TomTom 1 3rd Edition..... My GPS is Lost!

[timb]

Hello all,

I just purchased a TomTom One, 3rd edition. My last GPS was a Garmin V, so I love the interface, GUI, speed, routing, and all that..... The only problem I'm having (and to me, it's a big one), is that the device is constantly thinking that it has gone off the road that I'm on. In some cases, it will be just off the road, but in other cases, it will place me on a road 1-2 blocks to the left or right. Of course, it will then try to re-route back to the destination, get lost again, repeat.....

I took a trip from New York City to Philadelphia, and I saw this behavior frequently the entire trip. It was worse in city areas with closely packed roads.

When I unpacked the GPS, I flashed the firmware to v7.162, which I think is the most recent. I did not upgrade the maps, as they appear to be at the latest level (v710.1575).

Any suggestions?

Thanks..... Tim

 

[sgoldste01]

Hmm, the only time I've seen anything remotely like this is when two roads are **extremely** near one another. For example, if the route wants me to stay on a highway, but I decide to get off the highway and I'm driving along the off-ramp that runs parallel and very close to the highway, then it takes a few seconds for the GPS to realize that I'm not on the highway anymore and am actually on the off-ramp.

But I've not seen anything as dramatic as what you're describing.

 

[racefan]

read around as there is a post here somewear as a guy just bought a 3rd edition from radio shack and ghas the exact problem and he got it fixed by changing something with the timeing of the distance or something like that.

 

[tomlouie]

In some cases, it will be just off the road, but in other cases, it will place me on a road 1-2 blocks to the left or right. Of course, it will then try to re-route back to the destination, get lost again, repeat.....

I took a trip from New York City to Philadelphia, and I saw this behavior frequently the entire trip. It was worse in city areas with closely packed roads.

This sounds like signal multipath problems if it's happening in urban areas, which is something all GPS receivers have to deal with, not just your unit.

What's happening is that the receiver is getting sat signals reflected from tall nearby buildings. The "bounced" signal makes the GPS think it's slightly off to the side.

What will help the problem is if the GPS has had a chance to get a lock on more satellites. The more sats that are locked on, the better the receiver can tell "bounced" signals from the real signals.

 

[timb]

This sounds like signal multipath problems if it's happening in urban areas, which is something all GPS receivers have to deal with, not just your unit.

What's happening is that the receiver is getting sat signals reflected from tall nearby buildings. The "bounced" signal makes the GPS think it's slightly off to the side.

What will help the problem is if the GPS has had a chance to get a lock on more satellites. The more sats that are locked on, the better the receiver can tell "bounced" signals from the real signals.

Hmmm... I could see this happening in urban areas, but, for example, I was alse seeing this happening quite frequently in suburban South Jersey. I will check the satellite strength status page when I see this again.

Thanks for the response.

Tim

 

[timb]

read around as there is a post here somewear as a guy just bought a 3rd edition from radio shack and ghas the exact problem and he got it fixed by changing something with the timeing of the distance or something like that.

racefan,

I searched for a while, but couldn't find this thread.... Do you have a date, or username I could use to narrow it down further? Thanks!!!

Tim

 

[racefan]

I will look around but I could not find it earlier for you. I did read it last night here somewere just not sure where.

 

[racefan]

Here it is . It seems to be the same issue

http://tomtomforums.com/showthread.php?t=6383

 

[timb]

Here it is . It seems to be the same issue

http://tomtomforums.com/showthread.php?t=6383

Thanks..... I had actually seen that, but the answer seemed so far-fetched I doubted it was what you were referring to. I'll give it try anyway.

Tim

 

[will]

Thanks..... I had actually seen that, but the answer seemed so far-fetched I doubted it was what you were referring to. I'll give it try anyway.

Tim

I had the exact same problem with my 920 today. I was driving from Pensacola, FL to Norfolk, VA. I was on open interstate, no tall buildings around me. It started as one of the routing problems where it would route you off the interstate only to get right back on it. Common sense prevailed and I ignored the TT, as I past the exit it wanted me to take, it tried to re-calculate the route and subsequently the TT got lost, thinking I was 300 yds or so north of the interstate (I was traveling east). It got into a kinda of re-routing loop as it would try to route me down every side street and nearby road it could trying to get me back to (presumable) that first exit I missed. This went on for about 15-20 miles and I was nearing my exit. Clearing the route didn't help, powering off and on didn't help. I had actually checked the GPS SAT lock and it looked normal with 6 or so locked. I stopped at a rest stop and turned it off for 10 minutes while I used the facilities. When I powered it back on the problem was fixed. I've switched GPS SAT settings from degrees to seconds as suggested in another post. I'm making the return trip this weekend so we will see how it goes.

BTW I saw the same problem...route off interstate back on interstate, get lost re-calculating problem about 3 more times during the trip but it fixed itself within a mile. It only got hopelessly lost that first time.

 

[will]

Well, I made the return trip yesterday, almost a thousand miles using I-85 from VA to FL. I was worried when I went through the heart of Atlanta but changing the GPS SAT settings to seconds apparently fixed all the problems. My TT never got lost once on this trip, it never even tried to route me off the interstate - back on the interstate. Overall the TT was pretty close to perfect on this last trip.