Old topic, but with the iPhone 4 running TomTom it charges the phone and at a reasonable rate.
Purchased the car kit in Aug/Sept so may have been an updated model

(MattD has made 61 comments)

I put my iPhone with an empty battery into the dock and it didn’t charge at all after a 30 minute drive. My Belkin charges it perfectly, no matter now many apps I use.

(patohare has made 1 comment)

I’m a new iPhone 3GS user and have not purchased the Tomtom docking station. I have a universal screen mount and plug in charger and can confirm the phone does charge when not under load but when using Tomtom it discharges quicker than it is being charged and runs very hot. A fairly fundamental issue in my view and you’d think Apple would have a fix by now.

For me the device needs to be multifunctional too. There’s little point in having to exit Tomtom (or whatever) to be able to make a phone call and then restart the application once you’ve done and all whilst trying to drive in unknown territory. That to me defeats the object and wasn’t an issue with my previous HTC Smartphone that was half the price of the iPhone could multitask and apparently charge at the same time.

(AIB01 has made 1 comment)

I have returned mine its not worth having

(gregorybp has made 4 comments)

Anymore news on this? I have been dealing with TomTom support through their web based ticket system, and I am having no luck at all. I have been treated like a complete idiot. I have tested the with 2 iphones now and get the same result. One is a 32gb 3Gs and a 16gb 3Gs, both less than 2 months old. TomTom = FAIL

(TranceManNZ has made 7 comments)

@Inr1: "Again, yes it does suck the the charger does not increase the battery charge of the phone." Not only does it suck, but I'm pretty sure the commerce commission would take a dim view of a product advertising the ability to charge a battery (as per Dan's screenshot graphic) that does not increase the charge of the phone. The battery charge rate staying the same or dropping by even one per-cent is not equal to the battery being 'charged' in the way that one should be able to reasonably expect.

(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)

I can't help but agree with Inr1. We all know that the iPhone battery is far from perfect and struggles to power the device for any reasonable length of time when all functions are activated.

I can only assume that the battery is unable to keep up with the drain from the Tomtom cradel (with its GPS booster) when operating a navigation app. Okay it might not be ideal but would you rather forgoe the GPS booster. Do you really need to run a navigation app for hours at a time?

Don't get me wrong, i am dissappointed also but proably more dissappointed with the iPhone battery performance than the Tomtom cradle.

(Dreadeye has made 3 comments)

I have just purchased the Tomtom car kit for my Ipod touch from the UK, I’ll let you know if I have the same issue’s with it.

(carper55 has made 10 comments)

Exactly, you’re saying it’s OK for them to sell us a sub standard product that doesn’t do what it is advertised to do.

“Do you really need to run a navigation app for hours at a time?” probably not, but if I wanted to I should be able to.

If you were charging your iPhone at home through the wall socket and when you started using it the battery drained, even though it was plugged into the wall, would you be happy then? I don’t think so and I am pretty sure you would be onto Apple in a heartbeat asking them to explain why the charger doesn’t work correctly. It is the same with this. TomTom say it will charge it and it doesn’t (well not with enough power at least), therefore it is a manufacturing defect that was not found whilst testing and needs to be rectified.

(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)

No need to be sorry. My mind is not made up and I still may return my car kit. Has anyone successfully returned their’s yet? Also does anyone know if it is possible to charge the iPhone in a car at a higher rate than 500mA?

(Dreadeye has made 3 comments)

Response from TomTom: http://www.iphonewzealand.co.nz/2010/all/a-message-from-tomtom/

(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)

Again, yes it does suck the the charger does not increase the battery charge of the phone. But saying that it doesn’t charge the phone is not correct at all. It does charge the phone, BUT because the iphone battery is not exactly brilliant, and the power used/needed by ANY navigation app is quite high, then the phone just uses more power then what the CAR can give. Causing the phone to decrease its battery life.

Saying that the cradle doesn’t charge the phone is completely wrong. Unplug the cradle from the power and you will see what not charging it really does.

and AGAIN, its not just the Cradle, but my Philips AND dse can’t give it enough power AND the phone does get rather hot, pointing towards overheating which reduces the effectiveness of ANY battery, including the not so good iPhone battery.

So, the question that REALLY needs to be asked is, is it the cradle/philips/belkin/any other charger that can not provide sufficient charge, is the over heating/lame iphone battery that can’t handle it. Or is it the car can not provide enough power?

Why don’t we take our phones back to Apple and ask for an explanation on why the iPhone battery can’t handle it?

Thats my 2 cents.

CHeerio

(lnr1 has made 10 comments)

@Dreadeye. Sorry mate but “Do you really need to run a navigation app for hours at a time?” is the worst argument in relation to GPS ever! If the journey takes hours then YES… I do really need to run it for hours. That’s what it’s *for*!

(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)

No No No No No,

If the product was tested using iphones then they would have known about the issues with iphone batteries and would not have put on the packet “charges Iphone while driving”

Also, I would think that the GPS Booter would be powered from the power cord and not the Iphone so this shouldn’t create anymore load.

(TranceManNZ has made 7 comments)

@Dan I have a Philips and a DSE one and neither of them do. It starts at 100% and after a while, starts going down.

(lnr1 has made 10 comments)

Oh come on!!!! Before any product is release it should be product tested!! Clearly this has not been done. I also called that number and talked to an Aussie. At least my guy knew that the holder does charge the iphone hahahaha. Of course I had no luck talking to anyone that cares. Just send it in and we will test it.

Well, I guess tomorrow I will bite the bullet and return the product. Lets we what kinda results we get from that.

(TranceManNZ has made 7 comments)

Now Hang on. Before you ALL get all angry at TomTom (I don't work for them). At least read the other comments before dissing the holder. While it does suck that the holder doesn't charge the phone whilst using the TomTom App (or any other GPS app). But from what I see, and from my own experience, not many chargers at all charge the phone whilst using the TomTom App.

SO its not JUST their holder, but its just chargers in general… Or more specifically, some balls up on Apples behalf

(lnr1 has made 10 comments)

Yes people are getting different results but even so… TomTom advertise it as though it charges, therefore it should. It is what is expected. They should have compensated properly for the fact it uses more power whilst using the app, being connected via bluetooth and playing music.

I have had no issue with my iPhone in either of my cars with any of my other chargers so it seems very odd to me that suddenly it doesn’t work correctly with the TomTom car kit and that it *may* not be the car kit, I just don’t buy it.

I am still waiting an official response from TomTom although I have had contact with their “Marketing Communications Manager” for Australia & NZ. He has passed this through to their WHQ in the Netherlands and once we get a response I will post to the site.

(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)

@lnr1 I have several other chargers, Belkin, DSE, Griffin, Kensington and ALL of them charge the iPhone whilst connected to a Bluetooth car kit/headset and whilst using a nav app.

There is an issue with the car kit. Whether it be because the iPhone gets hot while charging or whether it uses too much power with everything running, it should and it is advertised to charge the iPhone whilst using the nav app.

(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)

@gregorybp That’s shocking answer from TomTom. “Always on the go? Dock your iPhone in the mount to charge it as you drive, so it will always be ready to go, wherever you’re going next.” Yeah.. they didn’t say it would charge iPhone while using the TomTom app. But this is so frustrating.

(cocoalove has made 6 comments)

Contacted TOMTOM ph 0800450973, they advised it will hold the phone charge not recharge it

(gregorybp has made 4 comments)

I too have noticed that any charger will not keep up once the phone gets warm. Mine is black and sitting in the windscreen it picks up even more heat from the sun. I discovered the trick of pointing an air vent at it a couple of weeks ago, but have not had a chance to test that on a particularly warm day and a long trip.
I have also noticed in the last couple of days that when you get below 20% the battery appears to be used up much faster than when it’s above that.

(stephenb has made 6 comments)

No problem with charging here, after many trips up to Auckland and back I always arrive with a fully charged phone. Thats with Tomtom app running, iPod music play through and the occassinal phone call.

After reading this article I tested the car kit, after a 12 minute drive to the kebeb shop my iPhone had charged 2%, thats with GPS turn by turn and music playing.

Could the type of car being have some influence on the results?

My Tomtom car kit was purchased from UK and being used in a MKIV VW Golf.

(jasetaylor has made 10 comments)

I have the same problem the Tom Tom charger cannot charge qiuckly enough to keep up with the current going out, they need to replace them ASAP

(gregorybp has made 4 comments)

I tested this in both a Mitsubishi Outlander 2007 and Mazda Capella 2000. Both of them charge my iPhone whilst using all the other features but instead of using the TomTom car kit having it sat in a universal holder/mount or on the seat next to me, plugged in via a Belkin charger and connected to a Bluetooth earpiece.

(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)

Dan, I totally agree that we shouldn't have to mess around with things. It should work out of the box (at $200 it should). The only good thing with testing is that we can tell the muppets at TomTom what the issue is.

At the end of the day I will be returning mine for a full refund and may also request a full refund for the app.

(TranceManNZ has made 7 comments)

just remember that this tom tom cradle (unlike others) contains a extra gps reciver that too uses power from the single lighter plug.

If you turn of the gps on the iphone, it should charge more effeciently.

(daba has made 19 comments)

Besides which you shouldn’t have to mess around with different chargers or have to switch off the GPS in the iPhone (@TraceManNZ & @daba). It should work as expected and as advertised. Without having to jump through hoops switching features off, buying new chargers or turning my air con on.

Come on TomTom where is your reply…. I know you are reading

(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)

I've had an issue with charging in a cradle (not Tom Tom) while using Google Maps (streaming) and music. Turned out MY problem was the battery was over-heating. I've tested this a number of times. My solution was to point the air vent towards the iPhone which keeps my battery temperature low. That way I get to charge it to 100% every time.

(akawoz has made 1 comment)

Yup, just got back from a weekend in Mahia – noticed exactly the same behaviour, around 60% batter upon leaving – used the TomTom app + cradle all the way for ~2 hours, ended up with about 35% on arrival. Disappointing to say the least!

(RedJungle has made 4 comments)

Don’t waste your money for an higher output charger. I’ve tried with a 2A charger which is made for tomtom navigation systems and I found it overheated my iPhone very quickly. Also it didn’t charge battery at all before overheating happened. So I think the problem is the cradle itself.

(cocoalove has made 6 comments)

daba> You make a good point. I did read somewhere that a user changed his TomTom power cord for another brand that had a higher mA rating. According to him this solved the issue. I do not have any other mini usb car charges to compare the outputs with.

(TranceManNZ has made 7 comments)

As others have said. This is not only with the TomTom Car Kit. I have a Philips Car charger for the iPhone and the same thing happened. My iPhone was at 100% and 30mins later, after using TomTom and Charging, my phone was at 99% battery. akawoz might be correct though, I have noticed my iPhone getting rather hot whilst using TomTom, plugged in, and using another holder I bought. Something Apple needs to sort out…

(lnr1 has made 10 comments)

I was very happy to find this post. I also purchased this product and found the same result. I logged a fault with TomTom support and have been getting the run around.
Looks like the product is going to be return for a full refund. Under the consumer guarantees act the product is not suitable for its intended purpose.

(TranceManNZ has made 7 comments)

Even crappy DSE car charger can keep up very well with navigation apps running. I can’t wait to see reply from TomTom.

(cocoalove has made 6 comments)

Poor effort from TomTom really. My Belkin cradle can keep up well, surprising their own product can’t.

(Mak has made 222 comments)