UK Mumsnetters needed to test TomTom’s top Sat Nav - the GO 5000 worth £259.99 NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

We have been asked by the team at TomTom to find 100 UK MNers to try TomTom GO 5000.

We're looking for Mumsnetters who are regular drivers.

TomTom says: "We all know that traffic jams can take seconds to build up and then last for hours. There is nothing more frustrating than sitting in a jam or in slow moving traffic and not knowing how long you will be there. Especially, when your time is tight and you have children to pick up or drop off.

TomTom satnavs know the precise traffic situation on most UK roads at all times, in real time. The satnav you’ll be given to test is a “live device,” this means it is constantly searching every possible route option to find you the fastest route available. So, if the traffic situation suddenly gets bad on your “normal” route, it will automatically search other options to find a new, faster route and give you a new arrive time."

If selected, you'll be sent the TomTom GO 5000 to try for a few weeks and so long as you add feedback as required you will be able to keep the product.

If selected, you will be sent the TomTom GO 5000 at the end of September, and asked to try it for two weeks. You will then need to try it and add feedback to a thread on Mumsnet. At the end of the testing period, we’d also like you to post a review on the Mumsnet review pages and fill in a short survey. In order to keep the product, you would need to add your feedback by the 26th of October, so please only apply if you are able to do this.

Please also note that TomTom may use your anonymous feedback comments on their website and social media channels, as well as elsewhere.

If you'd like to take part, please add your details here: www.surveymonkey.com/s/RKBRB3K

We will be in touch with selected MNers ASAP.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

[Fishstix]

Having issue with the voice control too. Dh is forrin and has an accent and Just cannot get it to hear him!

[alemci]

she doesn't respond to my London accent either. i say go home

she says - so you want to go home. please confirm, i say yes and then she doesn't understand but i am getting more used to using it.

[ineedausername]

I'm really enjoying using it, but i just can't get to grips with the voice control..
Serena just doesn't understand my scottish accent! Cue me shouting louder and louder and then the kids join in and then there really is no point shouting at it after that!

[Spooklingbrook]

Why does Serena always say 'you have reached your destination on the left' when just putting a road name in?

Stephen Fry has had the sack. he is unbearable.

[chickensandbees]

More feedback. Did another long motorway journey this week. There were reports of traffic problems about 2 hours away before I left. But I trusted the satnav to pick up on it. The traffic had cleared and I flew through so it was good. Without it I may have made an unnecessary diversion just in case.

I am frustrated with the voice control . I may need to practise it more.

Also it doesn't recognise where I work even though it has been there for years. So I can't put that in as a place to navigate to.

[May09Bump]

It would be fantastic to be able to feed in your own local knowledge to the maps - e.g., schools that are impassable during pick-up / drop-off. Or roads with bumps that actually look like two lanes but have bad parking right along causing grid lock. Not sure how you could do this, maybe via website. Google maps have people feeding onto it, photos of attractions etc. - something similar to that. Just a thought ...

Tomtom saved me another 20 minutes today by giving another route during slow traffic. Becoming a lifesaver for work - don't know how I did it before! Must have wasted a huge amount of time.

[Katz]

Tomtom has just saved us sitting on the M1 for 2 hours! Programmed in the trip we were about to take and it's said journey time 1.50min, journey should have been 25 mins max. Thank you tomtom!

[ChippingInLatteLover]

IAMA

Tom took me by the back roads Ooh err

I don't know that it would be any quicker, perhaps at rush hour as it does avoid a small area that snarls up a bit. I expect Tom thinks it is quicker but in reality although they are 60mph roads they are narrow, single track and full of blind bends so you don't actually go at 60

Did you notice if your arrival time (on the screen) was the time you arrived there? If it was, then it's quicker, surely? If not then it's only calculating the routes in a very basic way and I'd be surprised.

Got there fine. Parked. Attempted to remove holder from windscreen and left the sucker behind (did this again on getting home. How on earth do you remove it without pulling it off?) but thankfully this can be shoved back on

PM'd you last night so hopefully you got that. If you don't want to remove the holder just put your finger lightly on the top of Tom and tilt him forward, he will come out of the holder easily. (took me a few minutes to sort that one as I was trying to lift him out).

Getting home again I decided to try voice recognition but I couldn't get Tom to respond to any "Hello TomTom", "Hey TomTom" or anything else. Once I selected voice recognition from the menu and it told me to speak after the beep etc then it understood "Go Home" but really it is a bit useless if you have to swipe at the menu first because you clearly wouldn't want to do that while driving which I assume it what VR is for

You have to use the sleep function instead of turning him off if you want to keep VR 'on' via settings.

I found the little symbols on the right hand side distracting too, I don't know what half of them mean

Which ones?

Serena is very calm but she realy irritates me with "The A one seventy seven, the B one hundred and sixty two" and all that gubbins. Can computer programmers not manage to make her say "A one seven seven"

I think she might have been programmed by my friend, she does this and it makes me want to throttle her travel separately.

[whoops]

Ds isn't going to be impressed when he finds out its SF! He keeps bugging me about the voice as I think he'd hoped it would be Yoda or the Simpsons!

[ChippingInLatteLover]

I voted for Bugs Bunny

[ChippingInLatteLover]

ChippingInLatteLover
TomTom are there any settings we can adjust wrt the voice control? Many of us are struggling with the fact that you have to shout at it to activate it. Even sitting here, with it in my hand I am having to shout.


"Hi ChippingInLatteLover, there are certain settings you can adjust via voice control e.g. volume, colours, 2D and 3D view among others. You can learn more on all the ways you can use voice recognition here: bit.ly/1CgkODD on page 68-71.

Completely missing the point I am fed up of having to shout at it.

[Pikkewyn]

New voice downloading I will not be, Yoda I wanted.

[BettyMoody]

fraeks

[MyNameIsInigoMontoya]

Yoda I wanted. Fry Stephen I got. The force is not with me.

[Sparklingbrook]

Who voted for Stephen Fry? I wanted Marge too, or was it Homer? Anyone but SF anyway.

[BettyMoody]

yup - think I won't bother. Ta and all though.

[Lookslikeimstuckhere]

I know Not impressed that they couldn't just give us a voucher so we can choose voices!

[BettyMoody]

STEPHEN FRY?

wtf people.
I wanted Marge Simpson. Not some over inflated twat

[chickensandbees]

Had my first long journey today. TomTom performed well. Knew some shortcuts that I already knew but my old satnav didn't so that was reassuring. Got caught in a traffic jam on the m5 but the TomTom was good because I knew how long the jam was for. So didn't panic as I knew in 2 miles I would be through it.

Finally got the VC working and I like it. I think it takes a bit of practice as to what words you can use.

DD2 loves it and repeats the instructions. "Go left mummy!!"

I am liking it and can't wait to get Stephen Fry.

[whoops]

Thank you Tom Tom! I've just been reading the manual, found I can get to my places via voice control! And saw that you can report speed cameras and traffic! I presume we have to plug it in to get the maps updated though?

Off to read

[AngelieMumsnet]

Thanks for all your comments so far :) The feedback thread is now open here. So please do start commenting over there!

The Top 5 custom voices are...

Stephen Fry - with 28% of the vote
Brian Blessed - 22%
Yoda - 10%
Homer Simpson - 8%
Bert and Ernie - 8%

We'll be sending out the voucher for you to claim your free Stephen Fry voice download by the end of the week.

[AngelieMumsnet]

@iwantavuvezela

Ok so my first thoughts are:
TomTom turned on and almost instantly found where I was (my old tomtom drove me mad as it would take sometimes 5-10 mins of switching on and off .... and I have had a few times when it could not find where I was)

Got the Voice recognition to work, and have realized that the Tom Tom is probably the one thing in our household who responds to me instantly, so love saying TomTom go home!

Not sure if I am been daft but if I am charging the Tom Tom in the car does that mean that it cannot fit in the stand? I cant seem to do both (push tomtom into holder and also have charger on?) If so, this is a problem as I normally charge tomtom while driving.

I have been using it for my usual routes to get used to it, but today will drive across London so counting on Tom Tom!!!

TomTom say:

"Hi iwantavuvuzela, please connect the supplied USB cable to the mount so that your device can charge while in use. Ensure that the USB car charger and the USB cable are connected as well. "

[AngelieMumsnet]

@nightswift

I've still not got mine working. Did the 5 hr update which then froze at 99% and never got to the second step of updating the device. Tried plugging it in a few more times and it just sat thete so I deleted the tomtom folder from my computer and tried again. This time it said only 1 update and just sat at 15%. My tomtom now doesn't work at all as it says it has no maps! This has all been on Chrome - going to try IE instead. Getting really hacked off with it now - if I'd paid for it I would be so pissed off and it would so have gone back.

TomTom have said:

"Hello nightswift, I’m sorry to read that you still have not been able to update your device. We would like to help you get the issue sorted out as soon as possible. Can you please send us an email on [email protected] so we can look into your problem and help with a solution?"

[AngelieMumsnet]

@MyNameIsInigoMontoya

Mine is working OK now, although it annoys me a bit when it keeps repeating itself. I don't need telling to turn right twice on a road that's only 100 yards long! VR is working moderately well now.

I did mess up the other day when I took it for its first longer drive. I looked for the address and thought I had found it, as it looked right but I didn't realise there were a lot more results sort of hidden behind, which you had to scroll down to see. So I just picked the top one, which looked right and was in the right general direction (or would have noticed), but - unfortunately - was NOT actually where I wanted to go. Oops! But I admit it was partly my fault for not realising; and it did get me back to the right place once I worked it out.

I still need some more practise with looking for or accepting alternative routes, it tends to get me a bit confused if it suddenly proposes a new route, especially if it's in an area I know and I can't immediately work out where it means. Although so far it has mostly agreed with my usual choices.

I've also noticed one changed speed limit (not that recent though) which hasn't been updated yet, must remember to correct it on the website sometime.

TomTom say:

"Hi again MyNameIsInigoMontoya, as you enter your address, predictive search provides a list of possible destinations on the left in order of distance from your current location. You can see all the suggested destinations by putting away the keyboard by clicking on the button with 3 lines on the bottom right of your screen.

You can also correct errors on the device itself if you press and hold to select the location of the map correction, then select “Report Map Error” from the pop up menu and select “Speed Limit” then scroll to the correct limit and select “Report”"

[AngelieMumsnet]

@SarahSnail

Love this TomTom, I haven't had any problems what so ever with the voice controls and its so easy to jump in the car and tell it where I want to go.
Not to sure on the traffic updates yet though....... seems it thought it was easier to keep me stuck in M1 traffic for an hour and half this morning rather than suggest another route?? so I don't know how the traffic updates are meant to work.

TomTom say:

"Hi Sarahsnail, what happened was that the device had calculated that staying in the traffic jam would still be faster than taking an alternative route. The device provides you the fastest route possible, thus if staying in traffic is the fastest way to get to your destination it does not offer any alternatives. While you are en-route, the device can calculate that if you take another route it will be faster, hence the suggestion.

Traffic information is constantly changing and device is constantly re-adjusting to that. You can still find an alternative route manually by clicking on the route you are currently on, selecting “Alternative Routes” then “Find Alternative”. The device will give you up to 3 alternatives which show the difference in travel time in a balloon. You can select your chosen route by clicking on the time balloon."