Hi chaps. 

    New company Superb Estate SE Technology finally arrived today after an almost 6 month wait. I have an Anker sprung loaded phone holder that slots into the central dash vents. I want to keep the phone up there as I use the TomTom App for navigation. 

 

Has anyone managed to successfully hide the the phone's USB charging cable by perhaps feeding it through the vents, down the back of the centre console and into the "ashtray" box where the USB socket is? 

 

Thanks in advance!

Not an answer to your question as I have not yet taken delivery of my new Superb. Just curious why you had such a long wait for your new car. 

 

I have a 2.0l manual Superb SE Technolgy Estate on order as a company car and was expecting/hoping it would be the usual 12 weeks or quicker for delivery.

@sf73Rutland Can I ask why you don't simply use the cars sat nav?

4 hours ago, Whaty said:

@sf73Rutland Can I ask why you don't simply use the cars sat nav?

 

 I do use the cars satnav, but can probably offer an explanation for this. The TomTom app has some of the best mapping, immediate live traffic updates and associated re-routing available in any navigation system - far better than the Columbus or anything available via Carplay or Android Auto. Sadly it's not available using either of these interfaces. I miss it every day, and would do what the OP is suggesting doing in a heartbeat if I could find an elegant way to mount my phone and route the charger cable. As it is I'm still struggling with the concept of having a lovely large integrated screen with built-in satnav, and then sticking my phone and an ugly cable on the window or dashboard, so I'm resisting for the moment....

20 minutes ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

 

 I do use the cars satnav, but can probably offer an explanation for this. The TomTom app has some of the best mapping, immediate live traffic updates and associated re-routing available in any navigation system - far better than the Columbus or anything available via Carplay or Android Auto. Sadly it's not available using either of these interfaces. I miss it every day, and would do what the OP is suggesting doing in a heartbeat if I could find an elegant way to mount my phone and route the charger cable. As it is I'm still struggling with the concept of having a lovely large integrated screen with built-in satnav, and then sticking my phone and an ugly cable on the window or dashboard, so I'm resisting for the moment....

Brilliant reply and exactly why I don't use the built nav on the Amundsen. I drive over 60k miles a year in the UK and Europe and with the Traffic and Speedcam sub for £14.99 a year, I just never see traffic jams, unless there's no other practical route.

 

I've tried most built in navs (including Skoda's for a couple of weeks whilst hooked up to a mobile hotspot via the car's Wifi for enhanced traffic) and they're not a patch on TomTom -  I've also tried the Waze Beta for Android Auto and that's also got its limitations compared to the TomTom. 

 

The TomTom does all kinds of other useful stuff such as working out your current average speed between average speed cameras. But more importantly, it gets ETAs right at the beginning of the journey, regardless of the delay. And that to me's worth its weight in gold. 

 

18 hours ago, Theo67 said:

Not an answer to your question as I have not yet taken delivery of my new Superb. Just curious why you had such a long wait for your new car. 

 

I have a 2.0l manual Superb SE Technolgy Estate on order as a company car and was expecting/hoping it would be the usual 12 weeks or quicker for delivery.

Not sure of the reason. My firm have 60 odd and this is a consignment of a further 33 of them. I'd heard from clients who have them that there was a long wait....We blame it on Bradley Wiggins.

Ahhh, my ignorance led to the question but now I understand, thanks for the explanation.....

 

Hope someone can offer you a method of routing the cable neatly as you've suggested.! Shame it's necessary....

It's a shame that you can't connect a phone using MirrorLink to replicate the display and have the display of the phone on the head unit. I know they push/market CarPlay and Android Auto but MirrorLink is the third option.

 

I'm assuming an Android phone configured to use MirrorLink won't output via the USB connection on the Amundsen or Columbus.... It would be good if it would but I suspect they don't allow it.

7 hours ago, sf73Rutland said:

The TomTom does all kinds of other useful stuff such as working out your current average speed between average speed cameras. But more importantly, it gets ETAs right at the beginning of the journey, regardless of the delay. And that to me's worth its weight in gold. 

 

Welcome sf73Rutland and not to shoot you down and give you the wrong impression about a great site but does your Tomtom also have seeing powers?  

 

Whilst I can support that algorithm adjustment dependent upon your driving style can refine the predictive variability of the ETA and it may consistently be the most accurate of those you have tried i do not think you can say "regardless of delay" .

 

It's just buyer's bias (also known as choice-supportive bias). The more money you sink in the more bias you get. That's why apple customers get so religious.

 

Google maps is great, best ui, unmatched search capabilities. Waze has terrible ui and even worse search but on roads with lots of potholes/police it's very good. The real problem with amundsen/columbus is the maps (they are always outdated).

10 hours ago, Bud said:

Welcome sf73Rutland and not to shoot you down and give you the wrong impression about a great site but does your Tomtom also have seeing powers?  

 

Whilst I can support that algorithm adjustment dependent upon your driving style can refine the predictive variability of the ETA and it may consistently be the most accurate of those you have tried i do not think you can say "regardless of delay" .

 

 

Genuine question - have you ever used the TomTom app for more than a day or two? It's certainly the most accurate I've ever known, but you're right in the initial ETA will always be based on the road conditions at the time you leave. Where TomTom comes into its own is where it takes into account live traffic 'on the fly' as you drive and any alternative routes necessary to avoid the worst traffic. The algorithm also seems to be coded more realistically for real world driving. I'm not sure the Columbus has any learning capabilities does it? After 6 months mine still seems to be calculating ETA purely on the basis of official speed limit versus distance, with no consideration for acceleration and deceleration, roundabouts and junctions, other road users etc. Invariably it seems to assume you're driving a 280 in a straight line and estimate a wildly unrealistic ETA. This in a MY17, so with the latest online services it may be better now. As a simple mapping tool, it's fine and does the job (apart from failing to identify some postcodes for some reason), but it's hard to adapt down to after using other systems for years.

 

8 hours ago, ionelmc said:

It's just buyer's bias (also known as choice-supportive bias). The more money you sink in the more bias you get. That's why apple customers get so religious.

 

Google maps is great, best ui, unmatched search capabilities. Waze has terrible ui and even worse search but on roads with lots of potholes/police it's very good. The real problem with amundsen/columbus is the maps (they are always outdated).

 

Buyers bias exists, but if it was the case here I suspect we'd be claiming the Columbus is miles ahead of anything. A few quid for a TomTom subscription pales into insignificance compared to the true cost of the Columbus, and it's nowhere near enough to generate the rabid bias that exists amongst some Apple customers. Although, having said that, I do wish TomTom was available via Carplay! :-)

 

Google maps is great from a search perspective, but pretty basic otherwise - but at least it's free.

2 minutes ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

Buyers bias exists, but if it was the case here I suspect we'd be claiming the Columbus is miles ahead of anything.

 

Columbus ain't a choice. Lets get real here, everyone hates it just because you don't get to choose. You simply can't get a well equipped car without it's stupid navigation.

2 hours ago, ionelmc said:

 

Columbus ain't a choice. Lets get real here, everyone hates it just because you don't get to choose. You simply can't get a well equipped car without it's stupid navigation.

 

I'm not sure what your point is here. Columbus is an (upgrade) choice for some. It has an intrinsic value even when fitted as standard. And whilst I didn't choose it, I don't hate it by any stretch of the imagination - I just wish it performed better in certain areas.

Actually it's not "buyer" bias or any such. Without going into the boring detail of how, I've run TomTom against various inbuilt navs on the same routes at the same time and I can say that more often than not TomTom provides a more accurate ETA, more comprehensive and useful functionality, and better delay detection and avoidance.

Google Maps is however a great site for planning routes. I use it ever day for the following day's appointments. 

 

As for any bias towards Apple products, my own phone is an iPhone, but the TomTom Go App is run on my work phone which is some sort of Samsung Galaxy thingy. It's very good. There are just so many different models, I can't remember the name.

 

Any advances on the question I originally asked? We seem to have moved rather off-topic. Ta.

20 hours ago, rtj70 said:

It's a shame that you can't connect a phone using MirrorLink to replicate the display and have the display of the phone on the head unit. I know they push/market CarPlay and Android Auto but MirrorLink is the third option.

 

I'm assuming an Android phone configured to use MirrorLink won't output via the USB connection on the Amundsen or Columbus.... It would be good if it would but I suspect they don't allow it.

 

There is actually a way of getting ALL of the Apps to appear on the car's screen rather than only those Mirror Link officially allows including the TomTom Go App. Doesn't work with the spare work Samsung phone I have and I'm tempted to buy one just for that purpose........The problem is thanks to the unique way Skoda have designed the media sockets, the USB cable will have to be plugged into the hole in the dashboard and as it won't fit over the top, the sliding door will have to stay pushed open all the time....Suppose I could pull the USB/12Volt socket cover, snip the wires, connect to a new USB socket, shove in the whole and snap the cover back on - I like a tidy looking car me  

 

Edited 2 August, 20178 yr by sf73Rutland

22 minutes ago, sf73Rutland said:

 

There is actually a way of getting ALL of the Apps to appear on the car's screen rather than only those Mirror Link officially allows including the TomTom Go App. Doesn't work with the spare work Samsung phone I have and I'm tempted to buy one just for that purpose........The problem is thanks to the unique way Skoda have designed the media sockets, the USB cable will have to be plugged into the hole in the dashboard and as it won't fit over the top, the sliding door will have to stay pushed open all the time....Suppose I could pull the USB/12Volt socket cover, snip the wires, connect to a new USB socket, shove in the whole and snap the cover back on - I like a tidy looking car me  

 

If you can find a way of going through the rear of tray then getting a right angled USB cable will solve the problem of the cover closing. Just as though you were putting your phone on the charging pad with the door shut.

Something like this, depending on your phone connection.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CableCreation-Degree-Braided-Macbook-Aluminum/dp/B01N94GEV6/ref=pd_sbs_107_10?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MK699E7G0GN4PHCKJCB0

2 hours ago, sf73Rutland said:

 

There is actually a way of getting ALL of the Apps to appear on the car's screen rather than only those Mirror Link officially allows including the TomTom Go App. Doesn't work with the spare work Samsung phone I have and I'm tempted to buy one just for that purpose........The problem is thanks to the unique way Skoda have designed the media sockets, the USB cable will have to be plugged into the hole in the dashboard and as it won't fit over the top, the sliding door will have to stay pushed open all the time....Suppose I could pull the USB/12Volt socket cover, snip the wires, connect to a new USB socket, shove in the whole and snap the cover back on - I like a tidy looking car me  

 

How???

This is one of the things I wished I'd explored when I had the car on demo for a week. I connected my Android phone using Android Auto and that worked. But I should have enabled MirrorLink on the phone and tried connecting with that.

 

I have seen demos of the full phone interface on other units with even TomTom working then I will occasionally do this. I think the integration with Android Auto is better done but supports few apps.

 

But I've not even got a build week for mine yet and it's been nearly a month.

7 hours ago, sf73Rutland said:

There is actually a way of getting ALL of the Apps to appear on the car's screen rather than

Speaking of offtopic

 

But silly jabs aside, why would you take down your dashboard just to put some cables behind it? Another way, albeit a bit ugly is to use adhesive cable holders to make the cables more neat, eg: https://www.aliexpress.com/item-img/20PCS-Lot-3M-Adhesive-Car-Cable-Clips-Cable-Drop-Wire-Holder-to-fix-Car-Charger-GPS/1678040760.html (didn't buy from there but my dashcam comes with clips just like those)

I haven't looked closely, but would it be possible to windscreen mount it in the bottom right (drivers) corner and route the cable through the void behind the right hand side cubby hole, under the steering column and across into the centre console behind the centre cubby? Or you could perhaps go from the same place down and along the floor trim, under the front seat (or even the rear mat) and into the rear 12v socket? Hopefully a pry tool would be sufficient, without the need to actually take anything out. Lots of dashcam folk have experience of routing cables around the cabin of the Superb - maybe search the forum for dashcam posts and ask about the best routes there?

3 hours ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

I haven't looked closely, but would it be possible to windscreen mount it in the bottom right (drivers) corner and route the cable through the void behind the right hand side cubby hole, under the steering column and across into the centre console behind the centre cubby? Or you could perhaps go from the same place down and along the floor trim, under the front seat (or even the rear mat) and into the rear 12v socket? Hopefully a pry tool would be sufficient, without the need to actually take anything out. Lots of dashcam folk have experience of routing cables around the cabin of the Superb - maybe search the forum for dashcam posts and ask about the best routes there?

 

Not a bad idea that - Despite my being left handed. I'm sure I could cope! 

15 hours ago, panmat said:

How???

Have a scoot around Google. There are two methods with a suitable Galaxy mobile and a couple of Apps.