Routes, .itn, POIs - available in any current models?

[FoweyBoy]

I am confused! Tom Tom website does not provide sufficient specification information. Discussions on here mention inability to have routes of more than 4 waypoints with Go 5000/6000. Cannot load custom POIs either. To begin with could not input Lat/Long.

Do any of the currently available models allow routes with more than say 20 waypoints and .itn files, have Lat/Long input, and allow custom POIs to be loaded? I go motorhoming and these features are essential. My 10 year old One 2nd Edition does all this, but no lane guidance or lifetime maps which I would like. What about the Start models?

To allow for updates of larger full European maps I need 4GB minimum internal memory and an SD slot.

Any suggestions?

 

[canderson]

Nope, not a single one (except for the special Rider model for bikes) supports an *.itn file. Sadly, that's been the case for both the previous and new 'generation' of TomTom units (anything using MyDrive instead of Home as an PC interface).

That said, some things have improved, and more will. The current crop of 'Nav4' units (including 5000/6000) have supported input with lat/long for a while now, and rest assured that they're working on a custom POI solution. Although not as convenient as *.itn, it's possible to keep things sequenced within a custom POI to work around the lack of *.itn, and that's what we've been recommending to the prior generation users.

All of the newer units start at 8GB internal, and all support external uSD cards as well.

 

[FoweyBoy]

Many thanks for your informative reply. Can you explain "sequenced POIs" please. Do you mean you have to save a series of custom POIs input manually into a route as "waypoints"? Sounds complicated and tedious, and presumably you still cannot save the route!
It looks like Copilot on a 7inch tablet for me then! Trialled it recently and found route planning and saving very easy. My old Tom Tom One audio instructions were better, hence would buy Tom Tom IF they had the features I need.

 

[canderson]

No, it can all be done with one POI.

When using a tool like TYRE (or anything else, for that matter), you can build the names of all of your waypoints such that they are 'named' sequentially. So if you were to name them "01 Stop here first" and "02 Stop here next" and "03 then stop here", when you bring up your custom POI, you will see your preferred order since each is sequentially numbered, making them easier to find. If you can keep track of what number you were on, you can keep selecting them sequentially, and even making small routes with a few of them at a time if you like. So it is certainly nothing elegant, but it works. From a functional standpoint, when you bring up your POI list (when we finally get them) they will be sorted in distance order, not like MyPlaces favorites that show up in alpha order, but since the next point on your route should typically be one of the nearest to your current location, that won't be a problem.

This is what we've been doing ever since the 'Nav3' units were released back in 2010.

 

[FoweyBoy]

Thanks again for your reply. Now I understand. I had not come across TYRE before, but a Google search got me to the website. I have used "itnconverter" on my PC . TYRE looks interesting.

Do we have any recent information from Tom Tom as to when importing custom POIs will be available for the current Tom Toms? Even with the ability to import a list of sequencial POIs "route" length is limited to just 4 "waypoints" - I think.

When in France, for example, I make up routes of 10s of waypoints keeping me off toll roads, except where I want to use them around cities. I save these routes for future trips. I will not be buying a new Tom Tom without this feature! As well as Copilot I am going to have to look at Garmin! On the Motorhome Facts Forum many members have reached the same conclusion. Paying £300+ for the Tom Tom Camper version is not value for money, just for camping POIs that are available free and the option to input vehicle dimensions that seem to have little impact on the routes calculated. I assume the Camper version is also a Nav3 or 4 unit and can't do routes or import POIs.

I know its been said many times, but Tom Tom have lost their way.

 

[canderson]

Given the conversations this last fall on their own site, and the fact that they were actively soliciting testers for a while, I would think we'll see this feature for the Q1 2015 code release, so about 90 days after this next one coming up.