Garmin vs. Tomtom

wrami · 11-02-2008, 5:10 PM

Just giving you guys an update since I was so unhappy with my Tomtom 730, took it back and got a Garmin 850 ($395 E-Bay). I can not say enough about how much more I enjoy the Garmin over the Tomtom. Unlike the Tomtom, the maps are correct, the voice does not crack or fade in and out, and it just makes more since. The biggest difference was the voice command. On the Tomtom, to get it to find a POI, YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE ADDRESS! Something I wish I would have known before I bought it. On the Garmin you can just say find Costco or find Hotel or POI or anything. As a matter of fact you can pretty much do anything including changing settings without touching the screen. There are a couple of things I wish the garmin would do that tomtom did. On Tomtom, you can view a text verson of the prepared route (garmin also) and then touch the turn or road you don’t want, and it will give you an alternate route without it. On garmin you can say find alternate but the alternate might still have that unwanted road. Also you can hook your Ipod to the Tomtom, Can’t with Garmin. The 730 had Bluetooth, You have to get the Garmin 880 to get that. But the choice in capable phones is ever crappier than Tomtom’s. That’s about it. Garmin is so much smaller (thinner) than Tomtom with the same size screen. A screen by the way you can see in sunlight. Not on Tomtom. Don’t trust the Garmin’s suction mount, it fell a number of times (when it was cold), Tomtom’s mount worked fine. So I got a locking mount to fit in a beanbag mount. This was the first time I bought a GPS other than Garmin, does not look like I will be doing that anytime soon. Also there is no comparison in customer service. Garmin wins Hands Down! If I can think of anything else I will let you know. Saving my $ for a Garmin Oregon to replace my Etrex. Go Garmin!

dav · 11-03-2008, 7:44 PM

Thanks for the write-up, wrami.

I'm still open to considering other brands besides Garmin... but none of them seem to be better, yet.

wrami · 11-03-2008, 8:18 PM

Dav, you are correct, I think all of us should be open to someone beating garmin. I was, I gave Tomtom a chance. Garmin can’t stay on top forever, Or can they??

Tomtom Magellan and even Bushnell, do some things better than Garmin. But the all around package win, in my opinion, still goes to garmin. Competition does good things for all of us.

LoneDog · 12-24-2008, 1:36 PM

I decided on the Garmin over the TomTom mostly for subjective reasons (among them -- but not exclusively ---being TomTom's idiotic "Scott Scott" and "Jill, Jill" commercials --- ugggg). I do like the road avoidance feature of the TomTom as described in this post. Garmin really needs to fix their "detour" set-up.

12-25-2008, 2:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrami

Just giving you guys an update since I was so unhappy with my Tomtom 730, took it back and got a Garmin 850 ($395 E-Bay). I can not say enough about how much more I enjoy the Garmin over the Tomtom. Unlike the Tomtom, the maps are correct, the voice does not crack or fade in and out, and it just makes more since. The biggest difference was the voice command. On the Tomtom, to get it to find a POI, YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE ADDRESS! Something I wish I would have known before I bought it. On the Garmin you can just say find Costco or find Hotel or POI or anything. As a matter of fact you can pretty much do anything including changing settings without touching the screen. There are a couple of things I wish the garmin would do that tomtom did. On Tomtom, you can view a text verson of the prepared route (garmin also) and then touch the turn or road you don’t want, and it will give you an alternate route without it. On garmin you can say find alternate but the alternate might still have that unwanted road. Also you can hook your Ipod to the Tomtom, Can’t with Garmin. The 730 had Bluetooth, You have to get the Garmin 880 to get that. But the choice in capable phones is ever crappier than Tomtom’s. That’s about it. Garmin is so much smaller (thinner) than Tomtom with the same size screen. A screen by the way you can see in sunlight. Not on Tomtom. Don’t trust the Garmin’s suction mount, it fell a number of times (when it was cold), Tomtom’s mount worked fine. So I got a locking mount to fit in a beanbag mount. This was the first time I bought a GPS other than Garmin, does not look like I will be doing that anytime soon. Also there is no comparison in customer service. Garmin wins Hands Down! If I can think of anything else I will let you know. Saving my $ for a Garmin Oregon to replace my Etrex. Go Garmin!

***********

I found that if you use a little Vasoline on the suction cup instead of say licking it to stick it... it will hold in the cold.

LoneDog · 12-30-2008, 7:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by earlthepearl

***********

I found that if you use a little Vasoline on the suction cup instead of say licking it to stick it... it will hold in the cold.

And I always thought Vasoline was used to make things less "grippy."

12-30-2008, 7:49 AM

True, but it doesn't frost up like water does, and that's what makes the mount fall off.

LoneDog · 12-30-2008, 7:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by earlthepearl

True, but it doesn't frost up like water does, and that's what makes the mount fall off.

LMAO. That's why we try to stay under the covers

12-30-2008, 8:07 AM

That's a very good idea.....

11-02-2008, 5:10 PM	#1
wrami Join Date: Oct 09 2008 Location: Winchester, Va Posts: 16	Garmin vs. Tomtom Just giving you guys an update since I was so unhappy with my Tomtom 730, took it back and got a Garmin 850 ($395 E-Bay). I can not say enough about how much more I enjoy the Garmin over the Tomtom. Unlike the Tomtom, the maps are correct, the voice does not crack or fade in and out, and it just makes more since. The biggest difference was the voice command. On the Tomtom, to get it to find a POI, YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE ADDRESS! Something I wish I would have known before I bought it. On the Garmin you can just say find Costco or find Hotel or POI or anything. As a matter of fact you can pretty much do anything including changing settings without touching the screen. There are a couple of things I wish the garmin would do that tomtom did. On Tomtom, you can view a text verson of the prepared route (garmin also) and then touch the turn or road you don’t want, and it will give you an alternate route without it. On garmin you can say find alternate but the alternate might still have that unwanted road. Also you can hook your Ipod to the Tomtom, Can’t with Garmin. The 730 had Bluetooth, You have to get the Garmin 880 to get that. But the choice in capable phones is ever crappier than Tomtom’s. That’s about it. Garmin is so much smaller (thinner) than Tomtom with the same size screen. A screen by the way you can see in sunlight. Not on Tomtom. Don’t trust the Garmin’s suction mount, it fell a number of times (when it was cold), Tomtom’s mount worked fine. So I got a locking mount to fit in a beanbag mount. This was the first time I bought a GPS other than Garmin, does not look like I will be doing that anytime soon. Also there is no comparison in customer service. Garmin wins Hands Down! If I can think of anything else I will let you know. Saving my $ for a Garmin Oregon to replace my Etrex. Go Garmin!

11-03-2008, 7:44 PM	#2
dav Moderator Join Date: Jan 04 2008 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 1,243	Re: Garmin vs. Tomtom Thanks for the write-up, wrami. I'm still open to considering other brands besides Garmin... but none of them seem to be better, yet.

11-03-2008, 8:18 PM	#3
wrami Join Date: Oct 09 2008 Location: Winchester, Va Posts: 16	Re: Garmin vs. Tomtom Dav, you are correct, I think all of us should be open to someone beating garmin. I was, I gave Tomtom a chance. Garmin can’t stay on top forever, Or can they?? Tomtom Magellan and even Bushnell, do some things better than Garmin. But the all around package win, in my opinion, still goes to garmin. Competition does good things for all of us.

12-24-2008, 1:36 PM	#4
LoneDog Join Date: Dec 24 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 64	Re: Garmin vs. Tomtom I decided on the Garmin over the TomTom mostly for subjective reasons (among them -- but not exclusively ---being TomTom's idiotic "Scott Scott" and "Jill, Jill" commercials --- ugggg). I do like the road avoidance feature of the TomTom as described in this post. Garmin really needs to fix their "detour" set-up.

12-30-2008, 7:49 AM	#7
earlthepearl Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Garmin vs. Tomtom True, but it doesn't frost up like water does, and that's what makes the mount fall off.

12-30-2008, 8:07 AM	#9
earlthepearl Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Garmin vs. Tomtom That's a very good idea.....

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