Hardware, battery life and capacity on different TomTom models question

[chengbin]

I thought most of the TomTom units (except the ONE series) use the same hardware (CPU, RAM, etc wise). Why is it that the TomTom x20 and later units, with their 1300mAh batteries, lasts 5 hours where the x10 units, with a 2300mAh battery, lasts only 4 hours? Even with newer hardware, I don't expect it to reduce power consumption by half, since I believe the screen uses the most power by far.

 

[doctormstein1]

I thought most of the TomTom units (except the ONE series) use the same hardware (CPU, RAM, etc wise). Why is it that the TomTom x20 and later units, with their 1300mAh batteries, lasts 5 hours where the x10 units, with a 2300mAh battery, lasts only 4 hours? Even with newer hardware, I don't expect it to reduce power consumption by half, since I believe the screen uses the most power by far.

Just a partial response. I know that the 920 new would never get more then 1 1/2 of battery life Expecially when you want max brightness and don't use any battery saving features . Their is no way it could ever get anything near the 5 hours it advertizes. The 910 units have a much larger area for batteries and you would get closer to the 2 hour mark. But this is just my opinion.

 

[chengbin]

I'm doing a battery test right now on my 710, on 80% brightness and no battery life saving features. It has been 2 and a half hours and the battery is still at 60-70%.

 

[dhn]

You know all those EPA ratings of gas mileage for an auto? In a real-world situation, those numbers are rarely, if ever, obtained.

Same with TT's claim of 'up to' 5 hours battery life on the x20 and x30 models. Ain't gonna happen. More like half the time when the battery is new.... Over time, that value drops to next to nothing.

My 720's (2.5 yr old unit) battery won't last 10 minutes now.

 

[doctormstein1]

You know all those EPA ratings of gas mileage for an auto? In a real-world situation, those numbers are rarely, if ever, obtained.

Same with TT's claim of 'up to' 5 hours battery life on the x20 and x30 models. Ain't gonna happen. More like half the time when the battery is new.... Over time, that value drops to next to nothing.

My 720's (2.5 yr old unit) battery won't last 10 minutes now.

I know, my 920 is down to about 8 minuits after 2 years.

 

[chengbin]

I have a 710 that is at least one year old. I got this refurb from TomTom a year ago because I stupidly plugged in my portable DVD player's adapter into my 510 and burned it, and don't know how long it was a refurb before I got it as replacement.

I just finished my battery test, and it lasted 5 hours 28 minutes at 80% brightness with no battery saving measures.

I'm shocked and worried about this battery life for the newer models. This has really turned me off on buying another TomTom. I can't believe it is that bad.

 

[dhn]

The x10 models have a thicker profile than the thinner Go models; consequently, TT used thinner batteries in the latter model. With less ohm capacity.

 

[chengbin]

I guess I didn't waste my $500 on this.

[snip...]

 

[mvl]

See the announcement about discussing pirated software at the top of this forum. I edited out your last paragraph.

In general, the newer Tomtoms are only good for short trips unplugged from a computer. Tomtom figured portability (small, lightweight) was more valuable to consumers than a long battery life. So they shrunk the batteries in newer models.

 

[Arno]

You know all those EPA ratings of gas mileage for an auto? In a real-world situation, those numbers are rarely, if ever, obtained.

Same with TT's claim of 'up to' 5 hours battery life on the x20 and x30 models. Ain't gonna happen. More like half the time when the battery is new.... Over time, that value drops to next to nothing.

My 720's (2.5 yr old unit) battery won't last 10 minutes now.

I run a battery shut down test on my twenty months old 930 today. Don't know how representative as it was sitting on my desk, not giving directions and reading street names. On the other hand, no battery saving features were enabled.
The battery indicator started of at 3/5 yellow. After 9 min 10 sec the full brightness switched to a reduced setting. At 12 min the battery indicator switched to a blinking 2/5 red signal. At 22 min it switched to 1/5 red with a higher frequency of blinking. At 55 min 58 sec the battery warning screen came on and I switched off the unit.


A weird observation with the satellite indication. I constantly alternated between 4 and 7 satellites. Usually at this location, if I enter destination it tells me that the Battery signal was lost X minutes ago.
This time, whenever it showed 6 or 7 satellites it would soon after switch to a flashing EPT. It never switched to EPT when it was down to 5 or 4 satellites.

 

[sageuvagony]

You know all those EPA ratings of gas mileage for an auto? In a real-world situation, those numbers are rarely, if ever, obtained.

Same with TT's claim of 'up to' 5 hours battery life on the x20 and x30 models. Ain't gonna happen. More like half the time when the battery is new.... Over time, that value drops to next to nothing.

My 720's (2.5 yr old unit) battery won't last 10 minutes now.

I JUST installed a brand new battery about 2 hours ago on my 720. The dying battery barely got 3 to 5 minutes. I'll post back what my battery times are for 3 separate fully charge and discharge sessions. Gonna make sure I condition this baby good! I bought this 720 refurbished so the battery that came with it was probably used anyways. I never got to experience what a brand new battery felt like. Now I will


Man, I should have video recorded how fast my old battery went from fully charged to blinking red as soon as I unplugged it on the battery bar!

The weird thing though is that, the TomTom literally sat on the USB dock for a few months straight, always charging (well the green light ALWAYS stayed on since my computer still sends USB power even though I shut it down completely) and after doing that, is when my battery went from lasting normally 40 min, to less then 10, then now 2. I guess constant trickle charging killed it?