Tomtom or garmins

[john877]

I know this question must have been asked many times but I am undecided if to buy the Tomtom 720 or the Garmin760 and would like some user experience of the two systems .

At the moment I have a tomtom 700 and despite updating with the latest maps and software I am disappointed with the standard of mapping from teleatlas and the customer service from tomtom.
Q1 is the routing performance better on the garmin or Tomtom

Q2 is the price difference worth paying the extra for garmin

Q3 With Tomtom acquiring teleatlas can we expect better and more up to date mapping with Tomtom

Q4 One sales outlet has told me that Tomtom are allegedly selling the Tomtoms at a reduced price because of problems with the devices is this correct ( some how with the amount of tomtoms sold I do not believe this is the case )

Thank you for any advice and if anybody can add to this list or add a reply it would be helpful

[Robbie34]

I'd welcome a reply to this post.

I'm considering buying my first sat-nav and I'm totally bewildered due to the conflicting reviews of the various products. I had thought of the Navman S90 but comments on this site have put me off that.

The new Garmin 760 now looks a possibility but I have read comments about the poor quality of the inbuilt speaker. The display on the Tom Tom 720 is supposed to be cluttered and Tom Tom service is poor.

Is there a perfect sat nav product?

[john877]

If it is any help I will tell what I have done .
I already owned a Tomtom 700 so have some experience of the Tomtom system and as you have said tom tom support is as good as a chocolate teapot.
But I ended up buying the Tomtom 720 the reasons are below

I find it quite useful to have a directional arrow for your next turn on view this feature is not available on the garmin unless you tap the sat nav screen.

The road name you are traveling on is displayed on the tomtom I find this useful

The thing that swung it for me was I bought the Tomtom 720 from Halfords using a discount code for £175 if I had updated my maps on the Tomtom 700 I had at home would have cost me about £40 so the new sat nav cost me £135 .
I think the software on the Garmin is more stable than the Tomtom but at the price I paid for the Tomtom if another sat nav is available in 2 years or so the 720 can be passed onto a member of the family.
The support that is available from websites such as this really helps in the tomtoms case
The navman will get you from A to B but I think the garmin and Tomtom are the two makes people seem to recommend but it is down to personal choice in the end

You will find some reviews which are done by an American forums are very anti Tomtom and pro garmin and reviews by Europe forums swing towards Tomtom do not read to much into them .

[Robbie34]

Thanks for your reply.

I thought I read somewhere that the TT does not read out the road name when you turn but the Garmin does - I have read so many reviews it has become difficult to assimilate them all. Is the screen cluttered and difficult to read?

I have been looking at the new Panasonic but it is so new that I haven't seen a review for it.

[john877]

If you chose a Tomtom 720 ( I think the 520 also has this)it does have "text to speech" which will read out the street name but you do have to use the computer generated voice to do so but you can switch between the two.
I also suffered information overload .

No I don't find the screen cluttered !!you can move the information bar vertical if you wish

Regarding the Panasonic I was tempted with that but i believe the processing unit is very slow but may wrong I cannot quite remember why I ruled it out

[portman]

The simple fact is neither the garmin or tomtom are perfect but its the best there is!! The Nuvi 710/760/770 and tomtom 520/720/920 all have text-to-speech. I'm not certain that the 760 is worth the extra, best price i've seen for the 760 is £250 from Handtec, the Tomtom 720 £175.
_________________
Samsung Mega
Tomtom 500

[john877]

Perhaps buying the Tomtom 720 was not such a smart move after all !!

I decided yesterday I would download any updates that where available to the new sat nav backing up the device first in Tomtom Home just in case .
Backed up and then downloaded the updates and to my horror yes you have guessed it the red cross appears .
Thinking it would be an easy job to to do a reset and all would be well again (no luck ).
Tried to reinstall the back up same out come (no luck )
After reading many posts on this problem it sounds like it is not an isolated problem.

I took it back to halfords today and they offered to replace it or a refund ( I took the refund and will buy a Garmin 760 when they are more accessible in the larger shops )

The Tomtom720 was an excellent sat nav and did everything I wanted and if you never had to connect it to the computer it would be fine !!!
I do not think this problem can be put down to user error as I am used to operating the tomtom home software and I have never had a problem with it on the Tomtom700. I have added the pockets speed camera data base ,new maps , voice warning etc all without a glitch.
I think Tomtom need to watch out especially with Sony and Panasonic now entering the sat nav market and if they get there act together Tomtom may be in for a shock .
If I was a Tomtom shareholder I think I would be asking some serious questions to there development department

[crazyfingers]

[Gmonkey]

tomtom is absolutely much better. They're maps are a whole lot more accurate because they're made by tele atlas. the user interface is so simple my gf can use it, and design is flawless. I have the tomtom one and tried out the the go 720 and one third edition and can attest to its superior quality. good luck!

[crazyfingers]

[john877]

I think this demonstrates that at the end of the day it really is down to personal preference !!
And after using a Tomtom 700 and paying for the update to the latest maps I do not think you can describe teleatlas maps as being superior as the quality of the maps were disappointing to say the least

The thing that struck me about the garmin it just seemed a more robust system !!you do not seem to get the same amount of complaints about them but I may have to eat my words at a future point



But thank you all for your comments they have been helpful

[Gmonkey]

all i have to say to refute your argument is MAPSHARE, free updated open source maps. garmin does not offer anything close to it. in my opinion, its the most underrated feature in the gps world. who could beat that????

[crazyfingers]

[r21442]

First post guys - be gentle!

Caught up in the same quandry about to make my first purchase. Falling on the side of Garmin as feels like the support will be there if I really need it though forums in my experience are usually excellent. I do like the default colour scheme and info bar on the TTs. Anyhow, I'm thinking about a 770 - all the forums I've read seem to praise the 7xx.

Couple of questions however:

1. Garmin / Navteq are ambiguous whether Canary islands are part of Europe maps - it definitely excludes Azores & Madeira - anyone know?

2. I've no immediate plans to use US maps but figure it looks cheaper to buy packaged up front than add later - am I daft?

3. Are there any make TMC models out there that don't need the auxilliary aerial - all seems a bit of a guddle to me.

[r21442]

Guys - got my answer to #1 from Garmin that Canaries are included.

Also told no planned release date for 800/8xx series voice recognition units - although on the US web sirte not sure they are available yet?

Only hear positive things about the 770(T) - its looking like that!

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