General Questions on GPS Units

[boblon]

I have a few questions on these units for those of you that have them, or have done some research. Let's say I'm looking to spend in the 250 - 400 dollar range or so.

1. Are both the TomTom and Garmins updatable?
2. How how they updated and how easy is it?
3. Do both the TomTom and Garmins come with voice prompting?
4. When considering comparable models would you give the edge to one brand or the other?
5. Will the current units hold up to being left in the car? I'm in Florida so I'm guessing not as it gets rather warm in a closed car in the summer.

Thinking of getting one for myself and one as a gift and there seem to be a bewildering array of them now. Usually with computers/electronics there is a price/performance point where more money doesn't really buy you much more (at least in a realistic way). Does anyone know where that point is in these units?

Thanks for any help/opinions you can offer.

BobL.

[Uncle Cracker]

So many questions, with so many answers... I'll address a few of them here. They hold up pretty well, although a sheltered location is better in FL than "under the magnifying glass". But they're also portable and have zipper cases available. They are also easy to steal, which may affect your decision in that area (and your auto insurance may or may not cover it, as it's not a permanently installed device).

Touch screens and voice prompts are pretty much universal on all current models. Map updates are usually downloadable from your computer, either via USB cable, or SD card. Features on higher priced units might include text-to-speech, which means the unit can tell you street names in the voice prompts (instead of just "turn left ahead" and the like). You don't want to get by looking at that tiny screen, especially while driving, so the more info that can be gotten audibly, the better. Another nice feature found on high-end units is voice recognition, which allows you to verbally speak menu commands and target addresses into the unit, as opposed to "touching" them on the screen.

Garmin, TomTom and Magellan are the Chevy, Ford and Chrysler of the GPS scene. People will argue for days about which is best. Just depends. I would recommend that you Google "GPS reviews" and "GPS comparisons", and you will find information ad nauseum about all the various units.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

$250 - $400 is the high end price range. Due to competition I would expect to pay around $150 for a color unit with full US maps. I have had a cheap Garmin that I use every day, black and white unit, works like a champ! I navigate large cities without a problem, as well as very remote (read dirt roads) of north central PA.

If I was looking for a color unit that does a decent job, based upon my research I would buy the TomTom that I mentioned in the other thread that you saw. Seems like TomTom is more willing to offer free updates, etc that Magellien or Garmin. TomTom is an odd name that a lot of are not familiar with, however it is the largest GPS company in the world.

[boblon]

Thanks U.C.

I know those are some pretty generic questions, sorry 'bout that. But, you folks on this forum are pretty sharp I've learned and aside from the joke about opionions, I value those shared here.

I like the voice recongnition thing, how well do they work (understanding wise)?

As far as:

... you will find information ad nauseum about all the various units.

That's kind of what I was trying to avoid, at least I was hoping to narrow things down some by leaning on you guys, then go research a few particular models.

Thanks,
BobL.

[boblon]

Thanks Jeffrey.

I've heard a lot about TomToms, in fact I was looking at a few models. Then I got confused by looking around the web as it seems the Garmins have quite a following. Truth be told it's probably like U.C. said, some folks like Fords, some Chevys, huh?

Thanks,
BobL.

[Uncle Cracker]

I like the voice recongnition thing, how well do they work (understanding wise)?

Bout like you'd think... some a little better than others. The two I tried out didn't get it too well. Of course that's probably my fault, cause they don't understand cuss words. I just program mine by touch.

[LCHIEN]

i have had several garmin handheld GPS units (not street navigators) and a TomTom Navigator. Prices are falling rapidly. $250-400 would be a lot today. TomTom Ones have been going for black Friday prices as low as $100 and sale/refurb/net prices from $125 to 180 this fall.

I like the garmin units their stuff is top quality engineered and they are one of the leaders. TomTom is a Dutch company but they are one of the leaders in street navigation.

They should hold up to being in a car except the biggest problem these days is theft. My TomTom has a graphic that displays as it shuts down and it shows an arrow showing to take it with you in your briefcase or some thief with a sack and eyemask will carry it off!

All street navigators have voice and 3-D displays

as you pay more moving up from basic units you get these kinds of features -
Voice Road names are use instead of plain old "turn right" (all unit display the street names on the display though)
Blue tooth features increase - such as making calls thru your phone to businesses that are displayed on the screen from voice commands asking for fuel or pizza.
Display size and info increase.

I find my TomTom One quite adept at guiding me, the instructions are easy to follow and if I miss a turn it simply quickly plans another route without any accusations (e.g. like LOML). It's not too hard to program destinations, much easier than I imagined possible.

Its got a few map problems that gave me grief on the last trip so I need to see about getting it updated. It has a USB cord so I can plug it into the computer.

There's a lot of construction in my area where they are expanding the freeway and the main lanes are now over 50-80 feet from where they used be to so as I'm driving down the main lanes its telling me to bear left at the next entrance ramp and get on the freeway, for many miles.

one thing the basic tomtom lacks that my handheld units had is trip odometer/computers telling you how far you've gone, how fast, max speed, average speed, elapsed time, moving time, etc. that are real easy with GPS.

[boblon]

Thanks for the info Loring.

Your at least the third person that has said they should hold up to being left in the car (in the glove box for example). This surpises me cuz here in Florida it can get quite hot in a closed car and I thought it would not be good for an LCD screen. I really would like to leave it in the vehicle (not in plain sight though).

And this seems like a VERY good feature, LOL.

Display size and info increase.

I find my TomTom One quite adept at guiding me, the instructions are easy to follow and if I miss a turn it simply quickly plans another route without any accusations (e.g. like LOML)

Thanks,
BobL.

[LCHIEN]

much older LCD screens suffered from serious temperature problems but the industry has advanced quite far by 2007...

One of the really great things about the GPS navigators is their ability to quickly reroute, if you miss a turn.
This happens frequently in downtown areas due to construction or congestion. I used to look up a map and memorize the right-left-right sequence once getting off the highway but if I missed a turn I was skunked. The GPS is great for that.

[mater]

I was in BestBuy today looking at these. I went there to look at Tom Tom and Garmin because I know several people with Garmin and they all say they love them. I was going to look at the Tom Tom because of their sale price. As I was standing there looking a guy walked up and said he purchased one of the Tom Tom's and it worked fine on his trip home and after that he couldn't get it to work. He brought it back for a refund. He did say his brother had one just like it and never had a problem with it. Another person there had just told me he would go for the Garmin and 2 people walked up and bought one while I was standing there. After talking with several people about them I left there thinking the GPS is just like tools. Most people will recommend the brand they own or the one they heard about from someone else. People were telling me which ones were the best and a couple of them didn't even own one. I left without buying one but I will probably get the Garmin.

[boblon]

I was in BestBuy today looking at these. I went there to look at Tom Tom and Garmin because I know several people with Garmin and they all say they love them. I was going to look at the Tom Tom because of their sale price. As I was standing there looking a guy walked up and said he purchased one of the Tom Tom's and it worked fine on his trip home and after that he couldn't get it to work. He brought it back for a refund. He did say his brother had one just like it and never had a problem with it. Another person there had just told me he would go for the Garmin and 2 people walked up and bought one while I was standing there. After talking with several people about them I left there thinking the GPS is just like tools. Most people will recommend the brand they own or the one they heard about from someone else. People were telling me which ones were the best and a couple of them didn't even own one. I left without buying one but I will probably get the Garmin.

Well, I guess I'm not the only one perplexed by they choices out there. The problem is I really don't know anything about them and it's not like the spec's makes the choice obvious.

Bottom line is you want it to work and work well, get you right where your trying to get to most if not all of the time, be current with respect to the roads, easy to update and easy to use....

....now, if I could just figure out which one that is

[mater]

Well, I guess I'm not the only one perplexed by they choices out there. The problem is I really don't know anything about them and it's not like the spec's makes the choice obvious.

Bottom line is you want it to work and work well, get you right where your trying to get to most if not all of the time, be current with respect to the roads, easy to update and easy to use....

....now, if I could just figure out which one that is

I don't know anything either and that is why I didn't buy. They had about five different Garmins to choose from. I could probably get by with the cheapest one but at the same time I want the best deal.

[Uncle Cracker]

Guys, you don't have to marry the thing. If you pick one and don't like it, sell it to somebody else and get another. How many of us is still using his first cellphone or computer, or DVD player, or.... ???

[Jeffrey Schronce]

My TomTom has a graphic that displays as it shuts down and it shows an arrow showing to take it with you in your briefcase or some thief with a sack and eyemask will carry it off!

Voice Road names are use instead of plain old "turn right" (all unit display the street names on the display though)
Blue tooth features increase - such as making calls thru your phone to businesses that are displayed on the screen from voice commands asking for fuel or pizza.
Display size and info increase.

I find my TomTom One quite adept at guiding me, the instructions are easy to follow and if I miss a turn it simply quickly plans another route without any accusations (e.g. like LOML). It's not too hard to program destinations, much easier than I imagined possible.


There's a lot of construction in my area where they are expanding the freeway and the main lanes are now over 50-80 feet from where they used be to so as I'm driving down the main lanes its telling me to bear left at the next entrance ramp and get on the freeway, for many miles.

one thing the basic tomtom lacks that my handheld units had is trip odometer/computers telling you how far you've gone, how fast, max speed, average speed, elapsed time, moving time, etc. that are real easy with GPS.

Does the TomTom tell you to remove it from the car based upon the zip code? LOL! I had a Garmin stolen from my car this Summer. Based upon zip code it would have told me to take it with me.

Voice road name is the only feature that I do not have that I would be interested in. The Garmin I have has small Black and White screen and the basic turn commands. With a larger color LCD i think I would be ok, but with the smaller LCD in B&W I could use street commands.

Note that the TomTom One that Loring is discussing is frequently on sale for < $150. Think it is $125 at Amazon right now.

My Garmin has NEVER gotten me lost. I have traveled in a LOT of major cities (Philly, NYC, Baltimore, DC, Vegas) with absolutely no problems. The only problem I have ever had was with actual physical streets that had just been added, such as new buildings or houses. I noted the TomTom One can locate an address by intersection which is a cool feature.

Note that when you start adding stuff like bluetooth and other features you are only serving to complicate the purchase and the use of the product. Keep it simple. You could always upgrade in a few years if needed.

The coolest thing I see about the TomTom what Loring addresses. The roads are constantly updated by users. You can up date all the time. Garmin releases an annual map at a cost of $70. When a user reports that a road is closed for repair, it will update your map. That is way cool.

[mpc]

I personally don't have one of these... but my folks have 2 now:
One came pre-installed in their RV when they bought it (make/model unknown) but it's a really fancy integrated one - it is tied into the vehicle computer so it can estimate distances when the satellite signal drops for a moment or two. The ones that sit on the dashboard rely on the GPS signal even more. Anyway, they LOVE this particular GPS unit. As far as I know, they haven't updated it either since buying the RV several years ago and it was a used RV too. Still seems amazingly accurate.

They liked having GPS so much they bought one of the Garmins last year for the car. A C330 model... touchscreen but no voice recognition. They are waaaayyy less happy with it compared to the RV one. It acts like its internal map is shifted relative to the GPS signals - it tells you "turn now" when the actual intersection is still quite a ways away... by the time you get to the intersection the unit believes you've passed the turn and is "recalculating" a new route. Meanwhile, you might drive past the next turn because it's busy thinking. So dad tells folks to avoid at least that particular model. The on-board database of restaurants, gas stations, shopping, and points of interest though is quite good. Even has Harbor Freight and Frys... much to mom's chagrin.

mpc