740Live - have still never seen traffic bar

[edge83]

Hi all

I have the TomTom GO 740 Live, after being told by a rep on the phone that it has lifetime traffic.

I've had it probably close to a year now, and have never once seen the traffic bar when it's connected to my car charger. The device has also never once been able to connect to 'live services' - it will just sit there, even for over an hour.

Everything registers correctly when connected to my CPU and the my tomtom program-

Naturally i've gone to tomtom support with this a few times but just get standard responses saying "you will see a traffic bar when you plug the device into the car charger," despite the topic and subject of my request being that i've never once seen a traffic bar or been able to access any traffic features.

It is supposedly to be lifetime and not relevant to my live service subscription, which I've never had or used.

Thanks much for any ideas on what to do!

 

[Andy_P]

Firstly, a normal Go740 DOESN'T have lifetime Traffic, so unless you were sold a special deal then you were misinformed.

Secondly, you really shouldn't have let it go a whole year before throwing the unit back at whoever you bought it from as unfit for purpose.

I'm confused when you say you have connected it to the MyTomTom program, as that model uses the older "Home 2" utility for management , not MyTomTom which is only for the new Go1000/1005 (and 2000 models in the US) and Via models so far.

Also, as HD Traffic is an integral part of the LIVE Services package, you cannot have one without the other.

One final thought... they didn't sell it to you with an RDS-TMC accessory receiver, which would give you the lower quality version of "Traffic"?

As for what to do... it's too late to take it back to the shop, but I think you need to insist that TomTom take the device back for investigation.

 

[mvl]

Andy, I checked the edge83's location and it is USA.

In the USA, there are two flavors of the 740:
- GO 740 LIVE
- GO 740TM LIVE

The GO 740 LIVE only permits paid LIVE traffic, and is not lifetime.

The GO 740TM LIVE gives you two options for traffic, you can pay for higher quality LIVE traffic, or you can use the included RDS-TMC antenna to get lifetime (but lower quality) antenna traffic.

edge83, if you have lifetime traffic, your power cord should have a black egg-shaped ball about a foot from the USB plug. Does it have the ball?

 

[Andy_P]

Gah! Beaten by the US model differences again!

But at least I was on the right lines with the TMC receiver!

 

[Rick F.]

edge83, if you have lifetime traffic, your power cord should have a black egg-shaped ball about a foot from the USB plug. Does it have the ball?

It should look like this:

 

[edge83]

Firstly, a normal Go740 DOESN'T have lifetime Traffic, so unless you were sold a special deal then you were misinformed.

Secondly, you really shouldn't have let it go a whole year before throwing the unit back at whoever you bought it from as unfit for purpose.

Hmm, thanks guys for the clarification on different LIVE models..

Also, my car charger does not look like the one specified- so that's very good to know!

I've sent my system info etc over to the Tomtom support folks, and they have said in their responses explicitly that I should have some version of traffic (even if not the live features) just by plugging it into the car charger, so I'm guessing I have the right model, but my charger does not look like the one you said so I will investigate.

For the record, I'm not trying to throw this back at anyone and I bought this new! The phone rep I was referring to was TomTom itself. I sold my 9<something>T and bought this because they stopped supporting on traffic on that model, which is turning out to be a fairly stupid move as I obviously either have the wrong model or don't get traffic with this one. It just hasn't been a huge priority for me and I keep letting it slide, almost forgetting about it until a situation comes up where I say 'man, i wish my traffic worked'

Still interesting that the support folks are saying I should have traffic so I will check it out some more. Thanks

 

[mvl]

If you received the wrong cord in the box, and have a receipt showing you purchased a GO 740TM LIVE, you should be able to tell Tomtom to warranty replace your bad cord for a proper one.

 

[canderson]

If you received the wrong cord in the box, and have a receipt showing you purchased a GO 740TM LIVE, you should be able to tell Tomtom to warranty replace your bad cord for a proper one.

Actually, a 740 Live TM comes with BOTH a non-RDS cord and an RDS cord. If the OP has the TM, it's possible that the he pulled out only one of them, and doesn't realize that the other one is different.

 

[carioca1000]

TT 740 and the RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver USB

Greetings from Brazil!

It seems TomTom Brazil is finally introducing TMC Traffic Alerts, but announcing first with the Traffic Receiver on a XL 335.

I have a GO 740 LIVE and not a GO 740TM LIVE.

If so, will my TT GO 740 LIVE work with the RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver USB?

Do the TT 740 and the RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver USB work together with a car charger?

I read this on the TT UK link here:

"... By simply connecting the RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver to your TomTom device and the car charger, you will automatically receive traffic information via the TMC connection ... Compatible ... GO 740 LIVE ...".

On the RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver User Guide here it says nothing about connecting it to a car charger.

Many thanks in advance for your attention and patience.

Regards,

Felipe

 

[dhn]

Welcome to TTF.

If you are referring to the combination car charger/rds-tmc antenna where there is a plastic 'egg' about an inch from the end, then I think it should pick up the fm signal in your country.

I know it works on a 540 when in both North america or in Europe.

 

[carioca1000]

dhn,

Thank you very much.

I fear that without connecting both (740 and TMC receiver) to a car charger, the 740 battery will discharge very fast.

My GO 740 was bought in Britain and will have to wait if TT Brazil enables it to other devices, because the TMC service information source "Indica" used by TT Brazil is private, not public.

Regards,

Felipe

 

[carioca1000]

I was googling around and found this image on Amazon UK:

Several owners commented that the USB RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver will not work if it is not fed with this charging cable.

Does it charge the TT Device too?

 

[dhn]

That model will not work as far as I know.

This is the one I was referring to.

 

[carioca1000]

dhn,

Perfect: you are right!

Thank you very very much.

Regards,

Felipe

That model will not work as far as I know.

This is the one I was referring to.

 

[carioca1000]

A pity that outside eBay I can not buy it from Brazil.

TomTom USA and Canada did not accept my register with address in Brazil and Amazon.com does not sell it.

Is there another source?