TomTom 720 or Garmin 760?

colossus · Regular Visitor Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 79

Trying to work out which of these to buy? Getting very confused about the relative merits. Currently have Garmin Street Pilot i3 and want to upgrade and have something more sophisticated. Would like to be able to programme routes into the device to avoid some of the more wayward routes which I understood could be done with the Garmin but not TomTom but now am wondering if it's actually possible on both. It's a little irritating that the tomtom doesn't have the road I live on in it's data whereas my i3 does. I have not had a chance to mess about with a 760 yet but assume that if I exist on the i3 I probably will on the 760. This makes me wonder if maps for Garmin are better than tomtom. Any advice?

PaulB2005 · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:19 pm Post subject:

I won't comment on the 760 maps (mainly because yet again today I've had to make a major diversion due to errors in the maps regarding traffic flow).

However the routing certainly is possible on the 760. You need to load MapSource on your PC and unlock it with the unlock code from your 760. Then you can create routes and load them to the Nuvi. It's not the most intuitive procedure but i got there with 5 minutes messing about.

You can preview the Garmin maps here.

Andy_P · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:20 pm Post subject:

Any reason you've not looked at the Go730? It will have newer maps so your road may be on it now.
You could ask someone on here who already has one to check for you.

As for routing, the TomTom will allow ONE waypoint to be added to a calculated route (I think that is the same as the Garmin does?), but if you want a more detailed route, you can use the Itinerary feature (not sure if Garmins have that or not). With that you can add dozens of waypoints.

I find the easiest thing to do though, is if you know a better way for part of the route, just drive that way. The TT will re-calculate in seconds, to take account of your new decision (a lot quicker than the Nuvi I'm testing at the moment does!)

Drage · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject:

gatorguy6996 · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:16 pm Post subject:

The 760 is head and shoulders above the 720 IMHO. Trip statistics, saved routes, build multi-stop optimized routes on either the device or via Mapsource, more reliable travel estimates, included traffic, autonomous satellite position prediction for fast lock, subcategorized POI's, I could go on. None of these are available on the TomTom. The 720 is a very good, pretty reliable PND, but not the equal of the nuvi 760. Just my opinion.

colossus · Regular Visitor Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 79

Thanks for the replies. I have thought about waiting for the 730 and the price quoted on Amazon is tempting but from what I've read about new software packages I wonder if it's worth waiting till problems are identified and corrected. Also, I can see that IQ routes may work in areas where sat navs are used a lot but I'm not sure how much of an advantage it would be in rural Northumberland. I like the idea of the lane mapping but understand that that is limited. Maybe I was just hoping for someone to say what gatorguy has said. Is the 730 actually available now? Most info I've had seems to price it £100 more than Amazon are showing. Is the Amazon price real?

kuyler · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:34 am Post subject:

Like colossus am also wondering whether to go for the 720 or 760.

Have done quite a bit of research and some of the recurring pros I've read about for each unit are:

Better quality maps: Nuvi 760
Smoother animation: TT 720

Better traffic reception:
Nuvi 760 by some margin, at least in the UK? On the continent both seem to get good reception

Better long-term potential:
Presumably the TT 720(???), can be upgraded to HD Traffic and may receive a new software update with access to the latest lane change and IQ routes functionality. However, no idea what to expect from Garmin with respect to long-term 760 support?

But yeah, would welcome any comments as to whether these ring true or not.

I suppose that with mapping it's generally very hard to say which of the two is better, since the Garmin maps may be more accurate in some areas and TomTom in others. However, Garmin only seem to release around one map update per year, while TomTom release more (and on top of that have Mapshare).

gatorguy6996 · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:29 am Post subject:

Garmin has added SiRF InstantfixII, improved addy entry, support for the new MSN2 services and map enhancements including map scale since it's initial release. TT720 has added ?.

With regard to map updates, do you intend to buy all four of the planned TT releases? If so, about $400 US. Even one update costs about 40% more than the equivalent Garmin update.

No Garmin firmware update has trashed or disabled Garmin 760 features.
TomTom updates have recently been problematic.

There are 18 features the Garmin has that are not available from TomTom, not including little used "travel" features like currency converters and language translators. (I won't list them unless you insist)

TT720 reported travel times, at least in the US, are unreliable. Garmin 760 much more accurate in time to destination.

Several Garmin POI's are sub-categorized, so if you're trying to find a Seafood restaurant, you can, without looking at every restaurant. Not so with the TomTom.

Again, IMO, there's no question which is the more full-featured PND.

colossus · Regular Visitor Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 79

Thanks Gatorguy. You're doing a good job of selling the Garmin to me. I lean that way as I already have the i3 which has been a great little machine. You don't work for Garmin do you?! Laughing

gatorguy6996 · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:26 am Post subject:

Absolutely not. I'm a little old sign maker.

Hemlock · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:01 pm Post subject:

Another point in the 760’s favour seems to be the ability to organise or
automatically sort multiple destinations to provide an efficient route for errands, deliveries or sales calls. Ideal for the ‘white van man’ like DennisN.
Something that TT hasn’t quite mastered yet I understand.
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Andy_P · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject:

Just to try and tip the scales a bit the other way Laughing

I have VERY little experience of Garmins and a lot of experience of TomToms.
But I DO have a little Nuvi 300 on my dashboard at the moment (maybe this is no comparison with the 730 though?).

On the Nuvi:

The maps look like a child drew them.

The available view ahead and to the sides (at default zoom levels) is pitiful compared to the TT

The display often only shows half of every road name (e.g. "Devon" instead of "Devon Avenue") and many side road's names are not shown at all.

There is at least one road completely missing on my route to work.

If it needs to re-calculate, the whole screen freezes while it does it.

If I have an SD card installed with custom POIs/Tour Guide it slows the whole unit down until it is un-useable.

It has locked up twice in two days (maybe due to the SD card issue).

Screen update rate is very poor on the Nuvi - with no sd card I'm getting around 57 screen refreshes per minute while driving (about 1 a second), and with an sd card inserted only 28 in a minute! (less then one every 2 seconds). Compare that with the TomTom720 which averaged 190 per minute or just over 3 per second. The TomTom is vastly smoother....

Time to arrival estimates were remarkably similar on both machines.

I'd be the first to admit the built-in POIs are far better on the Nuvi (but I don't like the tiny icons on screen).

Now obviously there are lots of satisfied Garmin customers, so maybe I have a duff one; but from my side-by-side experience there is simply no contest. I suggest you try to demo both models (preferably whist actually driving) before you make up your mind.

colossus · Regular Visitor Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 79

Oh dear! Thanks Andy. Any suggestions as to where you can test them. Most places I've tried don't even have them out of the box and the ones that have let me have a play have only stocked tomtom. My local Halfords have been pretty unhelpful but maybe it's just that particular branch.
In terms of missing roads, as I've already said my address isn't on tomtom and neither is my Dad's (admittedly his address is fairly obscure) but both are on my i3.

Andy_P · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:19 pm Post subject:

colossus · Regular Visitor Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 79

working all weekend unfortunately.

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