How to turn off TomTom instead of "sleep"

[DrBunsen]

I purchased a TomTom ONE about a year ago and seldom use it since I really only need a GPS every month or two. But I was almost immediately dissatisfied with my purchase due to how the battery would run down within a few days. For those that use a GPS daily or almost daily, the sleep mode that the TomTom uses is a good thing, but for someone like me it's not. What I want is a GPS that I can turn on, get some quick guidance and turn it off again. I don't want to hassle with hooking up power for such short usage. Therefore, my TomTom has barely been used because of the power requirements.

I finally researched the issue a few days ago and found the explanation in these forums about how TomToms really only go to sleep instead of turning off. In playing with mine a bit more I think I found how to force it to be "off" instead of in sleep mode, and I didn't see anyone else here in the forums mention it. After a week the battery meter still shows full, even though I did a few test on/off cycles to see how the battery was holding up.

Here's the sequence that I used. If you are a casual GPS user like me, then try it out and post your results here so that we can get the word out to other users like us.

1) After turning on the GPS, turn it off by holding the power button until it tries to come back on again (about 15 seconds).
2) Immediately repress the button again until you get to the text-only information screen.
3) Press the power button again until it turns off (about 15 seconds).

My guesses at what is happening is that the first step forces a reboot of the OS. The 2nd step interrupts the boot to give the information screen so the unit isn't fully booted, and therefore won't go to sleep. The 3rd step turns it off.

The first time I saw the text-only information screen the entry for "Startup Mode" was "Sleep". When I follow this routine the entry is "Power down". And, yeah, it takes longer to boot from power down than from sleep, but that's OK for how I use it. If I were using it daily (e.g. on a trip) I'd let it sleep.

I'm hoping that this will result in a TomTom that I can store in my car and use once a month or so without having to hook up power every single time, in which case I'll be a happy camper. Then again, it could be that the battery won't hold a charge that long anyway, in which case I may just get a different brand of GPS.

It would be nice if there was an option for sleep and off. Like a short power-button press for sleep and long for power-off.


Bunsen

 

[mikealder]

Good spot, I have seen the same behavour on some of my devices but never really made the connection that doing this put the device to sleep but you are correct it will do as it never gets a chance to load the Navcore software to the device.

Just one minor change to your instructions above though, press and hold the on/ off button until the device reboots with the sound of the drum roll, keep the button pressed until the black screen with white writing appears, DO NOT RELEASE the On/ Off button until your device shows the black screen with white text, only at this point should you release the power switch before pressing it once more to de-power the device.

How to turn off the newer devices with the combined on/ orr/ reset switch is a question we see quite often on various forums, at long last we have an answer - Mike

 

[eldorado]

Just one minor change to your instructions above though, press and hold the on/ off button until the device reboots with the sound of the drum roll, keep the button pressed until the black screen with white writing appears, DO NOT RELEASE the On/ Off button until your device shows the black screen with white text, only at this point should you release the power switch before pressing it once more to de-power the device.
Well I tried this on my 3 yr old TT One XL and it did seem to shut down as mentioned, only did not get the white text on a black screen, the screen just stayed black, I held the on an off down for about 15+ seconds, then when I tried to reboot the TT I had to hold the button for awhile until I got the drum roll, so maybe this will work, I'm going to try that tonite and leave the TT set for a day or so and then check the battery to see what charge I still have (it's almost full at this time). Thanks for the info and will report back with my info............