Tomtom vs Garmin

[Madmaggott]

We called at Halfords today as they have offers on Satnavs, with the intention of purchasing a tomtom (but which one?).  The assistant said he has a Garmin, which is cheaper and just as good (according to him) and almost convinced us that this was what we should go for.

We left the shop more confused than when we entered!

I decided that it would be wise to ask for the advice of forum users who have either of the systems.

Which brand/version do you have?

Are you happy with it generally? is it user friendly, would you recommend it?

Is it worth getting one with bluetooth, updates, etc?

We will be using it in GB and also Europe.

I look forward to your advice which I feel will be far more relevant to our requirements than that of the shop assistant although he was very helpful.

 

[trooper]

I am on my second Tom Tom, very good and easy to use, it has to be with me.

[Charles Chodkowski]

We have a Garmin Nuvi 660 which we bought four years ago at a cost of £400 and later paid £99 for lifetime map updates, I expect something now cost a fraction of that price. Used with a map and ignoring some instructions that might take you down unsuitable roads we have found it to be an excellant piece of kit. It has been used extensively in Europe and when used the ACSI, Camping Cheque or Aires books has allways got us to our destinations. We often just set it to "Map" so that it shows us where we are and on what road we are travelling and then use our road atlas for route planning.

[rupert123]

Afraid you are not going to get a definitive answer on this one. I have had both, present one is a Garmin Nuvi 660 euro and I cannot see any real differance when you compare models at around the same price. Certainly one with free upgrads are worth while, especially in France, where over the last few years they seem determined to alter or change every road in sight. The upgrades though are only worth it if the maker replaces their maps on a frequent basis. Blue tooth I have but of limited worth, useful for hands free phone. One thing I would not consider yet are those expensive ones that allow you to specify the size of vehicle, not really fully operational yet especially in Europe. Both makes work well, both will sometimes take you places you do not want to be.

[Keith T]

Hi, I had a GArmin for almost 3 years and had a lot of problems, including more and more the screen freezing pretty much on every journey now. I can reboot it and it seems to pick up, but its got to the point when I find it frustratiing and annoyaing,so have just taken delivery of a Tom-Tom.

 

I also found that with the GArmin when having set a destination or route, it did not show your actaul speed,only the road speed limit (which was oftenn incorrect, even thought it was updated regularly), and I am toldthe Tomtom will show both,so you onyl ned to look at one source when driving!

 

I still think that whatever you have, there needs to be a great deal of common sence and intuition as to whether to always follow where it wants to send you!

 

I would also recommned, that once you have decided which one you want, you checke the price through someone like Amazon.co.uk, or even on Halfords own website, as there are frequently some good deals out there.

[Brian Kirby]

If you compare like for like among the various models produced by either company (not always easy, research essential!), I suspect there is, in fact, little to divide them.  The base mapping is provided by different firms, Navteq (Owned by Nokia) for Garmin, and Tele Atlas (owned by TomTom) for TomTom.

Both makers produce models with various bells and whistles, most of which seem to me a waste of time, as they do nothing for the navigational capabilities of the machines, while adding to cost.  However, if you want to use the sat nav as a remote speaker for you phone, or to show digital photos, these extras will have some value for you. 

The one we have (Garmin Nuvi 760) does both these, but I've never used them.  It can also transmit its voice guidance through the van radio, to the van speakers.  Better than the built in-speaker, thought I.  Er, wrong!  Good idea, but a cable connection would be miles better.  To set up the transmissions, you have to find a "quiet" spot in the local wavebands to transmit on.  The Nuvi does that OK, and tells you the frequency to tune the van radio to receive.  All OK then?  Well, no, because as you travel, you begin to pick up other local radio stations.  So, just as you get to that really busy five way junction at the edge of the next town, all your van radio can hear is the local football results, instead of the Nuvi!  Useless!

If you want Europe, buy it with the machine; don't add it later, it'll cost far more.

I'd be inclined to go for any model that includes regular map updates, or buy the cheapest one you can find that will do all the basics, and then subscribe for regular updates.  Others will know about TomTom, but Garmin will sell you lifetime map updates for around £100.  That buys you "up to" 4 updates per year, for as long as your machine survives.  Downloading and installing these is a long business, however, so don't think you'll get much change from an afternoon!  It is, IMO, still well worthwhile, because all maps are out of date, so having the least out of date version is the best you can ever achieve.  Even then, you'll find stuff that has plainly been in existence for years is not mapped.  Mostly it doesn't matter, but it can be confusing in some places.  Make sure you get one that will take an SD card of around 4GB or better (ours is 8GB).  Each map update gets bigger, and our Nuvi, which is not yet two years old, could not take the 2010 Europe mapping on its built in memory, so the maps are now all on the SD card.  Seems to have no affect on how it runs or behaves.  If you intend storing POIs, you'll almost certainly have to put these on SD, and the Nuvi accesses both maps and POIs from the card without trouble.

If you want the facility to look at the maps, examine POIs, or experiment with routes, on your PC, and you don't buy the lifetime updates, you'll need to get a version of the Garmin machines that comes with MapSource.  Currently, I believe, that will limit you to "Zumo" models.  (However, do check that there is a MapSource CD in the box.  The box for ours (bought on-line via Amazon) says it is there, but it wasn't, and Garmin wouldn't relent.  Long story!)  The neat trick with MapSource is that you can pinpoint a location, say a POI, on the map, and then bring up Google Earth at exactly the same location, and GE automatically uploads your Garmin POIs as it opens.  Thus, you can see whether there is anything remotely resembling an aire, campsite, supermarket or whatever, and whether the POI is correctly located.  Even better, with Google Streets, you can now often get the street level view to see how the place looks at street level, say a site entrance.  Creepy, and very neat!

If you go for lifetime map updates, you'll get a programme called MapInstall.  This is a MapSource product, so once that is installed, you can upgrade to MapSource FOC.  (However, if this is of interest to you do check it is still current, because all this stuff, and the rules, change continually.)

If you begin downloading POIs from the net you may run into an odd problem with MapSource.  It seems unable to handle files larger than 1MB (some of Archie's, for example) in the file format used for uploading to the machine (.gdb).  It will handle larger files in it's native file format (.gpx) on the PC, but to get these to the machine, you'll have to break them up before saving them as .gdb, otherwise MapSource will crash.  Once over that hurdle, however, it all works just fine.

Don't expect too much from these machines, they are aids to navigation, but they are still dumb!  Head, eyes, and maps, are still essential!

If you have a larger van, you may be interested in the machines that allow you to input vehicle parameters.  Currently the mapping does not include all necessary detail across Europe, though UK is comprehensively covered.  However, so far as I know, actual road widths are not mapped anywhere and all the data enables is avoidance of restrictions.  That is to say, if the road has a 2.0 metre width restriction on it, the machine won't route you that way (assuming you've entered your van as more than 2.0M wide), but if there is no restriction and the road is only 2.0M wide it will still happily "post" you down it!  This is bound to change with time, but whether or not present machines have, or can download, the necessary routing logic as the mapping improves I doubt.  Who knows?  If important for you, I'd suggest asking Garmin or TomTom direct.

[Madmaggott]

Phew Brian, lot of detail there thanks!

I've been doing a bit of on-line research meanwhile and came to the same conclusion about the 'truck' systems, will be good when fully researched and more data is included, especially re. Europe.

Can't come to any decision as yet, there are so many to choose from and none seem to have all the functionality that we require, (as something is added to a version, something else is dropped).

When we bought our van it had a Blaupunct (sp) radio with a built in satnav which we have found very difficult to program and it only has GB mapping.  This is so frustrating!  We have a Honda car with inbuilt satnav which we love, it's easy to use and has EUR mapping; BUT is built in!!!! 

Anyway, thanks for all for the input.  I think I need to jot down the functions that we consider essential and then go for the least expensive one to include those functions.

 

[rowley]

I have used both systems but much prefer TomTom. I do regular updates on TomTom Home.

[mirage]

We have had a Garmin 255W which we have used here and abroad without any problem whatsover very easy to use. Just on it first anniversary so have`nt bothered updating maps only found a couple of new roundabouts so far in France which is`nt a problem To my mind if you are going to spend £100 updating you may as well hang on until maps are noticeably out of date and chuck it in the bin, there is always the risk it packs up after having parted with the money.

I would`nt want to be without one especially abroad they just make life so much easier (and argument free!)

[Ian0354]

Dear Madmaggott

 

One function that personally I wouldn’t want to lose on our Garmin is its ability to speak the directions, ie rather than saying “Turn right onto A12” it will say “Turn right onto London Road” albeit that the pronunciation can sometimes be quite funny; It took us ages to work out “Towel Louse” was in computer speak! We find this feature particularly invaluable when in towns abroad where I can concentrate on directions and my wife, who is the navigator, checks on the road name signs. Our satnav is an oldish Garmin 360 and I don’t know if this is a common feature now but wasn’t when we bought it so might be worth checking specs for.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Regards,

[terryW]

We are on our second tom tom (Europe 1) and providing you accept that it is " for the guidance of man/woman and the blind obedience of fools" it's great. I would never travel in Europe without one now but I have found that when in a van it is best to select fastest route and not use limited speed. You would suspect that would be the right thing to do in a motorhome but if you do it then decides to use shorter less major roads and that is how you finish up negotiating a mountain track.

 

The only problem we had was with loss of satellites; at first we thought it was the mountain passes we were in but it eventually gave up altogether for long periods in the day. We returned it to the shop and found out that occasionally you need to do a 'Hard restart' at the time the information on this was not in the handbook, though having complained they now inform me that future prints of the handbook include info on this, I haven’t checked.

 

[Rayjsj]

Hi,

I have a Tom-Tom One, basic model , very easy to download POI's from their website, upgraded map this year for £30 with now upgrades (from users) everytime I log on, does everything I want or need.

Only thing Extra I would get would be able to enter vehicle Dimensions to avoid unsuitable narrow roads. The low bridges are available as POI's Already, perhaps the narrow roads will be as POI's one day ??? Ray

 

PS i always turn the sound off on mine, and just consult the screen which allows the missus to sleep and me to get on with the driving without being interrupted by either of them.

[Meadows Engine]

I have a Garmin with MapSource and find its main benefit is you can build the route you want to go on your computer and then down load it to the Garmin unit. That way it directs you the way you want to go and avoids diversions down country lanes!

 

Is also a lot easier to set up your routes on the computer.

 

John

 

[Brian Kirby]

Be interested to know which Garmin you have, John.  I have had very mixed results doing this, and have found our Nuvi gets the waypoints set in MapSource all round its neck on transfer.  I have also found it irritatingly dumb if a waypoint has to be bypassed due, for example, to a diversion.  There is no option but to stop and manually delete the waypoint, and all preceding waypoints, from the route, then re-start the route, and continue, to prevent the stupid machine endlessly trying to navigate back to the missed waypoint!  To avoid this, I now pre-load all the salient waypoints as "favourites", and then set the Nuvi to navigate to each in turn.  That way if a diversion comes up the Nuvi will re-route on the fly and (give or take the odd cart track, which it then seems to favour) we arrive without incident.

Last point, if the Nuvi is set to avoid toll roads (mainly France, this), it will do exactly that, even where a bit of toll road is by far the best viable way to "hedge hop" a town.  On the other hand, if it is set to allow toll roads, it will select routes that involve miles of extra travel along toll roads, in order to save two nanoseconds of calculated travelling time, irrespective of the additional fuel and toll costs.  I think Garmin has shares in the autoroute companies!  :-)

[Colin Leake]

Before I retired amongst other things I was responsible for my companies transport fleet. I tested all the various systems available looking for the best simple system. The Tom Tom was the clear winner head and shoulders above the rest. I have one now and use it simply as a system of navigation. The only other feature I like is the ability to make your own changes to the maps and to down-load updated maps on line.

 

Out of interest the worst system I tested was the standard system fitted to a Lexus I had. It had no post code facility and even when on the odd occasions I managed to program it it kept giving me wrong directions. It also had no facility for updating the maps!

[rowley]

My Citroen Relay came with TrafficMaster. I am not very impressed with it and prefer TomTom.

[Curly]

Hello Brian your info. on the above is very interesting, the bit I would like to know more about is the the maps on the SD card and not on the unit itself, I always thought that the mapping had to be on the unit.

So how does the system work with the SD card?, when on the move are the directions via the card in the Nuvi.

 

I have a Nuvi 670 with SD card slot which is now 4/5 years old but all maps and POI's are on the unit and am now experiencing lack of memory when putting in a destination of some distance say 3/400 miles away.

 

Sorry to be such a dumbo but not obviously not as clever as you with these gizzmos

 

 

[duetto owner]

saw advert on tv last night 50% off sat navs at halfords, seems a good bargin if you need one

[Brian Kirby]

How does it work, Graham?  Gawd knows, but it does!

Stick an SD, 4GB or better for max flexibility, card into the Nuvi, and use POI Loader to stick your POIs onto the card.  You'll see it on your PC screen as a "drive" when you use POI Loader.  How you get them off the Nuvi, I don't know, because I've always put them onto SD.

When you plug your Nuvi into your PC, you should be able to see it identified by name in Windows Explorer.  The SD card, when fitted, will show as a separate "Removable Disk" immediately below it.  Our SD card is 8Gb (but check with Garmin if there is a max size, or type of SD, your Nuvi can read).  At present about 2Gb is used.  That 2 Gb comprises the whole of City Navigator Europe NT 2010.3, plus about 7,000 POIs.

The last update of maps I did was in Feb this year, at which time MapInstall said there was insufficient memory on the Nuvi for the whole map.  I then elected to install a subset of the maps covering Italy and Greece, but found that all the detail on the remainder of the "Europe" map set was main roads only.  So, I went and got the larger SD card, and re-installed the maps onto that, and then took all my POIs from MapSource (on the PC) and installed them also to the SD card.

MapInstall and POI loader seem to create the necessary directories automatically, and so far the Nuvi has worked just as it always has, without delays, hesitations, crashes, or any other indication that its maps are not where they were.  I didn't even have to tell it to look for maps on the SD, it just automatically found, and used, them the first time I booted it after installation!

I haven't use it "in anger" yet, just for a couple of 50 mile trips in the car in UK, but saw no differences with the way it had worked beforehand, when the maps were on the Nuvi.  So, if your is saying it is low on memory, and is struggling, try getting an SD and put the POIs on that.  If it still struggles with memory, I'd assume the process of loading them to the SD card hasn't resulted in them being automatically deleted from the resident memory, at which point an e-mail to Garmin tech will probably get you sorted.

[Curly]

Thanks a lot Brian will try your suggestions and will contact GARMIN also.

As an aside have you heard or know what is happening if anything to the Galileo system that was banded about some time ago.

:-> :->

[Brian Kirby]

In a word, no!  :-)

[Madmaggott]

Wow!  There's an awful lot to digest here.

Each time we think we've decided which brand to go for someone else posts and swings the 'clapometer' the other way!!!

Currently we favour the Garmin but .................... we'll let you know when we actually purchase one.

And, thank you all for the information and experiences, all very helpful (if adding to the confusion).

 

[Herri]

Not wanting to complicate matters further, but...

unfortunately there are differences within Garmin.

I bought a Nuvi 660 and found out later I cannot plan a route on my computer and then transfer this to my Garmin. The models previous to mine had that function and some later models apparently do.

The traffic avoidance is a waste of time. Its never worked in GB. In Holland its totally unreliable and in Belgium sometimes it works and sometimes it dosnt.

I was used to Garmin in aviation and they were the best.

If I have to get a new one it'll be a Tom Tom, normal size screen and no traffic.

Herri

[Madmaggott]

Oh  **!!**??!!***!!

*bangs head against nearest wall*

 

[Fionablueinky]

Hi

 

We have a TomTom 730 go which we used in Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France last summer and it was really good, one of the things which was invaluble was the lane recognition when your in busy traffic with multipule exits one after another it was really great to know which lanes where going where you wanted to go, especially in Basel in Switzerland when most of the motorway is in tunnels with the exits underground as well so following on the map was impossible.

 

It also give good notice of when to turn and didn't leave it to the last miniute, it also tells you the name of the road your turning into as well which can be a great help when roads are close together in towns/citys.

 

The GPS coordinates where really good, it got us to all our campsites right upto the reception even when some of the sites where hard to find down small country lanes without any signs, some of the people on our tour with garmin satnavs had trouble finding some of the sites our friends threw their garmin satnav in the bin when they got home and have bought a new one.

 

I would definatly recommend the TomTom 730 go.

 

Fiona