For a while now I am happily running around with a PocketPC, a Dell Axim X50. Also sometimes called a PDA (personal digital asistent), it's a pocket computer that will act as an electronic agenda, address book, document reader, MP3 player, etc. One of the most interesting possibilities is installing personal navigation software on it, and one of the more well-known choices for that is Tomtom. It seemed Tomtom was at least a good (and cost-effective), if not the best choice.
There was a new version (Tomtom 5) due for some time, so I decided to wait for that. When it was finally available, it turned out there was quite an attractive upgrade path being offered for users of older versions. So interesting, in fact, that I decided to get Tomtom 3 at a low price in a sale somewhere, and then use that to get the TT5 upgrade. Of course, I also had to get a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, a small blue box that you need to place somewhere behind your cars windscreen. I opted for a Bluetooth model, meaning that the connection would be wireless and I wouldn't need to worry about how to connect the thing physically to my PocketPC.
I used TT3 for about a week with pleasure, and ordered the upgrade almost immediately. The upgrade arrived fairly quickly, so I dropped the installation CD into the PC and installed the new version.
That's when trouble started. Tomtom 3 has been working wonderfully, but Tomtom 5 hasn't treated me to a single succesful, hassle-free trip yet. It seems the software somehow can not get the GPS data out of the receiver at a decent pace. When inspecting the GPS status screen, the data will only get updated once every few minutes, while it should be an almost constant stream of updates.
The effects of this problem are that the software will freeze on a position, or start drifting off the road in a constant direction at a constant speed. The overall effect is that Tomtom 5 is completely useless right now, so hopefully Tomtom will answer the support request I have submitted sometime very soon.
In the meantime, my only choice seems to be to move back to Tomtom 3, which worked fine. Once I am a happy TT5 user I will post it here.