TomTom GO 5000 feedback thread NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

This thread is for the MNers who've been trying out the TomTom GO 5000.

Below are some questions to get you started but please feel free to add other comments too.

In terms of your first impressions...

• What was your initial impression of the TomTom GO 500?
• How easy did you find it to set up your TomTom?
• What journeys have you made so far with your TomTom?

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

Thanks,
MNHQ

I was impressed from the start; it took minutes to get it up and running. It has a lovely clear screen and the mount is very sturdy.

I'm less impressed with he voice control. I have a neutral English accent but TomTom has misheard me several times. When I asked for "3D view" I was rewarded with "changing volume to 0%" which was utterly disastrous. I had to pull over to manually reset the volume. It does seem to respond well to "go home" though which, to be fair, is the command I use most frequently.

The search function is frustrating. I seem to need a postcode for TomTom to be able to find my destination.

Overall I really do love it, despite my grumbles above. Its 'always connected' functionality is brilliant. It suggests sensible routes and tells me when I'm going a bit too fast. The kids love chanting "Don't let the seagulls steal your chips" at every opportunity thanks to the lovely James, and, most importantly, I haven't got lost once since I've had it.

My first impression was that it is quite big for a sat nav. But then I'm used to using my phone's Sat nav. I am impressed with it.

I found it very easy to set up. Just switch it on straight away pop in the post code and go. I played around with it before taking it out, I like playing with the voices.

So far I've taken it to the shops, the city centre, my dad's, the school run and to Dr' s friend's house. Planning on taking it to Ikea next week.

In terms of my first impressions...

• What was your initial impression of the TomTom GO 500?

Having had a TomTom satnav before my first thought was where are the instructions and software I need to download to my PC and I also thought it looked rather large. However, when I picked it up I could see that it was much slimmer and lighter than the previous model I had and the windscreen attachment looked like it was going to fix to the windscreen more easily and not fall off every time I demist the windows or turn the cool air on.

• How easy did you find it to set up your TomTom?

Very easy indeed. I just turned it on and followed the instructions and in less than 10 minutes I was using it in my car.

• What journeys have you made so far with your TomTom?

I have been using it all week and have driven about 500 miles to my normal place of work and to a number of places I have never been to before, so have had to rely heavily on this satnav. -What did I like about the TomTom GO 500? It was so easy to fix to the windscreen and doesn't keep falling off when the windscreen changes temperature, which was a real problem for me with the previous TomTom I had. It goes to sleep if you accidentally leave it on and when you remove it from the windscreen holder it switches itself off. When you return it to the holder it picks up the same route instantly which is great when you have to stop off at various places on route to your final destination.The wire is longer than the previous one I had so doesn't get in the way of changing gear, etc. I found the voice instructions so much clearer and didn't have to keep looking at the screen to work out what I needed to do. I loved the fact you can change everything to your preferred colour and found the maps much simpler. I particularly liked the fact I could see my actual speed next to the speed limit rather than having to look in 2 different places for this. I didn't have to sit and wait for my satnav to pick up a signal and you can change destination on the go. -What didn't you like about the TomTom GO 500? I found the information on the right very difficult to take in at times. Sometimes I was offered quicker routes non-stop and to be honest although I made it to my destinations I often found myself having absolutely no idea of where I was, so if the satnav stopped working I could have found myself totally lost at night on country lanes and I think this will take me a while to get used to. I am used to being in control...

For all those commenting on it's lack of case, I think it would like you to buy it one from this selection

I'm sure they do Stealth but if I had forked out 260 quid I would expect one to be included. They are also considerably cheaper on Amazon

What was your initial impression of the TomTom GO 500?

I thought it looked stylish but was a bit daunted having very few paper instructions and having to go online and set up an account etc

• How easy did you find it to set up your TomTom?

Once I got going it wasn't too bad but wasn't quite sure about the downloads. I didn't find it easy to store information in the Tom Tom, I would have liked a favourites page etc or be able to store locations but it doesn't seem to.

• What journeys have you made so far with your TomTom?

Used it for going to work, went out at the weekend and used it to find an unknown destination in the next county

tested it out driving around the area.

So today it has impressed me nearly as much as it annoyed me yesterday. I drove to nearest small town, and it simply never occurred to me that it would know anything about the traffic. At some stage in yesterday's fiasco I reset the TomTom, so it wasn't logged in to the live services. Before I came home I logged in, and lo and behold it knew all about the gridlock on the small A road - including being accurate to the yard as to where it started and ended.

I've had a couple of other thoughts:

1. I think that you should include 2 usb cables. It's really annoying to set up the system just to your liking in the car, then have to dismantle it all to update the TomTom. The whole point of the (very effective) mount is that you can simply mount and go. I can't think that a usb cable is expensive, so the cost would not be raised much.

1. Some people are concerned about security. Perhaps some sort of PIN lock could be available, as with other electronic goods?

1. Posters have commented that they've been stuck in traffic with no alternative available. Instead of simply showing a green route, could the TomTom be programmed to acknowledge the traffic and tell the user that it's still the only/fasted route?

1. The time clock vs ETA clock thing is still really bothering me. I'd like some feedback about that.

I'd just like to comment that I used the voice activation for Go Via Petrol Station on my way home earlier. It worked nearly perfectly (the petrol station wasn't quite marked accurately on the map but it took me close enough to see it) and the list shown was meaningful this time around. However I was most entertained when Serena then advised me that we were now going via the Petal Station.

Are supermarkets stored on the map? Could they be? Because a Go Via Supermarket option would be very helpful when you're in the car on your way home, planning what to have for dinner and realising that you have no food in the house. There are lots of other times when on trips that finding a nearby supermarket would be handy too!

Hi everyone,

TomTom have said:

"Hello Mumsnetters,

Thank you again for the numerous comments and feedback. We’ve observed a few recurring questions and comments coming through and would like to reply to them.

One of the topics that came up a few times was connected to how the device routes you to your destination. To calculate your route, the device needs to go through quite a complex process. It takes into account historical data, map information and live traffic information to suggest the fastest route. If you believe your device is not routing you well consistently for some reason, please reach out to us via [email protected] with your start location and destination + the time it took you to arrive, so we can look into it further as it should not be a common occurrence.

The other topic that still seems to be causing some issues is updating. We would like to summarise the steps to having a smooth update experience:

1. Before you connect your device, please install MyDrive, downloadable from the following page: www.tomtom.com/getstarted

1. The first time you update, your device will need to download map data for all of Europe and also the latest software. We strongly recommend you do this update overnight on the most stable and fast connection you have.

1. Before you connect your device to the computer – make sure you have at least 6 GB free on your hard drive. During the update, the device needs to temporarily place the map data on your hard drive, before transferring it to the GO 5000.

1. In case nothing happens when you connect your GO 5000 (with MyDrive already installed), something might not be setup properly on your computer. Refer to the following support page for advice: bit.ly/1DixgFk

If you have issues even after following these steps, please let us know as soon as you can on [email protected] so we can assist you further."

FWIW, I did all of that, in the order stated, and it didn't work. I also went significantly further into the murky depths of the support site to find the drivers.

It's fixed now, so I am not going to bother contacting support (I suppose I would if I were a really dedicated tester, just to see if I could get past "turn it off and on again", but it would be rather a ste of their time as well as mine) but I thought you would like to know that it's not foolproof.

Bit late to the thread but hoping to make up for lost time...

• What was your initial impression of the TomTom GO 500?

It looks nice even when just out of the box and the display is much crisper/more modern compared to the (years old) TomTom that I used to have. The packaging is nice and simple, easy to get it out and get ready to go. I liked that it was ready charged so I could start playing with it without having to plug it in straight away.

• How easy did you find it to set up your TomTom?

Pretty easy - I'd unwrapped it when I was at the computer anyway as I had figured I would probably have to plug it in at some point as I seem to remember doing that with my last one. The instruction leaflet did seem a bit pointless as it didn't really tell me anything useful (apart from the bit about tightening the suction cup).
The updates took about 5 minutes to update on my pc and then probably another 10 mins on the actual device so it wasn't as painful for me as others have described.
It was brilliant just sticking it in the car and I was able to use it, fully updated, for my first journey in no time at all.
We haven't been able to get the voice control to work so far but I will go and refer to the pages in the manual mentioned above to see if we can work it out.

• What journeys have you made so far with your TomTom?

I've been using it for the daily commute as well as a couple of longer journeys for work. On one of these it took me down the back streets to get to the M1, a way I had never been before and although it instinctively felt slower than the main road, I don't know what the traffic on the normal route was like so it may well have been faster. My husband has also taken it out with him on some of his work travels and said that he finds it easy to use, though it has taken him some interesting routes.

One issue we have had is round the battery life. We always plug it in when using it and don't ever play with it when it's not plugged in. However it is now completely out of charge and so has to reboot every time we try to use it. I would have thought that it would charge when it was switched on (and I know it has been getting charge as it powers down the minute I switch the engine off) otherwise that means that I'm going to have to bring it indoors with me every so often and charge it off my computer (given that it doesn't come with a plug!) which is going to be a pain.

PS and agree with all the others lamenting the lack of case as at that price it really should have something to put it in to avoid scratches

Hello,

Do you want to see where I got taken yesterday ...

road [[https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.6838635,-0.6516799,3a,75y,23.9h,87.8t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sdk6yEEgFXMVe0d1QZc0mig!2e0]]

yes, with this right turn at the end

it is a dual carriageway [[https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.6816193,-0.6557872,3a,75y,253.33h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sPRVxRysuKyQN6gse5kBrEw!2e0]]

On the other hand it was very pretty and I kept in low gear and have good brakes on my car, I didn't meet anything coming the other way and it did get me to the right place, so not a disaster.

We like Antonio in Spanish, although DH laughs at his accent. We also like the "mind the seagulls don't steal your chips"

One thing would be for the voice to say "take the fifth exit from the roundabout, yes, this is back the way you came" because when it was taking me round a bit of a loop and I was meant to take the fifth exit at the roundabout I couldn't work out where this was meant to be.

I am not sure I will use it for my commute to work. This kind of needs local knowledge (i.e. this way is OK before 7am, but the turn is too busy after and you should take the other route) and I'm not sure a sat nav will ever help with this.

I also keep losing the cable and don't like being told what to do.

link fail, try these

www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.6838635,-0.6516799,3a,75y,23.9h,87.8t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sdk6yEEgFXMVe0d1QZc0mig!2e

www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.6816193,-0.6557872,3a,75y,253.33h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sPRVxRysuKyQN6gse5kBrEw!2e0

(you will need to put street view on)

Stephen Fry is now downloaded. Bit creepy TBH.

DH is taking Stephen Fry to DS1's football training now.....

Stephen Fry is acquired here too! Will see if he lasts the three hour journey tomorrow...

I give him til the end of the road Spirael.......

DH is not happy. He didn't like Stephen Fry at all. Very annoying apparently. Still can't believe he won the vote.

Finally got my Voice control working thanks to Blondieminx!

Downloaded Stephen and hoping to take him to Bristol tomorrow. He will probably hate it.

DoctorG - that's a very pretty road, but a bit of an arse when it gets overgrown, or if you meet someone going the opposite way on the TomTom test...

Doctor I know that road, not that far from us. Would definitely not choose it if trying to get anywhere in a hurry! Too many cars trying to go up and down and not enough passing space! Problem with sat navs in general I guess...

DH had success with TT today. It pulled in live traffic, re-routed him on A roads when needed and no time was lost on a 5 hour journey. Thankfully for me, it meant that he was home in time to give DS a bath

A few thoughts we've both had:

When you select colours, whilst the icons show you the choices, it doesn't show (as previous TomToms did) a little thumbnail of how the map changes as a result. Just makes the process a little laborious as some theme colours don't quite work for our old eyes.

For us they don't work because the theme colours don't differ enough from the route colour thereby making it hard to visually distinguish them from each other. The road and route colours are too similar. Having a thumbnail would just stop you from having to go back to the menu each time it doesn't work.

Voice commands work well, even with the radio on which is a positive because the menu button on the touch screen really is far too small. Perhaps tapping the screen anywhere would be more user friendly with a big exit button in case it's done accidentally?

3D map works really well and looks good. We like how as you are exiting a motorway junction it kind of represents what you are seeing. Obviously not exactly what you are seeing but shows a built up area or wooded area. A nice touch.

However, we think there may be a bug when trying to switch between 2D and 3D views when using VR? There seems to be three different views. A 3D view, 2D version of the same and then Serena's 'special' 2D view.

When you use the voice command to switch between the views, it selects the 3D version fine but when 2D is requested, it doesn't go to the standard 2D version that shows when you manually select it. Instead, it pans out and shows the route summary. It doesn't change. It then needs manual override from the main menu. Perhaps it has the wrong command assigned to it?

Enjoying getting to know TomTom, must update this weekend - my laptop keeps reminding me, which is useful as otherwise it would end up waaay behind!

Sorry little late to.
Our first impressions are very good. Love the clarity of the screen and found the initial set up process simple enough.
We have had some issues with the voice control much to the kids sense of humour. Dp finds it easier than me to get it to understand.
Dp has used it for work this week , he travels into Preston. He has loved it. He has been sent on many different routes and has actually saved time getting into work. He says it definitely eases the stress of the journey.
Going to catch up with this thread now.

Also loving the nearest petrol station , am terrible for running on empty.