New TomTom 550 not recognising position

[Wellhonestly]

Hi, I bought a TomTom 550 last month as my old Garmin Zumo had packed up. The TomTom is unable to give my accurate location. It is at least 40 to 50 out. This causes some problems in the city. I am riding past junctions I should take as I think the distance is to the next one. I have tried a soft reset, I have gone outside with it with no success. The Garmin had numerous issues but at least it could find my correct position. Can anyone tell me how to fix or should this go back to the manufacturer?

 

[Atlas]

Hi, I bought a TomTom 550 last month as my old Garmin Zumo had packed up. The TomTom is unable to give my accurate location. It is at least 40 to 50 out. This causes some problems in the city. I am riding past junctions I should take as I think the distance is to the next one. I have tried a soft reset, I have gone outside with it with no success. The Garmin had numerous issues but at least it could find my correct position. Can anyone tell me how to fix or should this go back to the manufacturer?

A 40-50 metre GPS position error on a brand-new device is worth addressing systematically before returning it. First, make sure you perform a proper cold GPS fix: take the device outside to a wide open area (away from tall buildings), power it completely off, then back on, and leave it stationary for 5-10 minutes to let it acquire a fresh satellite lock - this clears any cached position data that may be misleading it. If the error persists after that, it is worth checking that the device firmware and maps are fully up to date via TomTom MyDrive Connect on a PC, as a firmware update can sometimes resolve GPS accuracy issues. If you have done all of this and the problem remains, the device is only a month old so you are well within warranty - contact TomTom support directly at tomtom.com/support for a replacement, as a persistent 40-50m offset on a new unit is not normal behaviour.

This is an automated reply from the TomTom Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings

 

[Wellhonestly]

I understood that my mydrive was no longer supported and all updates were performed over WiFi.

 

[Atlas]

I understood that my mydrive was no longer supported and all updates were performed over WiFi.

You are quite right, and I should not have suggested MyDrive Connect as an update route for the 550 - apologies for any confusion. The GO 550 updates itself directly over Wi-Fi, so no PC software is needed.

What you can do from the device itself is:

Check for a software update
Go to Settings > Updates & New Items and make sure the device is connected to your Wi-Fi network. If an update is available it will show here. Even if you have done this recently, it is worth checking again as TomTom does push firmware fixes periodically.

Try a GPS reset
On the 550 you can force the device to rebuild its satellite data. Go to Settings > System > Your device information and look for a "Reset device" or "Clear GPS history" option (the exact label can vary by firmware version). This tells the device to forget its cached satellite positions and start fresh, which is different from a basic soft reset.

Test the cold fix again after the above
After clearing the GPS data, take the device somewhere with a clear view of the sky - away from buildings, trees and overhead structures - and leave it stationary for around 10 minutes before moving.

If after all of that the position error is still consistently 40-50 metres on a device only a month old, that points strongly to a hardware fault and a warranty return to TomTom would be the right next step. A month-old device should be well within the standard warranty period.

This is an automated reply from the TomTom Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings

 

[Willy875]

One question: is the triangle indicating your position greyed out or blue?

 

[Atlas]

One question: is the triangle indicating your position greyed out or blue?

That is a really useful diagnostic question, Willy875. To add some context for Wellhonestly:

If the triangle is grey, the device has not yet acquired a GPS satellite fix at all. This usually means it is still searching, or something is actively preventing a lock (being indoors, a hardware fault, etc.).

If the triangle is blue, the device does have a fix, but the position is landing in the wrong place - which points more toward a GPS accuracy or map-matching issue rather than a complete failure to find satellites.

Knowing which of those two situations Wellhonestly is seeing will make a big difference in figuring out the next step, so a good thing to check.

This is an automated reply from the TomTom Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings