Update on NA 2GB Map?

[go930user]

Hi all,

Looking for some guidance.

Currently have a GO930 with Oz, NZ, NA (2GB) and Western Europe (2GB) maps. The OZ maps are current but the others are as updated in early 2010 when I bought the unit. THE NA 2GB map is ver 840.2561.

As we plan to visit the USA and Canada in April this year I'm looking at the business of updating the NA map to the current version or buying a low cost unit via Amazon with lifetime NA maps.

TT Home is offering me two versions of the NA map (880.3810) for about $(Oz)60. The 2gb map appears in the list but is not shown as downloadable. I conclude from this that it is now no longer supported? The two versions of the NA map offered show sizes of 1792.6 MB and 1710.9 MB.

The folder on the 930 shows a NA 2GB map size of 1270 MB. So I'm wondering:
1. What inclusions the newer maps have that are not on the 2 GB version
2. What the differences are between the two NA versions showning about 1700MB given they are differing sizes, and
3. Is it worth upgrading the NA map given the one I have is about 2 years old. Or should I just buy a new unit from Amazon with a lifetime NA upgrade included?

We will be travelling in the North East USA (PA, NY and possibly Washington DC) plus Ontario and the North West (Washington and British Columbia).

Any and all advice gratefully accepted.

Cheers

 

[dhn]

When you see differences in sizes of North_American maps, often the reason is the number of pois offered in each map.

You can assume that a 2 year old map will have fewer new roads and less than current IQ data for better routing.

Considering the range of geographical areas you plan to visit, I''d be inclined to have current maps at my disposal.

Also keep in mind that 885 maps are out about mid February.

 

[canderson]

The current map for the 930 will be the 1792.6MB set (map 880) - the 1792.6MB is the size as stored after download to the computer. That IS what is known as the "North American 2GB map". While it falls short of that actual size, it is used to indicate that it can only be loaded on units of with at least 2GB of memory (which excludes many of the older units).

The size of the files inside the unit itself currently run to slightly more than the stored size on the computer. It's been ages since you could fit everything in that folder into 1270MB.

The difference between the two maps you are seeing (1793MB and 1711MB) is the size of the POI file that accompanies the map.


FWIW, we show a 25% "Winter" discount on maps here at the moment in anticipation of new maps to be released next month. Do you see something like that on your web page there?

 

[go930user]

Hi Both,

thanks for the feedback.

Don't see any indication of discount for "almost" out of date maps - but I don't regard $oz60 as being too out of order, given the maps I have are now 24 months old.

Raises another question though.

There is not enough room available in "internal" memory to load the 2GB NA map without removing the Western Europe map, so I can accomodate it this way. Alternatively I can load up an 8GB SD card and put Navcore and the maps plus other folders/files on that, leaving the internal memory free for mp3 files.

Question: If the map folders are split between the internal memory and the SD card, will the OS find all of them, or do the map folders have to be in the same location (ie Internal or SD card) as the OS and other files/folders?

I guess I could experiment, but if someone knows the answer, I'll not bother re-inventing the wheel.

Cheers

GO930user

 

[dhn]

For sure you can have maps on both internal and a sdhc (not sd) card without a problem. The app will see the availability of both maps.

In fact, you can have mp3s in both internal and the card (put them in a folder called mp3 [all lower case] and the app will 'merge' the contents in both locations.

 

[Andy_P]

Personally, I'd leave the system files, voices etc. on the internal memory and just put the map (and maybe your mp3s) on the SD card.

 

[canderson]

Guess we never did quite address one of your original questions -

I like the 930 well enough that I'd pitch the $ for the maps rather than buying a new unit here. We do have users from other countries with older 3.5" units with dead end firmware that ask the same question, and often I'll suggest they go ahead and upgrade for cheap while here rather than throwing any more money at their existing unit. The difference is that your 930 has a lot of nice features that aren't currently available on any of the new platform units, and you'd have a hard time prying it out of MY hands if it were mine <g>.

As Andy suggests, many of us keep all of our maps on the SDHC card and leave the remainder intact in internal memory. Your 930 will need to have at least code version 8.302 on it to accomplish that - any version prior to that will be limited to 2GB, and you won't have enough space to do anything useful with that. What version are you running now?

 

[go930user]

Hi Canderson,

Ver 8.351 which is currently handling about 3.7 GB of .mp3 data on a 4 GB SDHC card without any dramas.

I agree about the multitude of "nice" features, the one we find most useful when out of OZ is the ability to pipe our preferred music either via wire or FM to the hire car audio system such that it gets paused when a voice message about a route change appears. It avoids your having to try to decipher the TT information seperately from the music. Blue tooth capability for a cell phone is good too, but I have avoided that as I don't want that kind of distraction if I'm mobile. Dealing with being on the "other" side of the road is enough.

At the risk of taking the thread off topic (and shift the question to a more appropriate loaction if you want), why is it that the device always starts by indexing the contents of the mp3 folders - even though the data in them has not changed?

Cheers

Go9309(and XXL540) user.

 

[canderson]

It has no way to know whether new mp3 files have been installed. Your 930 doesn't 'observe' what you are doing when it's connected to your computer, and it's as easy as sliding a few new ones over with your PC.

At a minimum, it would have to compare the filenames and check time/date stamp of each one to assure no changes had taken place anyway.

 

[go930user]

Hi again,

Is there a place where you can check on the various versions of the application (Navcore?), the device(s) they will run on and the things that have been added/fixed/deleted?

Just wondering if my 930 is running the latest, since TT Home is not indicating an upgrade being available.

Cheers

Go930 (and xxl540) user

 

[canderson]

TomTom sometimes issues very thin release notes for a version. Sometimes they show info on a version on their web site, and sometimes they do not even acknowledge that a version was released. It's not a real tight operation in that regard.

The current version firmware for your unit is 8.351 .. however, there are users that remain at 8.302 due to some Bluetooth and FM transmitter issues that 'come along with' the 8.351 package. Operation at less than 8.302 is rare since that is the minimum version that will support read/write of 4GB SDHC cards and above. Previous to that, it was 2GB SD only.

It is unlikely that you would ever have a reason to use a version other than one of those two.