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Well, I've finally had opportunity to buy and test (albeit briefly for now) the charger recommended by Rabdo in his original post. The good news is that it seems to work perfectly ! However, I've only given it the briefest of tests so far, having received it only this morning. Tomorrow, me and the good lady are going on holiday - a 500 mile round-trip that will give this new charger a thorough workout.
Here's what I've tried so far:
My battery was down to about 10% (3 bars showing on the Pocket+ meter). I turned the screen brightness up to full; turned on bluetooth; and then started up TomTom 5.1.
I got no screen flickering whatsoever - the screen was steady at full brightness. At the end of my short trip to KFC the battery meter had increased to show 4 bars on the Pocket+ battery meter. So, the X50v had performed flawlessly and accepted some charge too - from a very low battery state.
The lead is quite nicely put together. The barrel section that goes into the cigarette lighter is svelte and not too big. Actually, it's quite narrow in section and far less obtrusive than the previous charger I had with my iPAQ2210. But, on the downside, please note that the Dell connector at the end of the charger is a permanent feature - it cannot be removed. So you are still going to need to bring a second charger along for the ride, if you wish to charge your GPS receiver on the move. The inclusion of the (non-removable) Dell connector might account for the lead being a tad higher priced than the norm.
I can't fail but mention how difficult it was to buy this item from the seller !!! I decided to call them direct rather than going through the eBay listing. The first time I called (at approx 4:00pm) they refused to take the order because they were too busy packing ! I was asked to call back tomorrow. Two days later I tried again to be informed their computer system was on the blink - no orders could be taken at that time (must have lost their pencils too). The third time I called (having left it a couple of days again), I was told their card payment machine was playing up - could I call again tomorrow - and they refused to take my order for the third time. It's a good job I'm not paranoid eh ?!
I explained that I had a long trip coming up, and politely detailed my previous futile efforts to have the shop accept my order. The chap took pity on me and said he'd despatch the charger immediately. He grabbed a pen and noted down my payment details - to be put through the card machine when he got it working again. As promised, the charger arrived the next morning.
Thankfully, all of the phone calls were handled in a cheery and likeable manner, otherwise I would have long since given them the royal salute. So much so it makes me chuckle to think back on it: rather disorganised, but nice people.
My apologies for the long post - but it has been such a trek to find a UK car charger that works. I wanted to share the experience to help others - just as Rabdo kindly did. Well done old boy !
Now just to see if it survives 5 hours continuous use this weekend...
Last edited by Lost Cause : 09-08-05 at 03:58 PM.
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