By Christopher Spera | November 27, 2003 7:48 PM
On top of that, TomTom has not only introduced new GPS hardware but
software into (for them) a recently new market. TomTom Navigator
USA hit the streets at the beginning of July 2003. The US market
is new to TomTom, who until now, was one of the strongest players in
the European only GPS market. Will TomTom Navigator USA be able
to enter the new, US market with the same continued success that its
european counterpart has? Will the hardware, both wired and BlueTooth
units be able to handle the demands of both long and short distance
trips; or will the great American summer vacation be the single straw
that breaks the camel’s back? Let’s take a quick look and see…
For those of you who truly know me,
WHAT’S
HOT
then you know that I can’t find my way out of a wet paper bag with a
fork and a flashlight. I am the true American male. I WILL
drive around lost for hours. It WILL be a cold day before
I ask ANYONE for directions; and my wife, God bless her, WILL
kill me if I don’t. So… I have a choice. Turn in my "The
Truth About Men" membership card, or bite the bullet and stop and
ask for directions. Thanks to TomTom, I appear to have a third
choice.
TomTom
Navigator 2 USA comes in a few different flavors:
- TomTom
Navigator 2 Wired GPS Software, and HP 1940 Pocket PC - TomTom
Navigator 2 Wired GPS and Software - TomTom
Navigator 2 Wireless (BlueTooth) GPS and Software - Wired
or Wireless Hardware Only - Software
Only
The intent
is to offer the USA market a turn key solution for end user navigation.
The software requires a Windows based PC running any version of Windows
98 or greater, including XP. A Pocket PC running either Pocket
PC 2002 or Windows Mobile 2003 (excluding iPAQ 3100 or other monochrome
Pocket PC) is recommended. The software specifically supports
the following Pocket PC’s:
- iPAQ
36/37/38/39/5400 - iPAQ
194x/5500 - HP Jornada
500 - Del
Axim X5 (Basic and Advanced) - T-Mobile
Pocket PC Phone Edition - Toshiba
e740 and e750 - Siemens/
AT&T SX56
An updated
list can be found on line at
tomtom.com.
There is no PC side application. TomTom Navigator 2 USA is a Pocket
PC only application. Memory requirements for TTN are:
- 2209.8KB
for TomTom Navigator 2 USA - 2757.7KB
for TomTom Navigator 2 Voice - 509.9KB
for TomTom Navigator GPS
A total
of 5.35MB of Storage Memory are required for the application.
An additional 5MB of Program Memory are for the program to run in.
The application can be installed to your Pocket PC’s File Store, or
to a Storage Card. The GPS Driver MUST be installed into main
Storage Memory. Honestly, you can try to install it to a Storage
Card, but its going to install into Windows anyway…
This is
before you install any sort of map. Depending on the size of the
map you want or need you could be looking at additional storage requirements
of 20 – 200MB. The application is not for the faint of heart or
the short of RAM.
Setting up the application is easy enough.
SETUP
The TomTom installer is a little different than the standard Windows
installer. While it gets the job done without any complaints,
when it takes you through the setup process it has a couple of redundant
screens that it takes you through. There’s no other way to get
past these screens expect to kill the routine. While they do come
near the end of the setup process, I don’t like to kill anything unless
its locked the machine up. Problem is, there’s no other good way
to install maps to your device except through the setup routine, so
you’re going to click through whether you want to or not.
To setup TTN USA, follow these steps:
- Insert
Disk 1 - Enter
your Product Code - Choose
your options (Language, components, etc.) - Choose
install components (program, change voice prompts, GPS Driver, etc.) - Install
components - Install
maps - Register
and activate application - Quit
installation
 |
| After a quick logo splash screen, choose your language of choice from the menu |
 |
| Unlike the graphic in this setup screen, the product code is actually found on the back of the cardboard CD1 jacket |
 |
| Installation is done in steps. First, install the application. THEN add maps… |
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| Click the right facing arrow. You can’t really change any options in this confirmation screen |
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| After the application is installed to your PPC, choose the map you want to install |
I’ll talk a bit more about the application, below, but I wanted to take
a moment or two to mention something about the maps, here. GPS
mavens who frequent sites like GPS
Passion will appreciate this more than the non-savvy, like me. TomTom,
Inc. has partnered with Tele Atlas to provide map data for TTN USA.
Maps are limited to the selections you see above. You may have
any single state or group of pre-defined states, known as a region,
installed to your PPC, PPC’s CF, SD or other Storage area. Maps
range anywhere from 20MB to 200MB depending on the amount of roads in
the given region. You CANNOT specify your own map regions.
You must use the state and region maps provided by TTN.
 |
| One of the larger region maps provided in TTN USA, FL, AL, GA, SC, NC, and MS. Its 149MB in size |
One of the biggest problems that I had with TTN’s map selections was
that I couldn’t get ALL of the data that I wanted in a single map.
I’ll expound upon this more, later, but after speaking to TomTom about
this, they constructed a custom map for me. The results are directly
below.
 |
| My custom TTN USA Map: FL, AL, GA, SC, NC, MS, TN, KY and VA. Its 204MB in size |
I live in Tennessee. With an upcoming trip to South Carolina,
I piled the family and everything we needed into the old family truckster
and headed off down the Great American Road. With over 200MB of
map data on a dedicated 256MB SD Card, I was certain that I was set.
I ran into a couple different problems, and again, while I am not trying
to put everyone off, I do want to save all of the problems for a later
section. I can say that after things got going the application
functioned as I needed it to. However, I am digressing a bit…
 |
| There are 5 disks of map data, its very likely that you will need to eject disk 1 and insert another disk. |
TTN USA maps are divided among 5 different CD’s. If you’re map
isn’t on disk 1, then you’ll need to eject disk 1 and insert the disk
noted in the graphic above. When you do this, you’re required
to completely rerun setup and identify the map you want all over again
(only now, with the correct CD in the drive). This is a crummy
way to do things. While I certainly understand that I may need
to change CD’s, the install routine should keep my selection in memory
and then simply begin the copy process once the correct CD is in the
drive. I shouldn’t have to completely reidentify the map I want
just to copy it. This repetition is just one of my pet peeves with TTN
USA.
 |
| This screen displays after the maps are copied to your PPC |
 |
| Another redundant setup screen. I don’t understand why this screen isn’t the second option from the bottom of the PREVIOUS screen. |
Once the application is installed to your Pocket PC, you MUST activate
it in order to run the application. The activation process is
easy enough; but there are a few hiccoughs. First, activation
was a complete surprise to me, and I was part of the TTN USA Beta Team.
While the beta needed to be activated as well, there is little to no
documentation that indicates this requirement.
If you don’t activate the application while you are at your computer,
you are NOT
going to be able to use it once you get into your car. Do yourself a
favor…activate it while you are busy installing it and at the computer.
I got caught in this process during the beta trial. I installed,
downloaded maps to my PPC and headed for the car. Once I got there,
I started the app and found that I couldn’t do anything.
Activation may be an important anti-piracy measure, but TomTom should
take a cue or two from Microsoft in this case. Give me a chance
to use the application and if need be, cut me off after so many uses
or so many days pass if I don’t Activate. With TTN USA, its Activate
or die, and I think this is a bit heavy handed.
PRODUCT
FEATURES
THE The point of any GPS System is to get you
SOFTWARE
from point A to point B without getting you lost or too tangled in anything
unnecessary. Many sites will go into the specific technicalities
of what’s involved. I’d rather take a different approach: The
Summer Vacation. I have embarked on the great expanse of the open
road and have taken the family and found a new temporary place for some
of our stuff while we try to get rid of the stress and pressures of
our lives before school starts up in the Fall.
As a child, I have vivid memories of doing just that. My parents
shoved me and my sister in the back seat of an AMC Pacer, and with map
or atlas in hand we motored down the highway in the ol’ fishbowl towards
the beach. This year, my wife, daughter and I did the exact same
thing, minus the atlas. I figured that with TTN USA, I could get
there from "here" without too many problems. Yeah…ok.
(You knew there were a few, right..? Well there were, and it caused
one of the biggest arguments of my marriage, too…)
When we started off, we had everything in the car and I had my iPAQ
5455 hooked up in the car to the TTN Wired GPS System. My home’s
development isn’t on the map yet. We bought a house recently in
April and its location and that of our development have yet to make
it to the attention of Tele Atlas. But again, I’m getting ahead of myself…
When you start off a trip with TTN USA, there are a few different ways
you can generate a route:
- Using
the Plan Route (A->B Toolbar button) on the Map display- Use
the Navigate to… function from the Map display- Specify
a Destination via your Favorite locations- Use
the Navigate To… plugin for Pocket Outlook Contacts
If you use options 2 or 3, your PPC must be connected to your GPS receiver.
Option 1 can be done without the GPS receiver being connected to your
device.
So… imagine if you will, a family of three. Daughter in the
back seat, mother in the front passenger seat, and dad, connected and
set driving down the road, waiting for a GPS lock and for his location
to be recognized by the system, when they enter The Twilight Z… uh,
I mean, the problems begin. As soon as we got to the main road
out of our new development, the GPS receiver was able to match our current
position to a point on the custom map that TomTom had cut for me and
began traveling towards my destination.
I had chosen option 4, above, and as I said, away we went. My
wife, unbeknownst to me, pulled the computer up and gone to Map Quest
and gotten a route to our destination, from our HOME ADDRESS.
Her total compute time, less than 30 seconds. Me on the other
had… I wasn’t so lucky. Due to my wife’s Map Quest route, I
knew the general direction we needed to go. What’ really weird
about the whole thing is how long it took for TomTom Navigator to catch
up with Map Quest.
In short, it took 3 hours and 47 minutes for TTN to
lock in a GPS fix and calculate a route for me.
I encountered an early bug with the program. TTN had a very hard
time calculating a route using the destination option (remember #4,
above?) that I chose. Option 4 has a dynamic origin: where ever
you currently are at the time. When you choose a destination,
your static B, in the "get me from A to B" location that you
pulled out of your Contacts list, TTN throws a stake in the ground and
begins calculating a route. TomTom created a custom map with me.
It contains all of the states in the South Eastern United States.
The map is 202MB in size. Because of this, and the algorithm that
TTN used, and the fact that I was traveling down the road at about 70
miles per hour, TTN would begin calculating my route based on my dynamic
origin, my A and try to route me to my static destination, my B.
TTN looks at every single road between your A and B and calculates the
necessary route to get you there. Because TTN can dynamically
reroute you if you go off route, I ran into a route recalculation problem.
Every 10 minutes or so, TTN would realize that I was no longer near
my original origin and replant its origin stake. It would then
restart calculating the route to my destination.
This happened every 10 minutes for 3 hours and 47 minutes. My
travel time to my destination was approximately 8 hours. Remember
that argument with my wife, I mentioned? Yeah… She almost
threw my iPAQ out the window. I wanted to do the diligence for
this review. She wanted to kill me and toss my Pocket PC and both
TTN GPS receivers out the window. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed…right
at 3 hours and 48 minutes into our trip, when TTN finaly got a good
GPS lock on our current location and our (remaining) route was short
enough that it could calculate a set of turn by turn directions inside
of a 10 minute time frame. Somewhere along the way, I gave TomTom
a call and left my technical contact a message. I knew he wouldn’t
be in the office, but I wanted them to know what was going on with me
and their product.
When I got settled into our destination and had time to do some more
serious testing, I found I really needed their technical assistance.
Interestingly enough, TomTom gave me a call, even though it was now
a Sunday. My poor cell bill… we talked for well over 3 hours.
time, it took 35 minutes to calculate the route my family and I took.
While that’s better than 3 hours and 47 minutes, it wasn’t acceptable
at all. I also ran into a HUGE problem with the TTN BlueTooth
GPS receiver. Using it continually locked up both my 5455 running
PPC 2002 and my 1945 running WM2003.
There’s been a GREAT deal of discussion on this issue in a great many
forums on a number of sites including pocketnow.com. GPS Passion and
Pocket PC Thoughts. The BlueTooth radio on the wireless receiver
will freeze your device if you turn the receiver off BEFORE you exit
TTN. BlueTooth Manager will continually search for the "missing"
BlueTooth device. Tapping cancel in the Find BlueTooth Device
dialog sent you back to your last screen in TTN; but then the BlueTooth
Manager would reengage and the whole circle would start all over again.
Eventually your device would freeze.
TomTom recently revised Navigator USA to incorporate a fix for this,
as well as my routing issue. The solution to the BlueTooth bug
is to exit the application and turn off BlueTooth BEFORE you turn off
the receiver.
But enough of my problems, let’s talk a bit about how the app works,
because it does what it does very well. As I mentioned,
there are a few ways to establish a route via TTN. The most obvious
is to use the Plan Route function. To use the Plan Route Function,
follow these steps
- Tap
the A -> B button on the bottom of the screen - Follow
the on screen dialog boxes to identify your origin’s City, Street
and House Number; and if needed, Cross Street, and tap OK - Follow
the on screen dialog boxes to identify your destination’s City, Street
and House Number; and if needed, Cross Street, and tap OK - Select
the type of route you want to plan from the drop down and tap OK.
I chose the Quickest Route. - Tap
OK, and TTN will calculate your route.
 |
 |
| Step 1: Define your Origin |
Step 2: Define your Destination |
Planning your route is really an easy process…
 |
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| Choose your Route Type |
TomTom Navigator Calculates your Route. This is where the hell began… |
After the route is planned, TTN displays a map and your current position
on your device.
 |
 |
| Your Route is Displayed in Red |
Tap the Black Area allows you to Switch between Map, Split, Instruction and Navigator Views |
Switching to Navigator View, gives you a bird’s eye view of your route.
You are the blue arrow in the center of the screen.
 |
 |
| Navigator’s 3D view gives you an Interactive, Turn-by-Turn, Directional Map. You are the Blue Arrow… |
If you go Off Route, Navigator Automatically Recalculates your Route. This is the screen I got stuck at… |
In actual use, I was very pleased with the way TTN USA performed.
Once it knew that it knew where it was, and matched that position on
a map, I didn’t get lost. For me, this is close to miraculous.
I suck at written directions, and have no sense of direction.
I did find out one very interesting thing about TTN USA, however, that
bothers me a bit: You can’t just enter an origin and destination address
in the A to B dialog and assume TTN can get you there. TTN can’t
navigate to a business address without going through the Point of Interest
process. This is so wrong, it goes beyond the common sense of
wrongness…
The target end-user for ANY GPS package is the person that travels a
lot. Period. At $300 – $400, unless you are relocating to
a new home city, or are the traveling sales type, you may have trouble
justifying ANY GPS unit. So for the average end user, like
me, any GPS accessory should help you get around town to any established
Point of Interest, retail store, doctor’s office, etc. While TomTom
Navigator gets you there as well as you would expect any GPS unit, I
bumped into an interesting problem. TomTom Navigator USA PRESUMES
you want to navigate to a Residence.
I spoke with TomTom about this on numerous occasions during and after
the Beta program this summer and during the research for this review.
No matter how I tried to help them understand that a GPS package should
help me get from A to B regardless of the kind of destination (a residence
vs. a business), I failed to make them see my point. To Navigator
USA, a business is a Point of Interest….Huh?! A business is
a POI? Uh-uhhh… I don’t think so. A Point of Interest
(POI) is State park, amusement park, museum, and maybe even a restaurant.
A doctor’s or dentist’s office, office building, or other business is
definitely NOT a Point of Interest! (Like I would ever WANT to
seek out my dentist’s office for fun…Hey, honey! I have a great
idea…Let’s go take a drive and look for new dentists! Or better
yet… Hey honey..? I’d like to make a short side trip on our
drive to Aunt Thelma’s. I understand there’s a really cool dentist’s
office near by… Yeah, rrriiiiiiiiigghhhtt.)
To coin a phrase… "What we have here, is a failure to communicate."
Please, people. We need to leave the European paradigm behind
and realize that the US Market is a bit different that the one you’re
used to. The following table lists available Points of Interest
in TTN USA vs. what I truly believe to be a legitimate Point of Interest
in the United States of America. These come from the exact POI
List in TomTom Navigator USA:
TomTom Navigator USA Points of Interest |
My Points of Interest |
|
|
Please
take note of the items I’ve high-lighted in red. I’d like to discuss
some of these in detail. However, the definition of Point of Interest
is what is at question here.
Points of Interest |
Comments |
| Auto Repair Facility |
This is a business. Not a POI. Going here is definitely NOT fun… If I have to go here its because I’ve crashed my car or a friend of mine has crashed theirs, and they need a lift. |
| Automobile Dealer |
This is a business. Not a POI. Going here is definitely NOT fun… I don’t know about Europe, but going here can be just as much fun as it is a chore. Many auto salesmen aren’t the kind of people I’d like to hang out with. I’ve known too many on a personal level most of my life. |
| Court House |
Unless this is a historical landmark, a court house is not a point of interest. People get sent to jail here. This isn’t a fun place to be. |
| Dentist | This is a business. Not a POI. Going here is definitely NOT fun… |
| Doctor | This is a business. Not a POI. Going here may not be fun, unless you’re going for an ultra-sound of your latest pregnancy; and then this can be subject to scrutiny. |
| Gas Station |
This is a business. Not a POI. Its not fun to be at unless you’ve run out of gas, and then you’re only glad that you’re there so you can get gas and leave! |
| Government Office |
Unless this is a historical landmark, a government office is not a point of interest. Unless I have business at the County Clerk’s office, I don’t necessarily want to navigate here. |
| Pharmacy | This is a business. Not a POI. |
| Police Station |
Unless this is a historical landmark, a police station is not a point of interest. |
| Post Office |
Unless this is a historical landmark, a post office is not a point of interest. |
| Rental Car Facility |
This is a business. Not a POI. Journey’s may start and end here; but its not interesting. |
| Shop | This is a business. Not a POI. |
| Shopping Center |
This is a business. Not a POI. However, I can see where some shopping malls (which is what I think TTUSA was thinking of when they included this POI category.) may be a point of interest. The Mall of the Americas in Minnesota is a great example. |
| Veterinarian | This is a business. Not a POI. Going here is definitely NOT fun for the animals that travel with you. |
The problem with all of this is that you can’t necessarily get there
from here. What I mean is, that if you need to travel to one of
the POI’s listed in any of the above lists, you can’t do it from an
A to B process. Unless you specifically navigate to the local
Cinema via the POI Navigation process, you won’t make it there.
TTN USA simply can’t do it. If I’m wrong, I’d appreciate someone
telling me how this is done. I’ve been on the phone with TomTom’s
Technical Manager on a few different occasions discussing this particular
problem. The conversations have been lengthy, and always end the
same way: Businesses are NOT a Point of Interest! This is a paradigm
difference between the US and European Markets.
The following is the process you need to go through to navigate to a
Point of Interest:
- Change
to Navigator View - Tap
and hold the stylus on the Navigator View screen. Release and
the Navigator Menu will appear - Tap
the More icon - Tap
the Find icon - Tap
the Point of Interest icon - Tap
the kind of POI you want to Navigate to (I chose Restaurant).
Tap the More icon to see more choices - Tap
the first few letters of the name of the POI you want to navigate
to. Tap on it to select it
 |
 |
| Step 1: Change to Navigator View, tap and hold the stylus on the Navigator View screen. Release and the Navigator Menu will appear. Tap the More icon |
Step 2: Tap the Find icon |
 |
 |
| Step 3: Tap the Point of Interest icon |
Step 4: Tap the kind of POI you want to Navigate to (I chose Restaurant). Tap the More icon to see more choices if needed |
 |
 |
| Step 5: ap the first few letters of the name of the POI you want to navigate to. Tap on it to select it |
Navigator is off and running… |
Navigator assumes that your current GPS location is your origin, and
the POI is your destination. As soon as the route is calculated,
Navigator will get you there. Navigating to POI’s is a bit on
the convoluted side. Again, I should be able to insert any known
address and go. Classifying items as POI’s is good only when I
don’t know the address (like for a restaurant I want to go to while
I am on vacation) and I need to get quick directions. If I have
to go to the doctor’s or dentist’s office while I am out of town, I’m
probably going to call them before I hit the car and go looking for
them. As a result, I’ll have their address.
All told, despite its many "opportunities for improvement,"
TomTom Navigator USA is a decent GPS package. The software ain’t
all that bad; and I understand that many of the concerns that I have
outlined here (as well as other fixes and enhancements) have been addressed
in an upcoming release.
THE
HARDWARE
Before I get started, I want to point out that I
never got the retail box that most everyone will get when they purchase
a GPS kit from TomTom. As a result, I don’t know if I have a complete
wired PGS package. I’m relatively certain that I have a complete
Wireless GPS Unit; but without having the real deal, its hard to be
sure. If I miss something, its not intentional. Leave me
a comment in the discussion forum and I’ll try to comment on it.
TomTom Navigator comes in a few different flavors: Wired
Receiver and Wireless Receiver. Both versions are good at what
they do. Both units can be used by Pocket PC’s that have built
in BlueTooth. The Wireless Receiver can be used by any Pocket
PC with BlueTooth or with a BlueTooth CF or SD Card. I was even
able to pair the TomTom BlueTooth Wireless Receiver with a Palm Tungsten|T
recently, so theoretically, the hardware is Palm compatible. All
you would need is a GPS driver and then, of course, the software and
maps…
Any who… As I have an iPAQ 5455 and a 1945, I was able to use both
the Wired and WireLESS Receiver with my 5455 and the Wireless Receiver
with my 1945. In the paragraphs that follow, you’ll find my impressions
of both. However, the first thing you need to know is that I got
2 versions of the WIRED Receiver during this review period. The
first version was the Serial GPS Receiver I got as part of the TTN USA
Beta Trial early this summer. Shortly after that ended and I began
working on a review for the WireLESS Receiver, TomTom updated some of
the hardware components for the Wired Receiver.
The change that TomTom made was to the cradle that they use with the
wired receiver. As you can see from the picture below, they went
from a universal cradle to a device specific cradle. This was
one of the best moves TomTom could have made.
The original cradle used two, foam, padded arms that held the device
in place while it provided power to the device via a connection to your
car’s cigarette lighter. This method of securing your device worked
for about 5 minutes. What I found was that no matter how fat or
skinny the device, the spring loaded arms never held the device securely
enough. They always loosened up, away from the device, leaving
it unsecure and vulnerable to falls from bumps and pot holes that my
car went over. I have had more than one device fall out of the
universal cradle while driving down the road.
 |
 |
| The Universal Cradle |
The (iPAQ) Device Specific Cradle |
The iPAQ Specific Cradle is much better for iPAQ 3000 and 5000 users
than the Universal Cradle. However, if you’re an iPAQ 5000 series
user, you need to make sure you get the RIGHT iPAQ Specific Cradle.
The one that I was sent was one of the very first cradles and it is
not 51/54/5500 compatible. When HP made the 5000 series iPAQ,
they put the power connector 1mm deeper towards the back of the device,
than it was on the 38/3900 series iPAQ. As a result, you have
to flex the cradle one way and the device another in order to make it
fit. Its not completely horrible, but I don’t like bending my
device this way. The other problem is that the cradle doesn’t
permit 5000 series iPAQ users to use external audio. With the
lack of audio oomph from the 5000 series iPAQ, you’re better off leaving
the TTN audio files OFF the device and skipping the voice directions.
Without audio support, using the voice prompts and the 38/3900 series
cradle is a waste of time.
You’ll also notice that because of the implementation of the device
specific cradle, the wires and spaghetti problem caused by the Universal
Cradle, has been resolved. The puck GPS receiver in the Wired
Receiver simply plugs into the cradle and communicates with your Pocket
PC via the serial connector. This is a much neater and tidier
setup than all of the wires with the Universal Cradle, and I’m much
happier with it.
 |
 |
| The Wired GPS Puck and associated cables used with the Universal Cradle |
The Wired GPS Puck and associated cables used with the (iPAQ) Device Specific Cradle |
As far as performance goes, I was very pleased with the performance
of the Wired GPS Unit. My previous GPS experience was with a Pocket
CoPilot Sleeve. Its performance was pathetically anemic compared
to TTN. With Pocket CoPilot, I was lucky to get a GPS lock inside
of 20-30 minutes, and never had a signal strength stronger than 4 satellites.
With TTN’s Wired GPS Unit, I have been able to get a GPS lock
inside of 5 minutes and a signal strength between 8-10 satellites.
The Unit comes with a windshield mount. You’re going to want to
place the GPS Receiver itself, the Puck, as close to the windshield
as possible. If you have a metal tinted windshield, you may have
signal strength problems if the unit is not mounted near the windshield.
The wires from the Puck do represent somewhat of a distance constraint,
so be mindful of where you try to mount the cradle in your car vs. where
the Puck sits.
I was very pleased with the performance of the Wired GPS Receiver and
can say with a very clear conscience that if you don’t have a BlueTooth
enabled device, then the TomTom WiredGPS is the GPS solution for you
The Wireless GPS Receiver… Wow. What a device! I was really
impressed with the application of BlueTooth and GPS technology that
went into this device. Despite the BlueTooth problem that I mentioned
earlier, in actual use the receiver was nothing like I expected it to
be. I honestly expected it to perform much like my CoPilot Sleeve.
Boy was I wrong. There was little to no difference in the performance
of the Wired and WIRELESS GPS Receivers, even on a rainy day, I was
still able to pull between 7-10 satellites depending on the geographical
topography of the area I’m driving through.
My Wireless GPS Unit comes with a few different items. I got the
Wireless GPS Receiver, its docking station, the device specific cradle
and power cord, a magnetic dashboard mount, an AC adapter to charge
the GPS Receiver and a number of different power adapters for the AC
adapter. I also got a copy of the TTN-USA software.
 |
 |
| The TTN USA Wireless GPS Unit |
The Wireless GPS Unit and the Device Specific Cradle |
The biggest problem I had with the Wireless GPS Unit was providing power
to the GPS Receiver. While the device specific cradle provided
power to the device, on an 8 hour trip, you better have a separate power
cable for the GPS Receiver itself, you you’re going to end up with a
big problem. I found that after about 5 to 5 and a half hours
of continuous use, the low power indicator on the receiver came on,
indicating I was low on power. Luckily, I had a auto power cable
for my iPAQ in the car, and surprisingly, it fit the Wireless GPS Receiver
and provided power to it. This is by far the biggest problem with
the Wireless GPS Unit. While the Wireless Receiver does charge
very quickly, so your device isn’t without power for too long while
the Receiver charges, the Wireless GPS Unit itself does NOT come with
any means of recharging the Receiver while you are on a trip longer
than 5.5 to 6 hours. The Unit does come with an auto power cable for
the cradle, but it DOES NOT fit the Wireless Receiver, which is a problem.
Thankfully, my local Radio Shack had an auto cigarette adapter/ splitter
thingy that gave me three outlets instead of one. As a result,
I was able to power my device and the Wireless Receiver at the same
time.
The WireLESS GPS Unit is more expensive than its Wired counterpart,
but I find myself using it more than I do the Wired version. Its
basically "universal," usable with any BlueTooth enabled PPC,
and I can use it with my RoadWriter cradle, that I have permanently
mounted in my CRV; or with the cradle that came with it.
TomTom support has been very responsive
HELP
SUPPORT
to all of my questions and issues. They are accessible by phone
or e-mail, and return calls and e-mails quickly. Aside from the
activation issues that I had, and the problem with the 3 hour and 47
minute routing issue (that has been fixed in an upcoming release, BTW),
both units have been real winners.
If you go to
OPTIONS
TomTom’s Product Page and click on one of the buy links, you’ll
be able to specify which device you have an pick the GPS solution that
is right for you.
- TomTom
Navigator USA + HP 1940 Bundle = $699.95 - TomTom
Navigator USA Serial GPS Receiver = $319.95 - TomTom
Navigator USA + Wireless GPS Receiver = $449.95 - TomTom
Navigator USA Software Only = $175.95
SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS
The TTN-USA GPS systems will work specifically for the following Pocket
PC’s:
- iPAQ
36/37/38/39/5400 - iPAQ
194x/5500 - HP Jornada
500 - Del
Axim X5 (Basic and Advanced) - T-Mobile
Pocket PC Phone Edition - Toshiba
e740 and e750 - Siemens/
AT&T SX56
However, it should be noted that iPAQ 3600 and 3700 series devices are
NOT officially supported; and will not work without the implementation
of a CF or PC Card Sleeve and a BlueTooth CF or PC Card. I was
able to get the software installed and working on a 3635; but without
some sort of RAM upgrade from PPC Techs, you’re going to be hard pressed
to store any sort of map on the device, especially since the CF Sleeve
doesn’t come in a double CF slot configuration… BUT, it is possible.
You use the software on those devices at your own risk and choosing.
The Wired GPS Unit functioned like a champ.
BUGS
AND WISHES
No problems, runs, drips or errors. The biggest problem I had
with the WireLESS GPS Unit was with BlueTooth Manager and the device
crashing when the GPS Receiver was turned off before the BlueTooth radio
on the device. If you turn the BlueTooth Radio off on your Pocket
PC and exit the program while the Wireless Receiver is still on, you
won’t have any problems with the device freezing or crashing.
Period. However, this is a problem that probably every Wireless
GPS Receiver user is going to bump into. Its also not the easiest
thing to recover from either. I haven’t had to hard reset the
device yet; but I figured out that if you disengage your Pocket PC before
the GPS Receiver, all is right with the world.
TomTom has also chosen TeleAtlas as their map partner for TTN USA.
A GPS Receiver is only as good as the maps that it uses. The maps
that I received as part of the Beta Trial are the same ones that currently
come with the released product. They are about 2 years out of
date; but that’s about par for the GPS course from what I understand.
TomTom needs to commit to updating their maps 1x-2x a year and offering
those maps at a DEEP discount to current users. I may not want
to buy a software update, but a map update once or twice a year will
be important, especially if you live in an area that is expanding.
TomTom needs to provide an in-vehicle power cable for the Wireless GPS
Receiver. Long trips will kill the Receiver.
The Wireless GPS Receiver is also problematic when it comes to
power indication. The docking station for the Receiver is a bit
of a joke. I’ve used it once. Period. The dock is
dead! Give me an auto adapter instead. I’ve had more than
one occasion where I’ve come close to running out of power while using
the Wireless Receiver. You don’t get any kind of indication that
the battery is about to die until its almost dead. It needs some
sort of LCD or power indicator.
TTN-USA can be purchased directly from TomTom.
PURCHASING
Check the Options section for purchasing options and prices.
PROS
Software
- Turn
by Turn Directions - Street
Level Details - Accurate
Guidance to Residential Locations
Wired
GPS Receiver with Device Specific Cradle
- Provides
Power to your Device and to the GPS Receiver - Strong
GPS Receiver - Secure
Device Placement
WireLESS
GPS Receiver (Comes with Device Specific Cradle)
- Works
with any BlueTooth Enabled Pocket PC - Strong
GPS Receiver - Small
and Portable
Reasonable Receiver Battery Life
CONS
Software
- Can’t
Navigate to a Business via A to B Dialog - Points
of Interest Categories are not accurate for the US Market
Wired
GPS Receiver with Device Specific Cradle
- No
Audio Access for my 5400 (but the 5400 cradle was not yet available
when I began this review)
WireLESS
GPS Receiver (Comes with Device Specific Cradle)
- BlueTooth
Crashing Bug - No
Power Level Indicator aside from a Red Light Indicating Low Power - No
In-Vehicle Power Cable Provided
Receiver Battery will NOT last for an Eight Hour Trip.
Despite the problems that I ran into with the
OVERALL
IMPRESSION
software, which again, have been fixed, and the lack of an in-vehicle
power cable for the Wireless Receiver, I found that this is an awesome
GPS Solution in either Wired or WireLESS configurations. If you’re
looking for a GPS solution, TomTom USA is a great choice. The
software is easy to use, though TT does need to address the way users
navigate to businesses, and rethink what it calls a Point of Interest
here in the States.
I love TomTom Navigator USA, and you will too when you get yours.
