View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
numpty Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jun 02, 2005 Posts: 14 Location: Plymouth
|
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:01 pm Post subject: Get Garmin or get lost |
|
|
Get Garmin or get lost
Just a few thoughts on all the sat Nav Units I have used on a recent trip to France and nothing touched the NEW! Garmin Nuvi. I would like to know what other users think and what units can beat the Garmin Nuvi overall.
The build quality puts any TomTom and Navman to shame first glance.
The mapping with the Nuvi in Europe actually worked and did not take you through Toll roads 20 times like the Navman and TomTom were going to (local knowledge & the Gamrin know different), maybe this as something to do with Navteq. Don’t get me wrong, I could have had the settings wrong for avoiding toll roads on TomTom and Navman, but I guess my Grandmother would be confused as well, if I can’t get it right.
I was just not happy with the Navman 550 or the TomTom Go 700. The Text to speech in Europe was so helpful help and clear, it really did outclass the other two. I was a bit put off buy the TravelGuide giving me info at present time and not planning ahead, but Gamrin have informed me there will be a update for this, if there is not one all ready. What I would say with all the units make sure you back your info up on your cards as you could be prone to deleting files…. Woops! I did on the Nuvi.
Basically thou, on all, the Nuvi out preformed the other two units, the Nuvi did not loose the signal once, the Navman 5 times and the TomTom 3 times. Lets face it we want to go from A to B and don’t really care about to many features as long as it works.
But I chilled out on the way listening to Pink Floyd on the Nuvi plugged into my Kenwood Stereo but voice commands were a little load through the car. I think a few people thought I was shouting at them haha
Rooms service found it quite funny talking to a Nuvi down the phone trying out the French Language Guide. It worked quite well I got a JD with redbull and steak and chips humhum with not much confusion.
I think Garmin have set the standard now and I can see a techno war this year. But I shall wait for a waterproof Nuvi and then I can use it on the bike.
Not a great post but come on im at work |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Tim Buxton Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: 14/09/2002 20:56:18 Posts: 5231 Location: Surrey, United Kingdom
|
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
An OK post, but not good enough to publish twice, so I've deleted the second one. Also, BBCode doesn't work in the Subject line. _________________ Tim |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Sabre Occasional Visitor
Joined: Feb 09, 2006 Posts: 1
|
Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I have to admit that I was very impressed with my Nuvi 300.... untill yesterday. Then in a comparison with the Tom tom 300 for one of the girls in the office I found out you can select roads to avoid whilst on your route - ie A34 is busy, choose an alternative. You cant do this on the Nuvi. YOu have to go through the pain of being told to U turn before it eventually finds another route after you have turned off.
Also, I was told, although a handfull of salt taken with this, that the Tom tom has a pub database built in out of the box. From a village outside Loughborough the nuvi couldnt find ANY parking, pubs or shopping centres in Loughborough, in fact it didnt seem to exist, whereas the Tom tom found the pub selected a route and found parking nearby!. I looked like a right Charlie having forked out for something that basically only tells you where you are and roughly how to get somewhere.
Is this anyone elses view or have I missed something in the very US-centric manual???? I tried RTFM but found nothing new!
SOmeone tell me Im wrong please. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
markjohnson Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jan 20, 2006 Posts: 41
|
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 12:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
Hi,
I have both a TomTom One and a Garmin Nuvi 300.
While some things are better on the Nuvi, some things are also better on the TomTom.
I think the spoken directions are clearer and more helpful on the TomTom. Also, the map display during guidance is better and easier to follow. Autozoom on the TomTom works pretty well whereas on the Nuvi it is poor.
I think if I had to buy one device, and if it was mainly for navigation, it would probably be the TomTom. That is a fair bit cheaper reinforces that choice.
Kind regards,
Mark |
|
Back to top |
|
|
numpty Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jun 02, 2005 Posts: 14 Location: Plymouth
|
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
Hi Tim
Iknow the TomTom RIDER with NAVTEQ GB maps as got better but its not for sports bikes. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
numpty Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jun 02, 2005 Posts: 14 Location: Plymouth
|
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:30 am Post subject: TomTom One and a Garmin Nuvi 300. |
|
|
Hi, Mark
If you have both a TomTom One and a Garmin Nuvi 300.
But you think you had to buy one device, and if it was mainly for navigation, it would probably be the TomTom. That is a fair bit cheaper reinforces that choice then why buy two?
Believe me i like the tomtom but its not as good as a Nuvi but the nuvi 350 mapping is different to the Nuvi 300. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Jonboy Regular Visitor
Joined: May 11, 2004 Posts: 82 Location: Birmingham, U.K.
|
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 12:48 am Post subject: Re: TomTom One and a Garmin Nuvi 300. |
|
|
numpty wrote: | Hi, Mark
Believe me i like the tomtom but its not as good as a Nuvi but the nuvi 350 mapping is different to the Nuvi 300. |
Mmm, interesting, in what way is the mapping different, between the NUVI 300 and 350?
And also which do you prefer? _________________ Don't follow me....i'm lost too! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
swing Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: Nov 04, 2003 Posts: 2225 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
|
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:27 am Post subject: Re: TomTom One and a Garmin Nuvi 300. |
|
|
Jonboy wrote: | Mmm, interesting, in what way is the mapping different, between the NUVI 300 and 350? | Apart from the 350 having European maps, I suspect the difference being talked about here is the TTS (text to speech) option, which is only on the 350, so instead of saying "Turn right in 50 yards" it can say "Turn right into High Street" - although not a difference in the maps themselves (both display the later on the screen), it does make more of a difference between the units than one might expect. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
markjohnson Occasional Visitor
Joined: Jan 20, 2006 Posts: 41
|
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Quote: |
If you have both a TomTom One and a Garmin Nuvi 300.
But you think you had to buy one device, and if it was mainly for navigation, it would probably be the TomTom. That is a fair bit cheaper reinforces that choice then why buy two?
|
I have a temporary car for just a few months. My main car has a Kenwood 3200 Sat Nav and a RoadPilot Micro. It would cost £300 just to transfer them to the new car which for a few months wasn't worth it so I decided on a portable unit that did sat nav and the cameras in one just to tide me over which I would then sell.
I decided on the TomTom One and while I liked it I wanted something that would continuously alert me if I exceeded the speed limit near a camera which the Nuvi does but the TomTom doesn't. I came to the conclusion the the PGPSW database was better than the RoadPilot one and that I would dump the RoadPilot and use the Nuvi just as a camera detector in addition to the Kenwood sat nav.
Hence I have both at the moment. I use the TomTom for navigation (when needed) and have the Nuvi always on for cameras.
My main critisms of the Nuvi are that the autozoom is poor. I know you can turn autozoom off but that isn't great either. When doing 20mph in city traffic you really need it zoomed a long way in to show the road detail. When doing 70mph on motorways etc you need it zoomed out to give an overview. Without autozoom you would be messing about with manual zoom. The Nuvi's autozoom just zooms too far out when in slow moving traffic. The TomTom has it about right. Also, the white direction arrow on the Nuvi is too large and hides the road layout below it and the display doesn't give as much guidance info as the TomTom.
Another annoyance is that when you plan a route it doesn't give a distance or time to destination before you have to accept the route.
In short, the Nuvi has great potential, is great for cameras, but has a few significant failings as a basic navigation system. I'm sure these can be improved easily if Garmin applied themselves and look forward to future software releases.
Kind regards,
Mark |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Psgps Occasional Visitor
Joined: Feb 20, 2006 Posts: 11
|
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I agree with you on this one all the way. Garmin offers excellent GPS support, plus their voice-activated support is top-notch. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
Posted: Today Post subject: Pocket GPS Advertising |
|
|
We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
|