MB sat nav or Tom Tom ??

[mercman1969]

Would appreciate your comments / views on the following

Am looking to purchase a new B Class this coming week and cant make up my mind if i should order the MB Sat nav unit or just buy a Tom Tom?

Only really want the Sat Nav to operate the telephone through...not usually one for getting lost!

How does the Tom Tom work....does anybody have 1?

How does the phone sound get relayed, through the unit itself or does it cut out the stereo?

Cheers

Pete

 

[mickl]

I don't think the Tom Tom has a phone bypass. It's purely a satnav unit. The tom tom would be best if you use more than 1 car on a regular basis as its a portable device. You'd need a seperate hands free install then.

 

[reflexboy]

Get A Tom Tom, 500 or 700, cos they have bluetooth handfree built in...I have a Go classic and its superb....I mean, really superb.....even got all the Gatzos on it...ie:warns me 300meters b4 a camera etc etc....Tom Tom every time.

 

[BTB 500]

I'm looking at a Tom Tom 500 at the moment, by default the phone sound is through the Tom Tom's speaker. You can get a fully wired docking cradle though which does the sound through the stereo speakers (and charges automatically with ignition on, and even switches the TT to 'night mode' when you turn the headlights on!). The wired cradle is only supplied for "professional fitting", comes with the external GPS aerial that's an optional extra for the normal mount supplied in the box with the TT.

There's also an optional external mic. to improve audio quality when using the phone function on the TT (I assume there's a built-in mic. on the unit itself).


ch

 

[mickl]

ah, I stand corrected. Didn't know the newer tom toms had handsfree functions built in.

 

[splang]

My father-in-law was give a tom-tom 300 for his birthday. I must say - having been used to COMAND - I was still impressed with the little ol tom tom - very good value for money I'd say!!

But yes, much better to get the 500 for the bluetooth handfree phone compatibility imho.

Steve

 

[Simon]

I’ve had a TomTom Go 300 for about a month now, it’s a remarkable little device that impresses me and everyone who sees it. Highly recommended but no Bluetooth on this model. It was about £335 from Maplin which is £30 cheaper than anywhere else. You have to agree to receive their newsletter for the discount.

 

[BTB 500]

I'd go for the 500 as apart from the Bluetooth connection it has a much faster processor (400 Mhz, vs 200 Mhz for the Tom Tom 300) and also "assisted navigation" ... which uses an estimated position if it loses the satellites e.g. in a tunnel. The 500 also comes with a mains adapter / charger as standard (optional accessory for the 300).

Incidentally, the original Tom Tom Go had the assisted navigation feature .. it's strange that they dropped it from the new 300.

 

[mercman1969]

Thanks for all the replies chaps, please keep them coming

got to make a decision either way by Monday!!

Even if i only went for the MB hands free pre wire and cradle it cost over £600!!

£400 + for the pre wire and £150+ for the cradle.....

thats BEFORE you splash out on a compatible phone!!!

Anybody know anything bout the pro install, can it be fitted to a MB?

Thanks again

Pete

 

[BTB 500]

Unless you use the phone an awful lot I'd just get the Tom Tom 500 and see how it goes with the standard mount. There might possibly be warranty issues with having the Tom Tom wired cradle fitted to your new car?

The only thing that has made me hesitate about getting a Tom Tom is that my everyday car (VW Sharan) has a heated windscreen ... and I know the elements in those can block the satellite signal.

 

[Fais]

tomtom go products are being stolen very often. You won't be able to leaving it on display - which is a major major drawback. The are becoming hot targets for thieves

 

[pluggers]

My mate has got a nokia 7710 with tom tom mobile installed and it works great, fully portable and with all the features I would expect from the other tom tom units,and its a phone.(gatso locations, points of interest, petrol stations, pubs etc etc)Another good toy is the different voices you can have with it giving the directions,Darth vader,sean connery,joanna lumley clint eastwood etc etc,had me laughing all day.Does this feature come with the tom tom 300s 500s and 700s?

 

[prprandall51]

Navigation choice

Remember that you are not comparing like-with-like.

The built in navigation will perform noticably better in dense, urban areas - and especially so in cities with tightly packed streets.

I haven't tried the TomTom unit specifically - I understand it is very good - but the built-in units use a speed sensor and a gyroscope to provide much more accurate navigation information.

Having said that, for most of the time (i.e. out on the open road), GPS-based devices work extremely well.

Philip

 

[jeremytaylor]

For navigation, the main benefit of a Command over an after-market such as Tom Tom is that the Command has a built in gyroscope, and also takes feeds from the speedo, steering, etc.

In towns, tunnels, forests etc. you will occasionally lose a satelitte signal which Command gets over by falling back on the gyroscope and other feeds.

Does Tom Tom etc. have traffic info. I've got a Michelin disk in my CD Command which takes TMC signals (the MB disk doesn't have this feature). If I tune to the radio to Classic FM (don't have to listen to it - can play a CD while tuned to Classic) I get traffic info which the Command uses to work out quicker routes, or just warn me of the problems.

I know the original query was more down to using phones with whatever system, but this is a handy function of the Command. Having experienced the downsides of bluetooth, I would prefer a Command with integrated handset. Yes, it will cost more, but you'll get some of this back on trade-in, and it is a better, more robust system

 

[Shude]

This is electronics talk, moving to correct section.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

I've used both fairly extensively. We have COMAND in both the W203 and W220, also had Becker TrafficPro in the A Class and now use TomTom Navigator 5 on my XDA IIs PDA (in my Ford Focus).

I'd always go with COMAND if it were my money & my car as it looks fantastic and is properly integrated. However in a company car (the Focus) it's a different story, I'd say save the money (& it's a lot!) and go down the TomTom route.

I find TomTom very fast to react to route changes when compared to COMAND and find the smaller display surprisingly good. I can honestly recommend both as solutions. However I would strongly suggest getting COMAND if you can as I am sure you will recover some of the cost (or lose less!) when you come to sell. It certainly will be a selling point over a similar car for sale. I absolutely love COMAND and the phone integration and I always look for this when I buy a car (as others will do in the future). In fact although it wasn't COMAND that we had it was the SatNav that prompted a LOT of interest in our A Class when we sold it last year.

Let us know what you decide!

 

[Mambo]

My mate has got a nokia 7710 with tom tom mobile installed and it works great, fully portable and with all the features I would expect from the other tom tom units,and its a phone.(gatso locations, points of interest, petrol stations, pubs etc etc)Another good toy is the different voices you can have with it giving the directions,Darth vader,sean connery,joanna lumley clint eastwood etc etc,had me laughing all day.Does this feature come with the tom tom 300s 500s and 700s?

I have it installed on my 6680, its replaced my IPAQ in the car.....

 

[Simon]

tomtom go products are being stolen very often. You won't be able to leaving it on display - which is a major major drawback. The are becoming hot targets for thieves

Good point. I've engraved my post code and house number onto the case. but even better, have had a brianwave and edited the splash screen to include my name and address. I know it could be undone but you've got to do what you can to beat the thieves who probably won't know how.