I have the Tom Tom 720 ( I posted earlier) and I have determined that I am consistently getting 2.5-3 hours of use of the unit while not plugged into my car charger. After confirming the charge is at 100%, I ran several expirements by just sitting the unit on my desk and watching how long it took before the battery died. Typically is was 3 hours or slightly less.
I have turned the brighness down to 60% and have also disabled the bluetooth.
My understanding is the device is supposed to go for 4-5 hours.
I would be interested from hearing from anyone regarding what kind of stand-alone use they are getting after a full charge and if you think it is worthwhile to attempt to have the unit serviced under warranty.
PhillyChip, I love the idea of a standardized test so we can compare. I wonder though if we might need to do 2 tests. (Or maybe just modify the first.) TomTom says we should get "up to 5 hours" of battery life. So perhaps we should do everything in our power to get 5 hours, and if we don't..... well that isn't good.
All of your suggestions for settings look fantastic, I'd add that we turn off the "auto night mode" in case there is any power savings in turning off the light monitor, and perhaps setting the display brightness to 0%. That way if we don't get close to 5 hours with that there is an issue. (Of course I totally realize almost nobody would set their display at 0% for day use, but we probably should do everything we can to squeeze out every last bit of power.
Something else we might want to note is how long we have had the device.
And this probably goes without saying, but nothing should be connected to the USB port, nothing connected to the TomTom port, and no (real) SD card inserted.
Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington
Advice regarding Tom Tom battery charge duration Tue Dec 18, 2007 3:02 am
Tim - I am a little new to this forum ( I am the author of the original question). I would love to hear what others are getting out there. If people respond to a survey, will the results appear in this same blog ?
Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington
Tue Dec 18, 2007 10:57 pm
PhillyChip wrote:
Ok, I'm game.
Lets set up some test criteria. If all follow them, we can do a mini survey.
disable bluetooth
disable wireless data
FM transmission off
day colors
brightness to 60%
"never turn off screen"
box unchecked for "switch off when external power is lost."
Can you think of anything else?
Once we get the test standardized, we can go to it and collect data!
Tim/Philly Chip - with the criteria you described, I am getting about 3-3.5 hours max on my Tom Tom 720 for stand alone battery life ( before the unit shuts down).
Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington
Advice regarding Tom Tom battery charge duration Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:21 pm
Tim - I was actually running at 50% brightness. ( on a side note - reducing to 50% brightness did not seem to change the actual brightness of the screen very much - it was still easy to read in the car).
Re: Advice regarding Tom Tom battery charge duration Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:27 pm
lfcitz wrote:
i made sure my 720 had a full charge before my flight
from east coast to west coast.
I turned it on right before take off,
and it crapped out shortly after landing.
Don't they make you turn it off during takeoff and landing? And don't some airlines ban their use entirely?
Anyway, I tested my 920 yesterday but at 15% brightness which seems fine here in Michigan where we don't see the sun this time of year. I got just over 4 hours with it sitting on my desk at work. No satellite reception btw if that makes a difference.
Joined: 29 Nov 2007 Posts: 123 Location: Ottawa Senators
Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:57 pm
disable wireless data
FM transmission off
day colors
brightness to 50%
"never turn off screen"
box unchecked for "switch off when external power is lost
disable auto night mode (both boxes)
turn off sound
I got 3 hours and 5 minutes. The unit was next to a window able to pick up and fluctuate between 7 to 9 satellites.
Is that correct that it will make a big difference (longer life) if the unit sits in an area that does not pick up satellite signals?
All electronic devices (anything with an on/off switch) is supposed to be turned off for take-off and landing. Some airlines (Southwest comes to mind) do specifically ban the use of GPS at anytime on the plane.
Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington
Advice regarding Tom Tom battery charge duration Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:53 pm
Called Tom Tom tech support - basically they said that the advertised 5 hours of battery life is the optimal, under perfect conditions. For example, having the screen shut off between instructions.
I told him I am getting about 3 hours without the car charger. The tech guy said that is about average for battery life.
With Blutooth off, wireless data off, screen brightness at 0%, day colors, and a full overnight charge, one a device purchased at the end of July I squeezed out 4:43.
Ran the test you suggested using the Garmin nuvi 760, (screen set at 50%).
Battery life was 3hrs 46 minutes. Perhaps slightly better than the TT battery life. Garmin also quotes theirs as up to 5 hours. Didn't remove my SD card tho. Why would that make a difference? If it does, I'll rerun the test over the weekend. Unit is only 2 mos old.,
Joined: 08 Dec 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Washington
Advice regarding Tom Tom battery charge duration Sat Dec 22, 2007 3:36 pm
Tim wrote:
With Blutooth off, wireless data off, screen brightness at 0%, day colors, and a full overnight charge, one a device purchased at the end of July I squeezed out 4:43.
Tim, I turned down day color brightness to 20% and was about to get about 4 hours.
When you ran your test or 4:43, were you using the device to navigate, or was the unit just turned on, but idle ?
Also, when you navigate, do you use the 'spoken directions,' or just the screen ?
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