Help deciding on a gps system

cfduarte · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 06, 2006 Posts: 5

Hi,

I need to purchase two in-car gps systems, one for my wife and another one for my father. The one for my father is the main problem, as he has a trouble adjusting with technology (i.e. no PC's, no SMS, nothing complicated).

So, for my father:

EASE OF USE (crucial!!!!)
Handsfree for mobile (preferebly, setup once, don't bother ever more)
Text-to-Speech
Best coverage possible for Portugal

For my wife:

Handsfree
Text-to-Speech
Best overall coverage of both Portugal, France, Spain and UK

I was currently looking at a Nuvi 360t and a Mio c560bt, because they are the cheapest I can get with bluetooth and text-to-speech. I have some experience only with TT on my PDA (which I use for myself), so I don't know how the Nuvi and Mio compare.

Also, from a "short" search I did, it appears Garmin charges a fortune for maps, when compared with both Mitac and TT. Having to pay a fortune every two years for an upgrade is a major minus.

As far as maps go, the latest maps from TT (TeleAtlas) are somewhat poor with regard to the coverage in Portugal, with some strange "blind" spots, so everything being equal I would probably go with NavTeq maps.

Thanks all!

philpugh · Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:50 pm Post subject:

Depends on what you call a fortune - the recent updates fo GARMIN maps (to 2008NT) cost me around £50. This may seem a lot, but is similar to TomTom, and you aren't forced to buy them - if there has been little or no new roads in your area for a couple of years then you will be able to continue with the 'old' maps. As you will get the new maps anyway (make sure you do get them - they have been shipping on new models for a couple of months here in UK) then you won't have to worry about map updates for a year.

Of the two units you mention - I would go for the Garmin. Turn it on - enter where you want to go and that's it.

BT handsfree works OK - but it will depend on the make and model of your (father's/wife's) phone as to the extent of the integration. Basic handsfree should work - but SMS / Contacts lists tend to be a bit hit-and-miss with new phones.

As you get Europe anyway, the coverage is fine.

Text-to-speech is very good on the Garmin, nice clear voice and straight forward directions.
_________________
Phil

Allen_EP · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 41

I have the 920T and can say an excellent piece of kit and sure it will meet all your criteria.

DennisN · Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:28 pm Post subject:

Total PDA advertising on the right hand side of this page, are offering refurbished TT GO700 for £119. I don't know which map version they've got, but it'll certainly be Western and Central Europe. And it was a damned fine device.

No, I don't know the company from Adam, so this is not a recommendation, just an observation. Having just tried the link, I was unable to find their offer of the 700!! (I don't know the Portuguese for Nul Points, sorry).
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

kieeee · Banned Joined: Feb 27, 2008 Posts: 22

I spent a lot of time trying out GPS units, and have compared Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, and several factory GPS units, just chosr this Admin Edit: Affiliate links removed. PaulB2005 While driving, the Garmin unit will both prompt me to turn and give me a written explanation of the turn (including the street or highway name and direction) at the top of the screen. The Garmin unit also shows an estimated arrival time and the distance to my next turn. Very pleased with this product.

john877 · Lifetime Member Joined: Mar 16, 2007 Posts: 468

Whichever one you choose Tomtom or Garmin they both have there faults !!!its really down to personal taste .
I was recently in the same position trying to decide on a Tomtom 520 or a Garmin 760 the thing that swung it for me was I just preferred the lay out on the tomtoms and as I had used Tomtoms before I felt more comfortable with it.

I also wonder what the future holds regarding mapping with Tomtom taking over Teleatlas will Tomtom be able to control the map content more ???

Regarding Navteq which provides maps for Garmin they have been taken over by nokia will it make any difference ???

robertn · Frequent Visitor Joined: Feb 06, 2005 Posts: 564

I wonder if you are doing the right thing - If your father (or anyone else) has trouble adjusting to new technology, then the current state of the GPS technology is probably not quite "there" for him. He may find it useful and get his head around the many limitations, but could just as easily go down the "stall-spin-crash-burn-die" path and never use it again. You will need to be sure if he is ready for one, or more accurately, the GPS device is ready for him.

GPS's are sexy, cool and useful. They are not yet (IMHO) easy enough to use or reliable enough(I will qualify that) for mass market acceptance. One way to know this, is the car manufacturers (not the salesman, he's driven by the commision) are reluctant to install these - the price they charge is a reflection of what it costs them through the life of the car and is currently much more than the protable market charges, why is this?

By reliable, I don't mean they will break down. I mean, when you need them, they may not work the way you need them to work. Part of this relates back to ease of use, part releates to quality and quantity of map data currently availble, and part releates to qualty of software algorythms. Most of it relates to expectations. The typical expectation is still higher than the products deliver. If the customer expectations are reset (downwards), they are very successful.

john877 · Lifetime Member Joined: Mar 16, 2007 Posts: 468

I think if you never updated them and just put them on the windscreen and let them navigate there would be no problems yes the mapping may be a bit out of date !!

I think the problems start when you do the map updates ! software updates etc .
I had an inbuilt sat nav on the a Toyota in 2001 so I guess it was really at the start of when sat navs were becoming the in car item to have ,it was very basic just an arrow showing you were to go but it did the job !!it was never updated in the 3 years I owned the car and was never a problem.

I think with sat navs you can make them as easy to use or as difficult to use that you want

cfduarte · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 06, 2006 Posts: 5

Thanks all for the answers! I am still looking (and I can also look at less "popular" brands) so I appreciate any input before I take the plunge. Regarding some questions / comments raised on this thread:

philpugh, I don't have acess to garmin's update site (since I don't own a Garmin unit), so my reference was the stand-alone SD card which goes for £100, which is a bit too much! In one of the cases, I don't need maps for the whole of Europe, Spain+Portugal would do nicely... but since Nuvi are hugely expensive over here, it's cheaper to import one which contais the maps of the whole of europe! Exclamation

john877, I don't have anything against TT (I use it on my P3600), but they are more expensive for a similar feature set when compared with a Nuvi or a Mio. Also, since I use TT, I found that the quality of the maps (Teleatlas) still leave a bit to be desired here in Portugal. I expect Navteq to be not worse, at the very least. That is also the reason why I asked about updates... I held on buying a GPS for myself since up to last year the map quality was awful for Portugal so it was basically useless.

robertn, I wondered exactly the same until he asked me to buy him a unit. The use will be purely professional, for navigating to new clients in places he doesn't know, in opposition to the usual "ask directions" time of planning. I don't know if he'll get used to it, but since Portuguese is (thankfully!) supported as a language, both for menus and speech, things are some what easier.

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