Thread: In car navigation unit

I think Im right in saying that Leeds has used both and prefer's the Garmin - think he told me it was to do with reliability but I arent sure, no doubt you could pm him to find out.

Thanks.

Last time I was in UK TomTom was all the rage, they hadn't made it at that stage, but I remember Dixon's had them running out the doors with some stupid special price.

My preference of the two is the Garmin as I've used a number of standard Garmin units over the years and always found them good.

Very hard to buy somethings online when you can't see and play with them

I personally like the TomTom software - it just works as I expect! As for the hardware - not convinced its upto living in a bouncy Landrover!!

I know what you mean about buying things when you cant see, touch and feel first - almost a leap of faith... Thats why these places are so invaluable where we can all draw off others experiences.

OK, my input.

I own the following units.

Garmin 12 XL

Garmin 276C

Tom Tom 910

Garmin Nuvi 660

Garmin 12 XL, old, hand held will give you grid reference or lat long. Not a street navigator. Old and reliable, need a OS map with it. Good for walking.

Garmin 276C. A marine/aviation unit. Reliable but European mapping provided with it is poor compared to latest unit. Has a very good feature in that it tracks your route. Very useful for back tracking/finding a previously visited point. Extremely useful if on unmapped forest tracks etc.

Extremely reliable.

Tom Tom 910. Better European mapping then the Garmin 276C. You need to learn how to reset the unit (can take up to 48 hours!!!) and carry a spare charger with it! Tom Tom docking is POOR! Charging comes through docking unit and is unreliable. Believe the 910 is U/S due to the poor docking systems. Also the Tom has some wonderful features. Tells you to drive across non existent bridges and down streets which are only wide enough for donkeys!!!

Bought Garmin Nuvi 660 when Tom Tom charger packed up in Sweden. Tom Tom does not use a standard voltage so could not buy a normal multivoltage charger !!! Garmin 660 has proved reliable and accurate and has more extensive European mapping then Tom Tom.

Tom Tom is ok for street navigation in UK but I would not use it on longer overland trips in more remote places.

If I remember correctly you can input grid refs/lat long in the Garmins but not the Tom Tom.


My vote goes to Garmin every time.

Regards

Brendan


PS Local street navigation unit fitters say they have more returns from Tom Tom then any other systems!

We had a bucket load of Tom Tom navigators at work. All brand new. All the same model but can't remember which model. I'd say they were at the cheaper end of the scale.

I wouldn't take one if it was free. The mapping and instructions on my PDA with Destinator 3.1 are far better and it is years old.

In suburban streets the Tom Tom wouldn't tell you to turn until you were at the intersection which generally meant I was in the wrong lane

I use tom tom 720 in vehicle and find it excellent. It sometimes doesn't lock on to sats super quickly but normally it does. It has a good sized screen and is super user friendly. It took me no more then 5 mins to work out pretty much all the functions.

I always think it's best to have an in car and a hand held unit for 4wding. It can be expensive doing it this way but it is my preference. I use a garmin csx I think it's called as my off road and bush walking one.

xavier

Yes you do need 2 units or it really is a comprimise. I think I'll go with the Garmin Nuvi 760 but I haven't worked out what I want as my standard unit, I'll probably just stick with the old Garmin unit I currently have.

Originally Posted by dm_td5

Has anyone got either of these or used/compared either unit?

For on-road use, I've used TomTom for years. Have recently tried both Magellan and Garmin, and have to say TomTom is still streets ahead in usability and UI design.

However, if a "normal" Garmin on-road unit will also run off-road maps, that would be worth it's weight in gold, and easily compensate for the slightly worse UI IMHO.