please email or call us at 866-486-6866 Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM until 7:00 PM EST. Thanks again for writing. At TomTom we believe in showing you the way the easy way.
With Best Regards,
Harvey,
and
The TomTom Customer Support Team
Can anyone please explain why the Nokia 611 IS compatible with the 720T (it is on the list) and NOT compatible with the 920T? I thought that the Bluetooth circuitry was the same???
I am sorry that I waited for the 920 now.
Does anyone know if the phonebook transfer works with the Blackberry curve?
Its crazy its not there. Alot of people use blackberries
I can’t speak for Verizon and the TomTom, but I have seen this issue come up elsewhere with Bluetooth compatibility. Verizon has been know to cripple features, such as Bluetooth, in the phones that it sells. My Razr through Cingular connected perfectly to my car via Bluetooth. A Verizon Razr would not. I suspect that’s why TomTom lists both the phone and the carrier.
For bluetooth compatibility, if your phone is not on the compatibility list, the best thing to do is to take your phone to the electronic stores and test it for yourself on the GPS receivers on display. That approach worked for me.
I really wanted the hands-free functionality, but I was willing to live with not being able to use the TomTom PLUS service.
I only tested for the hands-free calling/receiving on the display model.
Luckily, both works well.
Btw, if you have the GPS receiver and you are looking for a phone, take your receiver to the phone store so you can test for yourself.
Dennis, we shouldn’t have to go to all that trouble. Why can’t TT simply follow the phone approval procedures that they have used on other models? Until the 920T life was simple – you just looked on a list that was easily available o see if your phone was there. With the 920t life is different. Firstly, you have to find the b****y list, then you have to go through all the mickey mouse listing showing specific phones against specific US networks – ridiculous!! I am having a SERIOUS rethink.
Peter, it seems to get worse…if that’s possible.
Here’s the question I emailed and the answer I received:
Subject
Verizon Bluetooth Compatibility
Discussion Thread
Response (TT James) 11/21/2007 02:57 PM
Dear Mr Sidwell,
We do not list your phone as compatible for the your TomTom unit, it does not mean it won’t work it means we have not tested the unit ourselves. Your phone may work but we can not gaurentee the your phone will work 100% with the unit and all options.
If you have any further questions or comments, please email or call us at 866-486-6866 Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM until 7:00 PM EST. Thanks again for writing. At TomTom we believe in showing you the way the easy way.
With Best Regards,
The TomTom Customer Support Team
Customer (Steve Sidwell) 11/21/2007 01:22 PM
You list no Verizon phones as having Bluetooth compatibility with the 920T. However, you list the RAZR 3v under the ATT/Cingular compatibility list. So would a RAZR V3 from Verizon also be compatible? Thanks!
So – I just got off the phone with TomTom TS (with a native English speaker, no less [their stock just went up big time in my eorld]). They indicated that no Verizon phones have been tested as being “fully compatible” with the 920T. Adding, of course, that other phones (including Verizon’s} may work, but they may not be “fully” compatible. Makes me wish I had half a dozen phones to test myself before I dump Verizon as my carrier.
Hi Steve,
Just imagine how much use you can get from the 920 phone compatibility list if you don’t live in the US!! As far as I can see there are no European phone that work with the 920T. Most probably, the phone approved for the 720T would work with the 920T (Tim has looked at the Bluetooth code on both models and says they they are identical)but TT could have handled this matter in a much more professional way.
Hi, I am trying to decide between Tom Tom 920 and the Nuvi 660. Is it true that I will be able to manipluate my ipod through the Tom Tom and will play it thorugh the car speakers? I understand the Nuvi has bluetooth and will play my phone calls over the car speakers, will the Tom Tom? Do you have a preference?
Thanks, Kate
Decisions,decisions,decisions…. Actually I need advice on which device will be best for me. I live in Nebraska which does not have that many large cities and traffic is not that big of a problem except on Saturdays in Lincoln when the Huskers play. Weather can be more of factor. The devices I am considering are the TomTom 720,920,920t and Garmin 7200 which is probably overkill but I like the big screen. I have just started my own business and will be driving and traveling more in the state and the surrounding states. While the car I currently have is not bluetooth equiped, I plan on changing this in the near future my cell phone as well. I plan on getting a new Ford Tarus and a Blackberry. My concern is that they will all work together. I have my cell service with U.S. Cellular. I considered adding the gps option but was discouraged by the dealer since this is not portable and is a $1,200 option. The dealer said that I can find a portable unit just as good. I plan trying to find one of the devices at a reasonable price on Friday during the after Thankgiving sales. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Kate, you can purchase an optional iPod connection kit to connect to your iPod. The audio will go through your car stereo for music and voice prompts. Bluetooth audio does not go through your car stereo, it goes through the internal speaker only.
A couple of questions:
1) How much in $$ do map updates – or just maps -cost from TomTom? Both official TT maps and from user mapshare?
2) Re POI. Both models have some 5 or 6 million I believe, but is there any knowledge of the geographic distribution of those 5 Million POIs? 5 M sounds like a lot but there are also a lot of places to cover. Sprinkling the POI over Canada and the USA could leave some locales bereft, relatively speaking.
For example, how many POIs might there be for Eastern Ontario (Canada) and Western Quebec (Canada)?
Tim, great review! I have narrowed my GPS search to the 920T and the Nuvi 680. My question has to do with updates and pay services. The dealer at my local brick and mortar couldn’t tell me much about how much the updates cost or about fees for the pay service. Do you or anyone else have any feel for costs associated with these services?
Dear Tim, I used a 2GB SD card into my new 920T. The SD card has some MP3 files. But I could not get the device to recognize the SD card. If I connect the device to my computer, the TomTom Home application recognizes the card and asks me which one I would like to mount. But even it does not recognize the music files on the card. Would you have any idea why this is? Thanks in advance for your help.
Steve,
I was successful getting my 720 to pair with 2 different Verizon phones. My observations:
1) If you have a Smartphone (i.e. Moto Q, Treo, etc.), you will need to order tethering which should add about $15 to your VZW data plan that you already purchased with your Smartphone.
2) If you have an EV-DO compatible phone, you will need to order VCAST — again about $15 per month. Please note that although this may be able to be done, it may not be kosher with Verizon. I had an LG VX-8600 that I was able to pair this way.
3) Since it has been a while, I cannot recall which features were supported, but I do know that the TomTom Plus Traffic did work for me.
4) You will have to change some settings on the TomTom to get this to work. Don’t bother calling TomTom Support; they will just say that Verizon phones are unsupported. I cannot recall the exact settings…but I will say that one screen comes up and defaults to *99# (presumably for the AT&T network). Put in #777 instead. Leave the Access Point screen blank. On the screen requesting user name and password, put your user name in as
yourmobilenumber@vzw3g.com
The password in all cases is vzw.
5) There may be other settings, but I cannot recall them. You may find more information by searching Google.
Best of luck to you!
Steve G
P.S. I recently switched to AT&T and the setup for phone on that network was much easier.
John – (1) Official map updates are typically $75 – $150 depending on the map. MapShare updates are free. (2) No, there is not.
Fletch – See paragraph above to John. There are no fees for GPS itself. The optional traffic service comes with a 12 month subscription and after that it is $60 annually.
Kausik – I’ve seen this with some types of SD cards, so if you have a different brand card you might want to try that. Otherwise make sure they are actually MP3 encoded files and not music files in other formats. If neither of those, give a call to support or ask for help in the forums where someone might know better than me.
Dear Tim, thank you for your reply. I contacted the TomTom support, and am happy to report that they were pretty prompt and effective. Apparently, the 720/920T recognizes some specific root folder names; all I needed to do was to create a folder called ‘mp3′ in the SD card, and put all the songs and song folders into it. Thereafter, when I tried to access the Music, the 920T immediately recognized and played everything.
The only gripe I have about the music is that once the music starts playing, you need at least 3 screen touches to make it pause or stop. I wish there were some kind of hotkey on the screen that would toggle play/pause.
The sound of 920T itself is quite powerful, even on the road (with window panes closed). I tried the function of sound transmission through an FM channel. I selected an empty FM channel, and tuned the 920T through it. Initially it worked just fine; but later on, while on road, the sound quality kept degrading, and instructions became inaudible (I looped on the same set of streets to hear the instructions with and without the FM). I am not sure if the problem was with the FM channel or something to do with the 920T.
I tried out my 920T in a real-world driving test, covering a pretty large area through three NYC boroughs, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and back. There are a few points I found.
(1) The map localization and direction recalculation are almost instantaneous. The map shows in real time the street corners and intersections as the vehicle moves.
(2) The main problem people face with the routing algorithm is because of one simple issue. The algorithm bases the calculations primarily on one of two parameters, fastest OR shortest. The route calculated, therefore, may not be the most intuitive or the most familiar. In both Manhattan and Queens, the routing software tried to push me to roads (mainly highways) outside the periphery of my destination of interest. This is useful if one is just trying to reach from point A to point B. If one wants to follow a specific route, obviously the routing software cannot account for that, but thankfully, once the route is calculated before your journey, it is easy to ask the software to take specific roads on a map by tapping the screen.
(3) I faced some trouble in Queens in areas where constructions have been going on for the past several years. The map was not a recent one (despite updates and stuff); it did not recognize the construction sites and the detours, and directed me twice into a blind alley (dead end). Unfortunately, I was not in a position to create and send a map correction, but next time I shall do that.
(4) The routing needs strict definitions in order to work. If one wants to drive through a specific landmark of interest, one has to create a POI and then route. I wanted to drive through the Brooklyn bridge. I made the mistake of trying to put in my destination as Brooklyn bridge, but it changed it to a street name of an area beyond the bridge; thereafter, it tried its best to get me off the bridge and take a different route through the Manhattan bridge (which I am sure was faster or shorter, but not what I wanted).
So to summarize, the 920T routing software requires some degree of active interaction, which is fine, but would have been easier if the functions could be accessed through a single touch on-screen, while on the move. Secondly, the maps seem to be not very (or properly) updated. Otherwise, the device itself is awesome.
On the TomTom’s website it says the Plus services require my cellphone to connect to the internet and download stuff. (See the please note on the bottom of the page)
“http://www.tomtom.com/plus/service.php?ID=3&l=1″
Are there multiple traffic services. My understanding was the antenna is to tune in to some FM station (traffic clear channel) to download information. If so then does Plus service has an additional traffic capability?
Sebe – Yes, there are two types of traffic services. One that requires a Bluetooth connected phone and another that requires the RDS-TMC (FM) traffic receiver. I’ve been told that the data provided should be nearly identical although I have heard of at least one case where someone compared and didn’t see the same data in both places. But the RDS-TMC (FM) traffic receiver does not use, nor require PLUS services.
Regarding remarks 34 and 35, is this as good as in the Garmin Nuvi 700 series?
jelang – The Garmin advantage is that the points can be “optimized” in the most efficient order automatically. The TomTom device allows slightly easier input (in my opinion) and allows for adding points as “waypoints” or “destinations” which can be handy.
Drat! Either voice recognition and Map Share Technology or optimized routing but not “the whole enchilada.”
I just returned today from a quick trip to Disneyworld in Florida. Just before I had to leave to catch the plane, a TomTom commercial on TV advertised a $100 rebate for anyone buying one of their GPS systems as a Christmas present. The commercial showed a couple stuck in a traffic jam. The girlfriend runs into a Bestbuy and buys a TomTom, which then reroutes them to bypass the traffic jam. The commercial ends with stating to check out http://www.tomtom.com for details, but I don’t see it on their website. Is this deal possibly just for the Southeast United States?
Ken –
http://www.tomtom.com/page/givegive2007/
One issue i am experiancing is that when i try to change the brightness with the slider, it keeps returning to the default bright. its like something is screwy with the unit, unless its some default setting im missing. any help would be appreciated. thanks and btw, i really like this unit over my nuvi 760!
Which chipset does the 920T use ? Is is faster than the one on the 720 ?
SS, the 920 uses the SiRFstarIII chipset.
FInally I am a proud owner of a TT 920T. I bought it on 21st december from [snip, see comment policy] I do not know if anyone else got the deal , I got an additional 12% off and costed me just [snip].
Anyway , Tim I have a question. I tried to play a couple of MP3 songs, it did play, but a wired thing is there is no STOP button on the player. I mean once you play a song it will keep playing , there is only a pause option but you can’t stop it unless you power down the unit. Am I missing anything??? Please let me know how it works, or else if there is another s/w that I can install on the GPS to play my MP3’s. I had been a user of Garmin for so many years, but this one surely is a better option.
How would a stop button differ in functionality than the pause button? If you click pause, the music will stop playing.
WORTHLESS!!! Right from the box the 920 contains maps that are least two years old. TomTom says they are from 11/2007…I would say BS is this best way to describe this. The unit has repeatedly failed in both navigational errors as well as stored POI’s. After only the fourth use, the unit is now unable to receive any GPS signals. Customer service? What a joke!!! After two and a half hours of apathy, I had to send the unit to TomTom at my exspense and it can take up to three weeks for return. Save your money. I borrowed a Garmin 780 for the last two days…and WOW is my best reaction at this point. If the 920 comes back working, I’ll have it listed on eBay 5 minutes later.
I agree…The pause button for MP3 or audio books is terrible. Once you start it . It won’t stop. Funny thing is…every time a call would come in, it re-starts on its own. How annoying is that?
Tim,
I am having trouble with TT 920 re-routing. When I intentionally miss a turn because of traffic, 920 will try to get me back to the original planned route, even where there is a faster and route. Route preference is selected to “fastest” by default. Is there anything I need to do to tweak it to understand the fastest route? My Garmin 660 automatically re-routed me to the next best route instead of trying to take me to the original route.
Chachi – That is a complaint I hear frequently about Nuvi devices but almost never about the TomTom. While I don’t have access to the algorithm, in most cases it just seems like it is programed to try to get you back to your original route. However most evidence suggests that the GPS isn’t actually programed to work that way and that it just feels the original way is still the best way even though you don’t agree. In either case there isn’t anything you can do about it.
Chachi – you should have to post your problem on TT GO forum here – GPS review.
I remember recently there was a thread about how to make TomTom to come back to a planned trip if traffic has happened and one has to deviate from pre-planned rout
have the reported customer support issues improved at all with the tom tom company? and have they fixed the issue with the mounting bracket of prior models? thanx.
Tim – TomTom changed how they do support about a year or so ago and it is significantly improved. Also about a year ago they did have a mount issue which was fixed with a redesign and recall.
Tim are you aware of any of the popular GPS units that provide tracking so I can download for my mileage for taxes. I also need multi-stops optim. This would be a great feature for us business people that hate keeping a written log book. Thanks for all your help on this site. If anyone else has a suggestion I would love to hear it.
Paul – The NAVIGON devices like the 7100 offers that.
Hi Tim, a local sales rep suggested that the TomTom address location logic is more literal & limited than Garmin. IOW, you must know the exact city/village – even if it is part of a larger named area or older unused name – whereas Garmin will “look around more” to try to find your address. There was no opportunity for me to test this on site. What is your experience with this? Does this behaviour vary by country (i.e. non-US)?
Charles – indeed the Garmin devices do allow a “fuzzy” search in the sense that you can ask it to find every “Elm St” in California. It will then present a list of all “Elm Street” locations in the state and allow you to pick which one. However you do need to deliberately perform that type of search (street first, then city).
The TomTom devices on the other hand are much more forgiving when it comes to spelling errors, while the Garmin wants everything to be spelled correct.
How that plays into your choice might come down to where you get your destinations from. If somehow you often get a street name and number, but no city/town name then the Garmin might be the way to go. Otherwise if you know the street name and city/town I don’t think you will have much trouble finding the locations on a TomTom.
Hi Tim,
I wanted to know about the POIs of the TOMTOM 920. It seems that the comparison charts “Millions” for the 920T, Navigon 7100 and Nuvi 760 (6,000,000 POIs). But, how many POIs for the 920?
Thanks
Like many manufacturers, TomTom doesn’t typically confirm exactly how many POIs are installed. Estimates are around 5-7 million.
Tim,
I gave up on my TT 920 for its weird routing and went for Magellan 4250. So, far the Magellan is performing well when its comes to basic navigation. The POI on the Magellan are a little outdated and not as comprehensive as TT. Is there any way to transfer the POI from 920 to 4250?
No Chachi.
I just wanted to know that If i can add phone number to the addresses I put on my 920T. I have seen that the business locations have a phone number attched to them which i can call by just clicking the call icon on the screen. Can I make a seperate POI file for my addresses along with the phone numbers which can show up on the side so that I can call them.
Yes. Menu -> Change Preferences -> Manage POIs. You can then add a POI category, and then add a POI to your category with a number.
I’m just about to go for a 920T and have a quention about voice commands.
I live at the moment in Portugal and de device will be purchased there. I’m going to live in Denmark at the end of year. I speak portuguese and danish as well. Now:
1- while living in Portugal I want to set de device to portuguese language.
2- while living in Denmark I wish to talk and to ear danish.
3- does the device recognize portuguese names in portuguese and danish names in danish? And if travel in Germany?
Lusodana….read on…
Right from the box the 920 contains maps that are least two years old. TomTom says they are from 11/2007…I would say BS is this best way to describe this. The unit has repeatedly failed in both navigational errors as well as stored POI’s. After only the fourth use, the unit is now unable to receive any GPS signals. Customer service? What a joke!!! After two and a half hours of apathy, I had to send the unit to TomTom at my exspense and it can take up to three weeks for return. Save your money. I borrowed a Garmin 780 for the last two days…and WOW is my best reaction at this point. If the 920 comes back working, I’ll have it listed on eBay 5 minutes later.
Hi Tim,
I had 910 and upgraded to 920 and love it, but I’m having a problem searching for POI, in 910 you can search POI in specific radius,let say if your looking for a specific restaurant it does have the option of searching outside your locations like 25 miles radius or more. Instead, I’m limited to
“near home” “near destination” etc. Thank you.
a – The new software doesn’t require you to type in a radius to search. It will find the 25 closest locations. If you can’t find what you are looking for in the first 25 you have two options. (1) You can use the ‘Find’ button in the list to only show the 25 closest using name search. In that manner you can even find locations several hundred miles from your current position. Or (2) Use the ‘POI in city’, ‘POI along route’, or ‘POI near destination’ functions to search for the 25 closest to a different point.
In your case if you are looking for a particular restaurant, after being presented with the initial list click the ‘Find’ button and type the first few characters of the name of the restaurant. I’ve used that method to find restaurants ‘near me’ that were several hundred miles away.
On my SP3 I’m able to choose a rout as if I drive a BUS (this because I also drive a motor home which is about 3 m high and I have to avoide viaducts where I cann’t drive thru – there many in Europe). Can I do this with a TT920?
With Garmin SP3 I can also choose “avoid paying motorways”. Can TT920 do it?
I have the 920 and use it in Switzerland (but bought it from Costco online, shipped to California). Everything seems generally OK, although it receives its signal very poorly. Maybe the Audi has too much heat-shield or other “protection” in the windshield that interferes w. the GPS signal. All is moot, however, since the 920, every few minutes, tries to shut itself off. It says “turning off in 10 seconds.” No settings change this (battery settings, etc.). What a major nightmare. It makes the 920 completely useless. I contacted Tom Tom and they said it was defective (i.e., no software patch will fix this) and to return/exchange it. I am considering exchanging it for another 920, but am worried about this defect. Will the new one do the same thing? I was surprised by how apathetic Tom Tom customer service was about the defect–they did not seem at all concerned about its possible presence in other units. Has anyone else had this problem?
Lusodana – You can avoid motorways, but there is no bus option.
Greg – I’ve seen that sometimes when it is getting irregular power, but I’d try a return/exchange.
Thank you Greg. But in EU we have motorways where you pay and others thar are free. StreetPilot III gives me the possibility to avoid only the payable motorways
Yes, the 920T can avoid only paid/toll roads as well.
Thanks for your review! Big help! One thing I have not seen mentioned: use as a GPS for pedestrians. How does the 920T perform when used while exploring a city on foot? (Dumb question?)
It does have a pedestrian routing option to obey (and take advantage of) pedestrian rules.
TomTom 920 Review
• Received as a Christmas gift Dec 2007
• Likes
o Fast acquisition of the satellite signals
o Strong satellite signals even in the house
o Easy to read screen
o Bright screen
o Easy to use
o Ability to add, update POI’s
o POI’s included have been good and are accurate, excepting the placement on which side of the road. If in error, they have been shown on the wrong side of the road.
o Maps have been accurate
• Dislikes
o When I first turned on the unit it was in a foreign language. Took hours of trial and error to correct. If sold in the US the default language should be English.
o Suction cup will not hold the unit at all – max time held in-place 5 minutes. I constantly have to pick it up off the dash and “re-stick” it to the windshield.
o Can’t send the IPod through the FM Transmitter , only through the GPS speaker
o Speaker is very poor – Crackles, hard to hear
o Speed alerts do not work on I90, I94, I80 in Michigan, Indiana or Illinois. Do not work on I35, I20, I30 in Texas Do not work on I90, I95, I93 in Mass, New Hampshire. Have concluded that this feature is not installed on the unit or is badly broken.
o Can’t update software, POI’s or maps. Receive error message “missing parameter xmlinput” I was able to use this feature when first used, but can’t now. I did do a restore from a back up but it didn’t correct the issues. No response form Tomtom support.
o Response from the Tomtom support (e-mail) is very long – weeks.
o Battery lasts for less than an hour vs published expectations of close to 5 hours.
o The Ipod cable should come with this unit for the price paid
o “Safety Cameras are for Europe only and do not include the US.
• Overall Impression
o I have tried to be objective and listed both good and bad items. However, my overall impression is poor.
o My Previous GPS was a Cobra 3500. great large screen, but very old and finally died.
o Knowing what I do now, I would not purchase this unit.
Therefor I keep wayting for Nüvi 5000 to comme (shame there is no battery in it)
Hi my question is do the nuvie series 350 to 650 & and the Garmin StreetPilot series, have a traffice provider and if so is it clear channel?
Tim,
I just picked up a TT 920T this afternoon and spent about an hour personalizing it. I connected to TT Home and looked around, subscribed to MapShare, connected my BlueTooth LG VX9800, saved a couple of favorites, read the manuals, installed TT Home on my PC, etc. It was pretty straightforward. You may have noticed [or, maybe not] that I was able to connect my VX9800 even though it isn’t included on the compatibility chart. Despite that, when I for it, the 920 recognized the VX9800 and hooked right up. It is not completely compatible in that it will not allow me to use TT Traffic, but it will permit hands-free phone use. Also, I noticed several posts in earlier comments mentioning the duration of free MapShare accessibility. The coupon that was in my package specifically promises 1 year of access along with one year of free map updates. So this does not appear to be a lifetime free feature. The wording does not appear to tie MapShare access to any particular map update either as I think I’ve seen suggested.
Thanks for the great resources!
Rob – When you first take the device out of the box it asks you to set a language, perhaps you accidentally picked the wrong one. When properly installed I’ve never had the 720/920 mount fail. You can set a preference to play music through the FM transmitter.
Bob – The wording on MapShare updates and map updates isn’t very clear. You will get official map updates that match the duration shown on your certificate. MapShare updates mention one year because that is about how long they will continue to support MapShare for older maps. However MapShare will always be free so long as you have a fairly recent map update. TomTom has clarified that with us as it isn’t as clear as it could be on the certificate.
Hi Tim,
I appreciate the feedback and who wouldn’t like free access to something like MapShare for life? Not to be argumentative, but who did you talk to at TomTom and how dependable do you believe is the information that they gave you? I guess the skeptic in me is having trouble getting past the wording on the certificate.
By the way, there isn’t another website reviewing any other product that I’ve visited that does as thorough and efficient a job as GPSReview does for GPS’s (IMHO).
I’ve talked to several people at TomTom (admin people, not support) and they have all been consistent in their responses when we have asked for clarification. I’ve always been told that MapShare will always be free, however they will limit participation to those who have a recent “official” map.
I think the certificate says something like “receive map improvements for the duration of 1 year”. I asked specifically about that time reference and they said they wanted to make sure users understood that if years from now someone is still using a 2007 map that they won’t be able to use MapShare. Thus since they need to have a fairly recent map it isn’t “free” in the sense that they will eventually need to pay for an official map update in order to continue participating in the (free) MapShare.
The more people that participate in MapShare the better it will work for them so it only makes sense for them not to charge for user participation.
I’ll try to see if I can get something official to post.
We used our 920T yesterday to drive to Milan. It worked great! Received a notification of, and guided us around, a traffic jam. Pinged us with AutoVelox locations. Helped us when we missed a turn while leaving Milan.
One missing feature that would have been extremely useful: Indication of ZTL (Zona Traffico Limitato) boundaries. If one enters certain areas of cities in Italy, without a permit, it’s a large fine. Does anyone provide an add-on for this kind of thing?
Thanks for the clarification about MapShare participation.
After reading on the TomTom website about the motivation behind the MapShare concept in conjunction with company developments TomTom would prefer we not discuss in public forums, I feel better than ever about selecting the 920T.
I give credit to your website for helping me overcome reservations that arose out of my earlier experience with a TomTom product that I installed on my PalmTX PDA.
During past attempts to resolve issues I wasn’t at all impressed with customer service or user friendliness of their website or the slow satellite acquisition times.
But thanks to GPSReview I learned that TomTom has made a measurable improvement in their customer service over the course of the past year. And I learned that the 920T has a very fast processor which comes in handy in heavy, fast-moving city traffic.
There is virtually no comparison between the 920T and the earlier GPS product I have been using on my PalmTX other than a lot of the icons look similar and they are layed out in a similar fashion.
I’m very pleased with my 920T so far.
Thanks again.
Your review of the 920/920T led me to purchase a 920 which came 2 days ago. After a half a dozen calls to TomTom, I’m sending it back ASAP.
The GPS has not worked properly since it came out of the box. It got hung up updating software and it’s been all downhill since.
Documentation is terrible. I dowloaded the manual and what a waste of 85 pages. No table of contents, no index. Support says, that’s true, I”m better to search support on the web. Right! I would think that searching for “remote” would get me information on how to operate the remote. No, it’s right there in searching for “manual” though the file wouldn’t download.
After turning the GPS off, it would mysteriously start up again. Support had me download an applicatio file that didn’t work and then another file that at least got the 920 going, but didn’t fix the problem.
Today, it wouldn’t even turn on in the car, but came on in the cradle.
There are a number of features that don’t seem to be working, but it’s hard to be sure as there is so little that says how it should work. The manual, suupport, and the web site often don’t seem to know, or dont’ agree. For example, should it turn on when the car power is turned on? I got two opinions on that.
The clincher is that they want me to send the 2 day old unit to some repair place and I’ll get it back in a month.
I’ve had a Garmin 296 and 396 for a number of years and purchased a Streepilot 7200 and c550 for relatives, and they have been great machines. Flawless operation and excellent support.
With my tail between my legs, I hope they’ll have me back.
Finally! Someone telling the truth about this practically worthless GPS instaed of this paid Schmoe that keeps hyping it. Almost the very same thing happened to mine. Fail after Fail after Fail. TomTom service…HA! What a joke. Pure apathy. As it turns out, I lucked out. I got it from Crutchfield and they took it back without question and exchanged it for a Garmin 760…which Rocks! (at there cost entirely) But..if you prefer a headache and being stranded in the middle of nowhere when your GPS crashes..get the TT 920
Hi Mark,
You won’t be unhappy with the 760. Garmin have now foxed the long lock on time with 2.6 and it now works really well. I took it out of the box and made a 4000 km, 4 country trip without a hitch. It doesn’t have voice rec – but who really needs it? I t is not as “customisable” as the 920, but again, who needs it? It is just a damned good navigator and that is what you paid for.
Regards,
My 920 worked perfectly out of the box and has run perfectly for two months now. I got mine from Costco knowing they would take it back if there was a problem. Any product produces a few lemons – anyone checked the Magellan or Garmin forums?
ttyl
After struggling a little with suction cup mounts for the 920 (Tomtom’s and a couple of 2nd party mounts). Wipe the suction cup and the destination surface with an alcohol pad. Then attach the mount while the alcohol is still wet. The mount in my truck has been in place for 5 days now.
There may be some dud units that shipped out there.
I have seen NONE of the issues that some people complain about. I am not saying they are not valid, but I am sure user error is involved with a few.
To say that tim is a paid hack is a humongous JOKE.
Clearly, the is the most professional and unbiased reviewer out there.
If TT sold you a dud, demand a working replacement or your money back. However, dont try to tarnish reputations because you got a lemon.
I have no complaints about my TT920 yet, works as advertised and that is by definition better than most models out there. TT HOME, now that IS something to complain about!
Infama, you missed the jist of the post. The source of my frustration is mostly from the level of service(or lack of) offered from TomTom after paying $600 for the 920T. I got the same story. “send it here…on your dime and you’ll get it back in approx. 30 days from receipt” I about came unglued. And then I come to this page and her Tim go on and on about how terriffic this company is. Hooey! Th e920 was my second TomTom, My Nav 5 for Palm had similar issues but I accepted it because it was running as a software program on my Treo 650 with a GPS receiver connected by Bluetooth. I originally went with the 920 because I was used to the GUI but expected more flawless behavior as it was self contained and a few generations older. My bad…same crap. I was happy to discover that Crutchfield would just swap the damn thing…regardless of the TomTom policy. Tim..be honest..what are you getting from TomTom to taught their products with these raving reviews?
Mark, this isn’t a review of TomTom as a company. I didn’t say anything about them being a “terrific company”. I have a clearly defined ethics policy and if you are going to make accusations that I’m getting compensated you need to back it up.
Mark and Peter Arsdale,
No company has complete control over the mass production of its products, and that system is bound to come up with some duds every so often. Did you buy yours directly from TomTom? Because most of us who bought ours from third party vendors have some kind of safety-net policy built into the purchase agreement. I bought mine in November, used it in New York, and am using it extensively in Portland, Oregon now. I can’t say I have any complaint about my 920T. Perhaps my standards are not as exacting as yours when it comes to GPS devices, but I don’t expect it to sing and dance for me, and it takes me from point A to point B right enough.
I have mentioned earlier also that the routing software could use some improvement. The default mode “fastest” seems to be obsessed with highways, and will route through highways and parkways in a circuitous manner even if a city-road route may be far more straightforward. However, on the plus side, the route re-calculation is very fast, and I have had no complaint with the battery life so far. The TomTom provided suction cup does not work well on the windshield, particularly if the outside is subzero and I have the heater on inside the car. But I purchased a pad stand that allows me to put the device near the windshield over dashboard, and it works perfectly.
And please quite badgering Tim for his reviews! If you don’t agree with his reviews, you can always look elsewhere. He is one of the best reviewers for any product on the internet; he is consistent, he answers questions and provides information and opinions. What you do with them is your prerogative, but don’t abuse him unnecessarily.
Hi Mark,
What you say about TT customer service has been well backed up by other posts on this site BUT I have never heard Tim try to say anything that praises TT as a company. What he has said is that the 920 is a good innovative machine. That is his opinion and likewise it is shared by many on this site. I for one, don’t necessarily share his opinion and feel,and have stated,that the Nuvi 760 is a far better machine. That too is my personal opinion.
Tim has been equally complimentary about certain aspects of other machines – like the 760 that you and I have. He has also pointed out some of the weaknesses of many machines – like the now past lock on times of the Nuvi but I have always found him to be honest and impartial.
Put the TT experience behind you and enjoy real, gimmick free navigation with your 760.
Regards,
Tim,
It’s probably not possible to place a poll on your website that would yield an unbiased result, but it would be interesting to know, for each of the products you review, what the failure vs. success rate is for each brand of GPS, don’t you think?
Hi Bob – Yes. That is something I’ve been brainstorming. As you mention it would be difficult to get reasonably accurate data. There is a way I can research some data. I can’t get into the details of “how”, but I’ve estimated that among visitors to this site Magellan devices have about a 3.8% return rate, Garmin has about a 3.9% return rate, and TomTom has about a 4.0% return rate. The sample size isn’t too high and with a difference between them of only two tenths of one percent it seems statistically insignificant.
Mark,
I understand your anger and rest assured I am always on the side of the consumer (that is “my” team). As I said, TT needs to man up and fix the issue on their dime!
I am surprised at this, as I know TT has fixed even smaller issues than this for me and my colleague here…ALL ON THEIR DIME! They picked up and replaced my TMC and it was not even broken. It just did not work in the UK and I need to travel there.
I think you need to escalate the problem within CS to get satisfaction…you should demand no less. You got two possibly bum units from what could be a bad batch. TT needs to step up and resolve that.
On another note, you need to apologise to Tim. Your accusation does not hold any water and is actually offensive to the myriad of people who he has helped in navigationg the quagmire over the last few years. Dont let your anger drive you to irrationality.
Cheers
You people amaze me. Can someone name any electronic device that didn’t have a few duds? Please name something that was massed produced and everyone had a pleasant experience? There’s no such thing so stop being idiots. So a few of your 920T don’t work, well guess what Garmin has more than a few that Just won’t work and their customer service is as ridiculous as the rest. I have owned all the top models including the Nuvi 760 and 770 as well as the TT 920T and I have to say i have had no issues on the 920 that I experience on the nuvi series. The nuvi series has a horrible speaker issue (in all units) and their maps, you talk about out dated? All you get from them is some crappy update that you have to pay for every year that’s not much newer than the year before. At least on the TT you get map share which I don’t care what anyone says, it works! Case in point, I took my nuvi 760 and my 920 to the same new construction area. On the nuvi, I was traveling in open unchartered territory, on the TT it showed me the street names and that I was actually on roads! I did this in 4 areas of my surrounding cities. Everytime, the TT came out on top. Side by side, the tom tom is sleeker, cleaner, easier to use and the maps unlike some of these idiots claim, are actually much newer than the nuvi. The Mapshare works very well in the united states, at least from south carolina to Iowa which is where i travel to. Time and time again, the Garmin was missing many areas the TomTom showed. Again i had them side by side the whole trip. I was always skeptical of anything other than Garmin, until I tried something new. And I’m very pleased. Stop listening to these people cry about their defective units and saying it must be a tom tom issue. That’s BS. For every TT unit that is broken, there’s probably 2 Garmin units shipped broken. And for those same idiots to come on this forum and claim the owner of this site is endorsing TT over the Garmin and getting compensated is just as ridiculous. This site is the most in depth portable nav review site in the world. It’s not their fault that the truth is that Garmin is not up to par with the tom tom right now. I wanted to buy and keep my Garmin but simply trying a TT has changed my mind completely.
To infer that Tim is not being honest in his reviews and comments based on you particular frustration is patently unfair and untrue. He’s never hesitated to point our errors or omissions in users posts, no matter who the manufacturer is. I meander thru several different sites, gps lodge, gpsmagazine, navigadget, Amazon, gpspassion and state that NO other site offers the level of honesty and ethics that Tim’s site offers. An apology is definitely in order.
Infama, Jason and Gatorguy,
I agree wholeheartedly (except I prefer not to call people idiots no matter how much I might feel that way:)).
The only way to objectively determine the rate of failure within each manufacturer’s product line would be to take a poll with a statistically significant sample size of each and hope the responders would be honest (a pretty tall order when you consider how worked up some people become when reality doesn’t happen to conform to their view of what it ’should’ be).
To reiterate, I started out with Navigator 5 software installed on my Palm TX (which was not a wonderful experience at all) but it worked most of the time even though customer service didn’t always respond the way I would have hoped.
Based on taking ALL of the information into consideration that I was able to glean from various resources, I decided to upgrade to the TT920 based on those things that are important to me. And I’m happy with my choice.
But that doesn’t mean everyone’s priorities are exactly the same. Others may favor Garmin’s brighter screen or some perceived superiority in map accuracy in a particular area of the country or [fill in the blank].
That’s why this site provides such a valuable service to us all and I for one thank Tim for his hard work and valiant efforts to remain unbiased in his comments so that everyone can make an informed decision that best suits their needs. This is a round-about way to say that defaming Tim is akin to kicking your dog — it doesn’t make anything any better and it allows you to avoid taking responsibility for your own actions.
In the end, the dog kicker looks immature and still has to deal with his choices. Let’s just hope his knee jerk reactions don’t land him in a hotter kettle of soup…
How do you enable the pedestrain Option , So that I can walk with the TT in my hand and navigate through the City streets.
Menu -> Change Preferences -> “walking routes”.
Jason, I am glad that mapshare has been good about adding all those new roads for you.
And those Garmin maps are, like, 9 months older, can you imagine! I still like my 760. To each his own.
Gator,
Its not even just “to each his own”. In discussion with you, I discovered that CIRCUMSTANCES play a big part. If you use a machine recreationally, as a hobby, professionally, singly or shared, in urban areas or rural, etc…it all makes for different requirements of feature sets.
For exampe, while you MAY enjoy using a TT when you get used to it, it would not be right for your circumstances….assuming you can only have 1 device. (Same is not true for Peebs, so I dont know what his problem is . LoL)
You may want to tinker, but if the machine is to be shared professionally among a group of colleagues, then you better have a budget to get more than 1 device, or business needs WILL dominate and determine your purchase.
“Dumbed down Garmin” will win out in may cases, as the proposition is simple and straightforward and will suit masses of people. They are less enhtusiast machines and more packaged for low intervention usage. That has broad appeal.
Though Garmin is a tech leader, the Nuvis are a clear business play and it is working.
However, the pace of new intros are such that none can rest on their laurels. GPS functionality is becoming commoditized and some players are coming in with top noth hardware and are tweaking software at the same time. These will certainly pick up share, so even the big guys have to step up their offerings to stay in the game.
In summary, there will be lots of buyer motivations and sites like these help to determine appropriate purchases.
As for the disparaging remarks about TT CS…all I can say is that its a mixed bag. I am sure many have bad bad experiences and I know of several spectacular interventions.
As I already related, TT spent way more on replacing my MC antenna than it costs. Fedex both ways. My colleague had a dead 910 battery, same treatment.
I have seen people get free maps by pestering CS. TT is the only company to honor warrranty and upgrades base on any kind of receipts (even Ebay and on-line garage type one man operations). They come thru for any reseller.
I agree their internal corp,. communication is bad and the CS reps are liable to say anything. Same is true for Garmin though, as documented on this very site…”the 700 series have our own proprietary Bravo chip”…sounds familiar??
Hi Infama,
Thought I’d find you around here defending the cause!!
“(Same is not true for Peebs, so I dont know what his problem is . LoL)”
I don’t have a problem – I bought Garmin!!!
LoL,
Tim,
Do you have any experience with Tomtom’s Mapshare updating? The reason that I purchased a Tomtom after moving to a new area was because of the Mapshare feature, because my new home is located on a newer street that did not show up on any GPS manufacturer’s maps (despite being over two years old with 30+ fully constructed homes). I have added my street to my 920 weekly and uploaded it to Tomtom, yet it never appears after using Tomtom Home, even when I choose the weakest of preference settings for Mapshare. I would like your input if you have any experiences with Mapshare, as I get different information each time I call their customer service. I don’t want to threaten to start a class-action suit against them, but I am not receiving the services for which I bought this product (P.S. – I have filed five of these and won them all).
Ken, you can’t create a new road yourself with MapShare, you can only report new roads. Other types of changes can actually be implemented, but new roads need more information about them than you would be able to provide. Your report may speed up the process of getting that street mapped, but that process generally takes several months at best, often a years.
Tim,
Thanks for all of your hard work on the site. I have found your reviews and commentaries to be as unbaiased as possible. I for one apprcaite it grratly.
As for the issue of the IPOD not palaying through the FM tramsiter, please see the repsonse I reecived from TOmTom Customer Service. below. The IPOD will not play through the FM transimitter. Therefore you can only listen through the GPS speaker, which isa a very poor quality speaker. Therefore conneting the IPOD to the GPS is worthless.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Support
The FM transmitter will not transmit the music from your iPod. It is made to transmit the voice instructions over the car radio.
With Best Regards
The TomTom Customer Support Team
“The FM transmitter will not transmit the music from your iPod. It is made to transmit the voice instructions over the car radio.”
Playing music from a GPS when you have a perfectly good music system in most vehicles has got to be a study in futility! Almost as bad as using it to look at photos while you are driving – down right DANGEROUS!! Why don’t people use it and rate it for what it is – a NAVIGATION AIDE!! All the MP3 & JPEG stuff is just a sales gimmick to sell more products.It amazes me that people rate these systems by how well they play music – through a 1″ speaker!! Or how well they display the family photos on a 4.3″ screen!! Huge technological advance!!
Regards,
As for using the GPS to play my IPOD well, my vehicle sound system does not have the ability to plug the IPOD into the vehicle stereo system. this was not a feature I was looking for, but since it was indicated as a capability I used this in my decision making. Sadly, I don’t feel that TT was honest in their portrayal of this feature.
As for updates, I still can not log onto the internet and use the update features. Customer Service is not able to help. I have de-installed and re-installed at least 4 times and I haven’t been able to update for 7 weeks now.
I wonder if TT reviews these comments?
I am considering buying a Satnav. However, I want to buy one which offers the facility of viewing a map( which has to scroll) of any area in Europe whilst I am still in the UK.In other words It can be used as an “Atlas”. In your view which Satnav will offer this regardless of cost?
Sam the 920/T will allow you view/scroll the map of other locations.
Hi Sam,
The Garmin Nuvi 760/770 also allows you to view all the maps of Europe. I navigated across 4 countries seamlessly using my 760.
Good luck,
Hi, thanks for your response. I have come across this satnav: HP iPAQ 314 travel companion. Does anybody know about this product? It seem to have fantastic facilities and very high specification. The only problem is that HP are not experienced in the satnav field, so perhaps some of you may have a view on this product!!
Lots of discussion about that product in the forums.
I drive an RV (13.5 ft. tall) and am worried about low clearances. I don’t want to be stuck on some road that I can’t traverse. I called CS and they stated that they will be coming out with a “Truckers Version” soon but would not say what their “soon” meant??? Can you further inquire with management to pin point a better guess of what “soon” means and to further define what a “Truckers Version” would entail and how would it be installed on my 920T?
That isn’t the type of information they would give me.
Tim,
I have not been able to get the “Speed Alerts” to work on my 920T. Do they only work on certain highways?
Thanks
FYI…I have not been able to access TomTom using Home verision 2.2. After many calls including with Call Center managers and advanced applications trouble shooting I have been told to access TomTom using 2.2 I must dis-able my firewall and all virus protection.
I am very disappointed in TomTom and regret purchasing the 920.
“I have been told to access TomTom using 2.2 I must dis-able my firewall and all virus protection.”
No way José|!!! Not in this day & age!!
I would agree with “No way José|!!! Not in this day & age!!.” However, this is exactly what 3 levels of product service has said. I escalated to all levels possible and was consistently told to disable the firewall and virus protection. I asked to go back to version 2.1 where I didn’t have the issue and was also told that I could not go backward because when TomTom sees 2.1 it automatically updates to 2.2.
I haven’t been able to update for about 7 weeks now. By the way I have tried direct connections, through proxy servers, etc.
Hi Rob,
I don’t have a 920 – I opted for the Garmin 760 which I love – so I don’t have any personal experience with TT software BUT I have not read anywhere else that it is so badly behaved. 2.2 did start out with problems but I thought that they were well fixed by now. Is there any chance that it is something at your end? I can’t think of anything specific unless your firewall has been specifically told to block TT. As many problems that I have heard regarding TT support, I still find it hard to believe that any sane company would tell you to disable you protection. I sure as hell would NEVER AGREE TO IT.
Rob,
I just bought my 920T a couple of weeks ago and it came with version 2.1 installed which subsequently updated to 2.2. I haven’t had any problems connecting and using version 2.2 so far.
I have to believe that your case is an exception rather than the rule or else TT would go back to v2.1 until they could get a handle on what is causing the problem. I also believe we would have seen significantly more complaints in this forum than we have seen if it was occurring in a majority of cases.
Still, no matter how carefully you test an update you can never be assured that it will be compatible with every computer due to variations in how each one is set up.
I hope you get an answer to your problem soon and am sorry you haven’t had a better experience. Peebs24’s suggestion that it sounds like it is being caused by a firewall setting makes a lot of sense.
For myself, I can’t imagine how the 920 could possibly work better than it does, but I say that having had no problems with it.
Bob,
Thanks for your note. I am glad you are pleased with your 920. Clearly I’m not. As for a firewall issue, the 920 worked fine with 2.1 not with 2.2. Hard to belive it is a firewall issue. Working with TT I have de-installed and reinstalled 2.2 at least 4 times with no change.
There are many things I like about the 920 such as very fast satilite connection/recognition. Quick re-rooutes, excllent clear screen to name a few. But a battery life of less 1 hour, inability (now) to connet to TT to get updates, inability to use TT Plus due to Blackberries not being recognized are some of the reasons why I regret having the 920.
It was a gift from Santa, so I do need to be clareful that I don’t upset Santa.
I deleted the duplicate entry, see comment #123 for his review.
Hi Rob,
I take your point re the firewall. If it worked on 2.1 is SHOULD work on 2.2.
The 920 has been a mixed bag. Many people love it but a lot, like you have been disappointed.I think everybody shares your disappointment with the TT service.
As I mention to you before, I went for the Garmin 760. One of the reasons was that I thought that they were trying to be a little bit too clever, another reason was the software screw-up that they had when they launched the 720, the third was the reputation of their customer service.
I looked at your like list and I can tell you that the Garmin – now that they have fixed the lock on time – meets or exceeds all the points on your list. The one area where it falls behind is in the voice recognition. For me it wasn’t a problem. I live in Europe and had heard of lots of problems with the thing trying to recognize the English version of some Spanish or Portuguese street name!
If you like the 920 screen and sound you would love the 760. Very clear and uncluttered screen which is viewable in all conditions. I did a 4000 km trip from France to North Wales and back via the ZeeBrugga/Hull ferry. The 760 worked perfectly including taking us around the Peripherique in Paris without breaking sweat.
To each his own but I am very pleased with my choice.
Good luck with TT Customer Service.
This is an update of my February 6th post where I vent regarding my TomTom 920. Reading some of the posts regarding my comments, my beef wasn’t with the unit I received being bad, but what the manufacturer and retailer were willing to do to fix it. TomTom would have replaced the unit and taken 30 days to do so. In comparison, Garmin would take about two weeks to replace the unit, and if I was in a big hurry would have shippped me a new unit charged to my account giving a credit when I had returned the defective one to them. A much better system.
I bought a Nuvi 760 and have not had any glitches with the system. Turns on and off with the key. Updates installed normally, machine runs normally, what one expects to happen. The pdf operating manual has a table of contents and an index. I do think the review should include and evaluation of documentation.
The Tom is a nicely constructed unit, but I get the impression that the company is overwhelmend by its volume of buisiness and is not placing a high priority on documentation and the technical expertise of its support personnel. These are not uncommon characteristics of some companies that experience rapid growth and strong demand for their products. They can get away with it for now.
On the retailer side, I made a very bad choice by going with the best price. They had four of five stars, but in reviewing thier reviews, 1 of 5 were from people who were very angry with them and would never use them again. The greatest annoyance was that I had to communicate with the returns department via e-mail and their policy was to take 2 days to respond to all of my messages. I think they try to make thier money on restocking fees even when I had the problems that I did. I don’t have a problem with a restocking fee if I change my mind or find a better price, but when the unit was bad, as confirmed by TomTom, you’d think they would move a little more quickly.
I’ve had to dispute their charges to my credit card so they don’t zing me with a $68 restocking fee. Live and learn!
Peter,
as long as you are happy, all is well.
I have read reports of people updating their Garmins with 2.6 firware and the units get bricked! It can happen. All suffer from these ailments.
I have a colleague here who had a defective 910 (yeah the old machine) and it was replaced in 2 days (2 months ago) via DHL and he paid nothing, so things are not consistent.
Good think you got the 760 now, as it is much improved. i recall when Peebs was pulling his hair out, having to wait 15mins and more to get a lock in the mornings. LoL
Rob,
like Bob, I have no complaints. I am sorry it is not to your liking. Try something else that will suit you better.
Infama,
I am pleased to hear your units is working well. The store where Santa bought the unti will not tak it back aftert 30 days and Tomtom says the probelm is my firewall and virus protection. So, I’m stuck. I can’t afford to buy another one for hindreds. Particlually after I jsut filled upo and put $120 into the gas tank. Gas (diesel) has jumped 65$ this week!
I’ll keep pushing TT to reolve my issue. But they did send me a survey to rate them. Three guesses on how I answered…..
Rob,
Why dont you go back to 2.1? There were people posting links to download it at yournav.com forum.
Another point, have you upgraded to version 2.21.83? It came out 2 days ago. Final suggestion: use another computer! Since it works for other people, it must be a PC specific issue that is plaguing you.
I use an Intel Mac and for me it works on both XP and OSX. I had problems before, but the latest version have been the most stable so far.
I just got my TomTom 920 this week. I did not read all the messages but the few I did read helped me figure out some cool features and showed me some concerns other users have. Great website!
I used my brothers 720 for a few days and it worked great. Bluetooth connected right away and I was sold on TomTom. Once I got my 920 I couldn’t connect the same phone that easily paired with the 720, which made me want to return the brand new 920 and get the 720. My phone is on Verizon network, LG model VX8300. After reading the following:
http://www.tomtom.com/support/solution.php?GID=1&PID=1959&SID=0&CID=96&Language=4&FID=7524
I tried the same procedure and it worked on my cell. I bet there are other phones that will work if you take the steps described on the website (link above). I hope this helps some users take better advantage of TomTom capabilities. The Bluetooth works great. As soon as you turn on the TomTom it will connect with the phone, and the phone never has to leave your pocket.
PS: Does anyone know how to leave feedback/comments on TomTom website? I wanted to let them know that my model cell phone works too after I saw this page: http://www.tomtom.com/support/index.php?Language=4&FID=3084 where this cell is not listed. More phones that work with the GPS = more potential customers for TomTom, they should make this feedback/comment process easy.
Thanks!!!
Infama,
You can’t go back to verison 2.1. i have tried. You log on and TomTom automaticly updates to 2.2. As for which veirsion I am using, it is really not relevant sionce I can’t connect. With 2.1 I could connect at work, at home and at wifi sites. With 2.2 i can’t connect anywhere. I seriosly doubt it is my PC since it worked great with 2.1.
I can understand that a new device may have issues. however, I judge a comapny on how they respond to solving the issue. My issue has not been resolved and they closed out my issued as solved. It is not!
EZ – You can contact customer support to leave feedback, however I doubt they will add your phone until they test it themselves.
Rob,
That is funny. I have never been prompted for an update, I always have to actively request it.Additionally, many people at yournav.com have downgraded back to 2.1 (perhaps they have upgraded again now since its stable).
It must be an interaction with your PC since it works with the vast majority of people. The firewall thing is a red herring though. That cant be the solution.
Try on a friends PC or Mac to make sure.
i am thinking of buying the 920 tom tom i have a blue tooth phone that is recognized by my 2009 nissan murano.How will that work with the blue tooth on the gps tom tom? i prefer to use my phone via the car.how will the blue tooth on the gps unit work. my car can recognize other bluetooth devices.I am a little confused. please advise thanks.also is it worth waiting for the 930?
Hi,
I just went through this site and am glad I visited the site. My needs of a GPS are very simple. A GPS to help me navigate to some common public places like Orlando once in a few months. Can you suggest if 720 will be a good fit fo rmy need. I am getting it at a great price. I have never used a GPS before but have heard that Garmin is the best. Please advice. Not sure which maker or model will work for me.
David – Each Bluetooth device can only be actively connected to one other device at the same time. So you would either need to use your phone with the GPS or with the car’s hands-free kit.
Amit – Yes, the 720 would be fine for that purpose.
All,
My 920 will now connect with the TT site for updates. They appartently have done something to address the issue. Good Customer Service would have been to keep my service request open and inform me the fix was made.
I still have issues such as speed alerts not working at all. Battery life absolutely S__KS. Less than 45 minutes. However, the 920 is the fastest GPS to acquire a signal. Less than 10 seconds. Accuarcy of the roads is excellent.
tness of the screen is outstanding
The brigh
Thank you for all of your time and comments Tim,
I am really lost in all of the good and the bad here. I just want to buy a useful GPS system for my husband. He travels all over the US, and I mean all over, small towns, big cities. What I am worried about is places like New York City, very hard to drive there. What in your opinion is the best buy for the money?
Also he has been using his laptop, with GPS for the last 2 years and I think it is time for an upgrade. The big thing is he has two work trucks, so will he be able to easily remove the unit from one truck to the other?
DJ – The 920 is a good pick for NYC because it does have the “EPT” technology which can help keeping track of your location when satellite signals get low such as around tall buildings in big cities.
This is a great site. All you guys are terrific, helping everyone. To Peebs24, your post # 173, I thought the 760 only came with N.American maps. Did you buy the European maps? Thanks.
I’ve had my 920 since Xmas. My main concern is battery life. Sometimes, after an overnight charge, it seems to lose power quickly. Now, I tend to keep power connected in my car. Anyone else notice a battery drain? Has anyone examined the internals of this device.
Don, lots of good info about that (including internal pics) in the forums:
“Real-world” battery life of Go 720?
TT 720 battery
Preserving the life of the batteries
720 & Battery Life
stand-alone battery life of Tom Tom unit.
Advice regarding Tom Tom battery charge duration
I’d take a look through each of those threads, even the ones that might not sound 100% relevant.
Tim, great site and resource! Quick question for you all… looking at traveling around France and we will be renting a car. I’m looking for a GPS to replace my current Garmin Mobile XT (running it on a Sprint Moto Q) that will work on both sides of the pond. I’m currently looking at either the TT 920T or the Garmin 670. Can anyone recommend and make a case for one versus the other (or any other units you feel might be a better option)? I don’t NEED all the bells and whistles, but I won’t complain about them either so long as the GPS works well in France and state-side in Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana. Pedestrian use capability in Paris and Nice would be a great feature to have though.
Thanks!
Spoken Address/Voice Address Input on 920.
Recently I lent my sister the TomTom 920 (which I have for about a month and I’m pretty happy with). She used it for one evening only. After that I noticed that the spoken address option does not work (I asked my sister if she did anything differently and she didn’t – used it only the way I showed her). When I go to that menu, the lips on top right corner are shaded (normally they appear red and change to green when address is being spoken) and the unit does not recognize any sound. I know that my microphone works because I use the 920 with my phone (see comment # 178). I’ve tried updates via TomTom Home – no success. Does anyone have similar issues or can suggest a solution (other then type in address myself
?
(I didn’t read all the comments on this page)
Thanks!!!
Update to my question above… I’m now also tossing the nuvi 770 into the mix, so any input on the 3 of them (TT 920T, Nuvi 670 and 770) would be greatly appreciated.
Hello all.
I was trawling the Web today and came across this site, and the thread for the TT920T. I compliment you on some very interesting comments. I want my (new) GPS to be a GPS and get me from A to B – and not something that washes the dishes, or makes the tea/coffee. (Sorry, being a UK resident, I drink more tea than coffee.)
My current GPS is a German PDA circa 2005, for which I can’t get map updates on-line, and is a reason why I am looking to “upgrade/update”. From what other readers have said, it seems I cannot buy map updates on-line, and the TT920T is no different. Have I understood that correctly?
It also seems from reading entries on this thread that the TT920T also tries to get you back on its preferred route, even if you can’t get down the desired road for whatever reason. That is true of my current machine, which I find irksome. Does pressing any sort of “Re-route” button actually provide an viable alternative route to your destination, or is it just a short-term fix until the machine can get you back on its chosen road?
I have no problem in spending money to buy a decent product, but it seems the basic reasons for buying GPS technology have not moved on in the past 4/5 years. Have I got that right?
Regards to all “across the pond”!
Paul, map updates are available for purchase/download online.
If you miss a turn the GPS will calculate a new route… you might still disagree with the new route, but it isn’t as though it is trying to get you back to the original per se… just that it still thinks that route is best from your (then) current position.
I did my research on a new GPS after my Navigon 5000 died in less than 6 months from purchase. My requirements were simple;
1. A good GPS unit.
2. User friendly interface with aesthetically pleasing design, maps and interface.
3. US and Europe maps because I am in the Air Force stationed in Germany and travel frequently back to the states.
4. TMC-RDS traffic capability which is free and robust throughout Europe
5. European speed camera POI database
Homework. My research to include user ratings narrowed my choice down to two units; the TomTom GO 920T and the Garmin Nuvi 660. The main reason I went with the TomTom GO 920T besides getting it on sale for over $200 off tomtom’s MSRP were its features and design that met more of my requirements. I have had my TomTom GO 920T for 2 days now and am overall very happy with my purchase but I wanted provide some good-bad data points for you to consider prior to purchasing yours.
Good. The TomTom GO 920T is an awesome looking unit that is well constructed. The window mount (compared to my Navigon 5000) is very simple, sturdy, stylish, and small, it secures the GPS unit with very well and with ease. The software provided, exceeded my expectations (again in comparison to my Navigon), it allows you to update your maps, POI database, software, download voices and choose your GPS user preferences like your home location, but it’s operation is somewhat glitchy (see bad in the next para.). The desktop cradle is very good quality and allows easing charging/syncing with my computer and the internet. The TMC-RDS is awesome here in Europe and a must have once you get the right antenna (see bad para.) The GPS sync took about 3 minutes the first time turned it on but only takes 30-45 seconds on average for subsequent startups. The user preference menu is awesome and very extensive allowing you to set up the quick reference menu and bottom menu bar how you want them to look and feel. When you press the GPS strength bar it displays the battery meter, number and strength of satellites signals receiving and lat/long coordinates that you can display in mins/secs and decimal format. The “help me” icon is truly amazing, it displays verbatim “I am on xxxxx street between xxxxx street and xxxxx boulevard”; awesome when you might be in shock from an accident and need to phone this info in. It also offers a few other sub-menu icons like walk to or drive to the closest hospital, public tranpo, police station, auto repair, gas station, vet, etc. The enhanced positioning Technology is awesome, this allows your GPS unit to keep your position moving down the road and voice upcoming turns even when you don’t have a GPS signal, like in a tunnel. You normally only find this feature in GPS units that are built into the car.
Bad. When I put the TomTom GO 920T to the test for the first time, everything worked great except the TMC-RDS feature. I plugged in the antennal that came in the box and a message came up on the GPS screen stating “the TMC antenna was not compatible with the map selected”. Like I stated earlier, I am stationed in Germany so the Europe map was being displayed. So I called the TomTom 1-866 number and explained the problem. They said that because I purchased the unit from a US vendor, the system comes with a US TMC antenna that works on a different frequency than the one in Europe. They said that if I wanted TMC-RDS traffic updates in Europe, I would have to purchase a European capable antenna. So for an additional $60, I now have both antennas. Buyers Beware – there are 2 separate antennas and you will have to purchase the other one you don’t have if you travel between continents. The European antenna costs about half the price of the US one. So if you want both, I would recommend buying the 920T US version. I highlighted to TomTom customer support that I felt this was misleading and false advertising because nowhere is it stated anywhere on the TomTom website, the box or literature provided with the unit does it state that there is a US frequency antenna and a Europe frequency antenna. They didn’t seem to really care and said I could purchase the European antenna if I wanted TMC-RDS in Germany. Bad customer relations if you ask me.
Like I stated in the good paragraph, the software that I loaded on my computer had quite a few glitches the first time I used it. When syncing it with my TomTom, I received multiple error codes but most were actually solved by selecting the back key and letting the software restart. Somewhat annoying considering the price of this unit but still workable. Other bads; no case, I purchased a third party case, a Covertec Universal GPS Nylon and Neoprene case for GPS with 4.3″ LCD – Size 3″ for $19.99, it’s a great, high quality case that doesn’t appear to have the same “zipper problems” user reviews highlighted a flaw in the TomTom case.
Other/Summary. There a lot of gadgets on this device that I will probably never use, like the remote (I mean come on people the thing is within arm reach), picture viewer, MP3 player. I will probably try out the FM transmitter and Bluetooth phone sync eventually but it’s not why I bought this GPS. I bought it because it is truly the best GPS device that had all the features I wanted and then some. So in conclusion, I highly recommend the TomTom GO 920T, I am more than satisfied and my wife loves its ease of use.
I just returned my 920. I had trouble with it at first; the software install errored-out the first try, then my location was set to Guam and the language to Spanish. After an hour or so I had it working, then took it out for a test drive. Things I don’t like:
Power on – there’s no ‘chime’ or beep when you press the power button, and the screen stays dark for a good 10 seconds, making you second guess if you actually turned the unit on or not.
There doesn’t seem to be any initial voice instructions after entering a destination. I’d prefer a ‘proceed to the highlighted route’ or something. It seems like you just have to drive before it will start to talk to you, and you can easily get started going the wrong way.
The maps don’t seem to take bridges into account properly. On my way home I come over a bridge, and the unit was telling me to turn left onto a street that was actually under me at the time. If I hadn’t known where I was going, I met have followed these bad directions and been in a dangerous situation.
The diagrams of the unit in the documentation don’t really look like the 920.
Last thing – there is something rattling around inside the unit. It sounds like a little screw or something, but that’s what really prompted the return. Now I’m in the market for something else, and leaning towards a Nuvi.
I have been using the 920 for several months now and regret my decision to go with the 920 instead of a Nuvi. I live in a city with a population of roughly 200,000 people. More often than not when I put in an address, I get a screen that tells me that “House numbers are not available” and I have to choose between the nearest cross streets and “Any cross street”. Being new to the area, which is the reason I made this purchase in the first place, this is somewhat frustrating. Another frustrating feature is the 920’s inability to differentiate either North / South or East / West on the same street. You might want to go to “Joe’s Crab Shack” on 1800 West Main and get directed to 1800 East Main, nowhere near where you wanted to be. I have tried my unit next to my sister’s much, much cheaper Garmin, and the 920 got crushed my a much cheaper unit. Bells and whistles be damned, I just want a unit that correctly gets me to point A.
I don’t know what your complaint is. You probably have a bad unit or you didn’t read the instructions and do an update. I work as a police officer and use this unit heavily every day to the max. I have experienced none of your issues. You want to go to a Garmin which has maps that are 5 years old, just don’t try and find anything in any area thats only a couple of years old because the Garmin wont show it. I get tired of people coming on here to whine about their 920 when most o all the issues i see are related to user error and incompetence. The 920 FAR out performs Any Garmin. How do i know this? Because i ran the Garmin 660 Side by Side with my 920 for a month and every single time, the tom tom 920 was more responsive, more detailed, more reliable and over all a much better unit. I go to approx 20 addresses per day and use this unit without fail. I’m not sure why the few come in here and act like Garmin is so superior, because they aren’t. They aren’t even less expensive. If you think Garmin is so great, go over to their forum and look at all those complaints. Stop complaining and update your unit or take it back if it’s defective and get another one. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the 920 and it FAR exceeds the quality of any garmin product out today. MAPSHARE – Need I say more. In my city, the TOM TOM provides almost 30% more map coverage due to the easily updated maps. Try that with a Garmin, wait you cant, its junk!
Brian,
Consider the Garmin 270 as well. More basic, but cheaper.
The 920 is good, but the 770 and the 270 are better in Pedestrian mode, as they have screen locks and slightly longer battery life.
All the models you ask about will work well, so play with them in the stores to see which you like best (compared to the price).
Spoken address answer for E-Z above. I had the same problem with my new 920. Called customer support and they told me that the updated software recently downloaded neglected to include the spoken address option. A fix is supposed to be on the way in a couple of weeks.
Jason,
My 920 is up to date and functioning correctly. What I am pointing out is the very glaring deficienies of the 920 when you are not in a large city. I’m assuming that since you are a police officer and need a GPS to find your way around your turf, that you are in a large city. In smaller metropolitan areas the problems that I listed occur quite frequently. Here’s an example – try getting directions to the local Home Depot located at 2201 S Kensington Dr in Appleton, Wisconsin. This store is no less than five years old and is in a city of 75K people with a surrounding area of another 125K people. You will see what I’m talking about in message you will receive that ‘House numbers are not available’ for this street, despite the street (a state highway) being decades old. This weekend we went to the Wisconsin Dells, a tourist area with millions of visitors per year, and had several POIs that were literally miles off the target, usually because of the 920’s inability to differentitate that house numbers start over again when you cross the ‘zero block’ and the street changes from East to West or North to South while maintaining the same street name. Just because you have not had these problems while using your 920 in your cruiser does not mean that they do not exist, and your opinion is quite myopic to generate with your limited usage area. Try the address that I’ve posted above and tell my if your unit will let you put in a house number, because the $200 Garmin that I’m refering to works like a charm in smaller cities where the 920 fails.
Ken – I can pull up that exact address, with street number, on my 720 and on my 920. It has numbers on that street. Here is the map on my TomTom and here is the map from Home Depot’s website.
Ken, i do work in a larger city (population 200k) however several surrounding areas are rural and have small populations. I have used the units in both settings with the same results I live in South Carolina, and have used this unit to travel back to Illinois which is a long hike as well as down to Florida, still no issues. I did have them side by side for both trips. It sounds to me that you have a faulty unit. I’ve experienced none of your issues. I will try and input your address tomorrow when I’m at the unit. If its not there, open up mapshare and put it there. That’s one thing you can do that you can’t with the nuvi.
Ok so cuiousity got the best of me so i ran out and got the unit. It pulls up tha address perfecty for me. i have a screen shot but i dont know how to post it here. however the streets west of it and around it are S. buchanan, S midpark, S Fidelis, S Matthias, S Theodore, S Irma, S Clara, Jade and south is Railroad street.
im guessing you didnt try it with the S in the address. Which relates back to my original post, most issues are related to USER ERROR. Try it with the S. 2 of us did and had no issues.
Thanks for the info gents. My 920 seems to work fine in large cites when it comes to addresses, but poorly in smaller settings, so I wrongfully assumed that it was working correctly. I update the software frequently, and I usually end up uploading at least one or two map corrections to TomTom at the same time. I will contact TomTom, but no doubt they will want me to send in my unit. Anyway, I do appreciate the feedback from those whoe units are working correctly, and I hope to join your ranks again in the near future.
Ken – I don’t believe anything is defective with your device. I suspect you are just not selecting ‘S Kensington Dr’ and are selecting ‘Kensington Dr’ instead.
Jason,
As for your last post, I appreciate you taking the time to run out to the cruiser and check out the address. However, it can’t be user error, as the message that “House numbers are not available for this street” pops up as soon as you choose a street. I would upload a picture of what I get, but I’m not sure how on this site. In any case, both your and Tim’s units can do this, which proves that mine is not working correctly. Thanks again.
Ken, did you try it with the S in front of the street? do S (space) Kensington it comes right up. When i tried to put in just Kensington it gave me the same message your speaking of.
Okay, this is the last I will torture you with this. I get these messages all the time other than in major cities. If I want to go to Nordic Mountain, the closest ski hill, located at W5806 County Road W, Wild Rose, WI , no street numbers are available. You can find the road by guessing a croos street, but then it’s 50/50 that you then head in the correct direction. I just can’t figure out why these messages should ever occur, given that the grid for house numbers were set up decades ago. This doesn’t seem to happen on other manufacturers units that I have tested. I love this unit when I’m in Chicago, and I curse it in smaller towns.
Ken – There is no doubt there are errors and deficiencies in the mapping from time to time. Correct, on the second address you have listed there are no house numbers on that street. However, I tried that same address on a Garmin and it didn’t do much better. It doesn’t have 5806W on that street either. Instead it asks if you want the closest known points, W5099 and W4999. Those two points are shown as being 5.2 miles apart so that too is a pretty big section of road to search.
Tim, I am a Sat nav newbie in the UK, I have been considering all the options carefully and with the help of your site narrowed down my preference to the TT 920T. I have one question that I hope does not appear too naive. I have been using Microsoft’s Autoroute for many years to plan detailed trips in the UK and Europe. Is it possible once having planned a route in Autoroute to download that route to the 920 unit as preferred route and for the 920 to guide between the way points? Thanks for your help.
PS – Great site
Simon, I’m not certain since I don’t use autoroute myself. The TomTom Itineraries can hold up to 48 points. I see that the freeware program GPSBabel can read Microsoft Autoroute 2002 files, and since it can export to the Itinerary Planning format of TomTom devices it sounds like it might be possible.
Tim, Thanks for the swift response. I will check out the GPSBabel programmes compatibility with Autoroute 2007 and let you know. Best wishes and thanks again.
I’ve boiled my search for a gps down to the TomtTom 920 and the Garmin Nuvi 770…they both are similar it seems in features including the European maps which would be very handy for our frequent trips there. Two basic questions: FIRST, which is generally more user friendly and less problematic and SECOND since they are basically similar in features, why is the Garmin about 30% more in available pricing? I hope these aren’t unreasonable questions and this site is just what the doctor ordered (for my gps-shopping-related headache.) Thanks.
Alan – I’d say the Nuvi is perhaps a tiny bit easier to use, simply because there are a few less customizations available. They are both some of the easiest to use GPS devices out there. As to price, Garmin, being the market leader in North America, have always commanded a small premium over other similarly equipped GPS devices.
Tim…Thanks so much for the very rapid response to my questions. Seems that from what you’ve said the TomTom 920’s most likely a good choice then and I’m going to give that a shot. I can handle (I think…and hope) a slight difference in ease of use…and the price is of the TomTom in light of the similarity of features is very attractive. After all…travel in Europe isn’t cheap these days. Again, thanks for your help.
Can anyone verify this statement?
“Enhanced Positioning Technology (GO 920T only) uses movement and gravity sensors to calculate drivers’ positions when GPS signals are unavailable.”
The traffic coverage up here in Western Canada is not realy worth the extra $100 between the 920 & 920T but this feature may be worth it in low coverage areas.
Thanks for your help and comments.
Bear
Bear – I’m not certain what you would like for me to verify. I’m assuming you read this page and the seven paragraphs under the heading ‘Enhanced Positioning Technology (EPT)’?
Ordered a 920 an hour ago after years more or less happy with a Garmin i3 (usb port now snapped off sadly), looking forward to something more modern
after a far bit of surfing ths is by far the most useful resource, bravo to Tim and the various posters, other than some tiresome ‘my nuvi’ stuff in the middle
thanks all
Sorry Tim, I should have been more clear. I have read through this whole article and did understand that the 920T has the EPT and did not see any refrence to the 920 (did not expect one as this one is a review on the 920T)
I thought I had read somewhere that the 920 had this technology as well but one of the vendor pages says it is only the 920T (the quote) so I was trying to find out which one was correct.
Thanks for your replies and dedication to this forum. I have read lots of good stuff helping me decide.
Got it, I understand now. The 920 and 920T are identical except for the traffic receiver. The 920 does have EPT.
Thank you for the info and keep up the great work here.
Tim,
I just got the 920T and love it. Recently, they had a software update problem, and after downloading to the unit, it lost it’s ability to speak or recognize replys. They have since fixed this problem. My question is this: Without going to Tom Tom Home, how do you “Back up” (on a floppy), what’s programed in the unit when you first get it home? I want to do this to insure that I can factory reset it the way it came in case of another software glitch. The last one prevented you from factory reset!
Thanks,
Mike
Another (hopefully quick question). Can you enter coordinates in as a destination? The main reason I am looking at a new system is my Garmin Legend has a display problem and I thought one of the car ones would work to double as a hand held for some geocaching. I have read the 920/T will display the coordinates but would like to find out if you can enter them in as well.
Thanks again!
You can, however if the coordinates are not “close enough” to a road (I don’t know what that exact distance is) it won’t create a route.
You could, however, create a favorite with any set of coordinates and view that location on the map relative to your current position.
Tim,
I’m looking for a GPS that works well in Pedestrian mode since I’ll be in Europe. I have my eye on the 920, but became discouraged when you said it was good in pedestrian mode compared to the 270 & 770. Can you please elaborate or cite some examples of the differences? Thanks!
Suzie
The Garmin 270 and 770 both have a hold switch that locks the screen. Thus, accidental touches will not open up the menus and lose the map page. this means that they can be happily placed in the pocket with no worries. You have to be more careful with the 920 in this regard…small annoyance!
The ipaq 310 is theoretically better than the other 2 brands as it has a screen lock and 3D maps that would cause even greater visual recognition. Unfortunately, HP has disabled the Pedestrian routing mode, but fortuately, its easy to restore if you are the least bit Computerate. I have restored it myself with 2 minutes work. The other problem is that HP is still 2 weeks away from selling European maps for the 310 and you cant buy the 314(european version) in the US.
The most practical option at the moment is the relatively cheap G270, but the TT 920 is selling for $270 at the Dell web site now.
One thing I find very annoying about the tomtoms is the standard micro usb plug to connect it to power and the computer. that plug is very prone to malfunction. I have owned my tomtom for 6 weeks now and the plug is already so worn out, it wont charge anymore… i have to get a repair / replacement.
I am seriously thinking of switching to another manufacturer for this reason only. what good is a gps if you cant charge it ?
Has anybody been able to connect to TomTom traffic using Alltel phone?
I have TT Go 920 and Alltel Samsung R500 phone. I was able to connect TomTom to my phone and use hands free phone feature, but having trouble setting up data connection for TomTom Traffic.
I’ve already tried the following configuration with no luck:
Access Point Name: Alltel
User Name: my 10 digit phone number@alltel.com (I’ve also tried @alltel.net)
Password: alltel
Obtain IP Address Automatically
Obtain DNS server address Automatically
Dial #777
Logon Script: Left blank
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
i I have purchased a 920T last January in Spain. It supposes to be one of the best navigators… Well, well… so much for Tom-Tom finesse! It failed too many times. The voice directions came too late quite often. Other times did no recognize the roads. The main complain is that if you don’t follow the directions given to you than it took too long to find the right spot again. The thing is that your copilot, the navigator, supposes to give you the precise directions several times ahead before you reach the point of changing directions, and if you make a mistake it suppose to give you the correction as fast as possible and take you to the correct place. Tom-Tom 920T quite often doesn’t know where you are. And gives you the wrong direction. It makes too many mistakes.
In the busy streets with a very fast traffic you need directions very accurate and fast directions. You don’t have time to look at the screen, and you don’t suppose to do that.
I trade the 920T for a Sony NV-U93T. This Sony doesn’t have so many good things as the Tom-Tom but it gives you the precise directions several times ahead. No mistakes what so ever. If you take the wrong turn off it corrects immediately. Even in large tunnels guides you perfectly and it doesn’t get lost like the Tom-Tom. With Sony you don’t have to look at the screen. I have to recognize that Sony has much too catch-up in many ways.
Jose
After reading numerous reviews and comments, I took the plunge and got a Go920 last week. Here are some of my observations. Some of them agree with findings by others, and some of them disprove observations by others. Many of these comments also apply to the Go720 and Go920T:
- the unit itself is nicely constructed, with a very nice rubbery exterior, elegant trim, and overall nice fit and finish. The same can’t be said for the suction cup, which just is not up to standards, a shame because the mounting design of the GPS is an essential function and should be strong, reliable and lasting.
- I connected to Tomtom’s Home website, downloaded their Home v2.2 software and installed it. I made a mistake entering the device code, and when I tried to correct it I got a message “you have to wait 6 months before you can change this code” – I have no idea what the purpose of this policy is, it just frustrates the heck out of legitimate customers.
- the issue of the SD card: after many hours experimenting with various methods and procedures, I found that just because your computer can write files to an SD card and read from it, it does NOT mean your Go920 will recognize it also! some brands work, and some brands don’t work .. you’ll just have to try by trial and error which ones are compatible. To install MP3 music, make a directory on the SD card called “MP3″, and copy the MP3 files to that directory. For photographs, you need to put them in a directory called “Photos”. You can just use Windows explorer, you don’t have to use the Home software to copy your MP3 files.
- I am very interested in the FM transmitter function, and had read numerous comments that the reception is noisy and volume is low. I’m happy to report that it worked great in my Toyota, just set the MP3 volume to maximum, and choose a spot on your FM dial that is EMPTY (you will hear a hissing white noise at an empty spot). Make a note of that frequency, and then program the Go920 to use that frequency. I used 100.1, and after shutting down the Go920 and resuming a few hours later, it still remembered the FM frequency and I didn’t have to re-configure it. The sound is very acceptable this way, similar to listening to a good FM station and much better quality than say using those cassette audio adapters.
- while entering some addresses under “favorites”, I was surprised to find some street numbers were not recognized on the Go920, EVEN THOUGH they were accepted with no problem by my previous unit (a Garmin 650).
- the GPS signal reception is very good (as described by others), I can sit 3 meters away from a window and it will still pick up 2 satellites.
- turning ON the unit is not always reliable, most times it works, and often one has to push the reset button before it will respond and turn on; (this never happened with my old Nuvi 650).
- some people commented that to cancel (clear) a route one had to go 3-deep in the menus, however there is an option to have a “quick menu” link right on the front with menu links of your choice (I chose jukebox, add favorites, FM transmitter, help me, and turn-off sound).
- I found an old calculator case that fits it almost perfectly which saves me $30 having to buy an aftermarket product.
- the Tomtom website is more geared to selling than helping. With incomplete documentation and weak on-line support, I imagine many customers feel frustrated and abandoned. I won’t be able to update my software until the 6 months punishment period has passed.
- overall I’m pleased with the 920, since I already had realistic expectations after reading so much excellent information on Tim’s GPS Review.
I haven’t yet tested the other functions (bluetooth, talking commands, the remote unit), my main concerns are good navigation and decent music reproduction, and I’m already satisfied with those two.
TT920 vs. Nuvi 670, causing lost sleep on which to keep. Wish I could blend the two together.
Garmin is way ahead on mounting it’s unit,screen brightness and use is to be envied, the included accesories require nothing else. Some of the navigation features are better. Map screen looks better. Love the cradle mounting ease ot use. Actual battery time is triple the TT. Leather case. My phone works 100% and the Nuvi will send conversations thru truck stereo for excellent on the road hands free talking, better than Onstar. Nuvi with one touch activates phone voice control and works totally hands free. TomTom will only use internal speaker for phone use. Only partial phone use on LG Muzik and Shine.
The TT920 is loaded with awesome features, and love the stuff the Garmin doesn,t have.
Help Me/ voice address entry/ EPS/ mapshare/ auto updates and TThome software/ quick gps fix/ qwerty keys/ way more customization etc.
The TT920 is an addictive piece of tech. You do need more time to set it up and try it out, so it is not to yappy or bombard you with too much info. There are so many settings to check out it takes some time to get used to it. Give Grandpa the Garmin and he’ll love it. Give the TT to the IT guy and he’ll love it. Who am I, down the center I guess cause I love both.
Navigating? It’s a wash. TT seems smarter and has more routing options, Garmin is very consistant and pleasant to deal with. I rate the TT920 with a slight edge here because it seems to see the big picture better, and is way more flexible allowing more driver input on choice of route. Garmin has a one track mind and is tough sometimes to get it to accept something else. A big factor if you want to take the scenic holiday route on anything other than fastest or shortest route. Errors betwwen the two have been identical so far and probably have nothing to do with the devices.
I will stick my neck out here and say I think the TT920 is the better GPS device. I got both for great deals (TT $399 vs 670 $479 CDN).
BUT, I need some help to make the TT liveable for me.
I must have the cradle mount from Carcomm that I have seen on this forum. The CNM-165 is for me. When will it be ready and where can I buy it?
Who makes an aftermarket case that fits the 920 for $15-30 range?
With these two items I will keep the TT920 and buy a compatible phone when my contract is up or pay to upgrade it.
I loved all the professional reviews available on these gps’s, and to tell you the truth they all are correct in their evaluations, from a certain point of view. You have to view and use these things yourself to find out what suits you. I think everyones brains are wired for different stimulie and only the user can decide what works for them.
I was and still am addicted to the Garmin after 30 days, but after one weekend with the TomTom I’m going to switch, despite the very painful phone issues. That may be a strong statement in itself. Give me a Garmin Nuvi 860 for less than $500 and I’m there.(not a chance though $$$)
Please keep up the good work on these sites as it is a valuable tool for many consumers. Wouldn’t have even touched a TT without it.
Tim & y’all – Thanks for all your comments, inputs & help.
I’m an engineer, all-around gadget guy, and just purchased the 920T, have spent at least 10 hours configuring all of its options and using its features including voice input, MP3 player, slide viewer, Audible Book Reader, audio-over-FM, etc, and couldn’t be happier. It sync’d and read in my Sprint Treo 700wx PocketPC phone book, worked well on calls, and I had no problems other than trying to crack open the remote control case without a tool.
I found instructions for the Sprint Vision Access Point setup as well for accessing TomTom Internet Traffic; others have made this work. I also plan to try playing music from my Zune through it’s “iPod” interface, albeit without the control element.
The only thing I can’t figure out yet is how to simply cancel/abort a destination mid-stream. It will take a new destination while driving, but how to just kill one? Someone above said they used their shortcut menu for it, but then didn’t mention the option name. If I want to make an impromptu stop such as a gas stop, or forgot I need to stop at my ATM or another short side-stop, it can just be turned off so it stops nagging me, and back on again when I want to resume course.
Mark – the button you are looking for is called ‘Clear Route’. Depending if you have the ‘Show ALL Options’ option turned on, you will find it in Menu -> (next a couple of times) -> Clear Route.
Crow, that’s what I’m eating. After gushing about the TT920 (see above), it went defective on me. Say’s it’s connected to my phone every 2 mins, premium batteries in remote die every 4-5 hours, screen started to crap out like it got hit with an EMP pulse, and a few other issues. Returned and left store with e new Nuvi 760. The end.
I am looking at the TT over a Garmin primarily because it has the speed alert. Some comments here indicate that it may not work very well which may just be a regional issue in which case does anyone know if the 920 is capable of producing a warning when I enter a certain area(or point of interest)? Will garmin do this?(I know they don’t have speed alerts)
Also does anyone know if the forum refered to on this comment list is “www. tomtomforums.com”.
Thanks for any input, John.
John you are correct, there are some roads that have warnings and many more that do not. Note that some Garmin models like the Nuvi 700 series also have speed limit warnings. The TomTom 730/930 seems to have more coverage. Both the TomTom and Garmin models have POI alerts.
Thanks Tim, I think Garmin should train their support guys better because it was Garmin that told me NONE of their gps had speed warnings. Any ideas as to why the 720 and 920 are priced equally on TT’s web site (US) when you get so much more with the 920? Thanks for your help.
John
Update (to msg. #232):
I noticed Tomtom Home v2.2 has now let me change the device code for my 920! (originally it wouldn’t let me, demanding a 6 month wait first). Maybe they’re reading GPSReview also?
I promptly updated my app software (from v7.22 to v7.481), and got the newest GPSquickfix (not interested in installing data for European “safety cameras” at this time).
Thanks Tomtom, for being sensible!
John – I don’t know why.
Hi Tim (and everyone else),
I just stumbled onto this site the other day, and it’s really fantastic from what I’ve seen! I am considering the purchase of a TomTom GO 920, but I like the idea of the “Where Am I?” feature on the Garmin nuvi 700’s. With regard to earlier comments (#225/226), couldn’t I potentially use the 920 to figure out where my car is if I save the coordinates when I park?
P.S. Rock Like War – Rustic Overtones
Vanna – Yes, you can mark your current GPS coordinates as a favorite and then use the ‘Browse Map’ feature to find your way back to your car.
Great job on the music quiz by the way! Viva R.O.!
Whose map software does the 920 use in Australia?
I think it is Sensis, but I don’t know for certain.
Tim, since the pending release of the 930t, the price of the 920t has been dropping. I’ve been scouring the web, but am unable to determine if the 930t is worth waiting another week on or should I snatch up a discounted 920t. I really couldn’t tell any differences.
thanks in advance & keep up the good work
Dave – You can read our review of the 930.
I had already read the review of all of the tomtoms. I couldn’t decipher any noticeable differences between the 920t and the 930t. If anybody else has figured anything out, please let me know….thanks for the attempt to answer my question.
Dave – The entire 930 review I linked to above only talks about the differences between it an the 920…. color, active lane guidance, static intersection images, IQ routes, and a few application changes.
FYI – for an easy alternative to TT’s wall charger for the 920T, go to your local cellphone store (I bought mine at Verizon) and pick-up a Motorola W385 Travel Charger (for the Motorola Razr Ve). It’s a 6′ straight line cord with the proper connector for the 920T. Do it soon though, as I think this phone has been discontinued.
Hi.
I m looking at my first GPS unit. Like the look of Tomtom. When will the GO 930 be available in Canada and are the graphics in Europe the same as here plus can you get the voice in other languages?
Cheers
Harold, yes to all three.
I am trying to decide between this unit and the Garmin Nuvi 670. I am moving to Germany very soon, and I plan on doing a lot of traveling…which of these two units is better? The 670 is exceedingly more expensive, so I am wondering what the difference is. Thanks.
I just got a TT GO 920, this is my first GPS. I s there a way I can set it up to speak street names,
(e.g. “Turn right on Broadway in 200 feet”)
I recently purchases a TT920. I successfully paired it with my Blackberry Curve and was able to upload my phone book entries. I was unable to pair the TT remote with the TT920. TT technical support says that only one Bluetooth unit can be paired with the TT920. This does not sound right. Has anyone been able to use pair their remote after pairing their phone?
Mike – You shouldn’t need to “pair” your remote with the 920, that will happen automatically– the 920 will “hear” the button click and ask if it is okay to accept commands from the remote the first time it is used.
I am able to use the remote and a connected phone at the same time. I just tried it out to double check. You can actually even use the remote to navigate through the menus and place the call, using the remote to select the numbers, etc.
Thanks Tim. I called TT tech support and they had me remove the batteries from the remote, cycle power on the TT920 and then press the reset button and power up the TT920 again. After placing the batteries in the remote, the remote started working after one minute. I can also work my Blackberry curve with the remote too.
Thanks again.
Hi, great website. I did lots of research here before deciding on buying my tt 920. It was on sale [snip, see comment policy], could not go wrong.
?-can the unit be powered on and off automatically when hooked up to car charger, or do I have to manualy turn on/off with the power button? If not, are there any units (Garmin)? that have this feature?
thanks in advance and this has been a great site I have recommended it to a couple friends…
I purchased the 920 and love it. I chose this one because of the european maps. I go to europe a couple times a year and find this feature very useful.
Now, what I am wondering is, if you have figured out a way to get my audio books on to he thing, I can’t seem to get them on.
Thanks,
Jacob, there is no auto-on, but I think there is an auto-off.
Pat, you can load audio books (provided they are not in a protected format like iTunes) from the TomTom HOME application.
Tim,
Either I am doing it wrong, or don’t understand but it seems I can only use audible.com. Could you send me step by step on how to download it from my computer to my TomTom.
Also, I don’t think there is enough room. Do I need to put in a SD memory card or something?
Pat – I’m an Audible user & here is how I do it.
(I use an SD card for space reasons) On the SD card create a folder named “audiobooks” (if you are going to play music, also create a folder named “mp3″.
You do need to attach your 920 to the computer and run the AUDIBLE program on your PC and in audible, and “add a new device” – this will authorize your 920 to recognize audible files.
After that, you can find the card under the “my computer” pc function and just drag & drop Audible files to the “audible books” folder on the SD card.
Are you saying the only way is to become an Audible subscriber ? I dont
want to do that. I have many, many books on cd and want to put them on my
TomTom. I see no reason in subscribing to something I don’t need. I should
be able to just load my own books on without being railroaded into joining
something I don’t need.
Actually, there is an audio book alternative to Audible.com. If you rip your audio books to MP3s, you can play them like any other music mp3. (Load them into your mp3 folder on the SD card) A word of caution – you may need to rename the sections of your audio books (assuming you are ripping them from CDs) in some sequential fashion (eg SuddenPrey_01 for CD1 and SuddenPrey_02 for the second, etc.) Also, audio CDs are usually broken into multiple tracks about 3 minutes in length to make it easier to navigate forward or backward in the books. So a 60 minute CD may have 20 tracks and a book may have 10 CDs, so you are looking at 200 tracks for the book.
If you go to TomTom Home’s Help page on audio books, it says the following:
Audiobooks
On some TomTom devices you can listen to Audible™ Audiobooks.
Audiobooks can be purchased from http://www.audible.com. Books in US and UK English, French, German and Spanish are currently available. There are many types of spoken entertainment including fiction, comedy, mystery, non-fiction, politics, newspapers and even ‘how to’ guides.
Note: Not all TomTom devices are able to play Audiobooks.
Adding an Audiobook
1. Click Add Maps, Traffic, Voices in the main menu in HOME.
2. Click Audiobooks.
3. Click Go to audible.com to buy and download Audiobooks for your device.
Thanks for the info. I had already determined I could load it as an MP3 like music but then keeping track of where you left off was exactly ideal.
I did go to TomTom help and read exactly what you posted which to me indicated the only way to use the audio book portion of the TomTom was to purchase books thru audible.com, indicating no other book could be loaded thru the audio book portion. I could load it to the music portion as you indicated but it’s a bit of a hassele,
Thanks anyway, perhaps one day they will do an enhancement that will allow us to load any books on that we want and not just those that we MUST purchase thru audible.com.
I meant to say keeping track of where you left off was NOT exactly ideal
went to best buy. TT930 vs TT one.
two different mapping versions. From Nj to RI. 930 gave correct direction as did the 720. TT one gave what I have on my 920, thru albany to boston to RI. Nice ,HUH
just call T T great customer service. Not . she said she was sorry I feel that it is not my responsibility to correct TT mistakes in their programing. checked 4 different models TT one , 920, 720, & 930 720 & 930 gave correct directions, other 2 gave directions N. NJ to RI by way of Albany thru mass. to RI.
go buy a T T
Deo, you can setup TTS on the 920 by this tutorial:
Enable Text-to-Speech: TomTom or Garmin
I had the Navigon 7100, actually twice, I returned the 1st one due to dead pixels on the screen, the second one I used for 2 weeks until the Tomtom 920 went on sale for the same price at costco. I realy liked the graphics of the Navigon and its reality view feature and the free lifetime traffic alerts. That really had me hooked on the unit but in reality that did not make up for what it lacked. TT920 has many many more features than the Navigon, but the most discouraging thing with the Navigon was its Points of interest. Even with its recent 5/14/2008 MAJOR software update ( 1st in 2 years from what I hear) , I found it very cumbersome to navaigate through the POI’s, the icons were tiny, not finger freindly, a stylus was best. What you might expect to find in POI’s were simply not there. If you happen to find what you were looking for after searching through it’s many categories, you’d better remember how you got there because if you tried to select it again in the recent destinations, the screen would come up, Not able to load destination or something to that effect and you would have to fgo find it again in what ever folder you found it in. Very frustrating. The blue tooth would not remember your phone well either, so you had to seek connection everytime. If you don’t want lots of features and don’t care about POI’s, its top notch, but I have to say, the 920T is most sophisticated with all of it’s features. Its like comparing an Infiniti with a Chrysler. The only thing about the 920 now is that I like the 930 for its Lane Assistance (reality view) feature. But other than that I am most satisfied with the Tomtom 920. And the online support is 1000 times better for current updates.
I recently purchased a TomTom 920 from a well known warehouse via their online sales site. According to advertising, it is capable of adding photos, but when I attempt to do that while connected to the PC, that option is not available. Further, the unit came with a tape ove the SD card slot that said that “SD Card Not Required”. The TomTom website support keeps rejecting my questions, so I am trying here. Why am I not able to download photos? I am beginning to think all of my friends who advised me to buy a Garmin were right. Any help will be appreciated. Thank you.
The sticker is correct that you don’t need an SD card to operate the device, everything is installed on the internal memory.
When you go to add the photos and you say “that option is not available”, what are you referring to? Something in TomTom HOME, something on the device itself, etc? I’ve added photos to my 720/920/930 and they all work, so it should be just a matter of getting you the right steps for the method you are using.
I am thinking of buying a TT 920T, and just finished reading all 270 comments on this site. Great information BTW. I thought I read that multiple stops could be programmed and the TT 920T would calculate the shortest route between these points. Is this correct, and if so, how is it accomplished?
Steve – The 920T does have an Itinerary Planner that allows you to program in multiple stops. It will not automatically order them in the most efficient order though… they leave that up to you.
Tim, thanks. I do understand that one does not NEED the SD card to operate the 920. However, I thought that one of the ways to view photos was by inserting an SD card. TomTom, by placing the tape over the slot, seems to be implying that it ought not to be used.
When I say that the option to add photos is not available, Yes, I was referring to TomTom Home. With TomTom home, appearing on my laptop screen after clicking the appropriate icon, there is no option to download photos from the PC. As I understood it before purchasing the TomTom, there should be an option to download photos directly from a PC or to view them using an SD card.
With the wording on the tape covering the SD card slot, I was not sure that I should remove it and insert a card. Also, as I understand it, I could create more room in memory by, for example, deleting languages that I will never use thus freeing up some room for photos on internal membory.
Thanks for your help, I hope you can clear this up for me.
From TomTom HOME, are you going to ‘Add Maps, Traffic, Voices, etc’ -> next -> next -> Photos?
TomTom used to store the application and maps on SD card. When devices started shipping with an internal memory (like the 920) people thought the card was “missing”. So TomTom put the tape over the slot to reduce confusion about that issue so they wouldn’t think the card was missing.
Thanks, Tim. If I understand you, then, I should be able to remove the tape over the SD card slot, insert an SD card and view photos. About not being able to download them from a PC though, would I be correct in assuming that the reason the option was not available (via TomTom home) when connected to the PC was because internal memory was full? If that is the case, one would think that one would receive a message to that effect rather than just not making the photo download option available. Thanks again for you help.
Steve, some digital cameras might produce photos in too high of a resolution to be viewed from the TomTom. Also I think the photos might need to be in a particular folder on the drive which is why loading them through TomTom HOME is best.
The option in TomTom HOME should always be visible, even when your TomTom isn’t connected. It is only after you click that button does it check if your device is connected. The internal memory will make no difference.
I was planning on using this in Europe (Vienna, Krakow, Prague, and Budapest) for walking around, not driving. Will this work effectively? Are there any issues I should keep in mind? I am deciding between this and Garmin 670. WHich would be better for this specific purpose?
Richard, I find that the flip-up antenna on the 670 gets in the way while walking around, but otherwise they would both work okay.
I have TT920T. Just wanted to know if there would be an s/w update that would help me to use the IQ Routes™ Technology on my TT920T.
You can read our speculation about TomTom IQ Routes for older devices.
SKumar – An update… Check out this post for details…. There might in fact be a way.
Get IQ Routes on TomTom 720 920
Hi there,
and greetings from Finland.
I just bought the device from a Finnish webshop on clearance price for 359 € / $570. Prices in Europe are a bit higher than in US. Taxation is some different also market isn’t that hot.
But this article made an impact and I feel my self some satisfied already. I’ll expect a lot for it.
I’ve said to my colleagues and friends that one should think twice and choose a model that contain more than just regional maps like here in the Nordics the local maps of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark are contained. If You’re travelling abroad to Southern Europe for example. You don’t have to worry further when driving at the location.
Nothing to add – thanks to all for Your comments.
Tony Arnold
consultant
Espoo (hometown of Nokia Inc.), Finland
I intend to purchase the TomTom 920T next month from the USA, for use in the UK.. Please can you help & tell me if there might be any problems by doing this. Is there any difference between purchasing the US or the UK TomTom 920T or the downloadable GPS systems, and is the desk/docking station dual voltage 100-220 volt? What wave length does the TomTom cut into the FM Radio?
Many thanks, Jeremy
The docking station is USB. One difference is that it only comes with voice recognition setup to work from the continent the device was purchased in. The traffic cable is also different in North America from Europe.
what is the difference between the 920t and 930
Paul, see our review of the TomTom GO 930 which focuses on the new features in the 930.
Hi Tim: I have been sitting here reading all your expert advise…I have comments and one simple question…I am a mother of three children who travels for camps and dance concert frequently…I am not very tech saavy and do live in a suburb with plenty of highway traffic, with alternate routes…which GPS is good for a first time user that will probably not upgrade her purchase for years to come???
I just bought a TomTom GO 920 and had a question for you. I have been having trouble with the FM transmitter in my car. You can here the directions but there is so much static. I have tried every station that is empty and it still has static in every one. Have you had issues with the FM transmitter? Is it my car? (BMW 328-2007)
Please help…i need some expert help.
Love the device otherwise.
The success of the FM transmitter is largely dependent on a number of variables. The density of “open” frequencies in your area, the relative location of your car’s FM antenna to where your GPS is located, and the type of antenna your car uses.
Unfortunately, there are few things you can do about the issue. The biggest thing you can do is to experiment with different frequencies, as you have done. Beyond that all you can really do is experiment with moving the GPS around in the vehicle to see if there are other places that still are visible to the driver but get better FM transmission.
thank you Tim for your quick response.
The funny thing is that I have a FM transmitter for my ipod that I have used in my car and it works perfectly fine. I was just wondering if I had a bad FM transmitter.
If your iPod and the GPS are in the same location, and using the same frequency (but not at the same time of course) then I’m not certain what the issue would be.
I am a portable Navi newbie (I have an OEM GPS installed in my car) and have been reading with interest this thread. However, nowhere do I find a performance comparison between the 920 and say, a 770 with respect to speed of verbal route guidance. I have tested some Garmins while renting cars and I my experience with them is that they are consistently slow to tell me which way to go resulting in missed turns. Is there a metric for this somewhere? My OEM device works very well with respect to this functionality. Are the TomToms faster than the Garmins? A funny aside: while traveling in Florida with a French colleague, we used a Garmin set to French and when we passed roads such as “Walt Disney Dr”, the french system interpreted the road to be “Walt Disney Docteur”!
I did buy the 920, but have not done a ‘hot’ hook-up to my computer yet. I read on a different thread about initially logging in and claiming to have a 930, and then getting a free software upgrade. Has this been firmly established as a viable working improvement?
Stuart – I’m not certain if there are any fundamental differences or hardware changes between the Garmin rental units and the traditional Garmin units but I haven’t had an issue with slow turn instructions on the various Garmin devices. My only complaint as it pertains to that issue is that at highway speeds it sometimes doesn’t announce an exit until 1/2 – 3/4 of a mile before the exit, however other than that I haven’t experienced the issue and I haven’t missed any turns as a result.
I bought the 920 a month ago and have tested it out in North America and Europe. Below is some personal observations:
1. Having both map, NA and Europe maps was a bonus.
2. The bluetooth worked with the phone perfectly, then it started miss behaving. It would dial or answer a call but nobody could near me. I have not looked into the cause.
3. Driving within cities the route choices were acceptable. In some cases it suggested routes I had not thought of and were better than my own.
4. I would suggest using it on routes you know to get to used to how it works, before using it on unknown routes.
5. In North America it got a GPS signal in less than a minute in most cases. In Europe it would take minutes to get a GPS signal! Even in huge open areas, it would take minutes.
6. Some cases it would seem to get lost and send me in the opposite direction I wanted to go. I have not had a chance to follow up on this. In Barcelona (city centre) it was useless. I put it away. In other European cities, it had a tendency to get me close, but not to right to my location. By close I mean with in 100m.
7. Battery life is bad. I tried to use it for walking around. Fully charged and as many battery saving options used as I could think of, it lasted less than 4 hours.
8. Speaker volume is not loud, but enough to over come radio road noise with the window down.
9. FM transmitter works, but the sound level is low, which means I had to turn the radio volume up very high. Watch out when going back to normal use.
10. Points of Interest (POI) I had trouble using. The search is what I ended up using the most. Some which were missing really surprised me. i.e It has train stations, airports, ferry terminals; but no bus terminals!
11. This is a major issue for me and has me wondering if I should send it back. It uses postal address for finding addresses. This caused me problems in my own city. What this means if you have an address without the exact postal city, you can’t find it in the 920. This means you have to know all the regional names for any city you want to find a route too. Google does a much better job. I don’t have to have the city to find the location I am looking for in google in most cases. I put in the street and it gives me a list of cities to choose from. Numerous times, I had to guess at the city or pull out a paper map and look it up first.
12. The use of the SD card can only be used for maps. This was a disappointment, because I wanted to put music on the SD card.
13. The very first day I had it was a very bright sunny day and I could not see the screen. Strangely. It has not happened again.
Map corrections I have not figured out, but is a very nice feature. I need to allow left turns on a highway which it thinks is not possible and not allow left turns on a street which it thinks is possible
Over all it works well (other than the postal address for cities issue).
Hi p sky,
I just got a 920, and one of the first things I did was put MP3s on my SD card to play. At first, I just dragged songs over to the SD card, and it didn’t work. Then I tried the included software (TomTom Home) to put the songs on, and it worked fine. I think the trick is that they must be in a folder named “mp3″, otherwise it won’t find them.
I agree about the battery life. I’m thinking of picking up one of those universal USB power packs (Kensington, DigiPower, APC, etc.) I’m hoping that will let me carry this thing around when I’m out photographing stuff in the woods. You can download a lot of POI packs for free, maybe one’s out there with the bus terminals you need? Or maybe someone else in the TomTom share community can help put them together.
I’ve just purchased a 920t from someone who had actually deleted the Europe maps to get more room on the internal memory (not the smartest thing, I admit). Would I be able to re-upload the Europe maps from the web without cost, since I have the model which supposedly includes them?
alont the same lines, regarding downloading information from the web, I am still curios as to the answer to the question I put (#296) regarding getting 930 software onto the 920 by identifying it on first log-in as a 930?
jennifer, your best bet is to contact TomTom support. You wouldn’t otherwise be able to download them automatically.
Richard – Not sure why you would want to do that. There wouldn’t be anything extra you would get on your device.
Tim – I was hoping to improve my 920 by getting Active Lane Guidance and Navcor8 speed limit and speed limit warnings as you mentioned in your 930 review. What do you think?
Richard, you can install the necessary application to get those features now through HOME. What your device lacks is the map that includes that data. TomTom hasn’t released a map with that data that is compatible with the 920 yet, but once they do you can buy the map and then you will have those features. Trying to trick your device into thinking it is something it isn’t wouldn’t provide any advantage.
Tim or Richard
Were you able to get the 930 softward to work on the 920? I would like to know what happened or if it worked.
Paul, the application version between the 920 and 930 is pretty much identical. There would be no advantage running the “930″ application on the 920— it is the same thing.
No, I haven’t done my first log-in yet. I was waiting to hear what other’s thought about my idea, which I didn’t think of myself – I read it on a different forum. If there is no advantage, it doesn’t makse sense to try. When I get a chance I will try to find where I read it and see if it worked out well for the other person.
Just wondering if this can be plugged into your car aux jack for power? I see a people mentioning battery life to be about 5 hours so Im wondering if it can be plugged in also and if it comes with the unit or you have to buy it seperately?
Tom, the device comes with a car adapter (cigarette lighter style) so it can be used and charge at the same time.
Tim,
1. Is there any upgrades in models over 920 (930?). Is the model dated now and i should look for latest one.
2. Is this series (720, 730, 920, 930) WAAS enabled?
Thanks
1) The x30 models (like the 930/t) are the most curret right now.
2) No, WAAS is not enabled as it is not needed for auto navigation. It does drain battery life such is why although the hardware supports it, the function is (thankfully) disabled.
I have a 920 and would like to upgrade to get some of the 930 features. Can I do that and how do I do that?
I am most interested in the TomTom GO 920T because of the speed alert. I seem to get a few to many tickets because I am not paying attention. The local streets seem to get me the most. Does the 920T automatically know speed limits of all streets? If it does, does this information become more comprehensive with time? If so how long, living in Utah. Can I manually enter a speed limit for given streets if it is not provided? Bottom line – I would buy this primarily for the speed limit feature and mostly for local streets…will I be disappointed? Thanks
You won’t see speed limit data for all streets.
Charles, in the latest version of North America maps, TomTom includes speed limits for most interstate routes. I just drove from Portland, OR to West Valley City, UT and local roads do not (yet) show speed limits. And I haven’t seen any method for adding them yourself. The 920 is great, but until the maps get updated to include local limits it sounds like this won’t help you.
Oh – and even where the interstate speed limits are on TomTom’s map, they do NOT reflect temporary changes – like for work zones. So you do still need to watch the signs which may conflict with what the TomTom has.
I used my son’s 920t in Germany for 3 weeks.Drove over 2100 km on german roads that never show exit numbers ,street names, a real mess. Never once did the 920t mislead us.We had other cars following us south of Munich(40 km back-up on autobalm).The gps sent us thru small walled cities around farms, you would have thought we were born in germany not florida.Iam ordering my 920t now.
Tim,
I frequently need GPS help in Europe so a few years ago I bought the Magellan Roadmate 760 with North America and Europe. Now my Roadmate screen is starting to get pretty dim, the directions with the new data base is a problem, and replacement parts (the cheap plastic cradle) are soon going to be unavailable and I am looking for a replacement.
This 920T sounds like it might do the trick. Have you heard anything one way or the other about the European data base? How is the customer service compared to Magellan (the Magellan customer service is driving me away from looking at their product lines)
The European maps are quite good, and their customer service is also much better than Magellan.
I have a tomtom 920T works very well ,im very satified with him just that he doesent has the map of roumania.i thought that its better than garmini but its not, garmini has more maps ,can you fix this problem for me i wnat to keep mi tomtom
Update
I have been using 920 for 4 months now and I would not recommend it. The main reasons are the following:
-It uses postal cities for addresses, so unless you know or can guess the city it will not find the street address in major urban areas. Means I have to use paper map or Internet map first and once I have done this, I don’t bother turning on the GPS
-I have now tested it 3 times for long distance travel and in all cases it picked the longest way to get to the destination. When I went the shorter way and the 920 finally accepted the route I was going, the 920’s own travel time dropped by 45 – 60 minutes. The routes I choose were obvious routes anybody would have picked if they had a map.
-Battery life is terrible
There are a number of annoying small things, which I could live with like, deleting/editing POI, I out in (probably me not able to find the way to do it) or adding POI to existing groups/category, length of time to get a signal ~5 minutes, bluetooth answering phone but I could not hear anybody on the other end (strange it worked at first).
My first GPS was for aviation and it works quite well, but does not have to do as much. I don’t know if I am expecting too much from GPS at this point.
I’ve been playing around my new Go 930 & thought I’ve mastered much of it. However, as I started trying out the Spoken Dialogue, it asked several times for a city. It kept trying to find Canadian cities, instead of ‘Ann Arbor.’ So I figured out where to switch the search to USA.
After the country switch was reset, the option of ‘Navigate to Spoken address (dialog)’ had completely disappeared from my ‘Quick Menu Preferences.’
It no longer appears in the list of options to check.
I’ve disabled recirded voice, disabled voice, changed the voice, checked see if the option appeared again (not there), re-enabled, turned off the TomTom, turned on.. To see if the option would return, and it isn’t there. How do I get it back as an option?
Thank you for all the help Tim
I’m not really sure, I haven’t seen that before.
I’ve restored the 930 from a backup I made last night, frustratingly the option still does not appear.
should I reboot?
Maja, I’m not really sure, I haven’t seen that before.
Yeaaa, I went to Best Buy & we figured it out (I was amazed!).
Yes, the ‘Spoken address (dialogue)’ had disappeared altogether from the ‘Quick Menu Preferences’ & all the rebooting I tried had not worked.
What worked, was tapping ‘Navigate to…’ then ‘Address’ then start a new ‘Spoken address (dialogue).’ {I was used to using ‘Itinerary Planning’ instead of ‘Navigate to’} After starting a new ‘Navigate to’ route, the choice reappeared in the ‘Quick Menu Preferences’ & it remains. ..It seems like a glitch that the option disappears in the first place, but now we have a resolution to reinstate it.
NEW QUESTION?
On ‘Itinerary Planning’, I am stumped on how to start a New Itinerary from a location, say Boston, instead of my home (or is it the current location?).
Do you know the steps?
Itinerary Planning cannot be combined with Offset Routing (Plan Route). It will start the route from your current location.
How do you feel when you get lost with the help of a GPS?! How do you feel when you are take for granted?! I purchased the 920 and guess what an old version of the map full of mistakes and errors.
Called customer service and advice to buy the new map ($150), because the one from GPS(original) has mistakes.
Other less expensive GPS are more reliable that TomTom.
And to put the cherry on the cake TomTom not compatible with iPhone.
Did you take advantage of the Latest Map Guarantee when you purchased the GPS? The 920 works great with my iPhone, both the original and the 3G.
I have the latest map guaranty , but is not useful, are to many mistakes on the map. I called customer service ,but this was the advice to purchase $150 new map.
About iphone works only as a bluetooth but traffic, cameras no
It isn’t TomTom’s fault that the iPhone can’t be used for traffic services. Apple and AT&T don’t allow the phone to be used in a tethered mode as a modem for an external device which is necessary for TomTom to be able to use it for a data connection. So you can blame Apple for that one.
I agree about the iphone but is TomTom fault about the crapy maps with mistakes and errors. And how they are pushing maps, the ones from devices are wrong and the good one cost $150.00
Every GPS will contain mapping errors, just an unfortunate aspect of the large amount of labor involved in mapping. But if you have the most recent map, a different map won’t make any difference. In other words they don’t have a more detailed (”the good one” as you said) map available than what you have…. they just push out more recent maps. So if you have the most recent map available for your device, purchasing a map for a different model won’t get you any additional detail. If you were to spend $150 you wouldn’t get a more detailed map– but you might (depending which map you have installed) get a more recent one.
The best thing you can do (if you want to be proactive) is to report the errors to the map vendor, Tele Atlas. They have a process where you can report map errors at mapinsight.teleatlas.com
I’ve probably got 30 or 40 different GPS devices sitting here in my office right now, and unfortunately I can show you mapping errors on all of them.
Don’t take me wrong– I’m not saying you should be happy with what you have. Rather just trying to set some expectations and the reality of the current state of mapping. The world isn’t as well mapped as we would like to think.
I reported to Tele Atlas, but they say that the issue is fixed on the new map, version 8.01, mine is 7.1.
But how do you feel that I exit from the hwy and I know that I have to go east (left) and the GPS tells me to go right. I go right and in few meter is saying that when possible I have to make a legal U turn?!
That sounds like a turn restriction error, in which case you could correct it directly on your device through the MapShare feature and share that change with other TomTom users.
Is 920 really can be upgraded to 930 by just do the software and map upgrade? Are their hardware specifications exactly the same? I have put a 920 and a 730 (they don’t have 930)side by side inside a local Futureshop, 920 showed no signal but 730 has a rather strong GPS signal! The 920 installed with versions 7 software and map. Signal receiving and graphic are both poorer than 730. Will the software upgrade solves these problems?
Yes, the hardware of the 920 and 930 are identical so far as I know. Differences in reception can be attributed to a number of software factors and I wouldn’t take any in-store reception performance as an indication of quality with any GPS.
The 920 line has been discontinued, as I found out at a local Best Buy store yesterday. I bought a 930 as a gift for my sister, and per her wishes, tried it on the way back from the store. The Map interface looks slightly different, more 3D-ish. The software is version 8, which includes something new called ‘advanced lane guidance’. Other than these, I saw no difference… Well, except perhaps one thing. When my 920T recalculates the route, it displays the new directions on my screen (top right, and bottom). The directions displayed on the 930 screen disappeared after recalculation, and the voice prompt stopped also. I had to poke at the left bottom corner to bring up the volume button, and then the voice prompt returned. Weird!!
But this is official… The TomTom Go 920T product is a lot, L-O-T better than the Garmin Nuvi 770 that I had bought initially as the gift. The Nuvi has nice maps, but the onscreen features are a lot more interactive (and hence problematic while driving) than intuitive. A lot more useful information is displayed on screen by my 920T. The most distinguishable feature was the GPS fix and route recalculation between the Nuvi 770 and the 920T. The 920T does it in a snap; the vehicle tracking is really real-time (which saved me a lot of scare and panic on a night-time drive during a recent 3000 mile road trip), and the device recalculates the alternate route within 2 seconds. But even after full signal strength, the Nuvi does not recognize a missed exit or a different route until after the vehicle has already 400-500 feet; that is unacceptable, and frankly, quite hazardous in unknown territory. I tried it on local roads, as well as on Interstate 95 – with the same irritating result. I returned it to the store, and bought the 930 promptly.
Thanks for the replies! So anyone has upgraded their 920 or 920T for the new versions of software and map did find the improvements in display and/or signal reception? Since the x30 series are newer than x20 models, is it possible that the hardware may also be different? It is all becasue I am planning to buy a much price reduced 920 and then upgrade the software & map through Home that may end up I will have a 930! That must be a very good deal. Am I right?
Correct, there is no hardware difference between a 920 and a 930. You can purchase a 920, upgrade to the latest application, update to the latest map, and essentially have the TomTom 930 I reviewed here.
Bought the 920 and updated both the software and maps with no problem. Excellent! I had the auto shut problem in the first day. It only happened when connected to the charger in my car. Finally found that it was the problem of the charging cable. The one I used is for another GPS. After switched back to the one that come with the 920, no more auto shutdown.
I have a question. I can put 2Gb of mp3 onto a 8Gb SD card. 920 can play all those songs. So, can I move the maps to the SD card and it still works? The new versions of maps for North America and Europe are too big for the 4Gb internal memeory!
Now I am looking for how to use the plus service by using the GPRS connection. How can I do that?
Yes, you can move everything (maps, application, voices) to an SD card if you would like.
For PLUS services make sure you have a compatible phone with a compatible data plan, sign up for the service through the TomTom HOME program, pair your phone, and the services should work through your device.
How does one upgrade to the latest application and maps to get a 930? I am a little nervous on doing it with out some explaining the process.
You can get the application updates through TomTom HOME. Once you have the latest application you can purchase/download the newer map.
I have just bought a 920T. On mine the text-to-speech occasionally plays up – like it coughs and splutters over a street name or a direction. Also the screen seems to flicker. Is this normal or have I got a defective unit ? Any thoughts anyone ?
My 920 has been behaving flawlessly till the last update when it started the speech stuttering thing too. I have been waiting for a new update to fix this?
Paul & John, our forums has info about the stuttering issue as well as a way to fix it. I’d provide a direct link but I’m replying from a mobile phone. But you should find it in the GO section of our forums.
How do I find this ‘GO’ section? I have had the exact same problem since the last update, and I am so glad to find out that I am not the only one. There are two features of this problem.
(1) The stuttering does not occur with a real person’s voice (which cannot read street names). It occurs only with the computer voices (which can call out street names).
(2) If I happen to receive a phone call through the GPS, the stuttering goes away for about a half hour before it starts up again.
I would be so glad to find a solution to this!
Kausika and anyone else looking to fix the stuttering or FM transmitter problem, here is the link to how you can revert to the previous application version.
Revert back to 8.01?
Suggestions that I got from the TomTom Go forum seem to have helped me resolve the stuttering problem. It basically involved overwriting the files of the old 8.3 app with a newer version of the 8.3 app. Those interested can check here:
http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=9458
HTH.
I just posted a comment here and it disappeared. Did I do something wrong? There was a hyperlink to a post in the TomTom Go forum.
Hi, I have just brought a tomtom 920t expecting it to have active lane guidence on it but it says the map or map version you are using is not compatible with lain guidance it has version 8.300 on it can you help many thanks.
brian
That sounds like the application version, not the map version. You can use TomTom HOME to get the latest map update, or if it doesn’t offer the map you can call TomTom support and they can get it added to your account if you are within the 30 day latest map guarantee.
Actually, I had a very similar problem after buying a new map for my 920T. You MUST call their customer service. Chances are that the first representative will politely tell you that nothing can be done about this (It happened to me). Do not despair. If you have bought your GPS device recently, you have every right to get the updated map version without incurring extra cost. Ask to talk to a supervisor, and when he/she comes, explain the situation to him once more. The supervisor can have the link to the updated map immediately sent to the linked email account. Follow the instructions, backup stuff on your device, install the new map, and enjoy!
Oh, and if you do not already have an SD card of at least 2GB size, it is time to get one, because the map update process temporarily requires about that much space.
I bought my 920T on 2-5-08, almost a year ago. Recently, when I tried to use the Latest Maps Guarantee that came with my unit, I got an error message saying the offer had expired. Knowing that I was within the one year period shown on the LMG card, I called and talked to TT customer service. I was told the only way I could take advantage of the offer was if I had the sales receipt. I had to go to the store where I bought the unit and get a duplicate which I then emailed to TT. Then I had to call them up to ask them to verify the info I had just sent them so they would place the North America and Europe maps in my linked email account on tomtom.com. I found out during my conversations that it is advisable to make a back-up using the Windows Explorer Copy and Paste procedure rather than using the back-up feature in TT Home. Apparently TT is aware of several instances where the Back-up feature malfunctions. I received my new maps, backed-up my data, switched to a 17 GB SD card and then restored onto the SD card with the new maps and everything works as intended. Even the glitch I was having in which I could pair my iPhone with the 920T but couldn’t hear the person at the other end of the hands free call resolved itself. The unsettling thing is that I could find no clear answer for why the hands free feature wasn’t working in the first place, nor afterward could I determine what I did that fixed the problem.
What I’ve found is that in dealing with the TT product one should be prepared for some frustration. A number of features fail to work as one would intuitively expect. The TT products are very good when compared to other, currently available GPS products, but they are not in the class of such things as Apple’s iPhone 3G which is my new personal standard for measuring electronic devices.
I also had a problem when I updated to the most recent version of the device software. I don’t know how it happened but I ended up with two copies of the software installed on my device. One was on the SD card, the other installed internally. As a consequence, I received an error everytime I tried to use Home to operate my 920T. The error said my device could not be operated by the Home software. Also, everytime I launched Home, when I clicked Update on the Home menu I would get an error message saying there was an update on my device and that I needed to disconnect it and then reconnect it before I could continue. Since TT customer service was closed by the time I ran into this problem I spent 3 hours trying to resolve it. It was only when I had reached a sufficiently high level of frustration that I decided to delete one of the two copies of the device software. The device began working properly afterward.
My intent is not to bash the product because I really like it very much. I hope if there are others out there experiencing similar problems that 1) they’ve found this website and, 2) they find this post helpful.
I have TT 920. I am planning a trip to CA. I put in the destination I have saved as a favorite. When it calculates the route, it is not the route I want it to use. I go to “Find alternative route” and use “travel via”, I put in the highway I want it to use and it does recalculate the route correctly, but I want it to SAVE this route so I don’t always have to go into “point on map” and pick out the exact highway on the screen. Is there a way to save the route I want to “my favorites” or to the itenary planning? I can not figure it out.
thanks.
You can use the Itinerary Planning feature to save the route.
Thanks, just figured it out. I set the specific highway as a “Favorite” and under “Itenary Planning” I added that saved favorite as a “Way Point”. Now my final destination goes through the exact highway I wanted as my way point. Hope this helps any one wanting to travel very specific routes and keep them saved in there Itinerarys.
Hi,
I would like to know how can you add a third party media viewer to TT 920. what is the best product you recommend? thank you and more power to this site.
Amang
I don’t work with many of the third party programs much, but a few people in our GPS forums have experience with them– you might want to ask there.
I have a TomTom 920 and see that my software has an incon on it that inficates lane images. However, when I go to execute this feature itr says my map doesn’t support it. Before I spend over a $100 for a new map, I’d like to know if buyingg the laterst map for it will include a map wghere this feature is included.
Also, the speed alert doesn’t work on my 920, but works on the wifes 130…why?
By the way, I wish TomTom would support Safety Camera’s here in the US. They are all over the Dallas Metroplex.
Thanks,
Rob
I have the 920. It did not come with the Lane Change technology. But by using the 1 year free map upgrades, I was able to get this for free. I have found to to be of minimal usefulness. It comes on only in very few selected locations, comes on for only about 1 or 2 blocks, and even in areas where it comes on, it sometimes does not come on for the most complex portion of the lane sequence. It is just ‘OK’ for free; I would not pay anything extra for it. Just my 2 cents.
For everyone that has been waiting on a stuttering fix, check out this thread in our forums and check HOME for an application update.
Hi Tim, I have a 920t tomtom and when i switch to computer voices thy dont work any ideas please,Also my speed cameras
dont give me any warning
Hi Tim, something strange happened to my 920T! Till yesterday I was using the handsfree function of the device connecting it to my phone via bluetooth. Since this morning, suddenly the device refuses to connect that very same phone. If I search from the device, it picks up my phone, shows that it is connecting, and then nothing happens. If I simply try to connect to my phone in the usual way, I get a “Cannot connect” error message on the device. If I try to connect to the 920T from my phone, again I get a “Cannot connect” error message on my phone. Would you have any idea whatsoever about this issue?
Kausik, I don’t know. Try deleting the phone from the GPS and trying the setup again.
I tried that already. Didn’t work!
I don’t know what to do… I use the handsfree function very frequently, and now this happens. I wrote to TomTom support, but they are not obliging yet.
Thanks anyway, Tim!
After one year, after the warranty had expired, the unit would not turn on. It had sat on the shelf most of the time, when I pulled it out for a vacation and charged it up, it would not start. Tech support said they would not repair it, they wouldn’t even try!
If it breaks, you’re SOL and it’s trash!
Hi Mac. I seemed to have the same problem after not using it for a while. I kept forgetting that the unit power switch is 2-3 second delay like the power off switch for a PC. It can be frustrating, especially when you are in a hurry. John H.
I own Tom-Tom 920 since early 2008 (see my notes above, Feb 2008) and was quite satisfied with it for a long time but I’m not sure that I could say that any longer. First of all the darn thing just resets itself at its own pleasure. Most often this happens when it is updated and right after it is turned on – does this happen to anyone else? Second of all, updates seam to change setting/preferences. This was especially frustrating when I was traveling somewhere after updating it and was trying to input my next address. Most of my options, including destination \address\ was shaded out. I wanted to throw the darn thing out of my window, but was a bit concerned about the other drivers… It wasn’t until much later that I figured out my preferences changed during update (for unknown to me reasons) and for safety concerns I wasn’t able to use certain options until car was stationary. I am pretty good with electronics and I am sure that if this happened to another person not so electronics savvy, they would never figure it out. Another – Bluetooth. Sometimes my phone would connect, other times it wouldn’t. Got a new cell recently, 920 says it’s connected, phone seams to do the same – nothing! I’m not sure if the new phone is on Tom-Tom compatible device list so I guess I can’t complain too much about this but still, if both indicate that they are connected to the other, why don’t they work… All this equals frustration I am certain many other users share… Thanks for reading and good luck with yours…
PS: If anyone found a way around any of the above, please share!
EZ
similar story. I recently downloaded what I presume will be my last free map update. Then, it lost the ability to call out street names. After a whole lot of time trying to figure out the problem, I determined that it wiped out my street-name compatible voices. Apparently, there are only certain computer recorded voices that will work. I had to do a download of another voice to make it work. Personally, I don’t give a damn about all these different voices. I just want one thatworks. It is a waste of megabytes to have all these voices, especially when most of them are not compatible with street names, and why would we spend the extra money for a GPS that does street names if we didn’t want that capacity??
Rich, Judging by your description of the problem, it sounds like the issue is really that Tom Tom did a sloppy job of creating their update which changed your voice preferences.
There is a balancing act going on with this device — it is far more than just a GPS due to its ability to act as an MP3 player, a handsfree phone accessory, a photo viewer on top of all of the features related directly to its function as a GPS. We decided to pay more for this device whether we actively use all of them or not.
These additional capabilities necessarily create more complexity for the user who is forced to learn more about maintaining his/her device (which is a cost of doing business that each consumer agrees to upon buying the device). This would not create the level of frustration you are describing all by itself.
Which brings me back to my assertion that the real problem is the inconsistent results obtained by performing an update. For instance, an update should not affect a user’s personal preference settings. Yet it often does. I have had a very similar experience that was not so annoying to me as it apparently is to you. A voice I had installed suddenly disappeared after an update.
Why a company with a share of the GPS market that is as large as that of Tom Tom would tolerate such sloppy performance from employees who have a direct impact on customers’ satisfaction eludes me.
Apparently it eludes you too; I think with good reason.
Bob, you put it much more elequently than me. It is sloppiness/incompetence.
They didn’t just change my voice preference, though, (i could live with that) they wiped out any voice that was compatible with the capabilities of the device.
It reminds me of the early days of computers where you had to know DOS to keep them going. Owning a device like this should not be such an adventure!
I have had the same problem EVERYTIME that I either update the underlying prgram or upgrade the map only. Very Fustrating!!!!!!! So fustrating that when it cam time to buy my son, daughter and wife a GPS I bought Garmins.
I purchased a TomTom 920T back on 22 July 2008. Loved the GPS System till now. The GPS will not turn-on now. I did the reset liked TomTom Home page states. From what I’m reading all over the net this is a common think with this GPS? Anyone having issues and know what to do?
What SD card works best with the tt920.
I wish it were that easy, In fact – I discovered I was about 5 days from being out of warranty. They replaced my unit with out much hassle, but now that it’s out of warranty the next time it will be toast.