Computer Related > TomTom Free Upgrades for Life Miscellaneous
Thread Author: rtj70 Replies: 14

 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - rtj70
... Not.

Hardly a surprise but older models sold as having upgrades for life are not going to get map or software upgrades. But at some point they'd never update the software and their map database might become too much too, especially for space.

So I get that. But you could buy a Start 25 now and expect updates.... and actually get none. That is not what you'd expect.

tinyurl.com/ttsmart25
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 29 Jan 18 at 22:22
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Zero
Yes, I had the email from TomTom this morning telling me my 8 year old XL was toast. The standalone car sat nav market is in terminal decline. Used mine once in the last 3 years, and Mrs Z has dumped hers, migrated to google maps on iPhone.
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - rtj70
My ancient TT720 is in the car boot organiser. Not used since mid 2011. Today I decided to use Google Maps via Android Auto on my drive to the Midlands for work. Using WiFi via mobile I could have had TomTom traffic on the inbuilt system.... but decided to upgrade that whilst driving (it was still usable).

TomTom are in need of a plan for revenue. When I got the Mazda6 in 2007 the sat nav option was £2500! Same as the cost in the Mondeo two years before that.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 29 Jan 18 at 22:37
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Bobby
Zero, that wasn’t the one that came free with the Altea XL is it?
Think mine was a 710
Last edited by: Bobby on Mon 29 Jan 18 at 23:13
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Zero
>> Zero, that wasn’t the one that came free with the Altea XL is it?
>> Think mine was a 710

No, I missed out on that offer by a few weeks. I had a 720, that was nicked, I then bought an XL and that lasted till google maps finally came good. So good in fact I gave up on the tomtom, to the extent I even use google maps in Spain.
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - rtj70
When I checked Google for estimates for this morning's journey yesterday it said between 1:30 to 2:10 for my intended departure time of 6:30am.

When I set out it suggested arrival time of 8:33am and it went up/down a couple of times. In the end it was out by about 10 minutes and that's when I parked in the office car park.

Holdups turned out to be: (1) getting onto M56 near Stockport, (2) the obvious 50mph roadworks, (3) queues for the M6 tool booths, and then a roundabout near/at the NEC.

Having said that, yesterday TomTom gave a similar spread of arrival times too.

I won't knock TT because I used them on a PDA and then smartphone from 2003. Still have it on my Android but that is not compatible with Android Auto whereas Google Maps and Waze are.
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Falkirk Bairn
Apparently Start25 there are 2 models - current stock is upgradeable - the Mk1 model is not!
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Haywain
"Apparently Start25 there are 2 models - current stock is upgradeable - the Mk1 model is not!"

My Start 25 was purchased 5 years ago in March, and I've been very satisfied with it - but I've no idea if it is a Mk1 or a MK2. The map downloads have all worked (though v slow before we had fibre), and I have noted the maps keeping up to date with known road changes such as at the Catthorpe junction. I downloaded a couple of updates this morning though, I should add, these were not map updates; istr that I did a map update a month or so ago.

The drawback with the 25 is that it doesn't have traffic updates - we were aware of that when we bought it but realised the usefulness of such a function when diverted off the M11 last year - and we'd left the map-book at home.

The new B-max, purchased last August, has a built-in satnav and traffic updates - the only snag is that the map is out of date so traffic updates can only be of partial use.

We got round the problem by getting a TT Go 5200 when they were on offer - and I like it. It has on-board wireless and can be updated from the car sitting on the drive. The only downside to it, is that I can't store collections of POIs as on the old 25.

I've a couple of friends who used stand-alone satnavs and were very pleased with themselves when they swapped to using their smartphones - 'saved a fortune, and bang up to date'. Both have gone back to using their Garmin and TomTom respectively.
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - VxFan
www.bbc.co.uk/news/42859546

A spokesman for TomTom told the BBC the company had been "proactively" communicating with customers.

"A full list of those affected devices is available on our website," he said.

www.tomtom.com/en_gb/obsolete-products/
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 30 Jan 18 at 12:57
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Lygonos
Satnav/Dashcam combo must surely be the next step to avert oblivion?

 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - commerdriver
>> Satnav/Dashcam combo must surely be the next step to avert oblivion?
>>
Garmin do one, given a bit of time they may get better/cheaper
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Haywain
Thanks for the links, VxF, afaics mine is a (just) later model and (for now) safe.
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Haywain
I just came across this 'refurbished' Start 25 advertised on Amazon
tinyurl.com/ycdvqjyh

Looking at some of the reviews, it could well be that the 'refurbished' Start 25 is a Mk1 version that would never be able to utilise updates.
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Duncan
>> I just came across this 'refurbished' Start 25 advertised on Amazon
>> tinyurl.com/ycdvqjyh

Quite strange.

The 'refurbished' European version with lifetime map updates is cheaper than the 'used' UK and Ireland without map updates.
 TomTom Free Upgrades for Life - Roger.
For actual navigation I prefer my Garmin Nüvi 1490 to Google maps as the graphic interface is better.It also has a speed readout, which I like a lot.
Google maps voice instructions are better, I think and the ability to voice search a place and just have the directions straight away, is a boon.
Last edited by: Roger. on Tue 6 Feb 18 at 22:58
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