NAV gurus...tomtom vs garmin

so i've been looking at NAV units for the ol legacy.

 

this is for those that have experience with either tomtom or garmin.

 

i'm looking at either the tomtom go 700 or the garmin nuvi 350.

 

both units retail at 899USD.

 

i've been reading reviews on both of them, but i wanted additional input from fellow LGTers with personal experience with either of these brand NAV systems.

 

what are the pros and cons of each? is it worth coughing up the premium coin for these units?

 

all thoughts, opinions, reviews are welcome.

 

thanks!

i had the same questions a month ago only bet the garmin n the magellan.....i ended up buying my girl the garmin c340 for 650 shipped!!! check out cnet.com , gpspassion.com i forgot what other sites i was researching.....i ended up buying from buydig.com

My opinion would be to go for the Garmin, I have a GPS10 running through my iPaq rx3715. Garmin uses Navtech for one of their map sources and TomTom uses TeleAtlas maps. My first GPS was a NAVMan unit that used Navtech maps very accurate, the second device I tried out used TeleAtlas maps and they were very inaccurate. I returned the second GPS unit and bought the Garmin. The maps are fantastic, it has a a geat many extras that you can do and the POI database has more entries. Just my .02.

 

HTH

I am running the TomTom for the Palm and love it. The interface is idiot proof and it gets me exactly where I want to go. It has POI's and will re-route you if you go off track (as any good GPS will). I don't think you can go wrong with either, but I am happy with TomTom.

I personally just got the garmin i2 for under $200 However, the screen is small and it's grayscale (which I prefer anyway - color is too distracting). Anyway, I have it mounted on the upper left of the windsheild - it's in perfect line of sight, so I don't have to move my head to see it. With the 3d mode, it really has quite a field of view.

 

If you want to spend more for a bigger unit - the C320/330 are both pretty good. The 340 has all of the maps built in, but that's a good and a bad thing since it makes changing them later more difficult. There are a ton of gps forums that go over this. However, the 320 is $420 and 330 is $530 at Walmart The i2 was less at walmart than on ebay....

I also have the Magellan 760 and love it. I got mine from e Bay for US $855.00 including shipping. At the moment I think it's one of the best aftermarket units around.

thanksfor the replies so far guys, keep them comin!

wait...your name changed, less risque

 

 

huh?

didn't the angus in your name used to be a different word?

 

If not, then I am hallucinating... and your post count multiplied!

 

nope, it's always been angus, and my post count hasnt multiplied.

 

what are you on?.....and can i have some?

I have the Garmin 320c and it works great. Check out GPSCity.com.

The Garmin units that have text to speech will say the name of the roads instead of just turn left/right.

Not on anything, just observant.

 

do a search for "colonel lingus" and you will see what I am talking about. You have a doppleganger of sorts it seems, along with a similar photo.

hmmm.....interesting....i'll have to check it out...

 

ah yes....looks like a member from NY, and they too, used a pic of christopher walken as colonel lingus. joined in august '05, too...

I have the TomTom Classic for 4 months. It is very easy to use and has a good support from the company (regular feature upgrade via firmware). The only beef I have is the slight inaccuracy of the maps... I have the latest version but it feels like several years old as some of the new road changes are not reflected.

Also the small footprint opens up the possibility of installing it in the cubby hole.

The Garmin units that have text to speech will say the name of the roads instead of just turn left/right.

i got the c320 model because it does not have a harddrive (to break!). i got a 512MB memory card on ebay for teh cheap, and was able to load eastern North America on it (not that i'll ever use all of it ).

 

picked up the c320 for $400 - i can live with "make a left turn in 50ft" as opposed to "make a left turn onto Joe Mama Blvd" with the $300-$400 i saved.

 

interface is a piece of cake - you don't even need the manual.

i just use my ipaq with the optional gps receiver. i paid about 450 for it from hp a year ago. i love that i can move it to any car i want. it seems very accurate (a bit less in shitty weather), plus it adjusts the routes according to the traffic.

garmin nuvi 660 is the best

I think this deserves a "Holy Old Thread Batman!" award.

 

Gotta love it when n00bs bump 2 year old threads . I saw the price for the Garmin c-340 on the first page and I was like whoa, you got ripped! But alas, that's how expensive they were.

Ditto on the Nuvi 660.

Ditto on the Nuvi 660.

 

$663 From BuyDig.com with 3 day shipping.

WTF? Do people even skim the thread before posting?

I just did a road trip from PA back to OK and I bought the lower end model of TOM TOM and that thing is great. 300 bucks was worth every penny on that road trip. I use to knock GPS and said I can always use a map.

WTF? Do people even skim the thread before posting?

 

The answer to my question:

 

No

my boss has a Garmin (don't know the model) and I have a Mio C310x. I drove him to the Ferrari dealership with the Mio and he picked one up the following week. Mio is only $200 and I think you can find some for $150 when it goes on sale. 1G internal memory and takes SD card ontop of that if you want to convert it into Pocket PC. It also has a built-in MP3 player and you can use it with the SD card.