Tom Tom or Garmin?

[chris]

I am trying to decide between 2 very similar models. Tom Tom 1005 or Garmin nuvi 2595LMT

 

 

Any recommendations of which is better for ease of use, after sales, customer information and European travel.

 

Loads of mixed reviews so looking for first hand advice if any

Thanks

Chris

[Guest JudgeMental]

I sent the 2495 back as could not get on with it, more to do with the basecamp mapping on PC which is quite difficult to get your head around if used to working with mapsourse.......

 

They have just changed how the units work and maybe it's me reluctant to change but to me although the new units cheaper they don't seem as intuitive ( have had garmin since 2000) I'm going to stick with my 775 for another year, maybe by then better models around and basecamp will be free of bugs...

 

Stand alone sat nags will be a thing of the past soon as tablets and large phones can multitask quite well these days....

[Rayjsj]

Don't know about Garmin, as i've never had one, have a Tom-tom live 1005 camper edition, and still have an earlier Tom Tom one 'new edition'. Much prefer the usability of the earlier Tom tom.

Only got the newer version for the ability to enter the vehicle size and weight, as i have a newer Bigger van, and don't want to be sent down narrow lanes and through housing estates, as my other Tom tom did some times. Have yet to try it 'in Anger', as I only got it for Christmas. The older Tom tom was better for POI's and Itinery planning. Ray

[hughman]

We've got a Nuvi 3590 LMT which has so far done us successfully for 3 European trips in the last year across 10 countries. No problems in use, but online updates can cause glitches. It's got very good coverage though and the touch screen with fingertip scrolling is good.

 

It replaced a TomTom which ran out of memory space for map updates.

 

Satnavs all seem to be curate's eggs when it comes to it, so good luck :-D

[Basil]

I personally have not been happy with the Garmin I had, not the one you are considering, so I would advise to take a look at the Tom Tom Start 60 version 2 (with expansion slot) before going for the 1005. Less than half the price and does all that the 1005 does with regard to guidance but with a bigger, six inch, screen and without the 'extra' functions that I have on my older Tom Tom, that I paid a top price for, and found I didn't need or use for the whole time I had it! It also uses the TMC RDS aerial if you want for traffic info which is free for life unlike the pay extra for updates of the 'Live' system, some don't find this a useful option, personally I can't enthuse enough about it!

 

Bas

[chris]

Thanks all. Advice taken but yours came to late Basil as I went to Halfords this afternoon. I have had positive and negative for both models and read as many reviews as possible. Generally more positives for Tom Tom but final clinch was the opinion of Halfords staff member who took all my requirements and said Tom Tom every time.

So, I ordered the Tom Tom 1005 with 3 yrs free live traffic. I hope it works out now. Should be playing with my new toy this weekend.

Thanks again

Chris

[Hughmer]

Dare we ask how much you paid?

 

The reason for asking is that I'm in exactly the same situation (I'm replacing my 720go) and have just come off phone to TT who offered a "loyalty discount" of 20% because I'm an existing user, though they didn't ask for proof, - putting the 1005 at £199 inc 3 yr traffic info and free lifetime map updates.

The downside is that the extra "Camper Map" with height / weight restrictions is +£80 and I don't know how much IT would be to renew.

 

I asked my source about Itinerary planning. She said the 1005 can accommodate 3 intermediate stops between departure and destination. Not as good as the 25 or so on my 720 but probably OK for one days travel, .... ? What think you

 

btw... according to my source, - The Go live traffic data info is syphoned down from the cloud via a SIM, - provided in the package. This is a special TT deal with Vodaphone and works without extra charge to the user anywhere in Europe for 3 years. thereafter its £47/year.. @ today's money ! (Sometimes at Xmas they do deals, - e.g. last December it was £28 for a year).

 

I find the Vodaphone deal very interesting because along with all the other mobile providers they have consistently argued that billing international data use is impossibly difficult, but demonstrate with this deal that it can't be that tricky!

 

From what I know about Garmin, (and I was looking at the camper truck version 560 LMT - The best price on Amazon was £255) you also get free lifetime map upgrades (44 Countries in E/W Europe & Greece) but the traffic info is provided by FM radio... for how much longer I wonder?

 

I also discovered that my preferred method of using my PC & explorer to drag POI files into the W.Europe folder on the device is no longer possible. TT have wised up to hacked Map versions being installed (isn't it terrible what some people get up to!!) and to install POIs now you have to upload the files to the TT server and then download it to your device.

 

Opinions regarding efficacy of the Camper Map on either model would be most welcome.

 

 

[chris]

Hi. I paid 199 for the 1005 and the live traffic is very good as I had fm before. The satnav itself is good but I cant compare much as I had an aldi medion gopal before which suited my purpose until recently. Cant comment about camper version as have not got it but had an excellent service from Halfords and best price.STill working on POIs

 

[George..]

Hi, bought the Garmin 560LMT last year and find the mapping good.the speed excess reminder annoys a bit,still that's easily solved.

Just fitted a reverse camera that switches the map off and the camera view on when selecting reverse gear,a nice little extra.

George

[hughman]

George.. - 2013-04-25 7:59 PM

 

Hi, bought the Garmin 560LMT last year and find the mapping good.the speed excess reminder annoys a bit,still that's easily solved.

Just fitted a reverse camera that switches the map off and the camera view on when selecting reverse gear,a nice little extra.

George

 

How'd you do that? We're about to get a PVC with no reversing camera and this sounds a very neat way to sort it without having screens all over the dash!!

[George..]

Hi It's quite simple really,the sat.nav mounting piece has a hole for a video jack plug. The camera kit came from Maplins,£29 with about 5.5 mts of cable, also the jack plug adapter from same place. Fitted the small camera bracket to the bumper step,wired to reverse light,cable tied cable under van and up into cab and job done.No wires showing.

George

[hughman]

Ah......

 

Mine has got a mini-USB port for the satnav power cable but that's all, so I guess it's not a runner?