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Original poster

Tom Tom or Garmin - which SATNAV is the best?

32 replies

Polgara2 · 12/07/2008 23:46

Looking to buy a satnav but undecided whether to go for TomTom or Garmin. Anyone got any preferences and why? Also how useful is it to get one with Traffic information on it? Oh and what about the screen size 3.5 or 4.3 does it really make any difference.
Thanks in advance .

OP posts:
juneybean · 12/07/2008 23:54

My dad has a garmin and I have a tomtom, and we have no complaints with either!

I personally like my tomtom, it tells me how fast I'm going more precisely that the cars speedometer and the woman on it is nice ;) hehehe!

Flibbertyjibbet · 13/07/2008 00:15

I have tomtom.
It bleeps if I get to 80 on the motorway (not very often I try to drive economically!)
It sent me the wrong end of a canal footbridge the other day, had to ring potential client, get directions which took 15 mins to find the other side of the bloody canal via motorway and roads. Did tomtom voice rejig the journey when I was on the other side of the canal? No she just kept shouting at me to turn around when possible.

It once sent me to the right street name but in the next town and completely different postcode to the one I'd typed in. Which was checked umpteen times when I rang the place I was trying to find in the other town, got their postcode, typed it in, and the voice kept saying 'you have reached your destination' NO I WAS 6 MILES AWAY AND LATE FOR APPOINTMENT GRRRR

But worst of all.... I can't switch it on till I get past the end of my street. I live in a deadend and every farking journey it tells me to drive through the blocked off end and I get 'turn around when possible' arghghghghg

Is the point of sat nav to have to take a map as well and double check before leaving that it actually knows where its going???

gigglewitch · 13/07/2008 00:20

(so you don't want me to confuse you and say i think my navman is fab then)

QS · 13/07/2008 01:04

I have garmin. The latest version. It is totally and utterly CRAP.

The previous version was crap too. You have no idea how to get lost until you get Garmin.

You HAVE to have a map book with you just in case.

I have a friend who was working on sat nav systems (not telling which one) and she said that they were mostly just clerks, and they would map part of an area and give up midway thinking "oh well, there will for sure be an upgrade soon, I want a break/cookie/lunch/sigarette so I am saving this file, and leaving it now....."

ExterminAitch · 13/07/2008 01:10

spit it out, qs, tell us which one. they can't hunt you down and harm you...

PS i love my tomtom but would always look at a map too, for bearings.

QS · 13/07/2008 01:12

I dont have to name it, you just did.....

ExterminAitch · 13/07/2008 01:28

tomtom? lol.

QS · 13/07/2008 01:32

I hope you never have to use it on the canary islands or some other bizarre place.... Hey, come to think of it, Richmond is pretty badly covered....

superloopy · 13/07/2008 02:40

We have a tomtom and I have never had any problems with it.

For the first year we had it we were in London and it was very helpful. Especially for my DH who has the potential to get lost while putting the rubbish out!!

We are now living in Australia and bought the Aust map online and loaded it onto the tomtom. I am equally happy with it still as I have no idea how to get around Melbourne by myself.

HTH

HairyMaclary · 13/07/2008 06:19

Well I would say Navman! WE have had a number of different navman's and they are great, best so far is F20 (not sure if they still sell it though, we got ours about a year ago)

DH works for them so I'm a bit biased, but they are good!

HairyMaclary · 13/07/2008 06:19

OH no! Apologies for completely incorrect use of ' !!

Original poster
Polgara2 · 13/07/2008 09:18

So that's a mixed reception for both then! AND I knew someone would throw navman into the mix . I am still nowhere nearer knowing which is the best you know.
Is it worth paying more for the tomtom then?
Hairy/Giggle - have you compared your navman to one of the other two or just had a navman?
What about the traffic alerts bit - no one has mentioned them - is that because you don't use them?
Oh I think I feel a headache coming on!

OP posts:
Blandmum · 13/07/2008 09:24

tomtom

idiot proof

and I'm the idiot that proved it!

Paddlechick666 · 13/07/2008 09:27

I have a navman (basic model) and it's adequate but can get it's knickers in a twist and send me off on random jaunts!

if i was buying new my top priority would be something that i could get to talk to me in an American redneck accent!

Lapsedrunner · 13/07/2008 09:28

I prefer my Ordnance Survey map

Paddlechick666 · 13/07/2008 09:28

oh and something that re-directs if there's traffic.

but only if it re-directed me in an American redneck accent!

MummyDoIt · 13/07/2008 09:33

We have a TomTom and I love it. I think I must rely on it too much, though, as the DSs went through a phase of chanting 'you have reached your destination' every time we pulled up in the drive!

QS · 13/07/2008 09:52

Garmin is totally useless in Kingston (Surrey), as it does not know all the roads there,it keeps asking me to enter a main road. I am ON ONE! I am right outside the main shopping centre, and it does not even recognize I am on a blooming ROAD!

I wanted to go to a restaurant in Richmond, plotted the address, and it flagged it in the middle of the road on Petersham Road, I went there, no restaurant. Just an empty road....

I wanted to go to an address near Knightsbridge (London), and after being led through two circuits around Harrods I rang my husband in despair, he got out the old AZ and guided me there, when I threatened to rip the Garmin right out and throw it out the window.

He is very protective of his Garmin. Last time I threatened to throw it out of the window, he nearly came to get me on his motorbike. That was in Guildford. Guildford and surrounding areas seems to not really exist in Garmin land.

Oh, and dont even get me started on using the Garmin in Gran Canaria. It was insisting I go the wrong way in one way systems, it was insisiting I leave the road and drive through mountain rocks, seeing roads where there were none, and just generally leading me on a very stressful journey up and down residential streets in Zonnenland....or something like that.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DONT GET A GARMIN!!!!

catweazle · 13/07/2008 10:08

The chap in Halfords recommended a Garmin rather than a tomtom. We've used it all around South Wales and from Kent to Scotland. No problems.

MrsBadger · 13/07/2008 10:38

we used the simple device of asking it to find PIL's remote Welsh house

only the TomTom managed it.

DontNeedAnything · 13/07/2008 10:46

We had tom tom software on a PDA and it was great.

It broke so we bought a dedicated Garmin ( the £100 europe one in Argos - Bargain).

It gave us strange routes, so we were sceptical - but we trusted it and we were actually quite impressed. However, what i miss on the garmin is the ability to tell it we don't like it's first choice - which we could with teh tom tom on PDA. On hte Tom tom we could also put roadblocks in (i.e. accidents etc.) our Garmin is very basic and inflexible - but that may be because it is entry level.

BecauseImWorthIt · 13/07/2008 10:53

Another one here who prefers a map!

I really use my satnav (TomTom 510) as a back up now, as I just don't trust it.

Had to go somewhere in Watford. Had been there before so had a vague idea where I was going. Tomtom kept sending me round the one way system, going away from my destination, and then sent me up a dead end.

In Wales earlier this year, destination was a few miles away from the end of the M4. On the map I could see it was two different roads, one that picked up from the end of the M4, leading straight to the other road. I put the satnav on because I wasn't sure of the directions to the cottage we were staying in.

Satnav chose a completely different route through windy country roads for no apparent reason. So I ignored it until we got near to the cottage when it finally decided to tell me where we should really be going.

I now really only use it when I have the kind of drive where I can't look at a map. But always have the map with me as well.

A very disappointing gadget IMO.

BecauseImWorthIt · 13/07/2008 10:54

Oh, and had another example where I put the postcode in for an address in Cheam. It tried to send me to Surbiton.

Checked the postcode, did it again - same thing.

bubblerock · 13/07/2008 11:25

TomTom V3 has come down loads in price Good thread here

zippitippitoes · 13/07/2008 11:51

i have a garmin i dont rate it

i have used it in kingston and chelsea areas too

and it leaves it too late to say which exit on roundabouts for me

it sent me some daft way and then asked me to do a u turn at the first opportunity which i found weird

and in the countryside

i had an annpyance with it round merthyr tidfil where it was nonsensicsal

and it does favour back roads just because they are shorter however ridiculous they actually are