Garmin or tomtom?

[snowr0]

Would love a navigator v but £600!
So, with about £300 available, looking at garmin Zumo 660 or TomTom rider v5.
Held off till now, but next holiday will involve city work and I know I'll need guidance.:banghead: Looking for simplicity, reliability, ease of use and support.:what:
Heard lots of good reports and a few negative of the Garmin, very little about TomTom. Please let me know which you'd recommend and why. Thanks, Richard.

 

[ghiribizzo]

TomTom Rider.
Downside? Unit is a bit bulky and your choice of lockable mount is probably Wunderlich, Touratech or a locking Ram mount. Not as easy to plan routes with lots of via points on. Aftermarket Tyre software which can be free or with paid for features needs windows.
Upside? Routes it will chose blow the Garmin Zumo into the weeds. You can also get creatively lost by choosing a winding route. Garmin's now adding that into the new units.
All of Europe within the unit, no cards needed. Free lifetime updates and easy to use software. Display is better esp. at night.

Garmin Zumo 660 - upside:
nice slim unit. Display is ok, plenty different mounts.
Downside: Routing is not great. Try some roads you know and despite altering settings you'll wonder what the hell it's taking you this way for. Watch as you go the route you know to be good and the ETA drops dramatically yet it didn't pick that route for you?
Whole of Europe onto the unit needs a card for the capacity. If you're loading up selective map tiles, if you miss one small section you have a problem. I missed out the middle of Como years ago. Fun.
Updating can be good or a nerve wracking experience.

 

[ghiribizzo]

Forgot about an issue - TomTom will locate a fuel station easily. In UK, the Garmins will list every local Asian shop, Spar, CoOp and petrol stations that closed years ago when you want fuel. Useful.

 

[Sleepy]

Don't discount the older Zumo 550, still an excellent unit, and one was sold on here for a little over £200 complete... a bargain.

 

[spm0912]

Got a smartphone? For occasional use just add a waterproof case and a sat nav app. Yes there are cons but you'll be amazed how good some of them are. I have tom tom on an iPhone, with the latest ios7 update the clarity of the screen is easily usable on a bike and the routing is generally spot on.

If, like me you plan your routes in detail beforehand and you want to GPS to just guide you along your chosen route either a Garmin 550 or 660 using base camp is the way to go but as mentioned by others allowing the unit to plot it's own A to B route can be hit and miss.

A stand alone Tom Tom rider is the better bet for picking A to B routes, it's search function is far more user friendly and the winding roads option often throws up some blinding roads you'd never normally think about using

Or what about a cheaper car Tom Tom and waterproof it in a purpose made bag/mount. Saw some nice Givi ones at the bike show but you won't get the winding roads option (I think).

If it were me (and I didn't get a free Nav 1V with my bike) I'd go with the smartphone option for what you want it for. But as with all things in life you pays your money and take the choice that best suits you

 

[snelly]

With the smart phone option. Has anybody had experience with the Samsung s4 mini as a gps system.

 

[oddshapedballs]

With the smart phone option. Has anybody had experience with the Samsung s4 mini as a gps system.

I use a combination of Samsung Galaxy S2 and HTC One (depending on which one I have with me) and a car TomTom Start all used in a Givi SatNav holder (S850) and all work perfectly. I always have one of the phones and the TomTom with me so have the best of all worlds with all that Google has to offer (maps, navigation etc etc).

 

[sparkieboy29]

Hi there my hat into the ring I've tried both satnavs and think the tomtom is a much better unit much easier to use for everyday riding and the winding route function is superb, the quality of the garmin felt flimsy and God forbid dropping the garmin it probably break on the other hand the tomtom is built like a brick xxxx house, had loads of problems with the garmin with the music player on it always crashing so more frustrating than not having it on the Tom Tom, I'm not one for sitting down and programming a route, I like to use the map and the satnav is there as a back up so to speak getting into towns finding campsites, hotels etc and over taking you can see straight roads coming up so your in the right gear etc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Richie N]

Anyone using lockable mount? Any good? I'd like sat nav on the bike but would prefer to leave it on permanently.

 

[dsb79]

With £300 you could get a 2nd hand unit either a 590LM, or possibly a Nav V pay your subscription, i just sold a 660 complete with touratech mount for less than you have stated on here.

Pay your subs and keep an eye on the sale section and post in the wanted.

 

[Rocketman]

I've got a lockable mount but I don't leave on permanently ,while you're in the cafe or paying for fuel ,wondering about poi's it's fine .
Parking up overnight ,parked up in a town centre I take off and put in pocket .
As for tt or garmin I'd say tt for ease of use and easy route planning using tyre .

 

[Parchman]

Partner has a Samsung phone with CoPilot, which we only use for finding a booked hotel or suchlike.
The phone works fine, CoPilot is a bit flaky. Keep left means take slip road for example, and it had taken us off a main road, round a roundabout, then back to where we were... ???
Also seems stuck in "shortest", so to save a few yards, we head off into the heavy traffic... But we only really want it for local stuff - we can enjoy getting lost all on our own.
CoPilot is only £20?

Brother in Law just uses google maps on his ancient phone. Chooses some decent routes on "most direct" or whatever it's called.

 

[J biker]

http://www.spesa.co.uk/products/tom...t=4959455428&gclid=CMHa2svG68sCFXMz0wodWAgNuA


Under £300.

My Garmin 350lm has just packed in, will not charge on any connection. Its only 3 years old. Paid around £350 for it. Garmin software not user friendly IMO.
Mate has had 3 Garmins and 3 cradles in the last 6 year. Not been reliable.

Currently using Copilot Western EU on a Samsung S5. Works fine but a bit short on handy features, like quick re route if road closed, finding petrol when the warning light comes on etc. Had Copilot on an Iphone as well, works fine, see comments above.

Saving up for Tomtom....

 

[sparkplug]

I've always had Garmin and am starting to do a bit of research as to what to replace the existing one with. Mine was bought just before the lifetime maps thing really made sense - so it's quite out of date.

I'm not a power user, I mainly just store custom waypoints and do basic shorter route/faster time/avoiding tolls type stuff. I realised that doesn't narrow the choice down because everything does that, but I suppose I mean I'm probably looking at basic models rather than the ability to do chromecast while integrating it with my Nest so that it knows to boil a kettle somewhere in Spain when I reach Kilburn high street.

The bit that might affect the choice is that I use Macs at home and Garmin software was painful to use even on the PC virtual machine which I had to fire up everytime. So I stopped doing this, but it would be nice to plan a route on the computer leisurely and then upload it to the GPS.

I have used TomTom on iPhones (before Maps and Google Maps came along) and I quite like the interface.

The other consideration is that I have 2 bikes and it would also be nice to have the 'car' option even though I don't have a car - so cost of extra mounts / cradles is to be considered. I always though Garmin overcharged for a second mount.

So, opinions please. Garmin, TomTom, something else?

What's out there?

 

[Boxerboy55]

I've had no reliability issues with my previous 550 and current 660.
My only Tom Tom experience is with a 2012 car model (which my youngest kid took to Ireland this morning) but I prefer my 6" Nuvi 2699 in the car. I found the Tom Tom would not automatically display my saved favourites on screen during a journey (annoying).

I've no experience of current bike Tom Toms. And have no trouble using GARMIN on the PC to handle data and/or plan routes.

The common guidance is "always know where you're going and take a map".

I never get over ambitious with route planning on the device. Set a destination and have the right road in your head.