Advice

[theorangeman]

I'm a current owner of a Garmin c340 and for the most part, have been very happy with it. However, I'm thinking about upgrading and going with the TomTom 920 due to it's larger screen size, voice recognition, and other features. However, one potential issue that might keep me from doing this is something that a person told me the other day, which I have absolutely no idea if there is any merit to what he said (especially since he doesn't even own a TomTom). At any rate, what he told me was that his son's TomTom takes a considerable longer time (than the Garmin) recalculating a route whenever he misses a street that he was suppose to turn on. What's nice about my Garmin c340 is that it usually recalculates the route very quickly so I'm not waiting for the next set of directions to appear. Is there any truth to what this person told me? What has your experience been with the 920's ability to recalcuatle routes?

On another note, is there anything else that you think I might want to consider before taking the plunge? I wish I could try it out for a few days but BestBuy charges a re-stocking fee (as do most places) on returns.

 

[flyer1024]

A friend has the garmin unit you have and I have a tomtom one. There is no difference in calculation speed whatsoever. they are identical in this regard. recalculation happens just as fast in both as well.

 

[fanchee]

I agree, recalculation on my Tomtom 920 (and on my previous 720) was extremely fast.

 

[theorangeman]

That's good to hear and it's not surprising that the person who told me that the recalcuation is timely was misinformed.

On another note, as I've done some research on units to replace my Garmin, it seems as though the TomTom 920 is superior to the competition. It didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that this is the device for me (provided that I get a couple questions answered first). However, with this in mind, am I missing something here? That is, with your experience as 920 owners, would you recommend me looking at anything else before taking the plunge? Is it truly the best or are there other unit(s) that I should consider that perhaps I have overlooked?

 

[F22]

I am beginning to think that the SPEECH entry is not all that terrific a feature. It only works for entering addresses and if you goof, the finger is still necessary.

I was testing and returned a Magellan Maestro 4250 and its speech recognition seemed more appropriate - you could ask for points of interest and even narrow it down to Restaurants and Cuisine. I might have stuck with it if it had the ability to add European maps but apparently NOT.

I do like other features of the 920 and it seems like a really nice unit overall.

 

[NYTomTomUser]

orangeman,

I have no idea how fast the Garmin can recalculate routes, but I tested my 920 and in my opinion it was fast. When I missed the first turnoff, in matter of seconds, 920 was telling me to take the next exit even before I arrived.

hope it helps.

 

[fanchee]

While I am a TomTom admirer and user, I'm not 100% loyal....I do generally enjoy my unit. Some of you may remember I started out with a TomTom ONE and quickly progressed into a 910. Then I tested a ONE XL before settling nicely into the 720. Now I have a 920 I got from Santa. But that's just TomTom. Now let me tell you that I've also owned and used a Nuvi 350, 650, 660, and most recently own and use a Nuvi 260. None of these units are perfect. That being said, my favorite is the TomTom units. I travel for a living (flew 105 segments in 2007) so I keep the Garmin around in the rare instance an address isn't in the TT. It hasn't happened in MONTHS!

 

[theorangeman]

... so I keep the Garmin around in the rare instance an address isn't in the TT. It hasn't happened in MONTHS!

Based on that comment, I am assuming that you have found that Garmin might be a tad more complete (in terms of addresses in its map) than TomTom. Is my assumption correct?

Since the 920 apparently is your preferred device, what is it about it that you like over the competition? I'm still trying to understand what other units have over the 920 because I want to make sure that my original thought that "this is the unit for me" is accurate.

 

[fanchee]

Good question. Before the v665 maps came out, I would tend to agree that Garmin's maps were indeed better and more complete. V665 came out earlier in 2007 and now it's v710. I have no problem now saying my TT's maps are more up-to-date. For instance, my brother lives in a neighborhood just outside of Austin, TX that's fairly new (5 years.) My Garmin doesn't have his street, but my TT does. Now all that being said, I do believe it depends on what area you are in. But like I said, I travel all over the US and haven't had any problems with these new maps on the TT.

On another note, I hear people say all the time that the Garmin chooses better routes than the TT. I have tested my units against each other and a bout 90% of the time they choose identical routes. But for me personally, when I'm in an unfamiliar place, I really don't care if it takes me 5 minutes or so longer to arrive, as long as I arrive.

 

[lec510]

It's easy to test out.
Put a Garmin and a TomTom together, drive in the area around your home, and intentionally miss a turn.
Then come back here and tell us which one will be the first to announce the recalculated routes.
** Choose cases where the next TURN required after a missed one is 100m or less, if possible !

 

[theorangeman]

It's easy to test out.
Put a Garmin and a TomTom together, drive in the area around your home, and intentionally miss a turn.
Then come back here and tell us which one will be the first to announce the recalculated routes.
** Choose cases where the next TURN required after a missed one is 100m or less, if possible !

Of course that would be easy; that is, if I had a TomTom to use. However, I don't which is why I'm asking questions.

 

[lec510]

Try to borrow it from the one that claimed TomTom was slower.
I can tell you right now, I tested a Go 510 against a C320. TT not only kicked the Garmin butt, but by far.
Of course you can choose not to believe me.

 

[theorangeman]

Try to borrow it from the one that claimed TomTom was slower.
I can tell you right now, I tested a Go 510 against a C320. TT not only kicked the Garmin butt, but by far.
Of course you can choose not to believe me.

First of all, the person who I spoke with regarding the claim that the TT was slower was a person who I met a couple of weeks ago and very well may not see again. If I had access to a TT and could borrow one from someone I would; that's pretty obvious advice.

As for your testimony that the tt is faster, thank you, that's exactly why I came to the forum and asked the question. As for your trusting comment, I'm not sure why you're so defensive. Again, that's why I came to the forum, to get people's insight and experience of what the 920 is like and how it functions. Thanks to you and everyone else for helping me realize that this person's statement was inaccurate.

I'm getting closer and closer to being a 920 owner!

 

[[email protected]]

My Experience with GPS devices

I'm a current owner of a Garmin c340 and for the most part, have been very happy with it. However, I'm thinking about upgrading and going with the TomTom 920 due to it's larger screen size, voice recognition, and other features. However, one potential issue that might keep me from doing this is something that a person told me the other day, which I have absolutely no idea if there is any merit to what he said (especially since he doesn't even own a TomTom). At any rate, what he told me was that his son's TomTom takes a considerable longer time (than the Garmin) recalculating a route whenever he misses a street that he was suppose to turn on. What's nice about my Garmin c340 is that it usually recalculates the route very quickly so I'm not waiting for the next set of directions to appear. Is there any truth to what this person told me? What has your experience been with the 920's ability to recalcuatle routes?

On another note, is there anything else that you think I might want to consider before taking the plunge? I wish I could try it out for a few days but BestBuy charges a re-stocking fee (as do most places) on returns.

I have the new One XL, and have been using GPS navigation for the last 15 years, both for boat and auto. I have used Trimble & Garmin on the sea. On shore my nav software has been, De Lorme Road atlas for 10 years, Co Pilot live for the past year... both systems operate through my laptop. DeLorme software is the absolute best for their routing accuracy. I have used Magellen systems in rental cars, and found the correction speed very good. My new TomTom also has very fast corrections when I go off its designated route... which, unfortunately is often. I have found their routing program to be very poor in comparison to others. HOWEVER, for the most part I know the route I should be taking anyway, and its corrections finally agree with my route . The ease of adding things to the unit is very beneficial. The TomTom community forums a far superior to others, and allow you do download so many nice little extras (ie POI locations and Icons). There are many little annoyances to the TomTom, but I still like the system and its extra abilities.... I expect their routing program will eventually be corrected and become part of new software upgrades... The compact units ability to be moved to car to car, and the ability to go online and work with Google maps with direct favorite downloads to the unit is superb... also rather new by the way. Google will get better every week. I love the bigger screen and ease of the touch screen operation.

In summary, lot of things I'd like to see improved, but all in all, I think it is a great little unit... that will see many improvements in the very near future. I'd recommend the TomTom.

Happy New Year!
Tom

 

[Spyder]

FWIW - I just returned a TT920 after trying it out for a month. While it has some nice bells & whistles, i.e. Mapshare (jury is still out on this feature), Voice input, remote control, Euro maps it just did not route me all that well compared to my Garmin 680. The POI db left me frustrated when I could not find national chains such as Lowe's, Home Depot and some restaurant chains. I did buy and kept a Mio C320 but it is limited in POI and map department until you hack away and get it almost up to par with a C520. And it only cost $169. I really like the look of the map and the info I can see while on a route. Modifying a route is quite easy - avoid street, avoid maneuver. I will look hard at a higher end Mio down the road a few months. Let's see what comes out of CES in a week or so across all vendors.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GPSIII, GPSIII+, Rino 120s, SPIII, IQue3600, SP2610, GPS10, SP2730, n?vi 680, , MIO C320 ? the Navigon 7100, TT GO920 went back!
"I took the road less traveled, now where the hell am I?"...."How should I know - you wouldn't let me recalculate!!"

 

[infama]

TT 920 will burn the Garmin C340 for fuel. LoL

The 920 brings the full might of the 400mhz ARM processor to bear, while the obsolete C340 has old chips.

You heard TT One and XL owners saying their mchines recealulate fast?? Well, they have 266hz chips and slower. additionally, the Globallocate Hammerhead Chip in the One 3rd edition relies on the processor, so slows it a tad. The 920 uses SirfStar III with its own processor, so the recalc speed is blazing, the fastest in the business at the moment.

No device is perfect, so look for the best compromise of features, price and service that best suits you.