TomTom not to address GPS lag issue....

[Vinny1967]

Having had very poor performance from the TomTom application I contacted their support team twice.

The first time I asked if the next update was imminent and what it issues it would address. I received a very unhelpful reply:-

'Unfortunately we don't get given any information regarding updates until the day of the actual release, so I don't know when it will be released.'


I then decided to me more specific and to let TomTom know exactly what problems I was having:-

'Recently I had a weeks driving holiday in Devon with my family.
I bought the TomTom application for my iPhone especially for this trip.

The GPS lag on the application has made it unusable for me. It's acceptable on straight roads but on roundabouts and close multiple-turns it just doesn't work. The application shows your position around five seconds (one hundred yards) behind where you actually are. This caused me to miss my turn at least twenty times over the course of a week.
Once I was told to ‘keep right’ and when the GPS finally caught up, it immediately told me to ‘keep left’ causing me to have to cut across two lanes of traffic in order to take the correct turn. Since I had two children in the back of the car I considered this to be very dangerous. After this incident I stopped using it.
The application also showed my location jumping from a road, to the middle of nowhere on several occasions for up to a minute. Eventually the route had to re-calculate before it would correct my position.

I know that TomTom have stated that the upcoming cradle will enhance the GPS signal, but my car is already setup for iPhone use and I have no use for the cradle.

Another major reason for me making this purchase was the ‘Navigate To Contacts’ function. Unfortunately this only works for a very small percentage of my contacts rendering it next to useless.
TomTom quotes on the iTunes store: ‘Meet up with friends – Find an entry in your iPhones contacts list, and the TomTom app will find the way there. It’s that simple’.
It’s not that simple since it doesn’t work. I consider this false advertising on your part.

If this was a reasonably priced application, or TomTom would inform me that these issues are being addressed I could live with it, but at £59.99 and the most expensive navigation application on the App Store, it clearly is unacceptable.

I’ve since bought the Navigon MobileNavigator application and I can confirm that there is absolutely no GPS lag whatsoever on it, and it successfully navigates to all but one of my contacts.'


This is the reply I received:-

'Dear ****,

Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Care
The reference number for your query is ******-******.

I am sorry to hear that you are not happy with the product.

The soon to be released iPhone mount will indeed address this issue. The mount will have a built-in GPS module that will actually enhance the slightly weaker GPS receiver on the iPhone.

As this is a hardware related challenge, not software, I do not believe this issue will be addressed in a future software update.

Please let me know if you have any additional queries.

With Kind Regards

Kevin'


I have since used this correspondence to get a full refund from the App Store.

 

[chimpboy74]

Having had very poor performance from the TomTom application I contacted their support team twice.

The first time I asked if the next update was imminent and what it issues it would address. I received a very unhelpful reply:-

'Unfortunately we don't get given any information regarding updates until the day of the actual release, so I don't know when it will be released.'


I then decided to me more specific and to let TomTom know exactly what problems I was having:-

'Recently I had a weeks driving holiday in Devon with my family.
I bought the TomTom application for my iPhone especially for this trip.

The GPS lag on the application has made it unusable for me. It's acceptable on straight roads but on roundabouts and close multiple-turns it just doesn't work. The application shows your position around five seconds (one hundred yards) behind where you actually are. This caused me to miss my turn at least twenty times over the course of a week.
Once I was told to ‘keep right’ and when the GPS finally caught up, it immediately told me to ‘keep left’ causing me to have to cut across two lanes of traffic in order to take the correct turn. Since I had two children in the back of the car I considered this to be very dangerous. After this incident I stopped using it.
The application also showed my location jumping from a road, to the middle of nowhere on several occasions for up to a minute. Eventually the route had to re-calculate before it would correct my position.

I know that TomTom have stated that the upcoming cradle will enhance the GPS signal, but my car is already setup for iPhone use and I have no use for the cradle.

Another major reason for me making this purchase was the ‘Navigate To Contacts’ function. Unfortunately this only works for a very small percentage of my contacts rendering it next to useless.
TomTom quotes on the iTunes store: ‘Meet up with friends – Find an entry in your iPhones contacts list, and the TomTom app will find the way there. It’s that simple’.
It’s not that simple since it doesn’t work. I consider this false advertising on your part.

If this was a reasonably priced application, or TomTom would inform me that these issues are being addressed I could live with it, but at £59.99 and the most expensive navigation application on the App Store, it clearly is unacceptable.

I’ve since bought the Navigon MobileNavigator application and I can confirm that there is absolutely no GPS lag whatsoever on it, and it successfully navigates to all but one of my contacts.'


This is the reply I received:-

'Dear ****,

Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Care
The reference number for your query is ******-******.

I am sorry to hear that you are not happy with the product.

The soon to be released iPhone mount will indeed address this issue. The mount will have a built-in GPS module that will actually enhance the slightly weaker GPS receiver on the iPhone.

As this is a hardware related challenge, not software, I do not believe this issue will be addressed in a future software update.

Please let me know if you have any additional queries.

With Kind Regards

Kevin'


I have since used this correspondence to get a full refund from the App Store.

Hi I also had the issue of my location jumping off the road into a field for several minutes at a time. However this for me happened on my standalone tomtom one which supposedly has a sufficiently powerful gps chip.
When navigon came out on iPhone I gave it a go and haven't seen this problem. That said I don't think it is as user friendly as tomtom

 

[iphonics]

this is exactly why i get the cracked version of the app first! im so glad i didnt pay for tomtom!

get Co Pilot Live.. its about 70 dollars cheaper than TomTom and it works FLAWLESSLY!!!!! amazing refresh rate, the animations, and GUI is way better... it just works!

 

[vertigo235]

Get NAVIGON, they accounted for this lag inside their software and it works perfectly without any noticable lag.

TomTom just wants more of your money so they create a carkit with GPS in it.

 

[tegedrex]

Nothing against the OP but it's amazing people are still purchasing tt over navigon. I look on iTunes and that in itself would steer me to purchase navigon over all others.. I believe tt could care less about their iPhone software they have a large enough market with handheld units both here and abroad. Also if it weren't for apple putting their name alongside tt they would be marketing navigon like no other.

 

[Vinny1967]

Nothing against the OP but it's amazing people are still purchasing tt over navigon. I look on iTunes and that in itself would steer me to purchase navigon over all others.. I believe tt could care less about their iPhone software they have a large enough market with handheld units both here and abroad. Also if it weren't for apple putting their name alongside tt they would be marketing navigon like no other.

I originally bought iGo MyWay, but had some major issues with it.
Got a refund for it on the same day that TomTom appeared, so assumed it would be a no brainer.
I'd been so impressed with TomTom in the past that I didn't even bother reading any reviews.
Big mistake.