GPS Preference

[BlueTriangle]

Now that most new cars include GPS systems in their packages would most of you just rather pay the extra money to have it built in? or do any of you prefer having the portable devices? I've been trying out a TomTom, and I'm thinking about getting the TomTom One XL or One 3rd Edition because they are pretty small and portable with large screens. They also have some pretty cool features. I was going to get my next car with a CPS included, but I think I prefer the portable option of a TT. What do you think?

[gear02]

No built-in GPS systems have impressed me in the slightest. Now I haven't tried BMW's and Audi's but I prefer my Garmin Nuvi over those in an instant.

[Daedalus]

I'm kind of a newbie, but I have tried a couple systems in the past few months. A sedan I bought in June has a factory system, and I really like it. It's DVD-based with gyros. Gyros are pretty cool--they allow the map to update immediately when you make a sharp turn. A couple months ago I rented a car in and a portable Garmin unit while on vacation, and I really didn't care for it much. I don't think I'll buy a portable unit for any of my other cars, though I was thinking about it before that. Maybe an in-dash DVD-based aftermarket unit.
Get your hands on a copy of last month's Consumer Reports--they rated portable GPS systems.

[Jihforce]

GPS at rental companies are crap. So that isn't really a good judge for portables in general.
I purchased the 660 nuvi from garmin and its great. BT connectivity for hands free, mp3 player capability. Screen is big and its fairly accurate. Had the choice to get GPS in my wife's 07 TSX, but couldn't justify forking out 2k for voice activation. Plus we've been travelling a lot this year and the portable GPS has come in very handly. Couldn't have taken it with us if we bought it built-in.

[bachviet]

I would go portable GPS device with text-to-speech + bluetooth + at least 4.3" screen.

[shaggyucla]

I have the tomtom go 510... portable, great screen, bluetooth.... all that i want in a gps. Portable is very nice....

Only negative point is no mexico maps for Tomtom yet

[BlueTriangle]

I have the tomtom go 510... portable, great screen, bluetooth.... all that i want in a gps. Portable is very nice....

Only negative point is no mexico maps for Tomtom yet

I'm using the Tomtom 910. Some people told me to use another GPS, but I really like the TT because of the Tele Atlas maps. You may actually get to Mexico sooner than you think though. I heard that Tele Atlas and HP are teaming up on some international map data.

[thresher]

The Nuvi200w is pretty badass too. Costco is running a nice sale on it this month. All the features of a tomtom with a 16:9 screen.

[hoey222]

i broke down and got the garmin zumo 550 - i got it specifically for my motorcycle - its water proof and designed for a gloved rider....

it's also pretty cool in the car too

[DarkFury]

Garmin all the way...

and No way do I wanna get locked into a "vehicle specific" factory GPS. They cost WAY too much and don't get their updates as frequently as the portable ones. Plus I like being able to take mine out of my vehicle (as I share it when I drive my truck instead of my car).

Thumbs down to factory installed GPS units... :thumbdown:

[Cheesypuff]

my mio c220 works swell for me =) i use it ALL the time. i use it to find my bathroom in my own house...yes...it's that exact!

[DarkFury]

my mio c220 works swell for me =) i use it ALL the time. i use it to find my bathroom in my own house...yes...it's that exact!
Either you got a BIG house... or you really got some serious issues needing a GPS indoors. :D

[gear02]

my mio c220 works swell for me =) i use it ALL the time. i use it to find my bathroom in my own house...yes...it's that exact!

:spock:

What's wrong with you?

[BlueTriangle]

I don't know after all this talk I will definitely stick with portable. I really love the TomTom and their maps and am definitely leaning toward the ONE. I think the Mio uses Tele Atlas maps too? I just watched a video on Tele Atlas’ Mobile Mapping Vans (http://www.networkworld.com/video/020507ct-teleatlas.html?tab=recent). It’s pretty cool how they collect their information. They are definitely on top of their game, and getting the best info out there.

[shaggyucla]

I heard google has tried to purchase Tomtom... to try and get in the gps game. I heard there are some people just driving around the country in a car that takes pictures every 3 seconds... a great way to see the country i guess

[Cheesypuff]

:spock:

What's wrong with you?


hehe...i like my gps that much! =) no..but seriously...it's a great gps...gets me from a --> b just fine =)

[surfing_texan]

I don't know after all this talk I will definitely stick with portable. I really love the TomTom and their maps and am definitely leaning toward the ONE. I think the Mio uses Tele Atlas maps too? I just watched a video on Tele Atlas’ Mobile Mapping Vans (http://www.networkworld.com/video/020507ct-teleatlas.html?tab=recent). It’s pretty cool how they collect their information. They are definitely on top of their game, and getting the best info out there.

My husband and I both got brand new vehicles in August...mine has GPS built in, for him we got a Tom Tom...i envy is.

[BlueTriangle]

My husband and I both got brand new vehicles in August...mine has GPS built in, for him we got a Tom Tom...i envy is.

Ohhh. What do you like better about your husband's TT? A lot of people are big fans of the TeleAtlas mapping systems (me included lol) or you just like the idea of a portable unit overall?

Oh, and which one does he have? I'm still debating on upgrading.

[DarkFury]

Garmin still pwns other portable GPS systems. :D

[BlueTriangle]

Garmin still pwns other portable GPS systems. :D

LOL I've seen that around the Internet too. I think people are pretty brand loyal. What do you prefer about the Garmin? and have you used anything else? Not that I can talk since I've only used a TT.

[DarkFury]

LOL I've seen that around the Internet too. I think people are pretty brand loyal. What do you prefer about the Garmin? and have you used anything else? Not that I can talk since I've only used a TT.
Map Accuracy and updates is one issue.

Garmin pretty much innovated the "touch screen interface" on portable GPS systems.

Build quality on Garmins is generally second to none in GPS units.

More or less, the one knock that Garmin gets is it's PRICE. But yet, people do sometimes pay more for what they percieve as a premium brand. Heck, a Furd will get you to your destination just as good as a Mercedes or a BMW will, yet those brands do command a higher average price for essentially the same function.

Yeah, folks can be "brand loyal"... but hey, isn't that generally the case with just about anything that is marketed these days? :D

[BlueTriangle]

Yeah like I said I'm brand loyal to the TomTom. I've only thought about upgrading within TomTom. Speaking of which, my decision got even harder now that they came out with the TomTom ONE XL*S. I might just have someone surprise me with one for Christmas. lol.

(I feel like we've been having a one-on-one conversation all day, DarkFury :) )

[DarkFury]

(I feel like we've been having a one-on-one conversation all day, DarkFury :) )
Welcome to my living room... please, make yourself comfortable :)

[Markel]

Welcome to Apex's living room... please, make yourself comfortable :)
Fixed. ;)

[Napoleon54]

I use a map.

[DarkFury]

Fixed. ;)
Hey... I have an apartment on the side of the house.

Didn't you know that? :D

[BlueTriangle]

I use a map.


You use a map???? Is it more comfortable for you? TeleAtlas has spoiled me. I can't imagine touching a paper map again lol because a paper map sure doesn't show me where the best Italian restaurants are or where the next gas station will be. I need my POIs!!

[Jeffbx]

OK, how about a budget GPS? What's the best one under $200?

[Markel]

OK, how about a budget GPS? What's the best one under $200?
Well, there was a Garmin Nuvi 200 for $190 on the WootOff earlier today....

[BlueTriangle]

OK, how about a budget GPS? What's the best one under $200?

You can get a TomTom ONE for $199 http://www.hotbuyselectronics.com/item_detail.php?item_id=116391&pg=1

A Mio DigiWalker or $199
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8178866&st=mio&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1162594730370

Even though I'm super faithful to the TomTom brand, I wanted to give you options so Mio has gotten good reviews as well. I think good maps are the most important part of a good GPS system and they both use the Tele Atlas maps.

[ray]

I never thought I would be shopping for a GPS unit, but after seeing some in action I don't understand why I didn't get one a long time ago.

So, I have narrowed my choices down to the TomTom One and the Garmin Nuvi 200.

DF has expressed his love for Garmin, but I've been reading great things about Tele Atlas maps.

One of the weaknesses of the TomTom from what I'm reading though is the 2 hour battery life, compared to the Garmin's 5 hour battery life. I would always be using this GPS in the car, so it can be charged through the cig lighter.

Both units come with very little memory, but can be expanded with SD cards.

Are there any other features I'm overlooking?

[DarkFury]

I never thought I would be shopping for a GPS unit, but after seeing some in action I don't understand why I didn't get one a long time ago.

So, I have narrowed my choices down to the TomTom One and the Garmin Nuvi 200.

DF has expressed his love for Garmin, but I've been reading great things about Tele Atlas maps.

One of the weaknesses of the TomTom from what I'm reading though is the 2 hour battery life, compared to the Garmin's 5 hour battery life. I would always be using this GPS in the car, so it can be charged through the cig lighter.

Both units come with very little memory, but can be expanded with SD cards.

Are there any other features I'm overlooking?
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call it "love"... I just like QUALITY things especially if I plan to hold on to it for a long time (as well as make a "worthwhile investment".)

As far as benefits of a Garmin over a Tom Tom, the Garmin units primarily feature a "Text To Speech" of calling out the roads to you without you having to look away to the screen (so you can keep your eyes on the road.)

Also, with everyone boasting the benefits of Tele Atlas... this review of the Tom Tom One XL might be beneficial:

http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2007/06/tomtom_one_xl_review.php?page=all



7. TomTom's Updated Maps

The two largest mapping providers are NAVTEQ and TeleAtlas. Magellan, Garmin, LG, Yahoo Maps, MSN Maps, and most in-car OEM GPS systems all use NAVTEQ maps. All TomTom GPS devices use TeleAtlas maps. NAVTEQ has historically had more complete and accurate maps in North America than TeleAtlas, and in my recent "What to look for in a GPS" article, I recommend shopping for a GPS that uses NAVTEQ maps.

When I reviewed the TomTom GO 910 and TomTom ONE last year, without question the biggest problem was the poor quality maps and routing engine. TomTom responded to customer complaints about their poor North American maps by releasing updated maps for 2007. Version 675 of TomTom's maps adds:

More than 410,000 new road miles and 500,000 points of interest
More than six million new household and business addresses
Improved road detailing for better visual representation
I tested the ONE XL with the updated maps in areas that the previous maps lacked coverage. During my testing every road that was missing on the previous TomTom maps (and was present on the Garmin nuvi's 3-year old maps) now appears in TomTom's new maps. I'm pleased to report that the 2007 maps are, indeed, on par with the current NAVTEQ maps, so that's very good news for TomTom.

TomTom's new maps are considerably better than the previous maps used on the GO 910 and ONE. If you own an older TomTom, you may qualify for a free map update, otherwise it'll cost you. Either way, if you're using a TomTom GPS in North America, you'll definitely want the new maps.

So it looks like Tom Tom is catching up... Guess they had to get beat up for 3 years before they did something about that (I've had my Nuvi 350 for almost 2 years now.)

Also this article goes on to say that the Tom Tom's "Arrival Time" estimator leaves something to be desired as compared to the Garmin or Magellan offerings:



Figure 39: Setting a Preferred Arrival Time

Setting the preferred arrival time is easy - just tap the up/down arrows to set the time you want to arrive at your destination address.

If you specify a target time you want to arrive by, the GPS displays how many minutes under (shown next to a plus (+) sign in green text) or over (shown next to a minus (-) sign in red) you'll arrive by. If the estimated arrival time is less than 5 minutes before the entered preferred arrival time, the number is displayed in a yellow font. I loved this feature and quickly found myself missing it on other GPS devices. How excellent to glance at the GPS and instantly know how much ahead of schedule you'll be!

However, the TomTom ONE XL seemed especially poor at estimating an accurate arrival time, which seriously undermined the usefulness of this great feature. While driving the arrival time would fluctuate wildly within just a few minutes of driving. For example, if I hit a good open stretch of highway and could drive 75 MPH for 60 seconds, my arrival time would drop by 10 minutes, but then as soon as I dropped back to slower driving speeds it would add another 10 minutes back to the ETA. By contrast, Magellan and Garmin are much better at estimating the arrival time -- it seems Magellan and Garmin sample the speed rates over a greater time period, and also more accurately factor in the maximum speed you can realistically drive on given surface roads.


From there I'd recommend looking at the routing tests that this reviewer used. Consistently the Tom Tom unit produced a route that took a longer time to drive than it's Garmin or Magellan counterparts.

Here is how they summed up their review on the product:



18. Pros
Elegant, handsome design
4.3" wide-screen LCD display
Easy to use
New, 2007 (v675) maps are a significant improvement over TomTom's previous North American maps
Broad language support with voice prompts for over 30 languages
Support for routing to longitude/latitude coordinates
Handy, time-saving address entry system pre-populates lists with recently used cities / streets / house numbers
Preferred arrival time feature lets you specify what time you need to arrive, and the ONE XL will report how early/late you'll be
Itinerary planning allows you to view routes ahead of time
supports multi-destination routing (but not route optimization by distance)
Lots of customizable display options

19. Cons
Slow - ONE XL feels underpowered and is annoyingly slow at route calculation / re-calculation and other common tasks
Poorly designed windshield mount (difficult to get the ONE XL on or off the mount without hitting the windshield glass -- you need to angle the mount down, slide on the ONE XL, then re-position the mount)
Announces upcoming turns using yards instead of feet
Screen not as bright as other wide-screen GPS units
Occasional bugs (i.e. sound would sometimes turn itself back on while navigating, even though I had muted the volume)
No text-to-speech (GPS only announces generic maneuvers, not actual street names)
No hands-free speakerphone calling support
Very limited bluetooth cell phone compatibility
Poor routing engine
Important menu options (i.e. cancel route) hidden until you manually enable all menu options
Text font used on the map screen is too small, can be hard to read from the driver's seat
ETA not as accurate as other GPS units - time displayed on map changes too quickly while driving (i.e. drive 75MPH for 1 minute, and you're ETA drops in half. Come to a stop light, and it doubles again)
No route optimization feature
Real-time traffic (and all other TomTom PLUS services) requires a compatible Bluetooth-enabled cell phone to be paired with the ONE XL
AC adapter not included
3D angle of the map is too steep
Poor customer support

20. Conclusion
TomTom's ONE XL is a handsome turn-by-turn GPS navigation with tons of customizable display options, broad language support, and unique features not found on other devices. The ONE XL brings wide-screen navigation to TomTom's popular ONE product line, and adds newly updated 207 maps that are a significant improvement over TomTom's previous North American maps. I really liked TomTom's time-saving text-entry features, as well as the ability to specify a preferred arrival (and then see how late or early you'll arrive).

However, TomTom's ONE XL feels decidedly under-powered, and the unit feels sluggish. Common operations, such as entering an address and calculating the route are frustratingly slow. Worse, TomTom's routing engine came in last place when tested against Garmin and Magellan GPS units.

The ONE XL suffers from many of the same issues that plagued the TomTom ONE. The XL still lacks text-to-speech, supports only a very limited number of Bluetooth-enabled cell phone (though not for hands-free calling), and the 4.3" wide display wasn't as bright as some other similarly priced GPS units.

With the ONE XL, TomTom has delivered a GPS that's heavy on style and light on navigation. Given the poor routing performance, slowness, and various other issues with the ONE XL, I recommend a similarly priced Garmin or Magellan GPS instead -- either will be better at the GPS' core function: navigation.


But hey... it's your money so you have to decide the value of which one you'll choose to buy. I've already made my decision. :)

[ray]

Thanks DF! I've been reading a lot of reviews on CNet and pricegrabber and the results have been mixed. Obviously I want complete maps, but like your post mentioned, both companies are pretty much on the same playing field now. I think I would be happy with any one of those, so I'll just wait for the best deal. Perhaps I'll wait for black friday...

[BlueTriangle]

Okay, sorry I've been busy. Didn't want you guys to think I just gave up the "fight" lol

Here is an article that reviews Tele Atlas Maps:
http://www.gpsreview.net/navteq-vs-tele-atlas/


NAVTEQ VS Tele Atlas

One of the big debates in the USA GPS market is the source of map databases. Most GPS enthusiasts have maintained that NAVTEQ data is more complete in the USA. I’ve always maintained there are errors found in both systems and the differences between the two are negligible. With the debate as hot as ever, I decided to put the two map sources to the test.

My own anecdotal experience is that I’ve found errors in the maps from both vendors. I never saw any large gaps in accuracy between the two. Therefore I’ve always recommended to people that the map vendor should not be a large factor in choosing between two GPS devices. Now I will find out if my advice had been any good.
The Test

To perform the test, I made sure I had the most recent databases available from each vendor in a popular GPS device. On the NAVTEQ side I used the most recent maps available from Garmin. For the test I used a Garmin Nuvi loaded with Garmin’s “v8″ maps which shipped in July of last year. On the Tele Atlas side I used a TomTom GPS loaded with their newest map release which shipped in December of last year. So yes, there is a difference in ship dates, however these are still the most recent maps available on those devices today.
to get at least some addresses from new housing developments, I only took members who had changed their address.

I wanted to get a variety of addresses from a variety of locations throughout the USA. I decided to test 250 business addresses and 250 residential addresses. For the business addresses I picked a large group of retail stores which had all opened within the past five years. While the business is new, the address probably existed beforehand. For the residential addresses I took a random sample from a membership database of a USA organization. Hoping to get at least some addresses from new housing developments, I only took members who had changed their address within the past two years. (Hopefully some of those were moves to new homes rather than moves to existing homes to make the test harder.)

Now that my list of 500 total addresses was complete I set out on the painstaking task (literally painstaking) of trying to find each of those 500 addresses on both GPS devices. If I couldn’t find the address right away I didn’t stop there since I didn’t want to test how easy it was to enter an address on each device (although I did learn quite a bit!). Rather I wanted test to see if the address existed in the GPS.
A match was only counted if there was an exact location match to the street number.

I double checked spelling, tried different ordering of words in the street names, tried different prefixes, suffixes, etc. And here is one important point… A match was only counted if there was an exact location match to the street number in addition to the street. Just finding the street wasn’t enough, I wanted to find an exact location match for the street number as well.
The Verdict

NAVTEQ vs Tele Atlas

As for the 250 business addresses, I was able to find 83% of them within the NAVTEQ maps. I found a few more, 89%, with the Tele Atlas maps. A difference between the two of only 6%.

The residential results surprised me. I expected to have overall lower matches since I would assume new housing developments (streets) pop-up more often than new business addresses. I was able to find 86% of the addresses from the NAVTEQ maps and 92% of addresses from the Tele Atlas based maps. The difference between map vendors here was again 6%.
Notes

A few footnotes pertaining to this study. While searching for 1,000 matches may seem like a large sample, it only represents a tiny fraction of each address number on each street in each city in each state in the USA. While in this test the Tele Atlas data was more complete and resulted in a higher percentage of matches, there wasn’t a staggering difference between the two. Also just because a street address was found, doesn’t necessarily mean that it the address is drawn exactly where it should be.
TeleAtlas VS NAVTEQ

So would I now recommend Tele Atlas maps over NAVTEQ in the USA? Not necessarily. I’m keeping my prior position that the map vendor isn’t currently something that should be a big consideration when looking to purchase a GPS device in the USA. If these results are representative of the entire database the difference between them would only amount to finding less than a dozen more addresses in a year, navigating to a new address every day.

TomTom recently came out with the ONE 3rd and the ONE XL S. they both have better maps, due to TeleAtlas, a lot of POIs, and they have been getting favorable reviews

[DarkFury]

Okay, sorry I've been busy. Didn't want you guys to think I just gave up the "fight" lol

It's not a fight... it's just a discussion.

Personal preferrence is a WONDERFUL thing. Honestly, the way I feel about these things is... "Whatever you decide to do with your money is YOUR choice. The advice I give here will in no way, shape, or fashion affect my financial standing as I do not own any stock or ownership in the companies involved. Therefore, these statements are only my own personal testimony and experience with the product."

That being said, a fully informed consumer is a good thing. Hopefully those consumers will be happy with their choice either way (because spending that much money and NOT being happy... SUCKS! :D )

Have a nice day! :wavey:

[BlueTriangle]

Lol I was just joking. I've enjoyed you the past couple to days!

I'm going to sit on your couch now :wavey2:

[BlueTriangle]

Hey ray! Did I sell you on the greatness of TomTom and TeleAtlas maps (smile)?? Just checking in and seeing how your GPS search has been going.

[ray]

Hey ray! Did I sell you on the greatness of TomTom and TeleAtlas maps (smile)?? Just checking in and seeing how your GPS search has been going.

I've been scouring the internet for the best deal at this point. I think I would be really happy with either unit, so it's just about getting that right price!

[BlueTriangle]

Yeah. It's a really good investment. keep us updated! :)

[yippiekiyeh]

I have a garmin c530 and it's pretty good, I like setting it on italian and being amused when the unit tells me to turn.

[bachviet]

Mio C520 (http://bfads.net/Mio-C320-GPS-at-RadioShack) will be on sale at Radio Shack on BF for $149. RS mistakenly listed as a C320 but there is no Mio C230 model. It sports 4.3" screen with turn-by-turn and text-to-speech navigation & bluetooth for handsfree. I think I'm going to get one.

TomTom One 3rd Edition (http://bfads.net/TomTom-ONE-3rd-Edition-Portable-GPS-at-Staples) will be on sale at Staples for $124.99 on BF. It's also available at Radio Shack (http://bfads.net/TomTom-ONE-Third-Edition-GPS-at-RadioShack) for $139.99.

[ray]

$124.99 for TomTom YAY!!!!!!!!!

[GeazyRider]

Microsoft Streets & Trips comes with a GPS antenna, $100 at Costco; use it with yoer Notebook. works fine for me.

[BlueTriangle]

Mio C520 (http://bfads.net/Mio-C320-GPS-at-RadioShack) will be on sale at Radio Shack on BF for $149. RS mistakenly listed as a C320 but there is no Mio C230 model. It sports 4.3" screen with turn-by-turn and text-to-speech navigation & bluetooth for handsfree. I think I'm going to get one.

TomTom One 3rd Edition (http://bfads.net/TomTom-ONE-3rd-Edition-Portable-GPS-at-Staples) will be on sale at Staples for $124.99 on BF. It's also available at Radio Shack (http://bfads.net/TomTom-ONE-Third-Edition-GPS-at-RadioShack) for $139.99.

Those are really good prices. I've heard good things about the Mio. It uses Tele Atlas Maps and have a substantial amount of POIs. I really think there is a low return rate on them because people love their maps and features.

[BlueTriangle]

GPS maker stays ahead of pack
Lowell Conn, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, November 01, 2007

In with some old and new: With its latest effort, GPS provider TomTom provides us with an opportunity to cram two contradictory trite phrases into one sentence. The company's newly unveiled ONE XL-S manages to simultaneously stay ahead of the pack and keep up with the Joneses. The product's map interactivity, via the proprietary Map Share system, allows users to alter maps and share them with the online TomTom community. This feature spec, introduced earlier this year in another TomTom device, has yet to be mimicked by competitors.

Where the ONE XL-S makes up ground is in the inclusion of text-to-speech technology, which enables street names and places to be read aloud by the turn-by-turn navigator. It's cutting edge st
http://autos.canada.com/news/story.html?id=18956d73-18f4-4ed7-bffe-3cea38e6460d
(http://autos.canada.com/news/story.html?id=18956d73-18f4-4ed7-bffe-3cea38e6460d)

I've heard great things about this new TomTom XL-S. I agree that they are ahead of the pack in their technology and listening to consumers needs and using that feedback in their innovation.