garmin vs tom tom

[nibbler]

Hi guys

Cause its coming up for that time of the year when we usually spend $$$$$$$. Just wanting an update on the Garmin vs Tom tom street/ road navigation debate.

Using Garmin Oregon 300 to do caching at the moment but thought it would be nice to get a street navigator for the car.
Should I go Garmin with Garmin for ease or does it matter
Does anyone have a strong opinion on what to buy. Looking over pass logs it was Tom Tom that was ahead .
Wondering if this is still the case
Your thoughts and comments would be helpful

[Ksix]

If purely coming from a novice, never used a gps before type scenario, TomTom may arguably be simplier to use for street navigation. Having said that, we have a Garmin Nuvi 310 for street navigation (and it was also our caching GPSr when we first started as well) for a number of years now and find it a great unit. Very reliable, accurate and has never let us down yet.

If it is purely street navigation you are after, either TomTom or a Garmin unit will equally suit your needs.

Cheers,
Ksix
"Eat... Sleep... Geocache..."

[bshwckr]

I prefer iGo8 based street navigation. I saw a poll on a gps forum a while ago that showed iGo with about 85% of the vote and everyone else squeezed into the remaining 15% Kogan and Uniden navigators use iGo. So do a lot of the cheapy Chinese navigators on eBay but these tend to use pirated or trial software.

[Nilbog_Aus]

We have a Garmin SatNav as it means we can use one map update on all the GPSrs which might be something to consider.
Also I don't think Open Street Maps are available for the TomTom or are likely to be in the near future.

Having said all that I do find the TomTom interface nicer and their IQ Routes looks interesting.

[ian-and-penny]

I use my Oregon 300 for street navigation too.

[solomonfamily]

I use my Oregon 300 for street navigation too.

If only it could say "turn left at high street" instead of just beeping it would be perfect. I use the Oregon 300 for street navigation too and dont have a "Road GPS".

Dad (aka King Solomon Snr) uses the Garmin Nuvi 310 exclusively for both caching and road navigation - it's primary function is of course road navigation. It is now a few years old, and given my time again, I would buy it again - it has been fantastic.

[jyetara]

Have had several Types.
Tomtom is a much friendlier interface & easy to deal with.
Garmin Nuvis can be a bit finicky with POIs and custom labels & sounds.
Garmin I like because you can pick a street, THEN choose which suburb where the last Tomtom had to have the Suburb before you can pick the street. So in cases where you have no idea if you're in or on the border of "Suburb" or "Suburb West" the Tomtom could be a pain.

[ma77hew]

I have the TomTom One v3 and think it's good. My biggest gripe is that the suction mount doesn't have any sort of active vacuum mechanism, as just about all other units do, so it tends to fall of the windshield a fair bit. I'm having thoughts of gluing it on.

I use a newer TomTom at work and find that it won't find a route to a point more than about 30m from a road. This would make it useless for caching to navigate to anything other than really easy drive-bys.

[bshwckr]

Garmin Nuvi does allow you to use this utilty.

http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/index.html

[Yurt]

With road Tom Toms as cheap as $180 I'm toying with getting one. I hire cars when interstate a lot and get the GPS with the car. It's always a Garmin (not sure of the model) but it's got the bitchy woman "Please drive to highlighted route!"
I guess it's just a function of the outdated maps but it can't find its way out of Perth airport and has a lot of other niggles with routes and the way it tells you to keep right but then you've got a left exit straight away. It's turned me off Garmin a bit even though I love my Garmin Etrex H for geocaching!

So what's the advantage? Red light and speed camera warnings are handy for Melbourne, not as much use in Sydney where we have 3 enormous signs warning us of every speed camera (yet people still get done!). At these prices I can justify it - the benefits of the more expensive models seem to be just screen size?
Getting free map updates would be handy too, how long do you get updates for?

Appreciate your thoughts.

[tronador]

I have a Tom Tom go 720 with voice activation. Brilliant!, never type in an address, I can just say the address and off i go.

[delboy1203]

I used a Garmin while travelling the US in a rental car and absolutely loved it! I vowed never to buy anything else.

However, I recently bought a Tom Tom Go 730 (at a $200 discounted price) and it is great. The interface is simple (the huge screen helps), the voice is clear, the directions around Melbourne are quick and accurate including lane changing. My only gripe is that the bluetooth won't connect to my iPhone 3GS, but Tom Tom support are working their way through the issue as we speak!