which sat nav?

Scream · 4 Jan 2007 at 18:13

I saw a sat nav in use for the first time the other day, a Garmin one and it was fantastic. I want one now.

It seems that a lot of people like the Tom Tom's but several people I've spoken to this week told me not to get a Tom Tom because of the fact that it says Tom Tom before each instruction i.e Tom Tom says Turn Right and it will drive you made in no time.

This surely can be turned off as they wouldn't have been that stupid to leave it unchangable?

[TW]Fox · 4 Jan 2007 at 18:15

Scream said:
It seems that a lot of people like the Tom Tom's but several people I've spoken to this week told me not to get a Tom Tom because of the fact that it says Tom Tom before each instruction i.e Tom Tom says Turn Right and it will drive you made in no time.

This surely can be turned off as they wouldn't have been that stupid to leave it unchangable?

Somebody has been winding you up, I have never heard one do that.

Chris1712 · 4 Jan 2007 at 18:18

Scream said:
I saw a sat nav in use for the first time the other day, a Garmin one and it was fantastic. I want one now.

It seems that a lot of people like the Tom Tom's but several people I've spoken to this week told me not to get a Tom Tom because of the fact that it says Tom Tom before each instruction i.e Tom Tom says Turn Right and it will drive you made in no time.

This surely can be turned off as they wouldn't have been that stupid to leave it unchangable?

Yeah thats absolute bs mate, simply not true!

gazzaa · 4 Jan 2007 at 18:52

just bought a tomtom one v2 myself great peice of kit would recommend to anyone. i payed £159 for mine

Fr0dders · 4 Jan 2007 at 20:09

Scream said:
but several people I've spoken to this week told me not to get a Tom Tom because of the fact that it says Tom Tom before each instruction i.e Tom Tom says Turn Right and it will drive you made in no time.

*snigger* you've been had for a mug

RetiredGreyFox · 4 Jan 2007 at 20:32

Wicksta said:
Tomtom = the ipod of sat nav - the trendy one to have but not necessarily the best.

Let me guess - you also hate Man Utd, Apple products, Microsoft, Pentiums, Creative soundcards and anything else thats successful?
Grow up.

Scream · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:47

MrLOL said:
*snigger* you've been had for a mug

I didn't know what to believe especially when the guys had either a navman or Garmin but mostly the navman.

When none of them had a Tom Tom, I had no reason to question.

Anyhow, I just told my brother in law that it was BS but he still stands by what he said. He bought his Garmin after hearing a Tom Tom from a guy he knows.

Any chance they can be modded to do that?

If so they probably all saw the same guys Tom Tom. (That sounds abit gay

)

Wicksta · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:51

dmpoole said:
Let me guess - you also hate Man Utd, Apple products, Microsoft, Pentiums, Creative soundcards and anything else thats successful?
Grow up.

Put the handbag away love. I've tried both tomtom and Garmin products and I find the Garmin to be quicker, plus it has Navteq mapping which is widely regarded as superior to the Teleatlas mapping that comes with the TomTom. I like the Garmin interface and the POI uploader.

What are your reasons for preferring the TomTom to the Garmin units?

(By the way, I use the OEM BMW navigation in my own car)

RetiredGreyFox · 4 Jan 2007 at 22:16

Scream said:
Anyhow, I just told my brother in law that it was BS but he still stands by what he said. He bought his Garmin after hearing a Tom Tom from a guy he knows.

Any chance they can be modded to do that?

I have 55 alternative voices including Yoda, Darth vader, Jean Luc Picard, Ozzy Osbourne etc and the english speaking voices that came with the Tom tom and I can say with 100% accuracy that none of the voices say ""Tom Tom says turn right" etc.

You could actually modify to do that.
I had fun recording my 4 year old nephew saying a total of about 25 sentences/words. You then convert to OGG and put them all in one file.
I can now have my nephew giving me directions.
However, making your own voice which says "Tom Tom says" before every word is a bit pointless.

Wicksta said:
What are your reasons for preferring the TomTom to the Garmin units?

I had a Garmin I3 and it was useless because I didn't want to go down the path of what everybody else was buying. My mate had a better Garmin and its now in his drawer. I borrowed a couple of other makes which were useless and then by pure chance I bought a Symbian S60 phone last christmas. I then realised I could get Tom Tom on it very cheaply and I bought a receiver from a computer fair. It got me from A to B every time and my Tom Tom One I had before christmas has been used at least 20 times and got me, my wife and two daughters to where they were going. Its also very easy to upgrade and put updated cameras on etc.

Scream · 4 Jan 2007 at 22:46

Cheers for that. I'll have to go and give a few people a rap around the head.

Wicksta · 5 Jan 2007 at 07:34

dmpoole said:
I had a Garmin I3 and it was useless because I didn't want to go down the path of what everybody else was buying. My mate had a better Garmin and its now in his drawer. I borrowed a couple of other makes which were useless and then by pure chance I bought a Symbian S60 phone last christmas. I then realised I could get Tom Tom on it very cheaply and I bought a receiver from a computer fair. It got me from A to B every time and my Tom Tom One I had before christmas has been used at least 20 times and got me, my wife and two daughters to where they were going. Its also very easy to upgrade and put updated cameras on etc.

Why was your Garmin 'useless'? Come on you can do better than that. You don't mention any reason why you came to that conclusion. Your 'mate' left one in a drawer? What does that prove? WHY did he leave it in the drawer?

I'm not saying TomToms are rubbish, far from it - but I myself prefer the recent Garmins I've seen and the better Navteq mapping plus free traffic info (using TMC) would swing it for me if I was in the market for nav.

It is just as easy to upgrade the OS and put speed cameras on the Garmins I have seen compared to the TomTom I used to own.

Now see - that's how I expected you to respond rather than just saying Garmins were 'useless' without giving any backup to your statement, especially after telling me to grow up when I merely suggested TomTom may not be the best out there (although it's close) and putting another option into the mix.

RetiredGreyFox · 5 Jan 2007 at 12:11

Wicksta said:
Why was your Garmin 'useless'? Come on you can do better than that. You don't mention any reason why you came to that conclusion. Your 'mate' left one in a drawer? What does that prove? WHY did he leave it in the drawer?

Oooooooooh, put your lipstick back on.

Both mine and my mates Garmins couldn't get a signal 7/10 times and when it did it would send me really stupid ways. There were main roads it didn't know and after a while I'd had enough and printed out Autoroute maps to check against it. I sold it for £75 and I hope the bloke had better luck with it.
The Tom Tom software hasn't played up once except for a one way street in Macclesfield that had only been made a one way street one month earlier.

Wicksta · 5 Jan 2007 at 12:22

Strange, as everyone apart from you and your mate generally accepts Navteq is the better mapping. 7/10 times you didn't get a signal you say? Wow, surprised I've never heard that before either.

I found TomTom to be good, although I was sent in a circle around High Wycombe once. I certainly wouldn't diss anyone for buying a TomTom for that reason, in fact I think they are extremely good units but the Garmin would push it for me because of the (factual, not hearsay) reasons I stated.

RetiredGreyFox · 5 Jan 2007 at 12:46

Wicksta said:
Strange, as everyone apart from you and your mate generally accepts Navteq is the better mapping. 7/10 times you didn't get a signal you say? Wow, surprised I've never heard that before either.

It was Garmin I3 and you know the saying - if you pay peanuts you get a monkey.
Perhaps they are better now.

Wicksta · 5 Jan 2007 at 12:56

dmpoole said:
It was Garmin I3 and you know the saying - if you pay peanuts you get a monkey.
Perhaps they are better now.

Maybe, the Garmin I have used was a SP550 which cost about £450 at the time (although I think they are about 250 now). It also has the bluetooth which seems to work extremely well.

The_KiD · 5 Jan 2007 at 15:22

[conversation hijack]

So if I were getting a TomTom, and needed one with all European maps on and especially the speed camera locations, then would recomend I go for the TomTom One and add the speed camera's on top or the TomTom GO 510 with speed camera's already on?

[/conversation hijack]

aMb · 5 Jan 2007 at 15:33

I got the TomTom One and added the speed cameras on afterwards in a matter of minutes. From what I hear TomTom's data isnt quite as up to date as other options.

Depends whether you want extra bluetooth /iPod integration as to whether you go for the 510.

the_box · 6 Jan 2007 at 17:39

just found a dead pixel on my tom tom v2 screen took it back and they swapped it for a 710 for an extra £29.99 now i call that a fantastic bargain and all the extra features make it worth the £29.99 addional cost.

NathanE · 6 Jan 2007 at 18:19

Tomtom all the way! Managed to get myself lost after missing my exit on the A14 the other day.. so I got my TT510 out from under the seat - booted it up, took about 20 seconds to get a signal and plan a route, and then I was on my way again!

astralcars · 6 Jan 2007 at 19:13

90% of my department at work must have a Tom Tom of some sort. Yet to hear of any particular gripes. I havn't used the StreetPilot c550 but based on experience with my Garmin Nuvi 300 I'm sure it's also a fine unit.