GO 930 vs 950

[jeanieegedal]

Hi there.
I am about to buy a GPS, and I've been doing some searching aorund, and come to the conclusion that's it's going to be either the 950 or the 930.
I live in Denmark, where there's a price range between the to of ca 300 $ - the 930 is the cheapest.
- But why? For me it looks like the 930 is the better one.
It has to havev US ans EU map.

Hoping to hear from you, Jeanie

 

[mikealder]

In Denmark you don't have Live services so I fail to see what the need is for the 950 as there is hardly any difference in real terms between the 930 and the 950, all you get "extra" is as follows:

1/ Eco Routes - the ability to plan routes offering a more fuel efficiant profile (debatable)
2/ Active dock, this is a big improvement but not worth the price hike, you can always consider a CarComm active mount for the 930 which will offer as good a solution.
3/ Navcore 9 interface, I tend to refer to this as "Power Point on steroids" as I don't like the menu transitions, it doesn't add any real value/ capability.

With the 950 you loose the mp3 player and FM Transmitter, both these features are available with the 930 - Hope this helps but the 950 is a strange device compared to previous products as its not really a step forward IMHO, sure it works and will get you to your destination but it isn't worth $300 more than a 930 -
With the 930 you will get European mapping, Enhanced position technology, mp3 player, FM Tx, use some of the $300 saved to purchase an add on active car mount such as This one along with a clip to suit your vehicle - Mike

 

[go930user]

Hi,

I'd have to endose everything that Mike has said.

I started off with a 910 and recently updated to a refurbished 930 (if you want the fulll saga read the "go930 to TT Home Communication" thread). Ultimately got a refund on the 930 and went off to buy a "retail" unit.

Got attracted to the 950, mainly on the "ruggedness" of its mount, but should have read the specs before I went shopping just before Christmas.

For me the FM radio link is almost mandatory, as when we travel we like to take our own music, and since with hire cars you can not guarantee an audio auxillary input, having the FM link avoids this problem.

However I did have the 950 long enough to discover some of its quirks, particulary the "new" interface, which I did not like. (I wonder when interface designers will cotton on to the fact that users invest time in learning how to drive a device and then have to go through the learning loop again when a "new" interface appears on an upgraded product)

Luckily the retailer I used has a 14 day "change your mind" refund/exchange policy (not always a given in Oz) so I swapped back to the 930 - and am much happier as a result.

Interestingly, even though both units had Aust/NZ/NA/West&Cent Eu maps the 950 would only let me use the "latest map guarantee" for one map, namely the one which was in use at the time I followed the link to the download page. (I switched to each map in turn to see what happened). But the 930 has allowed an upgrade of all maps to 835. version. I think that this is one map upgrade old - but as the 930 is now a superceded model I'm wondering if this is the reason. I intend to ask TT a question about this in due course. Oops - correction 835 is the navcore version number, checking the maps shows all are ver 840.2562, which, I believe, the current maps - sorry

I was also pleasantly surprised that the upgrade process occurred with very little trouble. On an ADSL link it took almost 7 hours to get the 4.5 Gbytes of download data and the server timed out once at the end of the third map (about half way through). I was able to reconnect and complete the activity by exiting TT Home after disconnecting the 930 properly and then reconnecting by reattaching the 930 hitting "yes" to the "do you want to connect" splash screen and navigating to "latest map guarantee" screen in TT Home to complete the process - quite painless really, except for the time factor. I really only expected to be able to upgrade one map and was assessing whether Aus or NA was the one to go for since we will be visiting the USA and Canada in about three months. The laptop HDD now has an image of the 930's contents - "as delivered" and "after maps upgrade" ( there goes about 10 Gbyte of space!!!)

So Jeanne, I'd go for the 930 - and I did. (or ought this be "went")

Mike - the link to the after market mount was much appreciated, but no prices there?? Got any clues about retails outlets? Especially in NA.

And why did you ask for my e-mail address? I haven't received anything?? And the e-bay seller is still active, so TT do not seem to have followed up on your advice to them, perhaps they are not too worried as the units, I suspect, have to get into the alternative supply chain with TT somewhere towards the beginning, unless there is a wholesaler buying in large numbers releasing returns down this path.

Cheers

Alan

 

[mikealder]

Mike - the link to the after market mount was much appreciated, but no prices there?? Got any clues about retails outlets? Especially in NA.

They are Dutch based, one UK retailer is This One and I would expect they will ship to Oz if asked, don't forget to also order the part that bolts the holder to the car. Also check out the other CarComm x20 mounts as there are two or three with subtle differences in way of cabled outputs.

And why did you ask for my e-mail address? I haven't received anything?? And the e-bay seller is still active, so TT do not seem to have followed up on your advice to them, perhaps they are not too worried as the units, I suspect, have to get into the alternative supply chain with TT somewhere towards the beginning, unless there is a wholesaler buying in large numbers releasing returns down this path.

I did inform TT of the retailer on e-bay selling what are undoubtably stolen goods (the maps) - It is up to TomTom whether they do anything about it, this does annoy me though when they seem to ignore/ turn a blind eye to certain sales on flea bay! - Mike