On the Road Again!

Maybe this is an extravagance when I already have a TomTom satnav. But with a second bike coming back online in the next few months, I began looking around for a way to incorporate a route tool.  I didn't want all the paraphanalia of mounts and the TomTom stuff cluttering up the bars on the Kettle. The Beeline Moto isn't cheap but it looks good and easily fitted to the bike's handlebar and easily removable to keep it safe from theft. It's not due to arrive for another couple of weeks so I have plenty of time to do more research. https://beeline.co/pages/beeline-moto If anyone has got one of these doohickies and wants to comment, now is a good time!

Buggery bowlocks. Once updated the damned buggery thing won't pair with my phone. It did before the last update. Now I can only upload routes etc through a wired usb connection and not by Bluetooth. Call logged with TomTom support. Update 18/6/19 TomTom Support have replied to tell me all the things I have told them I have done and if that doesn't work, to reset the unit and try again. Update 19/6/19 That worked with a factory reset.  I had to enter the setup information again. The only problem is that now it pairs to my phone the MyDrive Bluetooth route transfer system doesn't work.

Yes, it is that time of the year again when the map updates come out. I had the email from them and connected the TomTom and it started the download of the Europe maps. I un-ticked the US maps as I am unlikely to need the maps for a year or more. The download bit got to the end and then it said "checking" it did this for over an hour and so I aborted it as it was late and I needed to go to bed.  I have had this before! So this morning I logged the laptop in and connected the unit via USB.  That was about 90 minutes ago.  It immediately  came up "Updating - Do not disconnect your device" on the TomTom and the TomTom banner is on the laptop but no exe running. I get some breakfast and a cup of coffee and nearly two hours later, TomTom My Drive still not running on the laptop, the unit says that the update has finished. Am I the only user that has this problem? Update 17:10 I decided to give it another go and kicked off My Drive Connect a...

Plugged the unit in to do some tidying up of routes etc and it asked to do an upgrade.  It has the Europe mapping on the unit itself and the USA on the additional micro-USB card. Over two hours to download and install. I hope BT can maintain an internet connection for that long. It's something they never have managed before. So once the two hours was up, I checked and it had the little upgrade to do for people's own updates. I must work out how to make changes to maps like this as I often come across speed limits that are wrong, not just temporary but where the local council has changed them. Around this part of Kent it is an epidemic. Once that was over I checked the routes by clicking on My Routes on the unit. None.  Not one. Whaaat? A moment of panic and a few choice words and I did the IT Crowd favourite of re-booting.  Et voila! My Routes are all there including the pre-loaded European routes of interest that came with the unit. I wanted to m...

Attached the 410 to the laptop tonight and it needed to do a Europe Map update, This apparently caused by the new out of town speed limit introduced across France that sees the limit reduced from 90kph to 80kph. As far as I have read this is actually only a trial period.  Let's hope France and her people see sense.

I charged the Cardo Teamset, or at least the rider unit. Oddly it is sticky and covered in fluff! A bit of soap on toilet paper and I managed to clean most of it off. I went out for a short, 52 mile, run around East Kent and wore my Shoei instead of the LS2. The LS2 has plumbed in Bluetooth to pick up the TomTom but the Shoei needs the Cardo tacked on the side. In the end I left the TomTom at home so will need to get it set up in the next week or so. It will need pairing with the 410 and that should be all. After all these years it looks as though the plastic case is starting to crack. A solution I have been told is clear nail varnish. I expect colour to work as well. posted from Bloggeroid

Finally got around to testing the "new" TomTom mounting kit onto Pepé. I've used it on a few trips away in the car and to Spain recently and Florida even and used the hire cars there with no problems. The new kit includes a locking bracket to the handlebars and one to lock the 410 itself to the bracket. It will stop the casual passer-by scumbag thief but the determined thief will get it. It will save me unshipping it at petrol stops and slipping it in my pocket. I had fitted a Bosch type plug on the end when it first arrived, but didn't test it. I have "sealed" it with my usual foot of insulating tape wrapped tightly so seal the plug where the wire goes in. The same has worked for a long time on the older model. The 410 doesn't seem to have a battery charging icon on the front page but as a test I took the plug out of the socket. Sliding the unit in had no effect. Popped the plug in and it powered on. The same as it does in the car. I need...

I connected the TomTom for the first time in a few months and it said there were three updates to install. Two of them were map sets, Europe v10.05 and USA v10.05 plus the little fixes that are the community fixes. I let it download all of them and that came to about 12gb. That bit took about an hour with a few hiccups with the internet dropping out.  And then it seems to have ground to a halt.  At 100% download it sat for over an hour "checking". In the end I stopped it and started it again and it started to do the updates. This time I was able to untick the USA maps update as they aren't going to be needed this year. The update of just Europe and the fixes came up to take about an hour. Then it came up to say there were two updates, another community jobbie and the USA still outstanding from the earlier run through. I ticked that as well and it took another hour, at least it had the USA maps already downloaded. So after abo...

The combination of the "nothing wrong with it" returned from Netherlands 410 and the new car mount means that whilst connected to one of the car's power points the unit is now charging on the go. On the trip to France we had only one problem where it turned off and wouldn't restart for a few minutes and when it did it thought the route it was following was to take us home.  Home at that time was 560 miles away. Once re-programmed to where we actually going, some 5 miles away, it was fine. The only fly in the ointment is that the live connection using Bluetooth tethering from my phone to the unit didn't work.  I logged a call with TomTom and with 3UK and it turns out that 3UK blocked it.  3UK being my mobile phone "partner".   3UK operate a "feel at home" system where whatever you pay for in the UK, data and talk time ( I have unlimited of both & sms) works for no extra charge whilst roaming. But, they block tethering. I guess that stops peo...

The TomTom came back from its trip to Holland and back.  The new car mount arrived. And... Success.  We have charging in the car.  Hopefully the trip to the Dordogne will be accomplished without getting the Urban Rider out of the bag.

Og sagaen fortsetter!!! The saga continues! With Hella plus in one hand and screwdriver in the other is fixed the power lead to the plug, ensuring a clean and tight connection. Then out to the garage.  Plug in the bike's power socket.  I didn't fix the ram mount on the bike, preferring to lay it in the seat.  Sliding the 410 into the cradle I had a brief feeling that all would be good. That lasted less than a second as the half charged 410 showed the battery icon but it was missing the lightning bolt to show it was charging.  A few moments of the air turning blue later I plugged in the Urban Rider's power lead,  Instantly the UR slid into its cradle it switched itself on as the power surged through it. So not the power socket then! As the 410 won't charge using the car cradle the obvious conclusion is that it it the charging system in the unit itself from the pins on the back that connect via the different cradles. I updated the call on TomT...

A miserable story here. Ever since it arrived I have been trying to get it up and running. On the face of it the new software that was supposed to be a step forward seems in fact two steps backwards. Most of the best functions from the older systems have been lost,  but modern app like functions such as web connections through a mobile phone are better. Linked to an app on the phone it should mean sending a route to the unit is simpler and does away with having to connect to a computer. So far so good. Sadly the reality is not as good. The new software doesn't handle waypoints like older TomToms and even my ancient Garmin.  You can add stops though. When connected to a computer it shows up as a drive but unlike the older generation it can't be browsed. I spent hours today and all seemed good. I got the route set, and even amended it slightly on the unit itself. Then I fitted the cradle and Ram mounts to Pepe and put the unit on and.... it failed. N...

Tried one of the new themes provided by Blogger. MISTAKE!  Not very nice looking and I lost a lot of my gadgets. Trying to put it back was quite easy so nothing lost in the end. Aaaaarrgghh.