Sat Navs.

whitecrook

whitecrook

whitecrook

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OK. It's quite hard to find decent info on these other than people saying 'get Tom Tom, or Get Garmin' or something.


I got a F&H device for under £40 quid the other week as it was so cheap, to play about with and to have a look at these things. I rarely don't know how to get where I am going, so I don't really need one, more for the curiosity factor.


Firstly just what is the difference between all the devices, given that they all run the same software - so why would you pay £200 quid for one when a £50 will do the same?

I have concluded that the main differences between devices is
1. screen - obvious
2. memory - more memory the better. Igo8 apparently from reading around people ay this needs loads of memory. I don't know what constitutes loads but I imagine it's 128MB upwards, given my F&H has 64.
3. CPU / GPS chip? Some GPS chips are better than others. Lock time etc. Not sure on this. CPU important as a faster CPU will draw screen faster and also recalculate / calculate routes faster than a lower CPU device.
4. Accessories - pricer models probably come with more stuff like power chargers and things. Also high end models might have better battery life etc.


2. Software ( I haven't *extensively* tested these software, but have done a couple of hours with each one, at least 30 miles with them in town and motorway.

I have used Turbodog (came with the unit)
This is quite poor I thought. Quite slow. Suggested routes weren't great. Graphics and stuff not too great, and didn't seem to have many features.


Tom Tom 7
I installed this on to the device and It was a welcome improvement over Turbo dog. Better graphics, much smoother updating. Nice menus, easy to use, routing seemed OK. No tracking functionality and just seemed a bit basic. Works well but lacking in functionality. Good voices/sounds

I found a neat util here http://www.janboersma.nl/gett/index.php that hooks into google earth, but haven't actually tried in on the tom tom yet but could be quite useful for trip planning.

Igo8

I tried this out after Tom Tom. Wow this is pretty slick. It seems quite complex, with many features. It's like notepad ++ compared to Tom toms notepad. Like the various route screens, the 3 trip timers, the main stats screen, routing seemed OK, and recalcs were very fast. Nice lane and signs guidance, easy to use quick access buttons on the main screen. and the maps look much better, although I did find a place where the map was out of date. Also a neat recording feature and quite advanced planning and routing functionality. Also in general the gfx in this are really good, every graphic means something and looks good. Even 3d buildings etc.
Need to read the manual and play more.

Also, Like guitar hero hyperspeed, I found the map was as if it was stretched out, so a junction 10 metres in front would look on the map like it was 50 metres in front.

Also, I couldnt find an option to enable voices - it must have one surely? Currently it just bongs, and I check what the instruction say. Tom Tom has pretty decent voice actions


I tried tom tom back on after Igo 8 and decided that Igo8 was far superior and will be sticking with that for a while.

Also, my 64MB in the F&H doesn't seem to affect it that much ? Maybe it would run better on a faster bit of hardware.

In summary it will prove to be a useful interesting toy mainly for logging trip data and the odd occasion when I need to perhaps pick something up from ebay or whatever. Battery life at 2 hours seems perhaps to b a little weak to be used as a walking GPS if I was in a strange city. A mobile with gps might work better in that situation?
 
I also got an F&H Satnav just recently. As a first satnav it does seem quite good with TT7, although I would agree this software is quite basic and it would be useful to have other items such as trip computer showing average speed etc.

I used that Tyre software during the week and whilst it works quite well, TomTom did seem to need a lot of waypoints before it calculated exactly the route I wanted to take (I used up the max of 48). Even then I missed out a part, took me off and back on the dual carriageway at one point.

Also, I must have installed some dodgy speed cameras as it was alerting me to non-existent cameras, then I hit a stretch of the A27 just after the m27 (iirc) and there was loads which it alerted me to all of them - most probably non-existent again.
 
Lethal` said:
I also got an F&H Satnav just recently. As a first satnav it does seem quite good with TT7, although I would agree this software is quite basic and it would be useful to have other items such as trip computer showing average speed etc.

I used that Tyre software during the week and whilst it works quite well, TomTom did seem to need a lot of waypoints before it calculated exactly the route I wanted to take (I used up the max of 48). Even then I missed out a part, took me off and back on the dual carriageway at one point.

Also, I must have installed some dodgy speed cameras as it was alerting me to non-existent cameras, then I hit a stretch of the A27 just after the m27 (iirc) and there was loads which it alerted me to all of them - most probably non-existent again.
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I would be interested to hear your views on Igo8 - did you get the 3.5 or the 4.3 device?
 
I have the 4.3" screen. I haven't really tested Igo8 yet, I was going to give it a go for the journey back but I didn't have access to my usb cable or a card reader which I needed to change the resolution. It does look quite advanced too, so I expect I would need a quick glance over the manual to start.

One of the tutorial writers on a modding forum mentioned nDrive and said he found it to be the best one. I'm tempted to give that a go as well.

With the TomTom software I did notice a few map errors whilst in Devon. Things like "Go right at the roundabout", when there isn't actually a roundabout there - I think it was just a bear right or right turn.
 
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The reason they cost more is because software is expensive. So for the price of your £40 quid unit *and* the TT software you could have just bought a TT unit?
 
[TW]Fox;15613055 said:
The reason they cost more is because software is expensive. So for the price of your £40 quid unit *and* the TT software you could have just bought a TT unit?
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Yes. Some of the pricier ones I see have more advanced things like 'lane guidance' and other things.
 
whitecrook said:
Yes. Some of the pricier ones I see have more advanced things like 'lane guidance' and other things.
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Surely it's possible to get lane guidance with just the software, well I think Turbodog has it so the hardware isn't limited...

The main worthwhile extra I see in expensive Satnavs are the live features, for traffic although I haven't looked into them much.
 
From what I understand the TomTom Navigator 7 for windows devices doesn't do IQ routes and doesnt have the lane guidance stuff that the proper TomToms have. Sure with your device you can load all different stuff on but for a proper comparison you would need to compare it to a dedicated unit.

I had a Mio device which I decided to load TomTom Navigator on before, it worked, but it drove me mad having to bugger around for a minute or 2 just to start the TomTom app in the first place and then it was nowhere near as good as the proper TomTom units so in the end I just bought a TomTom. I'm not saying TomTom is the best as I have only tried TomTom and the Navigon one on My Mio but for ease of use the TomTom is much better.
 
Some also have BT intergration for mobiles and can have traffic congestion updates, these are features that you have to pay for on top of the normal basic functions.

Its like anything else gadgetery some people just buy the most expensive for the sake of it. For how often I use mine a £50 one suffices though.
 
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I've used a TomTom for two European tours and thought it was great until i met someone with a Garmin and their European maps. There maps were more detailed and carried information on many more places to visit such as campsite and hotels.

Whats more is my TomTom maps where the latest ones and his were a few years old and still better.

I much prefer the graphics on TomTom but it does lack feature that for me when travelling around the continent are important. Items like Top speed, Average speed, total journey time, MPG calculator etc..
 
whitecrook said:
This is the sort of thing I found lots of when looking around. Why is the tom tom better?
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I don't think the tomtoms are better, the map data can be quite inaccurate, they are slow to recalculate, graphics are pretty dated.

But they are very simple to use and pretty much a household name so, Joe public suck them up in droves.
 
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