This is a dangerous judgement on a blog that says to have  a passion for GPS, I do understand that!

Let me explain.

More than often I hear people say that they survived life and vacation without GPS till now. And ofcourse they are right. Centuries ago I have been doing the same. Myself behind the wheel and my fellow traveller with a map on his or her knees and driving the same round about for the third time with a big smile on our faces (his depending on this fellow traveler ;-) ).

But traveling with a gps an be fun too.

Travelling with GPS devices

If you have a passenger without humour, go buy a GPS, to be sure to have and keep the atmosphere relaxed. Next to that you can drive the night away (*) on trips without looking back. No need to be afraid that you can’t find your way back. But only use it on your way back!

With a handheld navigation device you could have loads of fun, while searching geocaching all over the globe.

Newer device can log your route easier than before and with that you can geotag your pictures for you and others to know where exactly the pictures have been made.

Conclusion: A life without GPS is possible, but for sure less fun! ;-)

(edit: Did I forgot to tell you that it saves fuel too and so saves the planet?!)

(*) free to Neil Diamond’s On The Robert E. Lee / The Jazzsinger

Having the vacation season in site it might be wise to give your that same warning as last year. Personal Navigation Devices (PND’s) are becoming common more and more and therefore wanted by thiefs.

• keep your gps out of sight if you are not using it, even for a short stop
• keep the cables and windscreen dock/mount away if you are away
• keep the window without suction cup marks, if you are away even longer
• never put you own home address as home location. I did put a location one block from mine. If you are close to your home, you will know the way…

Maybe I am paranoia, but I even start on putting away all my cables and stuff before parking my car in some area’s.

I hope you will have a warm (or cold, if you prefer that!) and healthy vacation. Come back safe!

First, the details :

• Tomtom One XL Europe
• 1 GB SD card
• Tomtom Home 2.1 (required for the install, I’ll explain later
• A windows system as Tomtom Home 2.1 is not available for Mac yet
  (grrr)

Here’s how to get the downloaded maps to your SD card, so you can switch maps:

• Put the SD card into the Tomtom
• Connect the Tomtom to your computer and switch it on
• On your computer, start Tomtom Home 2.1
• Wait for the program to finish downloading updates
• Notice that the maps are available as update!! and download them
• Now here’s the trick: Simply proceed installing the maps to your Tomtom, the software automatically copies to SD card without even telling you!!
• Wait for the install to finish, check if you have voices installed (the program normally does that for you)
• Done

If you want to add voices, you could download these from the tomtom.com website and add them to the SD card without using the Tomtom Home software. Make sure they end up in a folder called VOICES.

Why can’t I copy the downloaded maps to the SD card without using Tomtom Home software?

That’s because of the product code and device code. With the downloaded maps, you don’t have to enter these anymore, the application takes care of it. If you copy the downloaded map to your SD Card, it will be unusable.

Do I need to copy the Tomtom application to the SD Card too?
Yes. You can boot your Tomtom with the card inserted, it needs the application and associated maps on the card.

*****

Did you know that Tomtom is built into a Toyota Eclipse?

Here is a review at GPSreview: TomTom Eclipse AVN2210p GPS Review

[says: updates and applications: It is easy now to download and install the latest TomTom updates]