880 Maps

880 maps were released today as advertised.

thank you for the info!

You are Welcome.

GPS noobie here... just bought used XL325s off Ebay. Where exactly do I buy new/updated maps? Do I have to get them only from Tomtom?

Yup.

TomTom maps are "locked" to the serial number of the GPS onto which they are initially installed. In addition, TomTom does not sell the maps to retail shops - all maps are obtained directly from TomTom. As a consequence, you will not be able to obtain any legitimate maps from a third party.

You can buy maps from the TomTom web site, and will have a choice of a subscription for quarterly updates or purchasing a one-time update to the current map. Be aware that TomTom seems to make it easier to place an order for the subscription than the one-time purchase, but both are available.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

Thanks for the info Tom. It's just about what I thought. I guessed that Tomtom has everything locked up.

On a related note... I saw in the TomTom Home app where you can "subscribe" to RedLight/Speed cameras PIO with them. How does their service rate against the RedLight/Speed cameras PIO files available at this website? I'm guessing theirs are probably not updated as often.

I do not have extensive first-hand knowledge of the relative quality of various red-light and speed camera files, but I have seen the opinion expressed by quite a few other people that the files from TomTom are not as good as third-party files. There is definitely a very strong opinion in England that the third-party files from one of their local web sites are superior to the ones from TomTom, but those files deal primarily with the east side of the pond.

Other people on this forum should be able to provide informed comments about the quality of the files from here. If they consider the POI Factory files to provide good coverage in the US, then I would assume the files from here would be a better choice than subscribing to the files from TomTom.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

The TomTom speed cams for the US & Canada are FREE. No subcribing. They are updated every few days. There have been 7 updates since 1/1/12. I have both the TT & POI Factory versions on my GO.

So this maybe answers my next question which was what happens when you load two "versions" of the RedLight/Speed cameras PIO file from different websites. It occurred to me it "might" make multiple POIs at the same location for each file. Since you have both on your Go I suppose that's not a problem. Right?

I have the warnings set differently, so they don't "step on" each other.

I do the same thing, and it seems to work well on my GPS.

In addition, I have the speed cameras warnings set to provide a warning further ahead than the red light warnings, since some intersections have both types of cameras.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

Yep, same here, except for a different reason.

can someone please tell me whatis 880 maps?

Thanks

TomTom updates its maps four times a year, and the maps are identified by a version number. If you purchased a GPS model that includes lifetime maps, you can download the newest versions after they are published. If your GPS did not include lifetime maps, you can purchase either a single update or a one-year subscription on the TomTom web site.

FWIW, TomTom increases their normal map release numbers in 0.05 increments. For example - Version 8.70 -> version 8.75 -> version 8.80. At the time this thread started, the latest version was 8.80, but TomTom has since released version 8.85.

Also, in addition to a text name such as USA_Canada_Mexico or USA_Canada, TomTom identifies the maps for various areas of the world by different numbers added after the version number. So map 8.85.xxxx and map 8.85.yyyy might be issued at the same time, but would cover different parts of the world.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

To avoid confusion, the maps are identified by an EDITION number, 875, 880, 885 etc. A VERSION number 4008, 4009 etc, is included to identify the size and features of the maps for the many different TomTom models.
Example: Italy 885.4009
Italy (Area covered) 885 (Edition) 4009 (Version)

There are 24 areas world wide that have a 4009 version available.