Bad News for TomTom users?

[gsxbarmy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/42859546

Not sure if this affects the Rider models - but guess that may only be a question of time? Who knows.

[Globalrider]

I guess I'll find out soon enough Dave!
Stan

[VladTepes]

For some bizarre reason that site is blocked from my work...

What's the upshot of it?

[KiwiCol]

Older model Tom Tom's are no longer getting the map upgrades.  Apparently "Lifetime Maps" means the lifetime of the unit, which is determined by TomTom when they decide they'll no longer do map upgrades for those models, hence, the end of their life.

It matters not they still go, so, this selling of Lifetime maps, is a load of crock!

[VladTepes]

Yes- the same problem exists with Garmin devices.

The issue is that over time the file formats provided by the mapping companies evolve, as they have more and different data.  In many cases older devices either are not compatible with these at all (nothing the manufacturer can do with that), or would require a firmware re-write to cope with the new maps (expensive, especially given that there is no financial incentive to do so).

Is it a PITA ? Yep.
Does it mean 'lifetime' is really arbitrary? Yes.
Is there anything that can be done about it? No, not really.
Will people just grumble and moan and eventually buy a new one - in many cases, yes.

So it's not quite as simple as the company just choosing for no reason to stop updating those devices.

Put yourself in the commercial shoes of the TomTom or Garmin execs - what would YOU do?

[KiwiCol]

Yes I know.  They call it progress.     

"I know, lets change everything and add more things that no-one has needed till now & make everything we've produced to now, defunct & then we can sell all new gizmos with new & improved this and extra that".  The Goldwing prior to 2012 had the same issue with their nav units, too old & can't update the maps, old format.

As you say Mike, it's a PITA & a waste of money for the consumers, having to discard their units because of this.

Remember cell phones, used to just ring people, then txt & pictures, now they're a mini computer that lets you do everything.  They went from 2g to 3g now on 4g & looking at 5g.  That's progress, but still remember being pi**ed having to biff out my perfectly good Sony Flip phone because they were switching off the network.
As you also say, people (or Sheeple) will grumble & moan but eventually buy another one.    Glad I haven't got a TomTom, but as you said, it'll come to Garmin users too, least mines a fairly modern unit, so should be good for a while yet.

[VladTepes]

It's already happening with the older Garmin ones mate.

Fortunately when it comes to the GPS some of the roads may change a little, some new ones appear, but by and large the cities and towns tend to stay in the same place....

[Mister Fishfinger]

I'm with Vlad. It would be nice if "lifetime" meant "your lifetime" - but as he says, there's no revenue coming in from the old devices once you have sold them. It's very expensive to keep a room full of software engineers going (I know from personal experience), so at some stage they have to cut the cord.

Having said that, they should be clearer in the marketing about what "lifetime" will mean for you when you buy the device.

I've got an old TomTom One (for a car, not a bike) in a drawer at home, it must be over 10 years old now. It didn't come with lifetime maps when it was new, and last year support was dropped completely so I couldn't even buy a new map if I wanted one. Having said that, the reason it is sat in a drawer is because I long since switched to using my phone instead. Google Maps is free, the maps are always up to date and you get live traffic conditions and automatic re-routing.

I haven't researched ways of mounting the phone to a bike though. Is this a good idea?

[grog]

agree, google maps way to go. find the check traffic thingo just brilliant. have a new system for my work computer. nav. is by tom tom. useless.

[Dusty ST]

With Garmin you have the option of installing open source mapping if/when Garmin stops the update, or more likely I forget to install it, which I believe also stops future updates.
OSM also makes maps for just about any part of the world available.

[Andre]

I am old fashioned. I write down on a piece of paper some of the places I need to pass to where I want to end up. Got several of these modern shite as a gift but never used them even once. Make great presents for the people I don't love 

Sorry, don't take it personally but my take on the whole gadget things that are supposed to make life simpler is "Digital devices get smarter while those who use them get dumber". Not looking forward to witness the generation that grows up with these kind of things being essential to lead a "proper" life.

[ARH]

I am old fashioned. I write down on a piece of paper some of the places I need to pass to where I want to end up. Got several of these modern shite as a gift but never used them even once. Make great presents for the people I don't love 

Sorry, don't take it personally but my take on the whole gadget things that are supposed to make life simpler is "Digital devices get smarter while those who use them get dumber". Not looking forward to witness the generation that grows up with these kind of things being essential to lead a "proper" life.

Andre - that generation is already here - they're called millenials 

[Andre]

Millenials... ok

Please excuse my ignorance. I only get out of the museum to ride the 14

[ARH]

Millenials... ok

Please excuse my ignorance. I only get out of the museum to ride the 14

You and me both mate!