Alrighty,
so these past two weekends have been crucial for my little ONE as it finally got a chance to prove itself elsewhere other than my local area (of which I've already found many errors). Here is my report...
Last weekend:
I went up to the hills east of here to some remote location with my friend to look for fossils. This meant navigating to the junction where we would then branch off to the road that would take us deep into the mountain. Getting there was uneventful and the ONE succeeded. Once I got to the junction, I turned on Tripmaster and Offroad Navigator. I wanted Tripmaster to log our route and Offroad Navigator to guide us to the point where the fossils were to be found. I didn't try the version that allowed maps to be uploaded. Fortunately, my friend brought a Garmin handheld (not car navigation) that had the logging roads. TomTom only had coveraged up til where the paved road ends so it wasn't too helpful for anything past that point. Also Google Earth covered 90% of our route so it was interesting to see the Garmin at work which had the entire logging road mapped.
Anyway, the altitude reading of Offroad Navigator was useful. When we got as close as we could with the vehicle and started walking, it was nice to see that both TT and Garmin agreed with regards to direction and the distance to the site.
Back home, I loaded the itinerary and viewed it on Google Earth. It was perfect.
Verdict? The ONE was great on that trip and a BIG BIG BIG thanks to Roussillat for Tripmaster and Offroad Navigator!
P.S. one more thing. The ONE windshield mount survived the pothole-ridden gravel road and the crawling over ditches. It didn't drop once during the trip.
This weekend:
Went down to the States (as far as Bellevue). The ONE had no issues locating Bellevue Square and the outlet stores (except Seattle Premium Outlets as I've mentioned before). I encountered one error in Bellevue. It wanted me to turn left out of Bellevue Square which was impossible for two reasons - there was a centre divider and there were 5 lanes to cross. It also helped us beat the border lineup by allowing me to view the map and then plotting an alternate route. Finding a local Toyota dealer wasn't an issue either.
A few issues (might be to do with TomTom's algorithm) is that on numerous occasions, it would tell me to "Take the exit left" when there was an exit to the right and the highway curves slightly to the left roughly where the exit ramp is. I'm guessing then the unit assumes that if the road curves > than x? then assume it's an exit or something. TomTom can fix that, I hope. It also does it when the highway is straight and the exit ramp isn't a distinctive curve away from the highway. In that case, it would say "Go straight on".
So, the navigating part was good (I'm still using 660.1215).
Now the bad (ish) part. Traffic. I decided to use it since it was a long weekend (for Canada anyway and whoever in the US who decides to celebrate early). Traffic in the morning was clear so it showed no incidents on the route to Bellevue. So given that TT Traffic was right, I trusted it on the way back. However, there were two bits of I-5 that had moderate traffic and speeds were reduced to about 40-50mph instead of 60-70mph. (One of them was b/c everyone slowed down to see a burned down trailer and the poor guy talking to police). Now I don't know what the requirements for the colours are at TT Traffic but I'd expect to see an orange/amber part over those two areas of the I-5.
Otherwise, the ONE pulled through for us again.
so these past two weekends have been crucial for my little ONE as it finally got a chance to prove itself elsewhere other than my local area (of which I've already found many errors). Here is my report...
Last weekend:
I went up to the hills east of here to some remote location with my friend to look for fossils. This meant navigating to the junction where we would then branch off to the road that would take us deep into the mountain. Getting there was uneventful and the ONE succeeded. Once I got to the junction, I turned on Tripmaster and Offroad Navigator. I wanted Tripmaster to log our route and Offroad Navigator to guide us to the point where the fossils were to be found. I didn't try the version that allowed maps to be uploaded. Fortunately, my friend brought a Garmin handheld (not car navigation) that had the logging roads. TomTom only had coveraged up til where the paved road ends so it wasn't too helpful for anything past that point. Also Google Earth covered 90% of our route so it was interesting to see the Garmin at work which had the entire logging road mapped.
Anyway, the altitude reading of Offroad Navigator was useful. When we got as close as we could with the vehicle and started walking, it was nice to see that both TT and Garmin agreed with regards to direction and the distance to the site.
Back home, I loaded the itinerary and viewed it on Google Earth. It was perfect.
Verdict? The ONE was great on that trip and a BIG BIG BIG thanks to Roussillat for Tripmaster and Offroad Navigator!
P.S. one more thing. The ONE windshield mount survived the pothole-ridden gravel road and the crawling over ditches. It didn't drop once during the trip.
This weekend:
Went down to the States (as far as Bellevue). The ONE had no issues locating Bellevue Square and the outlet stores (except Seattle Premium Outlets as I've mentioned before). I encountered one error in Bellevue. It wanted me to turn left out of Bellevue Square which was impossible for two reasons - there was a centre divider and there were 5 lanes to cross. It also helped us beat the border lineup by allowing me to view the map and then plotting an alternate route. Finding a local Toyota dealer wasn't an issue either.
A few issues (might be to do with TomTom's algorithm) is that on numerous occasions, it would tell me to "Take the exit left" when there was an exit to the right and the highway curves slightly to the left roughly where the exit ramp is. I'm guessing then the unit assumes that if the road curves > than x? then assume it's an exit or something. TomTom can fix that, I hope. It also does it when the highway is straight and the exit ramp isn't a distinctive curve away from the highway. In that case, it would say "Go straight on".
So, the navigating part was good (I'm still using 660.1215).
Now the bad (ish) part. Traffic. I decided to use it since it was a long weekend (for Canada anyway and whoever in the US who decides to celebrate early). Traffic in the morning was clear so it showed no incidents on the route to Bellevue. So given that TT Traffic was right, I trusted it on the way back. However, there were two bits of I-5 that had moderate traffic and speeds were reduced to about 40-50mph instead of 60-70mph. (One of them was b/c everyone slowed down to see a burned down trailer and the poor guy talking to police). Now I don't know what the requirements for the colours are at TT Traffic but I'd expect to see an orange/amber part over those two areas of the I-5.
Otherwise, the ONE pulled through for us again.
