TomTom car kit price point

[whmurray]

Originally Posted by ticman

Whmurray
how about a review of the car kit after you have used it for a few days. what GPS system will u be using? do you have a link to vendor where u bought the kit? how long for delivery?

thanks

Funny you should ask.

Ordered from Apple Store 10/23
Acknowledged 10/25
Shipped 11/01
Delivered 11/04
Opened 11/05

In the box:

Packing slip
User Guide (14 pages)
Important Note about use without the TomTom app.
blank piece of paper with two rfid tags attached.
The car kit
charger ("cigar lighter"), cable, mini-usb plug.
Adhesion disk for alternative mounting


Look and feel:

Compact, sturdy, TomTom/Apple quality. The suction mount is relatively large. Rotates to attach, no lever. Very strong. When it is attached, it is attached. Will rotate 360 degrees. Easy to rotate, slight detent to keep it in place. Has a "line out" for connecting sound, e.g., music, but not voice, to the car sound system. (mine does not have a "line in" but I do have an fm transponder.

There is one control on the left side. Pushing it up raises the volume; not surprising, pushing it down, lowers the volume. Pushing it in and holding it for an 8 count clears Bluetooth pairing.

I am unable to see a pilot light to tell me that it is powered. However, if powered, holding the control in will generate a beep. I prefer my own light flexible cable to the one that comes with the car kit. As best I can tell there is nothing special about it.

Will pair to eight phones. Must be powered with the phone inserted to operate or pair. Pairing is then automagic, phone sees the device, first recognizes it as a "handsfree device" and then as a TomTom car kit. Then it prompts for the PIN code, 5555.

Seems to acquire satellites faster but still will not acquire in my living room or car port.

The nav software does not recognize the presence or absence of the car kit. The free tool kit does.

The car kit is a much more stable mount than the one that I am replacing and thought I like. This is stable enough that one can pus the home button without moving it. It is very easy to take the phone in and out of the mount.

While I have not yet driven anywhere, I have listened to a "demo" of a trip and the instructions sound five by five at the default volume setting. I have listened to someone else's auto phone greeting and left a message. They sounded good and I will let you know their report of how I sounded. Not sure but I think that the phone defaults to car kit when it is inserted.

I see nothing to suggest that the car kit will not work just fine with my AT&T Nav system and everything to suggest that it will. The biggest problem that I have with the AT&T is that it does not work well with the iPhone speaker. I have to wear a headset to understand it. The car kit should overcome that problem.

I will report again after I have taken a trip planned for 11/18-19/2009

What are your questions?

[ticman]

thanks for all the great information. I am definitely going to get one.

[whmurray]

http://forum.theiphoneblog.com/showt...46#post1532246