TomTom or Garmin

[Straydog]

Ok.I have always been a garmin freak simply due to using them flying, and boating. I have a NUvi 660 for the car now spare because Audi has a built in system (not as good as the Garmin, but does the job for SWMBO).
Now the GSA I bought has a mounting for the TomTom Urban Rider/Rider all wired up, and no gps to mount. I cannot convert the mount to Garmin and use the Nuvi as it is not water proof and it would be a major pain to get it to work..

so...

For serious touring in Europe, which is the prefered Tosser GPS, the garmins or the TomTom (and I would be looking at the Urban Rider European version and the BMW are just disguised Garmins..) or is there somehting else outside these brands that is a better offering?

For anything more serious I will go to maps and my little hand held gps... I have used maps for flying, land and boating, so I have no fears there, just hte GPS is a nice lazy bugger way of getting around.

 

[mikey5]

cheap n cheerful gps

hi i use one of these with a cheapo binatone gps in it running igo8 on a sd card waterproof gps for use on the bike at £50 total cost yes please !!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Waterproof-GP...29?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item1c1a9144c5


no need to spend lots of money on gps systems theses days

 

[Bumpkin]

hi i use one of these with a cheapo binatone gps in it running igo8 on a sd card waterproof gps for use on the bike at £50 total cost yes please !!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Waterproof-GP...29?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item1c1a9144c5


no need to spend lots of money on gps systems theses days

I use the same case for my Nuvi 765T, but with the RAM ball which mounts onto my existing RAM set-up.

I did get a bit of misting on a damp day of the Euro tour I came back from yesterday (seems like weeks away already ), maybe because I unzipped the case at lunch-time and took the GPS out. Otherwise it seems to work well. Having left it running whilst at a stop I was rather alarmed at how hot the GPS was, it was playing MP3s (into a powered off Autocom) at the time, not sure if that had a bearing, the sun was out as well which obviously didn't help either.

 

[Dr Feelgood]

I have always had Tomtoms (on my 3rd) and my good mate has the Garmin 550 on his K1300GT. To be honest, (and unbiased) the Garmin seems to have a few more/other options in its menu, but not making too much sense/usefulness. The Tomtom appears more straight forward and simply to use. We have toured Europe and the US with both and both agree the Tomtom comes out on top but not by a huge marging.

I guess you could compare Tomtom to Nokia phones 10 years ago where the software and user iterface was super-intuitive and the Garmin to Ericsson, ie. same possibilities, just a bit harder to work with....well, that's my 2 cents

 

[Charlie George]

I have a TT Rider 2 and cannot praise it highly enough for simple A-B stuff. Excellent maps and almost faultless route finding, unless on quickest route when it can be problem. Using Tyre it can do anything you want but it easier and quicker if done on laptop then down loaded onto the TT.

The new generation TT Rider is more limited in that it has a better battery life BUT it has no memory card and changing maps can apparently be a pain.

My mate has a Garmin, nice Sat Nav but the lack of a qwerty keyboard system makes it fiddly.

On a persnal note I prefer the TT but when my one packs up, I will have to think seriously about going over to the garmin

 

[Bumpkin]

Whilst Tyre and ITN Converter are useful for creating routes for your TomTom they aren't, IMHO, as good as Mapsource which uses the same mapping data as in your Garmin GPS. As the aforementioned programs also rely in Google Maps for their data and a broadband connection to deliver them they're a pain to use whilst on tour. A netbook with Mapsource has all you need, program and mapping data loaded, no need for a broadband connection.

 

[Twotter]

I've always used Garmin units on bike trips to Europe - Quest 1, Quest 2, Streetpilot 2610, and now a Zumo 550. Mapsource has been a very useful tool for me and I'm comfortable using it.

In a previous job I used Garmin GPS units and they always proved reliable.

I'm sticking with what I know

 

[Andy Hird]

Well I have always sworn by TomTom, it has never let me down, and the latest generation of ITN Converter is amazing, especially for the Topo setting and Satelite setting.

But I have decided to give Garmin a go.....only because I have just bought a Scala A2DP headset and wanted to get Music via Stereo Bluetooth. So I've bought a Garmin Nuvi 765T like what Bumpkin has.

Fist impressions of the Garmin are very good....you can tell it's a quality piece of kit right from the off, and it is very user friendly. The screen s very bright in direct sunlight, and the icons etc look very neat and easy to use.

But I have yet to use it in anger, so that will be the real test.

Andy

 

[Bumpkin]

So I've bought a Garmin Nuvi 765T like what Bumpkin has.

Great, you can blame me if you don't like it....

Just did a 9 day European tour (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and my 765T did a good job, just as competent as my old StreetPilot 2720 but with the added benefit of MP3 capability for the boring peage bits on the first and last days. All route pre-planned though I did take a netbook and made a few tweaks here and there.

 

[Scuba-Sparky]

Hi All
Just come back from a wonder around Europe using the 660, physically it is a nice bit off kit. But why does it always do a route recalculation just as you come up to a big intersection? So all you have is a blank white screen for 30 seconds while its recalculating, so had a few 'U' turns & wasted trips down the motorways to turn round. JFI the TT that had the same route on didn't do this once.
Also the 660 just lost it, blank white screen for 30min, all the info boxes were still showing data (speed, time etc.) And after numerous take the battery out and re-starts it finally got its act together again.
Any ideas? Or just get another TomTom?

 

[Bumpkin]

Hi All
Just come back from a wonder around Europe using the 660, physically it is a nice bit off kit. But why does it always do a route recalculation just as you come up to a big intersection? So all you have is a blank white screen for 30 seconds while its recalculating

There's something wrong there, shouldn't be doing that. Either there's an issue with the way you have the GPS set-up or there's a map/route problem. Without seeing the unit in action it's very hard to diagnose it though.

Did you create the route in Mapsource or did someone else supply it?

 

[Scuba-Sparky]

Hello Bumpkin

The route was put in manually via series of way point, GPS's don't like wiggly, twisty roads, & as for hair pins!

 

[Peak]

What about for Eastern Europe, as thats where I'll be heading on my next adventures

 

[Colin]

tom tom rider 2

I have had mine for three and a half years. been around europe a few times.
it has always got me to my destination. and the blue tooth earpiece has always worked. However I never use it now on shortest route as it has taken me down some foot paths and bridleways. it once shut down completely
and a phone call toTT told me how to get it up and running again.
I use this in the car also. the car mounting broke in half in Bavaria.
but I managed to piece it together with black tape & an elastic band.
the bike mounting packed up last year. most of the time I can't see the screen due to bright light and the screen is small. Then I found the map I had couldn't be upgraded, so I bought a new map from TT and then had to buy the upgrades. and at the start of this year they offered me a years upgrades (4)
at a reduced price £19. but my memory card hasn't got enough room to take them so that was a waste of money. my computor skills are very limited so I do find it challenging could be more user friendly. I only use it as a basic A to B route finder. I have never used a mobile phone through it or put music on it. my next purchase will be a Garmin.