stand-alone battery life of Tom Tom unit.

gorge · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington

I have a new TomTom unit ( 720) and wanted to hear some additional feedback regarding the stand-alone battery life people are getting while using the device. After a fulll charge, I am getting about 2 hours of active use in my vehicle before the battery dies, ie) when the unit is not plugged into the car charger. Curious if this is typical for others as well. Tech support told me 3-5 hours of stand-alone battery life was typical. From what I am hearing 2 hours may be fairly typical.

thanks!

Tim · Sat Dec 15, 2007 12:36 am

With Bluetooth off, and the screen at about 70% brightness, I've been getting about 4 to 4.5 hours.

gorge · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington

Thanks. I looked at my unit and it is set at 80% for "day color brightness." Do you also turn off the volume to get 4-4.5 hours ?

Tim · Sat Dec 15, 2007 12:46 am

No, I leave the volume on.

gorge · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington

Hmm. I did call tech support last week and they gave me a case #. They advised that I should run a few experiments to see how long the battery is lasting.

So, I confirmed a full charge after the unit was charging on my computer. I turned on the TT unit and just let it sit on my desk. Within 1.5 hours, the battery indicator was at 1/2 the total charge.

I general I think I am getting 2-2.5 hours max.

I am a little confused because the first tech support person told me 3-5 hours of battery life... I called several days later and spoke with a different tech support person who said that 2 hours is the most I will get, unless I hook the unit up to my car charger.

Tim · Sat Dec 15, 2007 12:56 am

Bluetooth on/off, the FM transmitter, playing MP3 music, and screen brightness will account for the majority of the battery life.

gorge · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington

thanks. All that I am doing is using the navigation. I don't know how to use the blue tooth or other features.

Do you think 2-2.5 hours of battery life warrants sending the unit back for repair/replace ?

Tim · Sat Dec 15, 2007 1:09 am

You might first want to try making sure Bluetooth is turned off, that the audio is set to only send the audio through the internal speaker, and give it a good full overnight charge, then repeat the test.

gorge · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington

thanks, Tim. I checked on the blue tooth and the unit told me that in order to use the blue tooth, I have to first establish a connect. - so I assume that means that blue tooth would be off, right ?

I confirmed audio is set for the internal speaker.

Regarding the charging, my unit came with only the USB computer charger.

I will leave it charging overnight and see if that changes anything.

thanks

Tim · Re: Tom Tom 720 battery life Sat Dec 15, 2007 1:42 am

gorge · Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington

Tim, thanks.

Ok, I went to page 7 and wireless data was enabled. I touched the screen to disable it, then went to blue tooth preferences and disabled blue tooth.

Are you saying that disabling wireless and blue tooth may add the stand-alone battery life?

In any case, I will track this and see if it helps.

- thanks.

Tim · Sat Dec 15, 2007 1:06 pm

It might, yes. It requires power to operate the Bluetooth chip inside, so disabling it might improve battery life if you are not using it.

Tim · Tue Dec 18, 2007 2:59 am

This thread continues over here.