Review of the TomTom 910
Laptop Magazine has a review of the TomTom Go 910. The general upshot? It does what it is supposed to do to get you from point A to point B and comes with a heap of multifunction goodness.
Via Engadget
32 Replies to “Review of the TomTom 910”
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TOM TOM is a NO NO
I’ve owned this product a mere two weeks and after just 2 uses it fell apart. The screen froze and couldn’t be turned off, causing it to overheat which than caused the screen to crack when touched. To make matters worse the company refused to replace or fix a clearly defective model and wanted to charge an ADDITIONAL $500 to fix. So if you’ve got the money to throw away and want to invest in a product that even its own producers won’t stand by, by all means purchase it.
I’ve Had two of these in two weeks and both froze up and would not work again.
I had the same issues with the device. However, I discovered that when the device froze, reseting it (the reset button is found under the device) fixed the problem. Since then it froze a couple of times but the reset corrected the problem. In addition, it appears that the device has an issue with the connection to the charging unit when removing it. This can cause it to freeze also. Doing a reset works all the time.
Despite the problems mentioned above and some outdated maps, I am please with it.
Do not waste your money on this piece of junk! The unit itself has great features and I am very happy with how it functions, but the docking design (window suction cup mount) is terrible. The lighter power cord plugs into the suction cup mount and it has spring loaded pins, similar to cell phone charging units. The gps unit loses contact when you hit bumps and turns off when it loses power for a second. It turned on and off so many times on a trip this past weekend that it finally would not turn on at all. There is no way to fix this bad design so I’m stuck with a $800! Buying this unit is one of the worst and most expesive mistakes of my life! Garmin has their lighter power plug directly into the gps unit.
I bought mine last month and haven’t had a single problem. My Bluetooth phone syncs up and I’ve been playing MP3s I stored on the big hard drive. TomTom’s UI is as straightforward as they come. Plus it always know where the Dunkin’ Donuts shops are. LOVE it!
Hi,
I have used this product, its works fine and comparable to any other
1. the package include remote, case, multi country adoptar.
2. mount works fine if twisted to lock then adjust the tomtom to desirable view angle , then turn the base to final lock position, it never falls down even on bumby roads
3. getting signal is same as any other gps,
4. maps-> could be outdated , but since development is not stopped in any part of europe or US so are the maps, no maps are accurate and tele atlas is no expection
5-> poi, could have been better
6-> Only thing I would expect from them is have web browser
7-> good product
The windshield mount is a major flaw with this GPS unit. It simply isn’t strong enough to hold the weight of the body. Every bump causes the unit to drop lower and lower. I was able to position it to the left of my dash with the bottom edge of the unit essentially resting on the dash for stability.
The maps are just okay. Some of the roads and points of interest are outdated. But the navigation system itself works tremendously well (within +/- 10 feet). The routes chosen by the TomTom are not always the most practical but they do work, which is the most important issue especially if you’re completely lost.
The screen works well but I do wish it were brighter for daytime use. The anti-glare material does seem to do the trick for the most part. The speed alert is an annoying deep red color which blends in all too well with the blue background of the information bar.
Overall a good product, but for $800 we’re allowed to expect much MUCH better.
I cannot recommend my 910 Go. The instruction manual is childish and lacks basic instructions for:
Reset when it freezes (frequently)
Removing favorites (user defined waypoints)
Changing the map scale.
Support has been horrible – takes forever to reach a human – who knew less than I about the program.
My Garmin units are light years ahead in their program, which is intuitive and allows the user to choose the map scale. I only wish I could have bought a Garmin with an European database prior to my trip to Spain and France.
The TomTom suction cup mount system sucks (figuratively, since it won’t stay attached to the windshield).
The Voice prompts cease after the unit has been on about one hour – necessitating turning it on and off to have voice again.
Overall – a poorly designed unit – both physically and software, and poor support by employees who aren’t knowledgeable about the product.
Between myself and a few friends, we own a myriad of gps unit,
chartplotters, and fishfinders. All of us have noticed the lousy
visibility of these units when trying to view them in direct sunlight.
One of my buddies stumbled across a gps accessories
site that offers sun visors (or shades if you will) specifically made
for these units. I have purchase several of these for my units and can
tell you that they definetly help quite a bit. I don’t suppose there’s
a perfect solution for this problem, but if anyone knows of one, let me
know.
well some people would say that the tomtom910 is one of the best sat navs on todays market,,and it is but like most sat navs some or even a lot are not up to date with the post code or the route…i like most people out there have used this product and for three weeks brill.. very happy
but then is started. first it had problems linking to the pc, also on the back of the 910 you have 10 copper pins.
two broken off it,in car window mount after a bit will start to fall down when you are driving… but you can get a free one. says there support team..
for about £380 you can get one just as good and a lot cheaper without all the so added bits
I hav ehad teh TomTom910 for about a month and I bought min ein a military PX for $677 with a $100 instant savings at the register, making it $577. That sounds awesome, but Ebay had it for $589 and also honored a $100 instant savings making it $489. So, i could have saved about $100. Either way, I hav eit and I have had no issues. I do not use teh windshield mount as I do not leave it in my car or want a distracto rin my vision. I just toss it on my passenger seat so, thats my mounting spot. One of teh good things I liked alot was the preloaded maps of USA, Europe, and canada. I am in Germany and been getting lost often, so it was a savior when i was over 2 hours from home. Turne dit on, clicked HOME and all the while my battery light was flashing telling me it was low and it took me all the way home without shutting off. Enroute, I did notice a strange flashing ICON and a warning beep. I thought it was about to shut down. It didnt…But did it again miles ahead. When I grabbed it this time, it was flashing a black CAMERA ICON which symbolized teh German Photo Radar!!! It also warmed me with audiable alert as well. So, I am happy. I am sure if I experience the issues all of you are, I will NOT be happy but sometimes, the earlier models have flaws. Time will tell.
My brand new Tom Tom 910 won’t even start up. Switch it on, I get the drums beating, then an outline opf the device followed by a flashing white cross on a red backlground. I can’t even enter my details. A reset does not help and when plugged into the computer (Ive tried both PC and laptop), the USB device is not recognised.
What a start. Any ideas before I take it back and get a refund.
I Just got my 910 today, I set it all up and when I was going to give it a test drive I didnt even get out of the driveway and the screen froze, I have been trying many things for the past 5 hours to get it to work, very depressing, looks like its going back, I doubt tomtom will make it far in the states
Hey all – just one possibly helpful hint – we recently purchased the 910 and initially had freeze up problems; but it looks as if these were caused by not undocking the unit from the computer properly. make sure to click the little eject button icon in the software before removing it from the dock. since we’ve been doing that, no freezes.. initially frustrating but love the interface and features.
Bill,
When you say “click the little eject button icon in the software” are you referring to something in the TomTom home software or are you referring to the safely eject device icon in the Windows task bar?
Thanks
I have one day with the product and after my first connection to the pc it freezed. I wouldn’t turn off/on with the regular button so I tryed to reset it, and It doesn’t work. The reset button just turn it off but when turn on again it always hangs. You get the drums, the welcome window and that’s it.
Any suggestions before I return it?
TomTom 910 problems!
If I can get the unit to turn on, it will turn back off. This behavior is the same if using the car mount with cigarette lighter power or with usb docking station with wall outlet power.
Reset switch by itself does not work!
pressing power switch and rest switch at same time does not help.
It looks like it is charging, green light is on.
BUT, again, if it turns on..after several attempts, it will shut off in less than 20 seconds..never shutting down in same place..some times in intro screen, sometimes alittle bit further.
After I keep trying though..in last hour or so..shutdown happens only 5 seconds or less after power up.
Green light remains on
I have not gotten to get the unit to turn on at all if it is not powered by cigarette lighter plug or wall plug power.
BTW/ I am disappointed in TomTom reliabity! Before this terrible problem..I have frequent episodes where the unit would freeze! Only way to get it out of its funk was to use the reset button. Which by the way is of such a small size and in such an awkward place!! A regular paper clip will not work! Its too big. 0.7mm pencil lead from my mechnical pencil works the best. A needle will puncture the rubber boot of this miniscule reset button.
AND to top it off.,,,this TomTom is having problems for me on the 3rd day of a 16 day Scotland vcacation. NOw I have to use MAPS!!
Severely disappointing!
On top of that..I just bought $210 of updatded maps for it!!! US/Canada and Europe and 1 yr of speed cameras..before my trip..
I also updated the program software.
Maybe that was a mistake!!
BTW/ I wonder if TomTom policy is to deliver new TomToms with maps that are delibrately out of date!!??? This means that the company will increase the chances of extra revenue! I think they are!
I paid $600 for my unit..just plucked down $210 on maps..that’s $810.
How many nice plastic maps can I buy for that?
BTW/ Almost none of the major tourist attractions are NOT in point of interests lists. Most of on board point of interests are commerical, most of which are not useful.
Very few hotels/motels are available in the TomTom910 as well.
It appears to be difficult for TomTom to add these. and user additions to favorites ..before the trip/vacation is difficult.
I am nervous to send this unit to TomTOM
I may not be able to get my updated maps..which I paid a great deal of money for. And I am very nervous on how much they will charge me! I think this business is a rip off business..like the map updates!
Of course I will not be in this tirade if it were not for this catastrophic problem on my vacation.
Ditto on the GO 910 being a piece of junk! Mine worked for three days, then wouldn’t power up. Reset button (if you can call it that) is no help. There is an obvious problem with this model, and TomTom needs to get it fixed. I have never seen so many complaints about an expensive GPS Nav system as this one. I am going back a Garmin.
P.S. – I should have read this site BEFORE I bought mine !
Ditto for the screen locking up. Reset button no help. It happened after undocking after my first update. I see from an earlier post that I perhaps should have cliked the ‘eject’ button on the software but I did not notice it through the clutter of the terrible interface. It’s too bad as the several trips I made before checking on an update went well, both within the Czech Republic and from here to Germany and return. I’d like for this thing to work again. I wish I had read about all the problems here before I joined the list of complaintants!
I just bought the same model tom tom 910 it worked for a while then just froze up on me and reset many times but could not get the unit to work properly. I am contemplating returning this unit and getting my money back. Regards a very dissatisfied customer. TOm Tom better watch out they could end up losing a huge share of the market.
I bought a TomTom 910 for my wife for Christmas and have already and to return 2 different units. The first one was DOA and wouldn’t power up at all. The 2nd one lasted for a fwe hours before it lockewd up. I reset it (learned from the previous customner service experience) and it worked for an addtional 10 minutes before powering down. I sent the charger and car charger backl this time but it seems difficult to belive that they are both defective (the chargers that is). BTW – it took 6 calls to get a ring and a 45 minute wait to talk to customer service.
Not sure if there are still a lot of people looking to fix the non-powering up TomTom 910. I had this problem fixed by pressing and holding the reset button (yes the tiny button by the mount connector. Now here is the ‘trick’ to turning the damn thing back on because I kept pressing the On button and the GPS would not turn on. You press and hold the On button and it will turn on. How about that, eh? Mine turned on and it stay on the TomTom display screen for a while doing who-knows-what. Hope this will help a lot of you people out there with the same problem.
I wish I had come across this web site sooner!!! I did research a number of web sites before purchasing and across the board complaints were pretty even with a number of SatNav models including the 910. So I thought it was safe to purchase? what a mistake. My 910 won’t charge at all (car or home dock) it’s dead as a do-do on it’s ow. I’m just trying the “Reset Button’ trick to see if this works…. fingers crossed….
Blimey!!!! it worked!! thanks for the tip Sam ;o)
I have had this unit for 2 years. I would love to return it. It takes sometimes 5 minutes to find its location. The power supply problems listed on this website are dead nuts on. It is a poorly engineered mechanical piece of junk that should never have been released to the public. The software is fine but what use is that when the thing won’t work?
910 locked up. Sent in and was replaced. I thought wow, what good service.
Replacement unit locked up. I contacted Tomtom to send in . They said out of warranty. No repair available with or without warranty on this model.
That is pretty poor back up from Tomtom. Can’t even repair it at my cost?
My guess is that they won’t use that little information in their advertising.
The TomTom 910 is THE worst GPS investment one can make. I own this piece of crap device and had all of the above problems like not turning on, not charging properly, giving wrong directions, asking me to make turns where the road does not exist, freezing and shutting off in the middle of the night on a log trip in Pennsylvania and not turning back on!! In regards to the reset button, it’s a tiny little button on the back inside that you can’t reach unless you have a pin or something handy! Had to use my cellphone gps to find my way back on the main road. In respect to POI, many of the destinations for restaurants etc. takes you to locations where the restaurant of POI never existed! As far as technical assistance from TOMTOM is concerned, it’s non existent. In the numerous times i called them, they were of absolutely no use/help. They responded like they knew nothing and is in no position to help. I’m stuck with the 910 which is not even supported by any of the latest or even near latest updates. The awful mount is abt 40-$50 alone to replace and it’s not any better than the original. The level of support they gave for the owners of this equipment is a prime example of their service platform. Stay away from tomtom!!
Ditto on the 910 being junk. I have had 4 of them now. Radio Shack has been more co-operative than I
could ever expect in replacing it 4 times. But, I too am stuck with a piece of junk that will not function for
more than 1 hour without locking up. To make matters worse, when the factory mount broke TomTom told
me there was nothing they could do. So I am now out $550 for the TomTom and $50 for the (huge and
heavy) Ram mount.
Stick with Garmin. I have a Garmin hand held GPS from 15 years ago. I use it on a motorcycle so it gets
knocked around a lot plus it is out in the sun and rain it’s entire life, and it still works flawlessly.
So all this Gps technology is still not great then, And why do they still take you off route at some unkown locations…
Good old maps are still reliable…
I have had a lot of the above problems and find when I reconnect the Tom Tom to the PC and run the latest updates to the Tom Tom it often resets everything (new software is downloaded) and updates all the info. Perhaps it might help someone but now my battery wont charge even though its been on all night and you cant replace it yourself. Takes 2 days for Customer Service to get back to you, not good at all.
I have had my tom tom 910 for a couple of years and it was working great. Then it started needing resets and it would work after that. Until it started not charging. We found the battery from the internet, replaced it (which was not a simple task). It worked perfect only once and won’t turn on after that. It turns on for a few seconds and turns off by itself. we tried charging it on it’s deck at home, in the car and it won’t work. Before I toss it away I want to throw it against the wall and see if it starts working!
Ours has gotten old.