SatNav

[mom]

Hello out there!

Has anyone had any experience with the Garmin Nuvi 660 they'd like to share?

[Guest JudgeMental]

Great minds think alike! I have had garmin units since 2000 - presently a 2610. the nuvi 660 is on my shortlist - was considering TT910 as it has US maps included. But I think nuvi wins as more compact and better maping.... http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/menu.php this site has lots of info regards sat nav

[david lloyd]

Hi mom I am hoping to replace my current PDA/Tom Tom Navigator 5 combination in the near future as, although it has proved to be great for navigation, it is just too cumbersome and has other drawbacks. I have narrowed my choices down to the Nuvi 360 which is, I think, the same as the 660 but with a smaller screen. I thought this would an advantage as I want to use it out of the vehicle when walking around towns/cities etc. and it is slim enough to put in a pocket. Haven't any experience of either but had a demonstration of the 360 and was very impressed. Regards, david

[mom]

From what I can determine the 360 had a problem with the speaker being too quiet, especially in loud vans, and the screen was not as bright as it could be.  The 660 has rectified this, apparently.

[marcob]

I am considering buying a Tom Tom 910, any information on this product would be apreciated. Thank you.

[Guest Frank Wilkinson]

[QUOTE]marcob - 2006-12-01 2:19 PM I am considering buying a Tom Tom 910, any information on this product would be apreciated. Thank you.[/QUOTE]

I've just bought one and it seems to be superb. I say 'seems' as I'm only trying it out properly tomorrow when I pick up my new motorhome. I'll be driving it back from Cambridgeshire to Lancashire and will test it then.

Having said that though I've put in a couple of routes and run the demonstration mode which takes you along the route and it seems fine. The Bluetooth connection to my cellphone is brilliant and my 910 also has speed cameras in its database.

I did learn from browsing a similar forum that Tomtom has had a problem with the windscreen attachment. Apparently it isn't strong enough to hold the unit and it droops. Following the advice in the forum I visited Tomtom's US site and found the support page where this was mentioned. I entered my serial number and it told me that I qualified for a new windscreen attachment and one arrived by UPS three days later.

I have to say that the original part seems fine to me but perhaps Tomtom is just playing safe. Anyway, I now have two! Excellent service from Tomtom I think!

[kavgreenleas]

I have a Garmin 360 which I bought after reading about loads of dissatisfied TomTom Go owners. They all seem to suffer from the same mount problem which apart from dropping the unit off the screen and drooping also disconnects it due to problems with the connector. They may have provided a replacement mount but I doubt that they have fixed all the snags. Also although the TomTom 910 has a huge 20 gig storage capacity, it's on a hard drive and I think flash memory as on the Garmin will give less problems in the long run. I have no personal experience of the TomTom but check out the forums and you get a sense of the dissatisfaction out there. By the way, I am chuffed with the 360. It works well and I have hit no problems as yet. Also expansion SD cards are coming down in price and provide a viable alternative to big hard drives. 2Gig SD card for about £20 is what I paid recently.

[Guest Frank Wilkinson]

[QUOTE]kavgreenleas - 2006-12-01 2:47 PM I have a Garmin 360 which I bought after reading about loads of dissatisfied TomTom Go owners. They all seem to suffer from the same mount problem which apart from dropping the unit off the screen and drooping also disconnects it due to problems with the connector. They may have provided a replacement mount but I doubt that they have fixed all the snags. Also although the TomTom 910 has a huge 20 gig storage capacity, it's on a hard drive and I think flash memory as on the Garmin will give less problems in the long run. I have no personal experience of the TomTom but check out the forums and you get a sense of the dissatisfaction out there. By the way, I am chuffed with the 360. It works well and I have hit no problems as yet. Also expansion SD cards are coming down in price and provide a viable alternative to big hard drives. 2Gig SD card for about £20 is what I paid recently. [/QUOTE]

What evidence do you have for your statement "I doubt that they have fixed all the snags"? My new mount is fine and the old one seems perfect as well. I rate companies on the service that they give. I'm prepared to let anyone make a mistake, we all do. What matters is how they put it right and Tomtom has behaved impeccably over this suspect mount problem.

Finally, we must have been reading different forums as I found some very good response from owners.

[tonyishuk]

I have a Garmin Etrex Vista Cx handheld GPS ( for walking and hopefully not falling of cliplease). It will load Garmin City Select Europe V8 which I think is shipped with some of the Garmin road Sat Nav systems on DVD/CD. It crosses my mind to purchase a garmin Road sat Nav for Europe to replace my PDA running AA navigator and use the information in both units q1) Does anyone know which Road Sat Nav system has this software ? (Maybe a Garmin Quest ?) q2) Is the software any good ? q3) Anyone tried the idea above ? As always thanks for your thoughts on the matter Tony Ish UK For some reason I cannot seem to edit the speeling mistakes. For Clipease read cliplease ! Very weird I mean C L I F F S still getting clipease !

[kavgreenleas]

Frank You seem to have taken my comments personally. The main forum I used amongst others was http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/ which a well thought of site with a lot of members. A lot of the postings on the site with regard to the TomTom Go series all refer to the same problem and several also refer to replacement mounts which eventually exhibit the same defects. I don't doubt that TomTom responded promptly but with the launch of all the "Go" series dependant on the mount, you would have thought they would get it right. They had feedback that all was not well. TomTom have apparently now agreed that there is a problem with the mount and are replacing it FOC. I hope you have a replacement which sorts out the problem but I have seen posts which say that the problem with the drooping has not been fixed. See http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/insidetomtomgo910.php for an informed view on the problem. I don't doubt the 910 is fine piece of kit (it was toss up between that and the nuvi 360 for me) but I wasn't prepared to pay out that sort of money for a GPS with a problem with no planned fix (at that time) . Regards, Mike

[david lloyd]

Hi kavgreenleas mom makes the point that there has been some concern with the nuvi 360 that the speaker is a little quiet and I have also seen some postings on the forum you mention with regard to this - how have you found it in use? I still sort of prefer the 360 to the TomTom 910 whic was the other considered choice but it is just so big to carry around and there did seem to be a lot of dessatisfaction around on the forum. Regards, David

[kavgreenleas]

David, I have only used the unit in my car and not my Pollensa as yet. I have found the speaker to be perfectly adequate. Using the mans voice (Daniel) apparently improves the situation. You can also use an Ipod type ear piece if you want to or route the audio through a compatible CD/radio. It just needs a very cheap lead from Maplins and a port on the front of the CD/Radio unit. Having said that, as I say, I have not had any problems hearing the instructions. One thing I have noticed is that the audio control is not linear. The last two blocks on the scale give the most volume. On your other point, the small size is a big plus. It fits into a shirt pocket and would encourage you to take it with you when you leave the vehicle. Some reservations have been voiced about the POI loading, but using the Garmin supplied software has been very straightforward. I think most of the problems people have had using any GPS is the difficulty getting hold of information on the units and why there are so many varients.

[marcob]

Hi. Has anyone had problems receiving a signal on a motorhome with a large overhanging luton, like an Auto-Sleepper ?. Have you used an external airial ?. Where did you fit it ?. Thanks

[Mel E]

Our Tom Tom has been excellent with no mounting problems whatsoever (and it's been in three cars and our motorhome through some 15 countries this year alone). We have the hard disk version and I fail to understand kavgreenleas' comments about flash memory proving more reliable in the long run? Laptops have much larger hard disks fitted and, though some laptops do occasionally go wrong, it's very rarely the hard drive that is a problem. Garmin have always been the market leader for hand-held aviation GPS units (I've had them since 1990), and they now produce a superb glass cockpit for light aircraft, but they're playing 'catch-up' with road going units. I suspect any GPS receiver is going to have a problem with the Luton blocking signals if it's covered with Ally sheet - they don't work in aircraft well either - so an external aerial is likely to be necessary. A GRP Luton may well be OK, as it does not create a 'Faraday cage' like a metal clad one. But again, TomTom has worked well fixed to the windscreen of our Renault Master and only loses contact in tunnels or very steep sided cuttings.

[kavgreenleas]

Last post from me as I seem to be in the position of defending Garmin or attacking TomTom which was not my intention. Mel, I think that any small hand held device is going to be more vulnerable to dropping and therefore damage. A device that uses a dynamic component like a hard drive will therefore be more at risk. That's not just my opinion (for what it's worth!), see the link on my previous post. Flash memory is solid state and therefore not so vulnerable. At present the TomTom offers a huge capacity via the hard drive and if that is important to some users then that's the way to go. It's not my intention to rubbish the TomTom Go series just to point out some of the defects which appear on other forums. The Garmin has its problems although these appear to be more to do with the interface than the hardware.

[Guest Frank Wilkinson]

I picked up my new motorhome in Cambridgeshire this morning and drove home to Lancashire. I'm pleased to report that my Tomtom 910 behaved perfectly. It took me the route that I would have chosen myself, warned me of all upcoming speed cameras and the window mount worked fine with no drooping at all.

[mom]

[QUOTE]kavgreenleas - 2006-12-02 1:20 PM Last post from me as I seem to be in the position of defending Garmin or attacking TomTom which was not my intention. [/QUOTE]

Mike, I'm sorry this happened to you on my thread... I always understood what you said and had already drawn some of the conclusions from my other reading.  Thanks matey.

So, in the 910 vs 660 war, I see a couple of issues.  There "may" be some mounting problems, but I have heard this of both (you at least need to use alcohol wipes on the Nuvi sucker, apparently) and some theoretical diadvantages in hardware and engineering. 
For me, the major issues are usability, and accuracy.  I prefer the Nuvi, hardware wise, because it is easier to pocket, but I am concerned about these other things...
1. The level of mapping.
2. The user interface.
3. The functionality regarding route recalculations etc

I need full European mapping, but the Nuvi only does street level for Italian big cities, and the "between town" roads.  This holds for some other European countries also.  Is the TomTom 910 mapping better?

And I have read reviews saying that the TomTom user interface is better than the Garmin.  In what way?
I have tried them for myself, at Currys, PC World and Halfords, and I only ever get sales "children" who can barely read the sales-blurb and who certainly have no idea about how any of them function.  And the units themselves are often behind plastic with pokey holes in the wrong places!

Any comments would be very welcome.

[MandyAndy]

Just got the Tom Tom 710 and we have been using it for 2 weeks now, no problems with the window mount, is the 710 in some way different mount to 910 or is the 910 heavier. Came back from Yorkshire with it last night and didn't stop laughing the whole time, he who must be obeyed ie: the diver, decided to put "Jenny" the Tom Tom instructor into fastest route, but then half way along the route didn't want the motorway so changed it to shortest. Well, after mile upon mile of forestry, fords and woods, not to miss the odd farm yard, my sides where aching with laughing as much as his arms where. We were only in the car luckily but given us a good perspective of what the motorhome is going to have to suffer when we get it!!

[dobscott]

I purchased a Tom Tom 910 earlier this year and I am very pleased with it's performance. On Sunday 3rd. Dec. I read the postings in regard to the droopy windscreen dock and although I had not experienced any difficulty with my Tom Tom I completed the documentation on the Tom Tom site as suggested in an earlier post. My replacement dock arrived today 6th Dec. What superb aftersales service. When Tom Tom manufacture a motorhome I will be first in the que. I cannot even get my motorhome supplier to call me back.

[robin]

From a Tom Tom 701 user. No problems with the windscreen mount (or anything else), used in the car and motorhome. Best advantage (IMO) over other systems is wide the availability of 3rd Party POIs. We have loaded up the French Aires from camping cars infos, and that has removed al lot of stress finding somewhere to stop at the end of the day. The software is not perfect, like any Sat Nav, but obverall - I am a fan (and my wife is a bigger fan).

[madguy4]

Hi All.. well i thought i would drop in and let you know my situation....i drive for business approximatly 45K a year for work and have tried a few different systems....my last one was the navman 630I which was a very good unit..however i have recently switched to the new road angel 7000.. i honestly think that this is the best system on the market for the money at the moment.. it has walk mode as well as all driving modes including motorcycle..it shows all speed camera systems as well as accident blackspots...it is water proof...which believe it or not is important if your walking in the rain...i cannot have it on full volume in my motorhome as its to load....i have a talbot express highwayman thats a little on the noisey side to say the least...the one with the bed over cab...and when the unit is ine the screen it still picks up a minimum of 5 satalites.. its very fast to pick up satalites and you can update it very quickly via bluetooth on your mobile phone..... The most important thing to me is.......whenever i have needed to contact raodangel for info or advice (and its always because i hav'nt read the book)they either get back to me same day (e-mail) or answer the phone(with a person, not a machine) pretty much straight away...to me customer service wins hands down... Hope this is of use?

[Peter B]

I have an Autosleeper Talisman with a 'Ski Jump' luton and have experienced no problem picking up a satellite signal on my Tom Tom 610 so far. :-S

[robin]

[QUOTE]Peter B - 2006-12-06 7:17 PM I have an Autosleeper Talisman with a 'Ski Jump' luton and have experienced no problem picking up a satellite signal on my Tom Tom 610 so far. :-S[/QUOTE] Had an amusing incident last week-end, we had parked up and I had dismounted the TomTom and put it in an overhead locker (as I always do for security). When we got back to the 'van and drove off, I nearly jumped out of my skin when this disembodied voice came from over my shoulder instructing me to 'take the second exit on roundabout ahead'. I had forgotten to turn off the Tom Tom and it was still picking up satellites through the roof. hmmmm.