Which SatNav??

[Yorkshire_Jon]

OK, my 2+ year old Garmin Nuvi 1390 Bricked itself yesterday - I have a support ticket in with Garmin but from what Ive read on the web and subsequently tried, I expect its dead.

Mapping for outback driving is taken care of either by the ipad or by my ruggedised tablet. I only use the nuvi for driving around the city & suburbs.

In the event I need to replace the dead Nuvi for another one / regular sat nav / turn by turn assistance duties, should I go for another stand-alone device (garmin, tomtom, hema etc etc) or just fork out for an iphone app (Garmin / TomTom etc etc).

Im leaning towards TomTom or the Garmin apps but arent real sure how the perform on a phone (4S) compared to a stand-alone device?

Any thoughts?

Thx
Jon

[RVR110]

Hi Jon,

I've been extremely happy with my approach which was to fork out for the TomTom iPhone app plus a cradle with enhanced GPS. There's a couple of cradles that do this - I have the TomTom cradle ($100 from Apple (http://store.apple.com/au/product/TX529ZM/A/TomTom-Car-Kit-for-iPhone)). I think that Garmin have a similar product. Any iPhone app (TomTom, MetroView, Memory-Map, VMS, MudMap etc) that uses GPS will automatically access the enhanced GPS from the cradle.

Assuming that your iPad and iPhone share your iTunes account you can buy the TomTom app once and use it on both your iPad and iPhone. By doing this your iPad and iPhone function as backups for each other. The TomTom software got upgraded recently so that it fully uses the iPad screen.

Regards,
John.

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Hi John,
Thanks for the feedback. Is the cradle a 'must have'? What does it do? Presumably it charges the phone whilst in the cradle? Or is it a powered gps so it doesn't need to use the phones????

I'll have a look at the website link youve given tomorrow.

Thanks
Jon

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[RR P38]

For road use.
Personally i wouldnt touch a Garmin (3760) again.
If these things are considered high end im totally unimpressed with the operation of even the top of the line unit.
Route recalculation is so slow you need to stop and let it catch up before you drive on or it just keeps chasing its tail.
The default scale that the road map is pretty much unreadable and requires your adjustment so you can see where you are going.
The night time mode is just plane dangerous, if you are on an unlit road and you have your GPS on it is way too bright and reduces your vision dramatically.

Off road.
Oz topo V3, is not too bad but for what it costs i still dont rate it too highly.

I find all the maps are a bit cartoonish and dont really resemble real maps. Sure it looks nice (like an I phone), but its a dumb blond.

[RVR110]

Is the cradle a 'must have'? What does it do? Presumably it charges the phone whilst in the cradle? Or is it a powered gps so it doesn't need to use the phones????


IMO the cradle is a must have for using the iPhone as a GPS because (unlike the iPad) the iPhone's built in GPS is way, way too slow for navigation. The TomTom provides an enhanced GPS signal to the iPhone. It also charges the iPhone and provides hands free. The cradle is useless without the iPhone - it has no stand-alone functionality.

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Thanks for the info.

My iphone is in an ottebox defender case. I bet it woldnt fit on the tomtom holder without removing the phone from the case??? Anyone know?

On a different note, how rubbish is garmin support! I told them in my intial email that the nuvi kept restarting before the pc had a chance to see it on the end of the usb cable... There first suggestion was to download the webupdater app and then update the nuvi software via usb! Idiots:(

[RVR110]

My iphone is in an ottebox defender case. I bet it woldnt fit on the tomtom holder without removing the phone from the case??? Anyone know?

Not sure. My wife has a case on her iPhone and I was able to cut away a small section of the top of the case and it fits just fine.