TomTom 5200 & World Maps

[sonic]

Two & a half years ago I bought a TomTom 5200, which came with lifetime maps, speed cameras, & live traffic. My previous TomTom wanted about £60 a year for map updates, & a further £30 for speed camera updates. Two & a half years on I have been very pleased with the 5200.

I am going to America later in the year so started to think about a sat nav. Much to my surprise you can download for free any other map in the world. You just need a micro sd card to increase the memory capacity.

I hope this may be of use to any other world travellers.

 

[vtaylor78]

You can’t beat a Tom Tom tbh.

 

[Chrishazle]

Until you want to update it and it's a full maps update - which takes forever. I have a Go 600 with lifetime maps, and installed a 32Gb SD card just after I bought it (stupidly cheap now, I just bought a Class 10 one for about £4!!). I'm on BT Fibre unlimited so have a fast internet connection, downloading big updates to my PC is reasonable fast, but then updating the 600 from the PC takes forever - and the bad news is the first thing it does is delete your current maps before downloading the new, let alone installing them, so if there's a hiccup in the process (not unknown with TomTom) your satnav is a useless brick until you sort the update!

My other main bitch comes from spending a couple of weeks sorting out indirect daily routes just after I bought it. I was planing a 19 day 2600 mile trip from Santander to Santiago, back to the Pyrenees to Lourdes, then up through france to Epernay and Calais, avoiding motorways etc. I saved each day's route to the beast, but found that when I accessed each daily route it re-calculated and pretty much ignored my saved route! Thankfully I'd saved and printed each day's route, so my navigator (wife in passenger seat) was able to follow the printed instructions and ignore the 600!

 

[Blobcat]

Until you want to update it and it's a full maps update - which takes forever. I have a Go 600 with lifetime maps, and installed a 32Gb SD card just after I bought it (stupidly cheap now, I just bought a Class 10 one for about £4!!). I'm on BT Fibre unlimited so have a fast internet connection, downloading big updates to my PC is reasonable fast, but then updating the 600 from the PC takes forever - and the bad news is the first thing it does is delete your current maps before downloading the new, let alone installing them, so if there's a hiccup in the process (not unknown with TomTom) your satnav is a useless brick until you sort the update!

My other main bitch comes from spending a couple of weeks sorting out indirect daily routes just after I bought it. I was planing a 19 day 2600 mile trip from Santander to Santiago, back to the Pyrenees to Lourdes, then up through france to Epernay and Calais, avoiding motorways etc. I saved each day's route to the beast, but found that when I accessed each daily route it re-calculated and pretty much ignored my saved route! Thankfully I'd saved and printed each day's route, so my navigator (wife in passenger seat) was able to follow the printed instructions and ignore the 600!

To get around your last issue, on my Garmin bike satnav I put waypoints all along the day’s route so it could recalculate as much as it liked it would only ever pick the roads I wanted. It was a great way of organising a bike trip through Europe and added to the trip picking all the routes and stopovers

 

[sonic]

Until you want to update it and it's a full maps update - which takes forever. I have a Go 600 with lifetime maps, and installed a 32Gb SD card just after I bought it (stupidly cheap now, I just bought a Class 10 one for about £4!!). I'm on BT Fibre unlimited so have a fast internet connection, downloading big updates to my PC is reasonable fast, but then updating the 600 from the PC takes forever - and the bad news is the first thing it does is delete your current maps before downloading the new, let alone installing them, so if there's a hiccup in the process (not unknown with TomTom) your satnav is a useless brick until you sort the update!

My other main bitch comes from spending a couple of weeks sorting out indirect daily routes just after I bought it. I was planing a 19 day 2600 mile trip from Santander to Santiago, back to the Pyrenees to Lourdes, then up through france to Epernay and Calais, avoiding motorways etc. I saved each day's route to the beast, but found that when I accessed each daily route it re-calculated and pretty much ignored my saved route! Thankfully I'd saved and printed each day's route, so my navigator (wife in passenger seat) was able to follow the printed instructions and ignore the 600!

Not a problem with the 5200, does not delete & so easy using WiFi. Did the same as you installed a 32Gb SD card, the whole of USA & Canada is only 6Gb
I put the the next days route in the night before, so again & don't experience your problem.

 

[sonic]

To get around your last issue, on my Garmin bike satnav I put waypoints all along the day’s route so it could recalculate as much as it liked it would only ever pick the roads I wanted. It was a great way of organising a bike trip through Europe and added to the trip picking all the routes and stopovers

I do the same, I really struggle with Basecamp.

 

[Argus]

Not wishing to hijack this thread, but when upgrading a TomTom is there a way off transferring your Favourites/My Places to the new device from the old?
Mant thanks

 

[Argus]

I should probably add that I currently have a Go 5000 and I'm upgrading to a Go Premium

Cheers!

 

[rf065]

I too have a TomTom 5200, travelling to France & Spain I use it instead of Comand which can be useless at times.
Just remember "lifetime" maps, only means the lifetime of that model, once TomTom replace it with a newer model, the "lifetime" is up.

 

[keefysher]

I too have a TomTom 5200, travelling to France & Spain I use it instead of Comand which can be useless at times.
Just remember "lifetime" maps, only means the lifetime of that model, once TomTom replace it with a newer model, the "lifetime" is up.

I always ask for the 'lifetime' to be my lifetime when quoted.

Bit like when salesmen try to sell me something based on 'safety'. 'If it wasn't safe you wouldn't be selling it would you?' is my usual retort as I walk out not buying wotever it was they were bullsh1tting me about!!

 

[PovertySpec]

Not wishing to hijack this thread, but when upgrading a TomTom is there a way off transferring your Favourites/My Places to the new device from the old?Mant thanks

Yes.

There are a few ways of dong it but the easiest way is probabaly via a TomTom account

 

[Botus]

Two & a half years ago I bought a TomTom 5200, which came with lifetime maps, speed cameras, & live traffic. My previous TomTom wanted about £60 a year for map updates, & a further £30 for speed camera updates. Two & a half years on I have been very pleased with the 5200.

I am going to America later in the year so started to think about a sat nav. Much to my surprise you can download for free any other map in the world. You just need a micro sd card to increase the memory capacity.

I hope this may be of use to any other world travellers.

sadly the tomtom 550 I bought for the bike is the biggest pile of turd I have ever had. even the most basic car ones are better than the top range bike one and we won't go on about its price

I just wanted to say google maps now have speed camera alerts (visual and audio), and the last update brings up the speed on screen.... and its a real map so you can actually swipe in and out to see the lay of the land (which is becoming a thing of the past on most dedicated nav units).

whilst one should mention the spying / privacy issues ... all the tomtoms with traffic do the same these days and they even dropped a load of motorist in it by alerting plod to all the places totmtom see motorist going above the speed limit !

 

[Blobcat]

sadly the tomtom 550 I bought for the bike is the biggest pile of turd I have ever had. even the most basic car ones are better than the top range bike one and we won't go on about its price

I just wanted to say google maps now have speed camera alerts (visual and audio), and the last update brings up the speed on screen.... and its a real map so you can actually swipe in and out to see the lay of the land (which is becoming a thing of the past on most dedicated nav units).

whilst one should mention the spying / privacy issues ... all the tomtoms with traffic do the same these days and they even dropped a load of motorist in it by alerting plod to all the places totmtom see motorist going above the speed limit !

Perhaps you could put a Comand system in a ziplock bag and cable-tie it to the headstock?

Failing that I find Garmin Zumo’s work well for me when in 2 wheels

 

[sonic]

Perhaps you could put a Comand system in a ziplock bag and cable-tie it to the headstock?

Failing that I find Garmin Zumo’s work well for me when in 2 wheels

I have a Garmin Zumo 660 for the bike, which I have had for about 10 years. I bought it as at the time as TomTom only had the first Rider, & screen definition was much better on the 660. 10 years on screen definition is much better on both brands.
The 660 does come up with some strange routes on occasions.

 

[sonic]

Currently in America & TomTom maps are working fine. The displayed current speed limit is very useful.



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