GPS appears knackered, any suggestions?

[rasputin]

I had to wait over an hour for my computer to recognise my Tom Tom it gave no indication that it was trying to connect during that time 

[Iain_S]

1 hour ago, Stilllearning said:

We had been using it regularly, most weeks.

We connected to mydrive connect every time that we have tried to get it to work, and the site does not recognize our tomtom and says no device connected.

Have you tried asking on the forum https://en.discussions.tomtom.com/ , but can be accessed via mydrive connect?

It's a while since I looked at it, and it seems to have got a bit less user friendly 

[Hudds Lad]

18 hours ago, bizzard said:

It may not be picking up the smoke signals if the winds blowing in the wrong direction.  The ladies voice on my cheap Alba sat-nav sounds like Peggy Mount and gives me an ear ache. I'm using my A to Z again.

years ago I worked out how to make my own TomTom voice file, a bit labour intensive but can give amusing results, made a voice called Northern Monkey to keep a friend from "dahn sahrth's" kids amused.

i'm currently stuck with that Darth Vader chap telling me where to go as my daughter likes it

[cuthound]

On 05/03/2018 at 10:06, WotEver said:

Try Waze. 

You can enter a postcode, place name, almost anything. 

Another vote for the Waze app on your mobile phone. Free, always up to date and even tells you about Police vehicles lurking on motorway bridges.

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Another vote for the Waze app on your mobile phone. Free, always up to date and even tells you about Police vehicles lurking on motorway bridges.

Does it work if not connected to the Internet? 

[WotEver]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Does it work if not connected to the Internet? 

Not sure, possibly not. But it can’t use much bandwidth if it does ‘cos I’ve used it abroad with no scary bills thereafter. 

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

Not sure, possibly not. But it can’t use much bandwidth if it does ‘cos I’ve used it abroad with no scary bills thereafter. 

That's the trouble with some of them. Unless you can download maps for offline use, or remember to download an area (like Google maps) then they become useless if signal lost. 

[WotEver]

Just now, rusty69 said:

That's the trouble with some of them. Unless you can download maps for offline use, or remember to download an area (like Google maps) then they become useless if signal lost. 

Oh no, that bit works just fine with no internet. I don’t think the route planning does though. 

[Dr Bob]

On 05/03/2018 at 16:45, rasputin said:

I had to wait over an hour for my computer to recognise my Tom Tom it gave no indication that it was trying to connect during that time 

Yea, my Tom Tom takes forever to connect to the lap top. I usually have to unplug and plug it in umpteen times (= a number between 2 and 25) and then it takes forever to download and update. I usually do it a couple of times a year and always end up with it going wrong and having to repeat the download and update. Mrs Bob doesnt like the swearing.

[TheBiscuits]

Just now, Dr Bob said:

Yea, my Tom Tom takes forever to connect to the lap top. I usually have to unplug and plug it in umpteen times (= a number between 2 and 25) and then it takes forever to download and update. I usually do it a couple of times a year and always end up with it going wrong and having to repeat the download and update. Mrs Bob doesnt like the swearing.

Switch the language from "Bad" back to "English".

[Stilllearning]

A French woman of our acquaintance had her tomtom voice changed unbeknown to her, by her daughter, to Darth Vader’s just before she went on holiday, and it was a considerable shock the first time she used it. She also had no idea how to change the voice, so was stuck with it for the two week holiday  

[Rob-M]

I used to fine that my TomTom would only like the USB cable that came with it, if I took any other cable that I used for connecting other devices it would not connect.  I also found that sometimes it took a few attempts at connecting and powering the TomTom on and off before it would see the device. 

[cuthound]

5 hours ago, rusty69 said:

Does it work if not connected to the Internet? 

Yes it needs an Internet connection, but doesn't use much data. I think the maps are downloaded onto the phone when you install or update the app.

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

Yes it needs an Internet connection, but doesn't use much data. I think the maps are downloaded onto the phone when you install or update the app.

I think that’s only half right. I’m not sure what it requires a connection for other than calculating a route and live traffic updates.

I was in Gran Canaria a few years back when roaming cost a fortune so I turned it off (therefore no internet connection). It still appeared to work ok as far as I can recall. 

I guess a bit of googling might turn up the definitive answer. 

Okay... the official word about Waze is...

Waze was built assuming a data network connection would be present all, or at least most, of the time. For all aspects of Waze to operate, you must have an active data connection on your mobile device. This connection enriches Waze with real-time traffic related information and ensures an up-to-date map. Without an internet connection, you won't be able to locate or navigate a route.

If you have an intermittent connection, Waze will try to get data from the servers for traffic alerts and hazards, but may not be able to give you reliable information. Additionally, if Waze doesn't have a connection back to the Waze servers, you will not be able to post hazards. Waze does not cache reports or map issues to send later.

But it definitely doesn’t need data for it’s maps.