TomTom 410 Update

It's been a while since the last update in the Saga of the TomTom.  It's not quite as long or as involved as the famous Icelandic Sagas, but the story has to be told.

On the test runs in the car we had several problems where the unit turned itself off. Not simply going into "sleep mode" but actually fully shutdown.

In the settings there is one that can be switched off that covers it going into "sleep mode" when it detects a drop in the power.

Very inconvenient especially on a test where we didn't actually know where the destination was!  When it does that it actually loses the route that it was following.

On the "front" screen it displays the status of the connections and the battery symbol know to all of us with a mobile/cell phone.  When connected to the car mount the battery shows no charging is taking place.  If the power lead is then connected to the unit itself. The battery shows the lightning bolt image.  

I reported this to TomTom and they are sending a new car mount.   

With very little time to get out in the garage at weekends (no power and dark evenings don't help) I have yet to check whether the motorcycle mount is working. The only time that we have tried the unit went crazy and this whole thread and fiasco was kicked off.

At that time I never saw whether the battery shows the lightning bolt or not!

This weekend I have a trip on Sunday into unknown territory and for peace of mind I will use the Urban Rider as I know that the unit works, has the right mapping and the power lead to the Rocket's socket works!

MyDrive App

On a positive note. The 410 connects to a smart phone via the TomTom MyDrive app.  To connect the phone needs to pair with a Bluetooth tether link.  This was simple.  MyDrive mapping is not as easy to use as Google Maps and for some reason is not a richly formatted e.g. there are no overlays.  

For example. Looking for the football ground at Wimbledon for Sunday, Google Maps shows the street and the ground is there to see, but MyDrive shows the streets but not details of what is there in the blank bits.

With the phone and unit both switched on and tethered planning a route on the phone simply needs "send to device" clicking and a few seconds later the unit announces a new destination has been received.  Note. Not a route has been received but a destination.  Planning needs to be sequential. 

Planning a route from A to B is okay, but if you decide to go via C, you need to remove B, add C as B and then re-add B and that becomes C.  You cannot add what the old system terms a waypoint once the start and end points are determined.

That's okay once you realise but frustrating at first.