TomTom 910 Satnav, anyone using one

Robin

Robin

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Well I just bought one and it can be used as a handheld in extremis on the boat so there is a slight boaty connection.

My question is having installed all the software etc on my laptop and dutifully backed up the Go910 as advised I find it is using a massive 7GB of hard disk! We have full EU + USA/Canada mapping which the 910 comes with and will use it in both locations. Is the backup really required or is this overkill because it could all be downloaded again from TomTom, with the exception of my selected user settings? TomToms FAQs pages don't help. What do others do?

TIA

Robin
 
Don't bother backing up anything that comes on the original CD. Just back up the downloaded extras. Maps take up most space together with all the voices etc.
 
Thanks for the quick response. The 910 is a hard disk version and the maps are supplied already loaded on it rather than on the CD which only has 221mb of data on it, basically the manual plus software for managing the use of it on the PC and updates etc. The backup/restore is done via the supplied PC software and doesn't give the option to reduce much other than as you say voices, POIs etc but it is the maps where the size comes from.

Robin
 
Thanks, not what I wanted to hear although the recent Which report didn't see a problem. There is also a software update on new units which stops the auto switch off on power off feature, ie if the 12v via cig lighter socket feed is temporarily lost, from working on an intermittent loss so maybe problem solved. Regardless of this the 910 gets top ratings in all tests and so far at least I'm very impressed. We had a fixed unit in our last car and this 910 is far superior as it does much more, like camera warnings, hands free phone/text, bigger map coverage, mp3 player etc. Our new car has a fixed Smartnav option but we didn't like it, no screen just voice and also an annual subscription to pay, so we opted to buy a portable instead.
 
I loaded the TomTom Home software which did all the automatic updates and then backed it up as it suggested, the initial one was 2.9GB. Then I 'activated' the USA maps which you need to do via the PC and internet and because I had also by then changed all the preferences so that 'safety' cameras came up with warnings (a ship's siren type in our case!) and put in some regular addresses decided to repeat the backup, then delete backup #1. The new backup with USA maps activated was 7GB, nothing short of huge! I can live with it for the moment as my laptop has 40GB and still has 13GB free but still!
 
Robin, why not just copy the backup onto one or two dvd's. Most backup software will split a backup over multiple dvd's.

I have found support OK (-ish) if you follow the rather poor instructions on the website, and have a little patience. The product itself is better than most, based on an insufficiently small sample of my own experience. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Just avoid having to go from Unnamed road in X to Unnamed road in Y, it really throws TOmTOm.

(PS, how big are your cockpit lockers - can you PM me)
 
[ QUOTE ]
Robin, why not just copy the backup onto one or two dvd's. Most backup software will split a backup over multiple dvd's.


[/ QUOTE ]

That was my first thought but how many disks for 7GB, that is 7 x the total HD capacity on the PC I still use in the office!

Have you or anyone else found an air vent mount for the 910? I've searched everywhere on the net and found them for older ones but not the 910, presumably because it is a powered mount. I like the idea of the vent clip for quick removal and no telltale ring to advertise to thieves.
 
Standard dvd is 4.7GByte, so two disks will do the job. However, there are double-sided dvd's available if you have a compatible dvd writing drive, which will do the lot on one DS-DVD.

My TomTom is Navigator 5, running on an iPAQ handheld, so not relevant to your hardware.
 
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