Navman SmartST V3 versus TT Navigator 5.0

[uffe73]

Hi all,

I've been a Navman user for quite a while and have got to know the strengts and weaknesses of the last to releases of SmartST for PPC (V2 and V3) quite well. In the last couple of weeks I've had the opportunity to borrow a PPC with TomTom Navigator 5.0 installed and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on how these systems compare to each other. Note that some of my problems with TT might be solved in the 5.1 patch. Also be aware that I've only been using TT for a limited time so I may have missed or misunderstood some of the features.

Information displayed on screen
A big advantage with TTN over SmartST is that you can show all route information (ETA, DTG, Time, Speed) on the screen at the same time. In SmartST you have to toggle between these information fields (using either the stylus or sharp finger tips) which is quite annoying. A big plus for TT!

The drawback with TT is that it doesn't show the name of the current road; only the road at next turn. A big minus!

In Navcore 7 you can actually see the name of the current road while driving a set route, but it's quite hard to read it since it's in the map picture. A better approach would be to put the name of the current road on the top of the screen with solid background colour.

Map graphics / Map views
This is a very subjective issue, I know that. I would still like to claim that the maps shown in SmartST are much clearer than those in TTN. I have tried all the colour schemes in TT and didn't find any of them clear enough. I also find the 3D view in TT very ugly compared to SmartST. I tend to switch off the 3D view in TT to get a decent looking map. But again, this is only my opinion.

Well, I guess I have kind of got used to the TomTom graphics by now, but I still don't like the appearance of the 3D view. Therefore I tend to use one of the 2D views instead.

One good thing about SmartST is how they have created a number of different screens that the user can easily move between using the multi-select button on the PPC. I won't list all these views, but the most notable ones are the 3D View (similar to TT), the 2D view with north-up display (but with no presence of route parameters though...) and the Next Instruction Screen. Especially the north-up screen is very nice to have since it gives you a much better sense for directions compared to the "routing view" that follows the direction of the road.

A 2D Northup view is now available in TomTom. Much appreciated!

Safe Screen (or next instruction screen)
This screen exists in both systems but is used slightly differently. In TT you have to switch to this view in one the menus which can be quite dangerous while driving. Another way is to switch it on permanently or above a certain speed. In SmartST you can quickly reach the Safety Screen by toggling through the different screens. If you're standing on the 3D screen it only takes one push on the multi-select button to reach it.

There is still no quick-method for switching between normal map and safe screen in TomTom. You have to go into the Settings menu and alter some options. Too fiddly and dangerous while driving!

One advantage with TTN over SmartST is the graphics in the Safety Screen. The symbols used in SmartST are very much simplified while TTN shows a clear picture of the next turn. I'm quite disappointed that Navman didn't improve this from version V2 to V3 of the program. One interesting thing to note is that SmartST shows a miniature picture of the next turn in the corner of the map screen and this mini picture is actually the non-simplified version. The big question is why Navman haven't used these graphics on the Safety Screen as well!


Speed reading
TTN shows the speed with a resolution of 1 km/h on the map screens while SmartST, for some odd reason, rounds off to nearest 3-4 km/h. I reported this bug to Navman long before V3 was released, but they still haven't bothered to fix it. Strangely enough, the GPS Status screen shows the correct speed, i.e with a resolution of 1 km/h. Why not use the same data in both places???


Operation while driving
Navman's approach for changing screens using the multi-select button instead of forcing the customer to go into the menus while driving, feels like a better and safer solution. But this is provided that your settings are OK when you drive away. If you want to change settings while driving (which should of course be avoided but....) TomTom let you do this more easily. In TTN you can navigate the menus using your fingers instead of the stylus.


Menus
The menu structure in TTN is much richer and well-planned than in SmartST. As I noted earlier it's also much easier to navigate without the use of the stylus which is a big plus. The menus also gives the user more options for selecting and changing the route.

One feature that has been removed in Navcore 7 is "Centre on map" which was a useful thing while browsing a map. I wonder why this was removed.

Avoid areas
SmartST has one nice feature allowing you to avoid a certain area on the map permanently (of course you can remove the avoid area later if you like) if you have a good reason for this. One reason for this can be when the map data suggests a connection between two roads but you know from experience that there's no way through. So you can see this feature as a way to compensate for map errors or a way to force the program to avoid a road that you know isn't good to use. There are similar features in TTN (like avoiding road works) that I haven't really tried out, but they don't seem to do the same thing. They also seem to be valid only during the current trip instead of being stored in the system.

MapShare enables you to correct some mapping errors on the screen but the feature still needs some improvements before it's ready.

Language/voice selection
One advantage with TTN is that you can change language for the voices or for the menus after you've installed the program. SmartST don't let you do this. OK, I admit that it's quite rare that you want to change voice language, but it can happen. I find some of the Swedish translations quite bad in TTN and sometimes choose to use the English voices instead.

Navigation to Outlook contacts
This feature exists in SmartST V3 but not in TTN 5.0. Maybe it has been added in the 5.1 patch.

This feature was added in TomTom Navigator v6. The TomTom GO units are not PPC based and hence you don't have the feature of storing your full contacts directory on your unit. What you can do is to import the phone book from your cell phone, but for some reason (probably the BT handsfree profile) you only get the phone numbers.

Navigation to long/lat position
This feature isn't included in either of these programs. Strange!

The feature was added in TomTom Navigator 6 and is still present in Navcore 7

Map quality / Map details
Since TeleAtlas is supplying the maps to both TomTom and Navman, the map quality (i.e the correctness of the maps) seems to be equally good (or equally bad I you want to put it that way) in both systems. In my hometown in Sweden some areas contain quite a few map errors and these errors seem to be the same in both TTN and SmartST. Since a lot of map errors in my area have not been corrected in the update from V2 to V3 I can only draw the conclusion that Sweden doesn't have top priority in the map update process (which can maybe be explained by the smaller population compared to e.g the UK).

One nice thing in TTN is that they railway lines are shown.

Routing
The routing capabilities are quite good in both systems. TTN lets you limit the route to walking paths or bicycle roads, which are nice features. SmartST, on the other hand, gives you the ability to finetune the routing by implementing a sliding priority adjustment for fastest versus shortest route and motorway preference. This gives you the freedom of having different settings depending on whether you're driving in a city or on the countryside. This is quite useful!

Start-up time
TTN launches within a few seconds while SmartST takes nearly a minute, depending on how many maps you have activated at the same time. Could the difference be that Navman reads the complete map data into the RAM memory when the program is launched, while TTN loads small parts from memory along the route? The latter assumption seems like a better solution to me.

Screen rotation
This feature hasn't come to SmartST but exist in TTN.

Ability to run in the background
If you switch to another application while in a route with SmartST, the voice instructions stop until you return to SmartST. On TTN they will continue in the background, which lets you use another GPS application at the same time (through GPSGate) that TTN gives you voice guidance.

This isn't an issue for a TomTom GO device since the navigation program is the only application run on the unit.

Conclusion
This comparison didn't aim at rating a winner, only to show the differences I've discovered between the two systems. I'd like to use TomTom a bit more to know for sure which one I like best. Clearly the ideal application would combine the strengths of both products and avoid the annoyances in both of them...

All comments to my comparison are very welcome. Maybe I have missed some aspects of TomTom due to the short time period I've been using it.

/Ulf
_________________
TomTom GO720T: App ver 8.351(9982/090518), OS:315187, GPS v1.20, Boot 5.5120
TT RDS-TMC: 4V00.013
Maps: Scandinavia v840.2562, Western_Europe v715.1703
Garmin GPSMap 60CSx (SW ver. 3.70)

[uffe73]

I stumbled on an old posting I wrote a couple of years ago and thought I'd add some comments where I compare with the Navcore 7 SW used in the latest TomTom units. See comments in red.

Maybe I should add that I ditched Navman a short while after writing the original posting and have been using TomTom ever since. I have no idea what the latest Navman devices are like.

/Ulf

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