Power Questions with tomtom..

I just bought a XXL 550 I think it is.

I have two questions.

1. The online manual says to not charge it with a usb hub. But to always use
the port right on the computer. I plan on taking it to overseas and not
using it in a car and was planning on charging it just with a usb hub
plugged into the wall. Does anyone know why they dont want you using a hub
and if my method will work ??

2. Since the battery life is not that long eg I think about an hour or less
on batterys, someone has suggested getting an external usb battery so that I
can extend the life if I really need to in a pinch. Does any one have any
experince with this type of set up.

3. Ok Ive come up with another question. Are there any power saving tips
that you can give me to save power. I thought I could turn voice off
particularly if IM just using it as a map or something with an itinerary. I
wondered about turning brightness down. I also wondered if making it night
mode would help, I dont know if the screen uses the same power if black or
white. I just wondered if black was achieved by turning off the pixels thus
saving power.

Thanks.

steve wrote:

I just turn it off when I dont need instructions and turn it on again when I do.

That works very well.

Unfortunetely it doesnt really answer the question.

Thanks.

steve wrote:


It did answer the last question, tho that may not be that
feasible with a GPS in a country you havent visited before.

This should work. I have a Tomtom 130-S and I never connect it
directly to my computer. If I want to communicate with it, I connect
it to a POWERED USB hub. Otherwise, I connect it to my cell phone
charger. Both connections result in the Tomtom getting charged up.

I suspect that there may be problems with unpowered USB hubs, and that
is what the manual is getting at.


I think that I can get between one and two hours of use out of my
Tomtom. I have not used a USB battery, but I have used (successfully)

- A powered USB hub.
- A mains cell phone charger. Several in fact.
- A car cell phone charger. Several in fact.
--
David Arnstein (00)
arnstein+usenet@pobox.com {{ }}
^^