The response.......
So we said once we got a response about the TomTom car kit charging issue we would let you know. Well here it is, the “official” response from TomTom. Now sit down, get a coffee and be prepared for a bit of a read as this may take a while….
After a couple of emails between us and TomTom they said they would contact their WHQ (World Headquarters) in the Netherlands to “get clarification on what the global experience is like and respond accordingly” and here is that response:
Hi Dan
After checking in with global product management, here is the official word on charging:
The iPhone dock charges at 500mA. This is about the same amount of power that the iPhone is consuming when it runs a powerful app like TomTom.
Typically, the experience on a 30-60 minute journey is a 1% variance on overall battery charge.Regards
Nick
Wow, that was exhaustive eh!
We don’t really think much of this response and have gone on to email back to them:
OK…… So it charges at 500mA and the iPhone uses this amount when running the TomTom app, so coupled with the fact you are using Bluetooth and playing music at the same time (and even if you are not playing music you have to use bluetooth for it to connect to the dock) it doesn’t charge enough.
The dock is advertised as being able to charge your iPhone, use it for handsfree calling, use it for TomTom navigation and play your music through your stereo. It clearly can’t do all of this tasks if it is only charging at the same level as doing one of these.
At no time in any of the material either provided with the dock or on the TomTom website does it say you won’t be able to do all of these functions. I used it again today and without playing any music or taking any calls it dropped charge by 1% on a 20 minute journey.
I would like to see TomTom take some kind of action to rectify the issue, instead of quoting figures. It’s clearly not an isolated case just to me as there are others that are having the same issue.
Thanks
Daniel
We’ll see what comes back next and from there we will continue to pursue this matter.
I have looked into this further and what they say is quite untrue.
I have two cars – both with chargers/audio links built into the stereo and a Tom Tom unit in one car, and a bluetooth speaker unit in the other
I tested car 1 (without tom tom) using Sygic GPS app, bluetooth on AND playing music for 1 hour. After 10 min battery dropped from 100% to 99% and then stayed there for the whole time.
I will test the same in the car with the Tom Tom unit, and if the battery goes down, then re-test it using the charger from the stereo, but still connecting to the bluetooth of the Top-Tom to see if its the charging of the Tom-Tom that’s not good enough, or it’s Tom Tom’s bluetooth that’s sucking too much juice.
Will update soon, but we already know they are lying. Other chargers CAN cope.
Richard
(Richard has made 44 comments)
I think it’s the GPS chip that’s using all the power, mine gets real warm using any GPS app and battery drops accordingly. The less than $12NZD charger and windscreen mount I got from dealextreme.com will charge my battery (I.e. eventually reach 100%) with GPS App running, it says 1A max output on it. Tomtom have simply supplied a charger with insufficient capacity.
(leStar has made 26 comments)
I went into DSE on the 8th of Jan and placed an order for one when the next batch come in (was told the 31st of Jan) but this morning got a call saying that there wont be a shipment coming in Jan now due to reason unknown. Tomtom didn’t tell them why or when to expect them, just that it may be a couple of months!! wonder if this power issue is something to do with it?? Still this is very poor of them, they had forever to develop, build & keep up supply of this kit but have failed miserably!
(Joshwah has made 1 comment)
I just checked my unit
Tom tom charges (very slowly) fine with GPS (Sygic) and bluetooth running.
So it’s not a universal issue it would appear.
(Richard has made 44 comments)
i just checked my unit, and it doesn’t even charge with just using bluetooth and playing music (not even using gps)
tomtom needs to own up to it and take some responsibility for their product.
(tom has made 1 comment)
On TomTom’s website for NZ sales it has a “TomTom car kit for iPhone for in-car installation” which seems to be for their propitiatory promount fitting rather than windshield fitting.
Apart from wondering if this will decrease the gps lock due to being further away from the window and also how secure it is compared with the window sucker it mentions in the specs a different value for the charger compared with what was previously mentioned on here.
Compatible car charger
4UOC.001.00
12/24V input
5V/2A output
(liviy has made 1 comment)