740 LIVE mount moved, now loose

[Michael Quinlan]

A year after buying my 740 LIVE, and 7 months + after last placing the mount on the windshield of my van, I removed it for use in another vehicle. The suction cup now figuratively sucks. Turning the locking ring retracts the cup toward the base, but never actually causes any change in the shape of the cup - as observed by rotating the locking ring without the mount against the windshield.

Is there any fix for this? I'm leaving on a trip in the morning (about 12 hours from now) so a replacement (from TomTom?) might be in order, but won't address my current need.

 

[dhn]

Perhaps a hair dryer blowing on it?

 

[grwebster]

Hmmmmm Sounds like the cup has been pulled off the base some, or the cup has hardened. This kind of thing happend to my last GPS unit. Can you push in down in the holder at all. It sounds as if the cup is staying in it's distorted shape and just rising out of the support when you release it. Perhaps if you push hard on it while attaching it might help?

 

[Michael Quinlan]

...It sounds as if the cup is staying in it's distorted shape and just rising out of the support when you release it. Perhaps if you push hard on it while attaching it might help?

It appears that the cup is in fact maintaining its distorted shape. With the locking ring released, the perimeter of the cup sites about 4mm from the base,. Rotating the locking ring retracts the cup into the base to the point where the perimeter begins to touch the base - causing no additional distortion of the cup and therefore creating no suction.

What I did as a 3:00am solution was to cut out two cardboard donuts, each about 1mm thick, cutting through the donut at one point to allow the cardboard to be placed between the back of the suction cup and the base of the mount. Now when the suction cup retracts, the perimeter stops retracting 2mm sooner than the center of the cup. Although the base fell off the bean bag dash base several times on the first leg of our trip, the return trip was a success, and upon arriving at home I was actually able to pick up the bean bag base by holding the suction cup mount, and could not shake it loose.

It should be noted that this will cause further distortion of the cup, making the problem more difficult to correct over time.

Since I'm still within my 1 year warranty, I'm going to call TomTom and see if they can will send me a replacement.

@dhn: I may try some hot water to soften the cup. I thought of the hair dryer but was afraid it would dry out the material and lead to cracking.

 

[Michael Quinlan]

Just a quick follow-up...

I called TomTom support today and they are replacing the mount, no questions asked, other than providing proof of purchase, which I had already done for the latest map guarantee.

 

[dhn]

Glad to hear the problem is resolved, Michael.

 

[grwebster]

Nice to hear a good support story for a change! I don't leave my cup attached anywhere for too long.

 

[Michael Quinlan]

What seemed like an smoothly handled support issue has gone awry. TomTom sent me a mount for a ONE 130 - a suction cup with a plastic ring attached. While the call to get this corrected went just as smoothly, I'm reserving judgment until I actually get the right mount in my hands.