TomTom Navigator 5 - Bluetooth

...Cameras Plus services from the TomTom web site.

THE RECEIVER
The new MkII version of the receiver is a flat silver dongle-like gadget with a hole at one end. It doesn't say anywhere what the hole is for but I suspect it is for a neck strap (although none is supplied). It's very small and light, quite rugged and quite stylish.

Although the supplied software only works on PDAs or smartphones, the receiver itself ...
...the Palm Bluetooth utility, the TomTom software itself does not need configuring to find the reciever. For PC use, you will have to assign a COM port in the PC Bluetooth utility and then tell AutoRoute to listen to that port for GPS data.

Operation - The receiver is turned on an off by a single button that you hold down for two seconds so that it can't accidentally be turned on or off and a couple of LEDs tell you what's going on. ... more

The package includes navigation software for Palm 5 PDAs and the Microsoft PocketPC PDAs but you should check which models are supported. I run the Palm version on my Treo650 smartphone.

I have to travel around the UK a fair bit for work and also like to tour round the UK and Europe for pleasure. Actually, the main reason I bought the package was to circumvent the possibility of having any navigation arguments with my wife on our honeymoon! We went on a driving holiday from London to Vienna. So I invested in the whole Europe street level mapping pack on top of the included UK map that comes with the pack (you get your local country map depending on where you buy the package).

I also subscribe to the Traffic info and UK Safety Cameras Plus services from the TomTom web site.

THE RECEIVER
The new MkII version of the receiver is a flat silver dongle-like gadget with a hole at one end. It doesn't say anywhere what the hole is for but I suspect it is for a neck strap (although none is supplied). It's very small and light, quite rugged and quite stylish.

Although the supplied software only works on PDAs or smartphones, the receiver itself is an ordinary Bluetooth device that outputs standard GPS data and so I have also used it with a Bluetooth laptop and Microsoft AutoRoute software.

Setup - Pairing the receiver to the phone (or laptop) was quite easy. There are no advanced security settings and the reveiver starts announcing itself as soon as it is turned on. If it does not form a link with a host within a couple of minutes, it gives up and then turns off. If, like me, you are paranoid about wireless security, you can restrict the phone to only allow pairing with the receiver's individual MAC address as a trusted device and then turn device discovery off. This prevents toads from trying to hijack your Bluetooth phone connection. Once paired with the Palm Bluetooth utility, the TomTom software itself does not need configuring to find the reciever. For PC use, you will have to assign a COM port in the PC Bluetooth utility and then tell AutoRoute to listen to that port for GPS data.

Operation - The receiver is turned on an off by a single button that you hold down for two seconds so that it can't accidentally be turned on or off and a couple of LEDs tell you what's going on. One is a green LED that comes on full time to let you know the thing is on and then it flashes slowly when a lock has been acquired. The other is a low battery warning and charge status indicator.

Performance - Position lock can take up to 3 minutes, depending on sky visibility, whether you are moving at the time and weather conditions. Once locked though it is very reliable and has performed well in dense cities with tall buildings and dense woodland in country lanes without losing lock. In fact, the only time I lose a valid GPS signal is indoors and underground. The antenna is very unidirectional and so you do not have to leave the device facing upwards, like most other types. I've often used the navigator on foot and there's no problem with just keeping the receiver in a coat pocket or handbag. When trying to acquire a lock on foot do not stand close to a building as it's much harder to get a signal. Stand in an open area with a good view of the sky.

The built-in lithium-ion battery performs well and in continuous use lasts about 10 hours but isn't replaceable. Like many gadgets these days, when the battery gives out you will have to send the receiver back to the manufacturer for repair or buy a new one.

The pack includes a car charger unit that plugs into the side of the receiver but no mains charger for the house. Any 5V adaptor with the right co-ax plug and polarity will do so I use an adaptor for my MP3 player to charge it at home.

SOFTWARE
For this review I am only talking about the Palm software as run on my Palm Treo650 smartphone. The features and performance will vary depending on the device used.

The software is pretty reliable but does occasionally crash, sometimes causing the phone to reset. After a long time of operation (a few weeks), it can refuse to start with a memory error. After a hard reset it works ok. Sometimes using the navigation software causes the phone to reset if a phone call comes in at the same time.

In operation, the software is the same as that found on the mid-range GO standalone TomTom units. You can choose between normal map view and the 3D road ahead view. Routing is very flexible, being able to go to an address, a post code or just point at a place on the map. You can also go to Points of Interest (petrol stations, tourist attractions, restaurants, etc.). The POI database can be expanded by on-line subscription as well. For those times when you are touring and don't know exactly where you want to go, you can choose to just go to a city centre. It need not be a city, any town or village will be treated as a "city".

For longer journeys, you can create an itinerary with multiple way points and save the list as a journey.

Any place can be saved as a "favourite" and used again as a destination.

Where the TomTom software on a Treo650 scores over the standalone units is the integration with the phone. You can "go to" a phone book entry. It also makes use of the GPRS data service to fetch updates to POI, weather information, traffic info, and other downloadable items but these can be very big and impractical to download by mobile (not to mention expensive, depending on your GPRS tariff).

Of course the other thing you can do with a Treo650 TomTom is take it out of the car and use it on foot. Routing options allow for the usual road options (fastest, shortest, avoid-motorway) but also a "bicycle" and "walking" option so that you can walk down alleys and the wrong way up one-way streets.

The navigation is clear and accurate (mostly) and the default woman's voice is clear and can be heard above road noise and even stereos, if not too loud. The software uses the GPS speed to modulate the volume as well so that at faster speeds, the voice instructions automatically get louder. I use the phone in a normal window mount and don't have to use an external speaker as the Treo650 puts out enough volume by itself.

The instructions themselves are given in good time and usually make sense - like "Right turn ahead…. Right turn in 200 meters… Turn right" or "Cross the roundabout, 3rd exit". You can choose miles or kilometres and the voice and display will adapt - I like metric units. If you really don't like the built-in voices you can download new ones but they tend to mostly be foreign languages or "comedy" ones. You can even download a Japanese one. My wife is Japanese so I might try it out to improve my Japanese at the risk of taking a few wrong turns!

To complement the voice, the map shows the route ahead and any turns, zooming to an appropriate scale to show the exit at a roundabout and so on. Sometimes at a complicated junction it pays to glance at the map as well as listening to the instructions so that you are clear about where it is she's telling you to go.

Performance on the Treo650 is pretty good. Route calculation takes longer for long trips or through dense urban areas but not usually more than 30-60 seconds. When operating on route the map keeps up most of the time. You can find that it lags a bit on small roundabouts but this depends on your speed and how complicated the junction is. If you turn off the phone or exit the software the route is remembered and resumes navigation when you start the software again - very useful for when travelling and stopping to sight-see along the way. The Bluetooth receiver also is aware of the phone and if you end the software, the receiver will time-out after about 5 minutes and switch off.

MAPS
I bought the whole European database as you get quite a discount compared to individual maps and bought the download version rather than the retail CD pack. Again it's cheaper to download but very big (over 2Gb).

Installing maps to the SD memory card is easy and you can fit most of Europe on a 2Gb card with some room to spare for mp3s, videos, photos and so on. It's best to use a card reader attached to the PC than the Palm file link. The map install program knows this and can install to a memory card directly.

The TeleAtlas maps are very good but not error-free. They are very detailed and you can navigate to pretty much anywhere at street level with house numbers or post codes. In London, I've come across some out of date junctions where in the last year or so a road has been closed for traffic calming or a new no-right-turn has been imposed but the software can cope with this. If you deviate from the planned route it will automatically re-route via another route to get you where you want to go without slavishly sticking to the original path. If there really is no sensible alternate route to your destination then it will seek a route to turn you around (by going around the block) or tell you that the best thing to do is to "Turn around when possible".

When travelling across Europe it can be a little annoying that you have to load each zone separately. All the Europe maps come with the major road network for Europe but if you are in France and your destination is a house in Germany then you can't programme it directly. You can set the city in Germany and then when you enter Germany you can go to the preferences option and change the map focus to the German one to give you street level mapping for the end of your trip. If the software would automatically link the installed maps together that would have been better. Having said that, the zones are quite big - the German one also covers Austria, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Poland.

PLUS SERVICES
I took out the travel info service for the UK. This uses the TomTom web service via GPRS. With a route selected, you start a travel check (or programme a scheduled one) and wait for it to download the travel data. The software then displays trouble spots and traffic queues (where they can be detected - motorways are usually best served with information). It displays delays and estimated waiting time and then gives you the option to press a re-route button to avoid the delay - I've found this very useful. It's saved my bacon a couple of times when there's been a crash on the M25 or M4. Of course, sometimes the information might arrive late (if you're at the scene of an accident that hasn't been reported yet) or be out of date (if the accident has been cleared but the police haven't informed traffic control yet). At busy times the TomTom server can be unavailable as well - but they seem to be getting more reliable.

I also took out the safety camera database service. This lists all speeding and safety cameras as POIs and used the normal POI tools to alert you when you are near one. It does have some of the features of dedicated GPS camera alert gadgets but I found that the database was not updated frequently and had lots of mistakes. They are getting better though and there is a web form on their site where you can report new or changed cameras. Some of the errors are annoying - cameras reported as not being on your road but the road immediately next to yours (such as a slip road on a motorway). This means that you can't trust the "only alert for cameras on my route" option as it often ignores cameras that are on your route but thinks they aren't. This forces you to alert ANY camera in the vicinity (say 300m radius around your position). It also isn't speed sensitive so you will get alerts for 30mph cameras at 20mph. Happily, the database is fixed in mph so the fact that the navigation is in kilometres on my setup does not matter - it reports the approaching speed limit in mph.

You can also specify different distance alerts, so for a 70mph alert you can choose a different alert sound and have it triggered at 500m instead of 200m for a 30mph alert.

VERDICT
It's not perfect - there are some minor reliability issues with the software and the on-line services but on the whole it's very good, if not indispensable.

Our honeymoon road-trip took us across the UK, France, Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. The TomTom software delivered us safely to our hotels and attractions efficiently and reliably.

We're still happily married… what more can I say?
 

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