TomTom GPS - no Satellite found?

[chrisdug]

Hi,

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Anza Borrego. We towed the jeep and went out every day and saw major wildflowers - better than I have experienced before. Just Awesome....

Problem - my GPS (TomTom) seemed to be blocked no matter where I put it. It sometimes got reception for a short time and would lose it quickly. Tried all over the windshield and even the side windows too. Does the Overhead area really block out all reception? I thought it might be clouds on the way out, but it was clear on the return with the same problem.

Is there a way to improve reception (tin foil hats or something?)
Do others have this problem?
Thanks!
Doug

[Sam_Spade]

chrisdug wrote:
Does the Overhead area really block out all reception?

Is there a way to improve reception (tin foil hats or something?)

Do others have this problem?

Yes it can on some models.

Probably not.

No....but mine is a Garmin.

What happens if you take the TomTom outside of the cab when it is failing ??

P.S. I will never buy another stand-alone GPS because the Google Navigation in my phone works better.

[tobydad]

I had the same problem with my Tom Tom GPS unit on a trip. It would lose the signal and comeback on and sometimes say to take a turn when there was no turn. Used a friend's Garmin side by side on a short trip and realized that the Tom Tom was malfuntioning and needed to be tossed.

[bob_nestor]

GPS signals (and SirrusXM) are easily blocked or masked by almost anything. The GPS needs to have signals from at least 4 sources to compute a fix. Some will go into coast mode when they don't have the minimum number of sources. In coast mode it assumes you're continuing in the direction and at the speed you were going at the last good fix. But most units won't tell you you're in coast mode and when they regain signal may then tell you that you should have turned "back there".

Satellites low on the horizon are automatically masked (or blocked) from use in computing a fix too. Generally glass, plastic and fiberglass don't attenuate the signal too much, but they can. Metal as in the vehicle cab really blocks the signals. So even if you have the GPS or GPS antenna sitting on the dash or on your windshield, if you have a metal cab and the satellites are behind you they're probably masked and not being seen by the GPS.

My old RV had the GPS antenna under the plastic dash. On trips heading mainly SW I'd often loose the GPS signal. I moved the antenna to the top of the dash near the base of the windshield to try and unmask it as much as possible and that helped a lot but still wasn't perfect. A perfect solution would have been to put the GPS antenna on the top of the RV.

[chrisdug]

I will try my Garmin Hand Held next time out to see if it has the same response. Thanks for the suggestion. I just looked online and found there is a GPS-Quick_fix to download as well.

Model correction - TomTom GO Live 2435

[Second_Chance]

Sounds more like a technical (hardware) failure in the GPS, Doug. Put another GPS beside it if you have one. If the original still doesn't get satellites and the "control subject" does, Houston - you have a problem. The next step I would take would be a hard reset on the unit (sometimes from the system menu, sometimes with a paper clip in a little hole). If that doesn't fix it, it has failed.

Rob

[chrisdug]

We updated it the week before we left. We never had a problem with this unit before in the car, but this was the first time we used it in the RV.

Ours is also a TomTom GO edition - tag on unit says Model 4CQ01.

[mbutts]

We have a TomTom Go 50S and it sits on a beanbag mount in the middle of the dash, no troubles with reception. Have you updated it recently?