Which Sat nav to buy - Tomtom Garmin

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Thanks for all the replies.

I had an ipad mini but not sure I want to stick that on my dash it is huge!!!! Plus looking around I need to spend a few quid to get a gps receiver that will work with it. (about £100 by the looks of it and then I cant be sure if I will like, plus a few more quid to get a decent mount) £300ish quid on a tomtom 6000 is looking afavourite at the moment.

So despite this post a short time ago I have gone and ordered a GPS receiver to try with my iPad. Worst case I will stick it on ebay if its no good... I am sure I was a woman in a former life changing my mind so much :)
 
gIzzE said:
I hate Garmins route choices, you have FAST routes or SHORT routes, short routes take you across single tracks at 15mph, fast routes add 20 miles on to your journey to keep you on main roads.
Out if curiosity, what routing preferences do you have set on the device, or is it a dumbed-down example with no choices?

I ask because I just tried routing from around Diss to anywhere north / north-west of Wymondham using the current Garmin cartography - CityNavigator EU 2014.4 - on BaseCamp (their PC-based route planning software) and it always routes very similar to the example you posted from the TomTom.

One thing I always remind people of when it comes to automotive navigation systems is that local knowledge is king when it comes to deciding "the best" route. There is no intelligence in the device, it just follows a routing algorithm and is dependent upon the accuracy of the digital cartography that underpins the whole system. FWIW, TomTom use TeleAtlas cartography, and Garmin use cartography supplied by Navteq (who are now owned by Nokia, and hence Microsoft).
 
I'm not an expert on satnavs but I've had a Garmin and various OEM in-dash units and the best I've ever had is Google Maps on my iPhone. Simple to use and incredibly effective.
 
One thing I always remind people of when it comes to automotive navigation systems is that local knowledge is king when it comes to deciding "the best" route. There is no intelligence in the device, it just follows a routing algorithm and is dependent upon the accuracy of the digital cartography that underpins the whole system.

TomTom IQ Routes
 
Out if curiosity, what routing preferences do you have set on the device, or is it a dumbed-down example with no choices?

I ask because I just tried routing from around Diss to anywhere north / north-west of Wymondham using the current Garmin cartography - CityNavigator EU 2014.4 - on BaseCamp (their PC-based route planning software) and it always routes very similar to the example you posted from the TomTom.

One thing I always remind people of when it comes to automotive navigation systems is that local knowledge is king when it comes to deciding "the best" route. There is no intelligence in the device, it just follows a routing algorithm and is dependent upon the accuracy of the digital cartography that underpins the whole system. FWIW, TomTom use TeleAtlas cartography, and Garmin use cartography supplied by Navteq (who are now owned by Nokia, and hence Microsoft).


I tried all sorts, this was on a unit a few years ago and then tried again with one last year when I got the ML and had no Nav.
When I spoke to Garmin they were the ones that said that their routing algorithm worked it out based on the speed limits of the road. It seems it doesn't take into account proper speed limits as many of the others do.
I tend to want a nav unit for when I don't know the area, however, testing the Garmin units in areas I do know they often seemed to take the most stupid routes.
I was trying to get from Mains of Taymouth up to Avimore and to avoid taking me backwards on myself for about 5 miles to get onto the A9 the Garmin took me over 40 miles of singletrack, it took three and a half hours!!
The journey home was an hour twenty.

They might have changed it recently, the guy at Garmin did say the routing algorithm worked better in Europe and the States and they were looking at tweaking it for the UK, whether they have or not I couldn't tell you.
 
Quick update. I ordered a Bluetooth GPS receiver and a car suction stand thing for my ipad (it fits the mini and the other normal sized ones we have) which arrived today.

I download Tomtom as I have it for my phone to the ipad mini, connected up the gps receiver and gave it a try.

Brilliant. Having the big screen is great, I thought it would be too large but nope its ok.

I'm off to Wadebridge Friday for the weekend so I will give it a proper try then - a 200 mile trip.

J.
 
Good news, hope it works nicely for you.

I'm thinking of getting a cheap 7" android tablet to run Sat nav software on. I've seen some deals around recently for Samsung galaxy tab 7" for about £80, which is a great price.
 
FWIW: I've been 'testing' Sygic and Co-Pilot the last week and also just looking at the TomTom Android app (they dont do a trial apparently) for my Nexus 7.

Sygic was OK then started crashing with the screen blanking out in the middle of a route. Its maps were not up to date but slightly better than Co-Pilots, with some addresses not being recognised and newish roads missing. I cant find how to just browse the map without actually putting in a route! It does show the current speed limit of the road you are on which Co-Pilot does not.

Co-Pilot ran more smoothly with no crashes and seemed to accept all the addresses I tried but the advanced warning of turns was to little, so you couldnt pick the right lane to be in quick enough. Its map was more out of date than Sygics but it ran quicker than Sygic and was more responsive. You could also just browse the map without putting in a route.

The most accurate up to date map I found was Google Maps but it needs a constant internet connection (wifi or 2/3G) to work and does not have safety cameras on it. I've put it on my iPhone and am going to try it. All the addresses I tried so far have been accurate and over wifi its nice and quick.

Overall I think both Sygic and Co-Pilot have their good and bad points and neither of them are ideal! My main concern would be Sygic crashing.
 
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Good info Ditch999. So next question is which is the cheapest decent android tablet with a screen of about 7" ? I've seen a Samsung galaxy tab 8gb 7" for £79 from Asda direct, but the reviews seem very mixed, so either it was a duff batch or there were/are some reliability issues. Does anyone else know what issues there are with that tablet? Then I'll run copilot on the tablet as I already run it on the phone.
 
Good info Ditch999. So next question is which is the cheapest decent android tablet with a screen of about 7" ? I've seen a Samsung galaxy tab 8gb 7" for £79 from Asda direct, but the reviews seem very mixed, so either it was a duff batch or there were/are some reliability issues. Does anyone else know what issues there are with that tablet? Then I'll run copilot on the tablet as I already run it on the phone.

Well my kids bought me the 2012 Nexus 7 and I was told there are very good offers for them as they are the 'old' version! It does all I want and I really like it.
 
Nexus 7 is about £150 approx I think, which is more than I wanted to pay, but I'll keep my eyes open for deals.
 
@Ditch - While you are trying android apps, try Waze. it uses way less data than G-Maps, and I think the live data is better.

In the US waze is at the point you get a warning of cars parked on the hard shoulder, it can only get better here.
 
Quick update drove down to cornwall using my Ipad mini and the xps bluetooth GPS receiver friday. Worked no problems at all, the gps receiver is brilliant, has a little rubber mat/holder thing that sticks to the dash board.

Ended up in the middle of nowhere at my location (the hotel wa sin the middle of nowhere not that I was directed wrongly) without an trouble.

So happy days. Will be upgrading the tomtom to be europe all set for the south of france in july. altohugh will give it another test going to Le Mans in June.

J.
 

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