Tomtom vs Garmin

[Basil]

Our vote would also go to Tom Tom. We have the 720 with TMC RDS attachment. You can plan your routes on or off the unit, the ALG (Advanced Lane Guidence) is superb, the IQ Routing makes a difference and the TMC traffic hold up is brilliant both in the UK and Europe (saved us over an hour by by-passing a delay on the M4 last week), Tom Tom also has the ability to have your existing mapping updated (free) on a daily basis and you can subscribe to quarterly new map update for £34 / year if you desire. We can't racommend Tom Tom's enough, best we have had and we have had Garmin and Navman previously. Like many other things what suits us may not suit you so you pay your £150 and take your choice!

If I have a complaint then it is that the battery power is poor when used away from the vehicle e.g. if you go walking in a town/ city I would not leave it turned on but only turn it on to return to my vehicle if I need to, in reality this causes us no problem as I have never needed to use it in that manner. I understand that the latest models don't suffer with this problem.

 

Bas

[euroserv]

Hello,

 

I purchased a Tomtom 700 about 6 years ago. It has bluetooth on it which works very well and European mapping which has been faultless. I update the maps and safety camera data every year for about £50 and the process works well. I used to use it all the time but now only about 3 times a year, when it is dusted off, charged and reset; thereafter it works perfectly. I have had no problems whatsoever with mine but I recall from a thread some time ago that the customer service is excellent if something does go wrong. If fuss-free, reliable 'does exactly what it says on the tin' is what you need, I absolutely recommend Tomtom.

 

If on the other hand you want a lying bit*h in the car that is determined to not only get you lost or killed but claims credit for your successful arrival having previously sent you 8 miles in the wrong direction; feel free to waste £1800 on a factory fit unit in your next Alfa, Fiat or most other makers' hideously over priced and woeful offerings. Not bitter at all.

 

Nick

[Meadows Engine]

Hi Brian, sorry for the delay in coming back we’ve been away over Easter. I kicked of with a Garmin Street Pilot 2610 years ago which I bought to use on my motorcycle and it did sterling service for about three years and taught me the basics of MapSource (I’ll never say I have mastered it) and I wouldn’t now want one without MapSource it. It was replaced by a Street Pilot 2820 because the old one couldn’t handle POI’s etc (The new one, now three years old has loads of extas you’ll never need on it that I just ignore)

 

Some times if I put in a WP on the wrong side of a road, normally because I didn’t enlarge the map enough, then like yours mine goes crazy determined to take you back to the “missed” WP.

 

I have found the best way to “shut it up” is to turn of the unit then switch it back on and it picks up the route from were you are and stops berating you at every junction/bridge/roundabout, and ignores past WP’s.

 

The 2610 has built in memory and because of the vast increase in map size of about 2 years ago it can no longer hold “the lot” however I have never been in danger of not having all I need, I don’t really need the mapping for Scotland when touring Spain!

 

All in all its been very good, I’ve never used any other so I can’t make a helpful comparison, having had MapSource I would be very reluctant to loose it, but what you never had you probably never miss, do I trust my Garmin to get me there sensibly , yes if I have put the route in, no if I just said “go to” but either way I’d keep a very close eye on what its up to!!

 

John

 

PS - I had a problem with the window coating on my Fiat X250 wiping out the signal, there is a one inch hole in the coating to the left of the internal mirror to let a signal in so I spent four weeks in Spain with the Garmin tied with string to my mirror so it would work, not a pretty sight! the problem was eventually solved by fitting an external aerial and I must say since then the reception has been very strong and reliable..

 

[Brian Kirby]

Meadows Engine - 2010-04-08 5:31 PM Hi Brian, sorry for the delay in coming back we’ve been away over Easter. .......................... I have found the best way to “shut it up” is to turn of the unit then switch it back on and it picks up the route from were you are and stops berating you at every junction/bridge/roundabout, and ignores past WP’s. ....................

Thank you John.  No need to apologise - I wasn't expecting instant responses.  Hope the Easter trip was good.

J ust turn it off, and then back on, eh?  Well, there you are.  far too bloody simple for me, that!  Of course it would.  Dohhh!  Just what this forum is for.  Many thanks.  I wonder if I would eventually have thought of that for myself?  No answers please!  :-D

[Madmaggott]

Bingo!! 

At last I got a decision from his nibs and we've placed our order for a

Garmin Nuvi 1490

so, for better or worse that's what we're having.

Many thanks everyone for the input; no doubt there will be some one out there who has one and hates it but pleeeeese don't tell me so! ;-}

 

 

[flicka]

For those who have not made a descision yet.

 

Our Tom Tom One Europe (supplied with the M/H) has inbuilt memory only.

Please be aware that the memory is virtually full as purchased with the standard maps, information, etc., with very limited space to add additional POI's or Tom Tom map upgrades.

[Curly]

A repeat of what Flicka said for those of you who have not made a decision yet, Amazon has some good deals on Garmin and if you were to take up their credit card offer you get another 10% off, e,g the Garmin 1390T is £154.76 less a further £15 reduced to £139.76 compared to Halfords £189.99 whey hey :-> :-> :->

[Way2Go]

If I can just clarify the last couple of comments.  The TomTom they are talking about reads the data off of the SD card.  To make more space - buy a bigger SD card.  Simple.

I'm afraid its another case of confusing memory and disk space.

All you need to do is copy across everything from the original SD card to the new larger SD card and you'll have stacks of free space available.

W2G

[flicka]

Way2Go - 2010-04-11 8:51 AM

If I can just clarify the last couple of comments.  The TomTom they are talking about reads the data off of the SD card.  To make more space - buy a bigger SD card.  Simple.

I'm afraid its another case of confusing memory and disk space.

All you need to do is copy across everything from the original SD card to the new larger SD card and you'll have stacks of free space available.

W2G

Hi Way2GoThe Tom Tom One Europe has built in memory only. There is no facility to take an SD card. That was my reason for the post.The only external items are the On/Off switch & the connection socket. (Unless I am missing something) :-( 8-)

[Way2Go]

My apologies if my reply was incorrect.

I have a TomTom GO and my wife has a TomTom ONE V.2 both of which use SD cards for their operating system and maps.  Upon further investigation it would appear that later versions of the ONE do not have SD cards.

Sorry for posting incorrect information.

W2G

[RogP]

I've used TomTom , Navman and Garmin over the last few years.

 

Lost faith with TomTom , I was using the PDA version and I could not get the updates nor the software upgrades to work (noting to do with either me or the PDA known problem at the time).

 

I then purchased a Navman which at the time (about 2 years ago) was spot on only some unquestionable stole it about 2 weeks after I had it.

 

I then went onto Garmin Mobile for my Smartphone and I have to say this (for £80) was the best one I've used. You could select your mode of transport (from walking , cycling , Car , Truck , HGV and Caravan) you could also down load road restrictions both height and width as POIs to avoid.

 

I only stopped using as I changed from a Smartphone to a normal mobile and the Smartphone needed to update its GPS location every 7 days and if it was either not on a valid Network or sync'd to a PC it would block use of the GPS.

 

I've recently got a Garmin Nurvi 1340 and I have to say I like it , partly because of the Lane Assist feature , really helped me going through London last weekend , and partly the screen size.

 

To be honest I think now-a-days most Sat Navs are much of a muchness and there isn't huge differences.

 

I agree with getting the euro maps pre loaded as they do cost a lot more if retro purchased.