Is TomTom actually going backwards?

[Gary Finnigan]

I had a 720 for some time and upgraded to a Start 20 prior to coming to Europe. The maps may well be more up to date (although they weren't but that's another story) but the device is a step backward. You have to tap, tap, tap much more than I used to for most things. It still routes badly, as badly as the 720 and the only positive I can give it is that it seems to find satellites quicker.
Does anyone else think TomTom is going backwards in their development?

 

[Arno]

Does anyone else think TomTom is going backwards in their development?

A large group of users seem to think so.

 

[redrock3]

TT had some great units with the 910, 720-730, 920, 930 and Xl, XXL. But IMHO it is no longer competitive in the consumer realm in terms of price, performance, or value. It takes hours to update a map and I can do that on the competition in 20 minutes or less. It continues to frustrate consumers by linking lifetime maps to an email address rather than the unit's ID number, as Garmin does. The entire Via series is so problematic, it is largely avoided. Consumers are required to "log-in" to My Drive for even the most mundane updates such as the GPS quick fix. These are just my opinions and there are features I still like about TT, but I do not see them being much of a future player in the US consumer market unless there is something dramatic in the product pipeline.

 

[MJG]

Well. I would not say it is going backwards. It is going downwards, and quickly. First it stalled slightly, but now it is tailspinning and the ground is approaching.

After buying several TomTom devices, I have decided to give up with the company. My latest purchase, the Via125, is still missing some of the features I have paid. It is giving false voice guidance. The voice guidance is rubbish in case of bilingual destinations. The voice guidance dies on certain routes: no indication, the device just mutes.

The most severe failure, however, is a highly incorrect routing on the road network of the Northern Europe having a lot of gravel roads. The route calculator has a speed default of 10 kph for the public gravel roads, which is just ridiculous. This leads to crazy route selections, and making the device useless.

For example, for the route between Risbäck and Lövnäs,Vilhelmina, TomTom proposes the tarmac route of 175 kilometers while Google Maps and others show a route of 50 kilometers, partly over a gravel road.

What is still more interesting, the private gravel roads default to 30 kph. Therefore, while driving on a good public gravel road (usable speed often 60-70 kph), the device constantly instructs to take bad or even impassable routes.

I have reported this to TomTom, but the company says it is not a bug, it is a feature, the device works as planned. I even wrote a letter to the CEO of the company, with several examples. No response. What an arrogance.

 

[HenryCase]

Their support services, documentation, etc are all much worse. Upgrades seem to get buggier every year.