TomTom or Garmin, who's owned both?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Thanks for the info. My Garmin - can't remember which model but it's one of the older models that you need to flip up the antenna on, maybe a 205, is about due for replacement. My wife uses it in her car but I'd like to get her one with the larger screens, newer maps, quicker boot up time, etc. Sometimes it takes REALLY long to pick up your location when you turn it on.
I bought a used '05 Mazda3 GT hatchback back in July and the dealer had a promo to upgrade the factory stereo to a double-DIN GPS/stereo/iPod controller head unit so I took it. I sometimes use Google Maps on my iPhone4 as backup.
 
Having spent a good bit of time with both. The base model garmins seem slow to pick up sats, but the base model tom toms are slower still, and even a more expensive tom tom might just get you lost (have used 4 tom toms, and five garmins) My tom tom is a terrible loathsome POS, works just enough to be frustrating, all but one of the tom tom's i know of is about on par usefulness wise, dropping connection, randomly changing directions, etc.

Of the five garmins, only one had an issue with powering up, returned it to bestbuy under their warranty and the replacement is solid.
 
Thanks for the panning info G2. It's a nice feature if you want to look at alternate routes, details outside your route, or when planning a route other than the one it wants you to take. I have discovered if you travel a lot by auto it is important to have the latest version of City Navigator installed because many interstate bypasses are under contiuous reconstruction in the south and midwest. The basemaps are ok, but for good detail you need to keep City Navigator regularly updated.
 
Update, I try to use this even around home, just to see where it will try to map me to.
Also this way if something happens it'll still be under warranty, why just let it sit for trips? :)

SO, driving from Mosherville PA heading to Towanda via Rte 549, instead of shooting
down 549 to Rte 6 and then across, it tried to route me any way it could across back
roads, which I had set it to avoid unpaved roads. So I kept ignoring these cross roads
until I finally said, what the heck and took one, hadn't been that way, might end up
being a great short cut, nah, it would have been far faster shooting straight down 549
to 6 and then across, more miles but less headaches.

I don't know if Tom Tom would have also tried to route me in as straight a shot as the
Garmin, I'm guessing so as from a map perspective it would be the most logical, but
in practice, not so much.

So, I'm saying if you are in a TOTALLY strange place, it'll get you there, but possibly
not as speedily as you might like, but at least you'll know where you are :)

Still liking the larger screen too, very handy size.
G2
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top