TomTom 550 Question... Talk to da dummy

[Snaggletooth]

I recently bought a TomTom XXL 550T to upgrade from my first GPS. I had a good understanding of the the Nextar unit and had all my favorite locations entered. I figured it's a no brainer to punch the locations into the TomTom to build my favorites file.

 

BUT the Quick Start book that comes with it is a lil lacking. :rotf:

 

So I load up the TomTom Home site and figure I'll find an actual users manual that will give me detailed directions on the operations of my 550. Either I'm blind or I'm just not seeing it but having no luck.

 

I've done my upgrades, made some mods and added some features so the home site has be useful for that.

 

Pretty much just interested in building my favorites file, and naming them if possible.

 

I did manage to get my home location set. Yea! (Like I've ever failed to find my way back.)

 

Anybody have any info on how or where to find a manual on this thing?

 

Lost..........

 

Mike

[saddlebum]

1. Open Tom tom home
   
2. Run update to make sure you have the latest version loaded to you PC
   
3. once update is complete, connect your Tom Tom to your PC with the USB cable
   
4. when the screen on tghe gps asks if you want to connect to your PC tap yes or connect on the gps
   
5. Once connected it will search for and update your GPS automaticlly
   
6. when finished click Done, home will return to the main screen
   
7. Leave your Tom Tom connected
   
8. On tom tom home window click the big triangle that says more under it, on the lower right, it takes you to the next page
   
9. look for the window that say's read the manual for my device and click on it
   
10. The page that pops up should show your device and a list of languages
    
11. choose your language to down load the manual in pdf format
    
12. Ionce it is open I suggest you save it to your desk top
    

[Snaggletooth]

Thanks Saddlebum,

 

I'll take another crack it it. That should do the trick. I was focused on finding the manual on the home site rather that accessing it through the unit.

 

Off I go.

 

 

Mike

[saddlebum]

I am not sure but I believe you are still getting it through the home site, just that it needs the gps connected so it knows which gps you want the manual for. P/S I have three Tom Toms and I love them. I find once you get to know your way around them they are much more user friendly then the Garmin and have more search options as well as alternate route choices. My only beef is that the screen fades out too much in bright sunlight were the garmin seems to handle sunlight better.

And by the way your welcome.

[Snaggletooth]

Hey Saddlebum,

 

Got it covered. Once I did the click for the manual it took me to another page. One of those "Answer" sections. After digging in that for a while I found note on going through the "Support" menu and found the info there. Clicked on the 550 XXL and it gave the the manual for the XL. Looks like the same set up so I'm good to go.

 

Looks like I lose a couple of handy features from that old unit but the upside is the big display and the updates and traffic info.

 

About all I use these things for anyway is finding gas stations and a bite to eat when I'm out wandering in uncharted territory. Not a huge demand for the uses of this thing but I can locate gas when I'm running low.

 

And you were right of course on using the Home site. I remembered that I saw that screen when was setting up GPS up to sync with the computer to enter info from the keyboard. Thought I could access from the unit THROUGH the web site. D'oh!

 

I'm still on my learning curve here my friend. Kinda flat right now but it's picking up.

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

Mike

[saddlebum]

They also have an excellent tech support team via chat line or land line. They even took the time to talk me through a total reprogramming of the unit when I screwed up my 1st major software update. Yes you get operating system software updates as well as map updates.

[djh3]

I have a Garmin and like it alot. I didnt know if I wanted to use a Nav unit on trips. But now that I have one and have plotted some courses its kind of neat. Last year (my first trip with it) I found that for me it was alot easier to use the uit and not miss important turns and such with the unit and I could pay better attention to things knowing it was going to tell me when to turn vs trying to read printed directions on the map bag. Enjoy. I use a program called TYRE its free and is much easier than the map do-hicky thingy Garmin tells you to use.

[saddlebum]

I have a Garmin and like it alot. I didnt know if I wanted to use a Nav unit on trips. But now that I have one and have plotted some courses its kind of neat. Last year (my first trip with it) I found that for me it was alot easier to use the uit and not miss important turns and such with the unit and I could pay better attention to things knowing it was going to tell me when to turn vs trying to read printed directions on the map bag. Enjoy. I use a program called TYRE its free and is much easier than the map do-hicky thingy Garmin tells you to use.

I also use TYRE. The program works real well with Tom Tom was actually originally designed for Tom Tom. Once you load TYRE to you PC it puts a user link directly into Tom Tom Home, from were you upload your itinary directly to your GPS.

[twigg]

I have a Garmin and like it alot. I didnt know if I wanted to use a Nav unit on trips. But now that I have one and have plotted some courses its kind of neat. Last year (my first trip with it) I found that for me it was alot easier to use the uit and not miss important turns and such with the unit and I could pay better attention to things knowing it was going to tell me when to turn vs trying to read printed directions on the map bag. Enjoy. I use a program called TYRE its free and is much easier than the map do-hicky thingy Garmin tells you to use.

 

I was curious about this because I use Garmin BaseCamp and, occasionally, Streets and Trips.

 

Also, I have never heard anyone in the LD community mention it.

 

It is free if you want basic trip planning and Adware.

 

If you want anything more it costs 35 Euros, the 10 Euro option does nothing other than remove the ads.

 

If you are paying 35 Euros then it needs to be at least as good as Streets and Trips ... and it isn't. Not even close.

 

This program might be a useful free (ish) option for those wanting to plan a quick trip but I can't see any advantage over using Google Navigation for that, which is free.

 

It's always useful though, to take a look at alternatives.