TomTom and an iMac

[wgb113]

So I picked up a TT 3E yesterday and am holding off on hooking it up until I find out about the new maps. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide if I should use it with my 1 year old iMac running Tiger or my 5 year old PC. At some point down the road I'll be upgrading my iMac to Leopard and running Windows XP but for now I'm stuck with the two options listed.

After searching this forum (great place BTW) I've come across some threads that indicate the Mac version of the HOME software is behind that of the Windows version. What features/capabilities would I lose by connecting it to my iMac?

Another question I had, and forgive me if it's a dumb one, is how many different computers can you use your TomTom with? As stated above I've got two at home as well as a desktop and laptop at the office. Could I use it with all four if I downloaded the HOME software to each?

Bill

 

[Boyd]

I use my TomTom with a dual G5 Power Mac running MacOSX 10.4.7 and haven't really noticed any software issues. However others have reported problems, but they are on Intel Macs. So "your mileage may vary".

The Mac version is behind the windows version. AFAIK, the only significant difference is the PC version has something called "operate my device" which gives you a "virtual TomTom" when you connect the GPS to your computer. So you can use the mouse and computer keyboard to do things on your TomTom instead of operating it by the touch screen.

Personally I haven't missed this function on my Mac, but others have found it useful.

 

[twistrman]

i have my TT running on my intel imac with no problems at all, but the software is behind the windows version.

one thing i don't know for sure, but does mapshare work with the mac version or is mapshare only available with the new version of home for windows. I have never seen anything involving mapshare on the mac with my TT, so i need to figure that out. i tried doing it through parallels into XP on my mac, but it didn't like that, so i'll prob put it on my wife's computer and see.

 

[baggss]

The biggest issue I have with TTH and my Mac (Quad G5) is that I can't download and instal the latest maps from TT. When they switched their system over to TTH 2, they disabled the ability of TTH 1 users to download new/updated maps. Consequently, my 30 day map guarantee from TT was useless.

I called TT Tech support and inquired and they told me that the issue would be fixed when TTH 2 for the Mac was released. When queried, they were unable to give an estimated release date for the TTH 2 Mac update other than "a few months". I argued with the tech support person pointing out that I had just spent $1000 for 2 units and that now I could not upgrade my systems because they (TT) could not be bothered to update their software for the Mac in a timely manner and that they were the ones who disabled the ability of TTH 1 software to download the new map updates.

The tech support person and I went back and forth, her telling me to use a PC to update, me telling her that I don't have a PC and that nothing on their packaging or web site made it obvious to me that there was a deficiency when the TT was used with a Mac, that this was their problem and that I expected them to tell me how they were going to fix it and how they were going to fulfill their Map guarantee. She finally put me on hold for 5 min and came back and told me that they had put the updated maps (v 710) in my TTH on-line account and and that I would be able to access them until Feb of 2009 either from the new TTH 2 for Mac software of from a PC when I can find one to hook up to.

Right now I am waiting for a new power cable for the 1 Windows laptop in my house to arrive so I can load TTH 2 on it and update the map on both devices.

Other than that, my only other issue with the TTH 1 Mac software is that if I make changes to the maps or POIs, I can't share it with the TT servers as that ability doesn't work with the TTH 1 software any longer. I can get updates for POIs and ephemeris data just fine though.

My advise? Go with the PC software for map updates until the TTH 2 Mac update is released.

 

[Goodbye]

I had the same issue as baggss yesterday. I paid for and downloaded what I thought were the newest version of the maps through the HOME software on my Mac. What I didn't realise was that Tomtom are selling the olde version of the maps through this software. I am not very happy having forked out $150 for "new" maps only to discover they are the same version as the maps provided on my unit.

What do I do?

Edit: I just looked at the support area of Tomtom and it does say there that if you are using a Mac not to use Tomtom Home to download maps. Does this effectively mean that I won't get Tomtom to see my side of the story, and that I am stuck with forking out $150 for maps that I already had?

 

[baggss]

I had the same issue as baggss yesterday. I paid for and downloaded what I thought were the newest version of the maps through the HOME software on my Mac. What I didn't realise was that Tomtom are selling the olde version of the maps through this software. I am not very happy having forked out $150 for "new" maps only to discover they are the same version as the maps provided on my unit.

What do I do?

Edit: I just looked at the support area of Tomtom and it does say there that if you are using a Mac not to use Tomtom Home to download maps. Does this effectively mean that I won't get Tomtom to see my side of the story, and that I am stuck with forking out $150 for maps that I already had?

They are going to tell you to use a PC. The upside is that since you paid for it, it is available until you d/l it to your TT. You could wait until the TTH 2 for Mac comes out, but you're still out $150 in the mean time. Call them and see, maybe they'll refund you your money or something. Right now there is no "work around", other than "use a PC".

 

[Goodbye]

Well the thing is on my "Order status" page in my Tomtom account area, it says I have map version v675. I can use BootCamp and download the new maps that way, but that means spending another $150 to do so.

What they should do is put the v7 maps on my account, but as I am in Australia, there is no Australian contact number, which means calling the Netherlands.