TomTom GPS -- Double dipping??

[samalex]

Hey Everyone,

Just curious if anyone uses a TomTom GPS. My wife bought me one earlier this month, and it's great. After I noticed some of the roads in our area weren't on the map I went online to download the latest maps and found they wanted to charge me almost as much for map updates as we paid for the GPS!

The unit was about $80 but they want $35 for a 18 month subscription for maps, which is reasonable I guess, but since the unit must've been on the shelf for a while they also want another $35 to true-up the map to the most current before the subscription service will work. That's $70!!!

What the heck?? Does anyone know of any other legit sources to get maps for a TomTom GPS or someplace to purchase TomTom maps less expensively? I didn't know if they might sell the activation codes someplace else for less.

Thanks,

Sam

[LowSky]

I know some GPS units can be hacked to use some free opensource map projects. not so sure about your model, but anything is possible


But This is the very reason I'm buying an Android powered Phone, like the droid or nexus one. both use google maps, which is free and constantly updated.

[whiskeylover]

I know some GPS units can be hacked to use some free opensource map projects. not so sure about your model, but anything is possible


But This is the very reason I'm buying an Android powered Phone, like the droid or nexus one. both use google maps, which is free and constantly updated.


What about when you have no internet connection? I prefer a GPS device with offline maps; although I also have google maps on my phone.

[Tristam Green]

What about when you have no internet connection? I prefer a GPS device with offline maps; although I also have google maps on my phone.

I know there's a way to cache the google maps on a Windows Mobile device, but it takes up a LOAD of space. I'd like to have an offline cache of G-maps, and use the GPS in my Incite for just such a thing.

[Post Monkeh]

when i was growing up, double dipping had a whooooole other meaning.

[LowSky]

What about when you have no internet connection? I prefer a GPS device with offline maps; although I also have google maps on my phone.

nokia ovi maps works offline, on GPS only.

And a real paper map as a backup doesn't hurt.

[samalex]

I also like paper maps as a backup, but for ad hoc trips to restaurants or just to see whats around the GPS is awesome! I used to have a MotoQ that worked for getting to Google Maps while traveling, but given it had no GPS it was more manual then I liked.

The TomTom GPS worked great while we were in Dallas, Tx this weekend, but in our area where we live our house nor most of the neighborhoods are on the maps, which is odd since they've been here for about 3-4 years.

At any rate my worry is if I don't upgrade I'll run into instances where roads have changed and the GPS will do more harm then good... but then again it really itches me wrong how you pay for the hardware, then have to pay to true-up the map to the latest, then you have to pay for updates on top of that. Buying the hardware should come with at least one true-up on the maps to get the latest then you pay for updates from that point on. I can live with that.

As for alternative meanings for 'double dip', I won't go there :)

Sam

[Post Monkeh]

my dad bought a new garmin nuvi to replace his broken tom tom a couple of weeks ago.

he's been using my nuvi since then (before christmas).
both our sat navs, set to full detail, displayed the street names for all streets you're near, so he automaticaaly assumed that the new one would do the same, but oh no, now it will only show you street names for minor streets if it is part of your route - providing you actually had a route programmed.

my dad's a taxi driver, and i drive quite a bit too, and neither of us use the sat nav to actually take us on a route - we just have it on so we can see the name of the streets coming up so we don't miss our turning, but apparently the new way is "simpler" because it doesn't confuse people.
cos it's really confusing having to read more than one street

[whiskeylover]

At any rate my worry is if I don't upgrade I'll run into instances where roads have changed and the GPS will do more harm then good... but then again it really itches me wrong how you pay for the hardware, then have to pay to true-up the map to the latest, then you have to pay for updates on top of that. Buying the hardware should come with at least one true-up on the maps to get the latest then you pay for updates from that point on. I can live with that.

That's why I never upgraded the maps on my Garmin. I bought that thing for $700 :( 4 years ago, and now they want $75 for upgrading the maps. The maps are about 5 years old, but I can live with that. Some POIs don't exist anymore, but that doesn't bother me.

[samalex]

That's why I never upgraded the maps on my Garmin. I bought that thing for $700 :( 4 years ago, and now they want $75 for upgrading the maps. The maps are about 5 years old, but I can live with that. Some POIs don't exist anymore, but that doesn't bother me.

That's what I'm running into now. The maps show like 4 or 5 restaurants near me that aren't there anymore, and a few that have been there for well over 2-3 years aren't listed as POI. I'll probably have to upgrade at some point, but I'll wait until I have to. But when it's just as much to buy a new GPS then upgrade the maps, it's like the printer conundrum where cartridges are as much as the printers now'days.

Sam

[lemmy999]

You might want to try here - http://www.simplesatnav.com/pctforum/index.php

[Warpnow]

Did you buy it refurbished? Alot of GPS companies do this to screw people buying refurbs. They don't like refurbs. They give free maps to people buying them new then charge people for the maps who buy the refurbs.

[samalex]

Did you buy it refurbished? Alot of GPS companies do this to screw people buying refurbs. They don't like refurbs. They give free maps to people buying them new then charge people for the maps who buy the refurbs.

Nope it was brand new from Best Buy. I've read more on TomTom and there are entire websites dedicated to this. It's their standard practice to charge $35 (which they say is 50% off -- as if they're giving you a deal) for the latest map then $35 for 18 months of updates. I don't mind spending $35 for the updates, that sounds reasonable, but another $35 for the latest map?

I figured that some of the Ubuntu users have ran into this or similar problems in the past and might know of an alternative way to update the maps.

Sam

[cdekter]

TBH none of this sounds unreasonable to me... the economics are quite simple. For a start, the GPS device is a loss leader, like most inkjet printers. It is priced below cost to get you to purchase it so you will (potentially) use their subscription services.

FWIW, the price you paid for the hardware is extremely reasonable. In Australia where I live, a similar Tomtom device is about AUD$230. You paid a little over a quarter of that price.

The map updates are not really unreasonably priced either. For a full Australia map update from Tomtom the price is around $70. This is far less than what it would cost to buy street directories for every Australian capital (which is what the GPS maps give you). I'm sure in the US this price difference would be even larger.

[yester64]

Hey Everyone,

Just curious if anyone uses a TomTom GPS. My wife bought me one earlier this month, and it's great. After I noticed some of the roads in our area weren't on the map I went online to download the latest maps and found they wanted to charge me almost as much for map updates as we paid for the GPS!

The unit was about $80 but they want $35 for a 18 month subscription for maps, which is reasonable I guess, but since the unit must've been on the shelf for a while they also want another $35 to true-up the map to the most current before the subscription service will work. That's $70!!!

What the heck?? Does anyone know of any other legit sources to get maps for a TomTom GPS or someplace to purchase TomTom maps less expensively? I didn't know if they might sell the activation codes someplace else for less.

Thanks,

Sam

Just to respond quick.

Yes, TomTom takes your money for the maps.
Garmin not sure. But you may have to upgrade if you want to have the correct gps locations updated. Otherwise after a while it will search and don't find them.
GPS on the phone is an option too, but check first google's page what phone is supported. There are a lot of phones and not just android.
If you get Nokia, you can run two different GPS apps, both free. Google or Nokias GPS.

I seen once an opensource project for maps, but its really more technical and it might void your warranty. Plus there are no 3D maps i think and not for guiding just plain maps. At least the once i have seen. So carefull before you do.

Btw. the first map sync is free if i am not wrong. That was the case with my TomTom. I haven't done the purchase for the map so far. But i don't use it that often anyway.1