which one is better?
02-06-2008, 09:09 PM
#1
Three Wheelin'
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which one is better?
i am thinking about getting a gps unit. And well i these two are looking ok, let me know what you think and if they are worth it. And any other suggestions.
tomtom go920 or the garmin nuvi 680
tomtom go920 or the garmin nuvi 680
02-06-2008, 09:24 PM
#6
Suzuka Master
^i CAN TELL.
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02-07-2008, 08:13 AM
#8
THE PLANE TAKES OFF!!!!!
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Garmin... always.
I would put up almost any Garmin product against anything else. They're the easiest to use, very user-friendly... and have quite useful features.
I would put up almost any Garmin product against anything else. They're the easiest to use, very user-friendly... and have quite useful features.
02-07-2008, 08:36 AM
#9
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I was looking at getting the Garmin 200w. A buddy of mine has a Tomtom and swears by it, saying it's much better than the Garmin units. If I had more money to spend I would get a higher end Garmin with Canada maps since we vacation there once a year, but at $224 at Amazon and a 4.6 inch screen, the 200w is hard to beat.
02-07-2008, 08:49 AM
#10
THE PLANE TAKES OFF!!!!!
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My father has the Nuvi 660, and I just bought my wife the Nuvi 200...
For being the cheapest Garmin available, the Nuvi 200 is an amazing little unit...
For being the cheapest Garmin available, the Nuvi 200 is an amazing little unit...
02-07-2008, 01:18 PM
#13
I shoot people
Originally Posted by asloudasitgets
i am thinking about getting a gps unit. And well i these two are looking ok, let me know what you think and if they are worth it. And any other suggestions.
tomtom go920 or the garmin nuvi 680
tomtom go920 or the garmin nuvi 680
Here's a little write up I did on a GPS blog
so, my TT920 arrived on Thursday… (ordered from Costco.com on Christmas day which was Tuesday, yeah… it was pretty fast!). I’m contemplating returning this unit. At least with Costco’s recently updated 90 days return policy, it doesn’t include GPSs… well, at least I don’t think so. It doesn’t matter anyway cuz, I’ll decide long before 90 days if I’m going to keep this or not…
first off… I was playing with it, and noticed an inconsistency… Under POI, the House Of Blues in Anaheim California is under the “nightlife” category where as the House of Blues in Los Angeles is under “Restaurants”. Right off the bat, I know I wouldn’t want to search by category if I’m in a unfamiliar town cause, it may not be under the category I think it’s in. Okay, so search by name would be better, BUT that is IF I know what I’m looking for… But suppose in a scenario where I’m from out of town, and I’m just browsing to see what’s going on in Los Angeles, and I go to POI under “nightlife”, the House of Blues in LA won’t show up, does that make sense?
TTS feature (Text To Speech) is okay… One of the things about the TomTom that I like are the different voices you get to choose from and download with the different accents/languages and such. Some of the other GPSs kinda have a rather “computer” like voice… well, the TomTom has them too (a male and a female), the TTS feature will only work with those computer-like voices. And the pronunciation on some of the streets/city names can be a bit off at times… well actually, at times… WAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaay off, LOL. The first time I heard it say “Los Angeles,” it was soooooooooo off that I was like “…huh? WTF? Where??!!!” Then I realized what it was trying to say, and just kinda laughed it off. I think there’s suppose to be a way to correct it, but I’m kinda over it. I rather have the better sounding voice(s) than the robotic/computer like ones anyway, and sacrifice the TTS. It doesn’t help being in Souther Cali. we have a lot of Spanish sounding street/city names.
Picture Reader… Okay, I know some of you may careless on this feature, but it was one of the things I had in mind when I decided on the 920 (over some of the other cheaper models). Well, this coming year I’m going to Europe which is another reason why I picked the 920 cuz of the European maps but that’s another story, okay back to picture viewing… I was visualizing ME in Europe and just taking tons of pictures with my point and shoot digital camera, and when back at the hotel or while relaxing at an outdoor cafe, going thru the pics WITH the 920… Pop the SD card in and start viewing, right? Like one of those digital picture frames? Right? NOPE, pictures can only be loaded through your computer What a downer
Bluetooth Hands Free feature… NOT loud enough, and NO… the person you’re talking to’s voice is NOT streamed through the car’s speakers (like it says under “features” in Costco’s site).
FM transmitter - quality? Poor, statics. BUT IMO a lot of things can cause this… so, I’m not going to go into it… All I know is… I would NOT want to use the 920 to play music… Oh, by the way… you can only load music through the computer as well… So far, I haven’t figure out what the SD card slot is for.
"Map Sharing"-make corrections and share it on TomToms' site with other users.
I’ve already made a some corrections, and added new POI of new businesses in my area. Which IS a feature I like… BUT I just don’t know if TomTom will varify these corrections… I can just see it now. someone adding a hospital to their “map sharing”, when it doesn’t really exist, and upon an emergency, some other poor guy/gal’s going be misled to think there’s an emergency room somewhere.
Navigation wise… It’ll get you from point A to point B, but at times, I just don’t understand why It would have me get off an exit or two earlier, then take a side street that parallels the freeway, when I could’ve gotten off a later exit. Also, on a particular route… it gave me the “not-so-short-distance” to my destination… It’s too much to explain, but it would be equivalent to make 3 left turns vs 1 right turn…. (and no, there weren’t any one-way streets)
so, in a nut shall…
*Inconsistencies in POI categories
*Bluetooth/hands free feature-NOT so good
*FM transmitter/music streaming-Terrible
*Picture Viewer-Too much effort
*TTS -meh, overrated feature IMO
*Weird directions
But the thing is… I’ve also talked to Garmin owners that have complained about similar things too… ugh!
Oh well, I’ve got plenty of time to play with this thing and decide if I’m going to keep it or not (thanks to good ol’ Costco)
first off… I was playing with it, and noticed an inconsistency… Under POI, the House Of Blues in Anaheim California is under the “nightlife” category where as the House of Blues in Los Angeles is under “Restaurants”. Right off the bat, I know I wouldn’t want to search by category if I’m in a unfamiliar town cause, it may not be under the category I think it’s in. Okay, so search by name would be better, BUT that is IF I know what I’m looking for… But suppose in a scenario where I’m from out of town, and I’m just browsing to see what’s going on in Los Angeles, and I go to POI under “nightlife”, the House of Blues in LA won’t show up, does that make sense?
TTS feature (Text To Speech) is okay… One of the things about the TomTom that I like are the different voices you get to choose from and download with the different accents/languages and such. Some of the other GPSs kinda have a rather “computer” like voice… well, the TomTom has them too (a male and a female), the TTS feature will only work with those computer-like voices. And the pronunciation on some of the streets/city names can be a bit off at times… well actually, at times… WAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaay off, LOL. The first time I heard it say “Los Angeles,” it was soooooooooo off that I was like “…huh? WTF? Where??!!!” Then I realized what it was trying to say, and just kinda laughed it off. I think there’s suppose to be a way to correct it, but I’m kinda over it. I rather have the better sounding voice(s) than the robotic/computer like ones anyway, and sacrifice the TTS. It doesn’t help being in Souther Cali. we have a lot of Spanish sounding street/city names.
Picture Reader… Okay, I know some of you may careless on this feature, but it was one of the things I had in mind when I decided on the 920 (over some of the other cheaper models). Well, this coming year I’m going to Europe which is another reason why I picked the 920 cuz of the European maps but that’s another story, okay back to picture viewing… I was visualizing ME in Europe and just taking tons of pictures with my point and shoot digital camera, and when back at the hotel or while relaxing at an outdoor cafe, going thru the pics WITH the 920… Pop the SD card in and start viewing, right? Like one of those digital picture frames? Right? NOPE, pictures can only be loaded through your computer What a downer
Bluetooth Hands Free feature… NOT loud enough, and NO… the person you’re talking to’s voice is NOT streamed through the car’s speakers (like it says under “features” in Costco’s site).
FM transmitter - quality? Poor, statics. BUT IMO a lot of things can cause this… so, I’m not going to go into it… All I know is… I would NOT want to use the 920 to play music… Oh, by the way… you can only load music through the computer as well… So far, I haven’t figure out what the SD card slot is for.
"Map Sharing"-make corrections and share it on TomToms' site with other users.
I’ve already made a some corrections, and added new POI of new businesses in my area. Which IS a feature I like… BUT I just don’t know if TomTom will varify these corrections… I can just see it now. someone adding a hospital to their “map sharing”, when it doesn’t really exist, and upon an emergency, some other poor guy/gal’s going be misled to think there’s an emergency room somewhere.
Navigation wise… It’ll get you from point A to point B, but at times, I just don’t understand why It would have me get off an exit or two earlier, then take a side street that parallels the freeway, when I could’ve gotten off a later exit. Also, on a particular route… it gave me the “not-so-short-distance” to my destination… It’s too much to explain, but it would be equivalent to make 3 left turns vs 1 right turn…. (and no, there weren’t any one-way streets)
so, in a nut shall…
*Inconsistencies in POI categories
*Bluetooth/hands free feature-NOT so good
*FM transmitter/music streaming-Terrible
*Picture Viewer-Too much effort
*TTS -meh, overrated feature IMO
*Weird directions
But the thing is… I’ve also talked to Garmin owners that have complained about similar things too… ugh!
Oh well, I’ve got plenty of time to play with this thing and decide if I’m going to keep it or not (thanks to good ol’ Costco)
02-07-2008, 03:14 PM
#14
Fahrvergnügen'd
Originally Posted by nbennettksu
sorry, please forgive me. It says I'm only 9.
02-07-2008, 03:16 PM
#15
Fahrvergnügen'd
I have had good experiences with my Magellan 4050. Yes it has quirks but for about $350 it's a good deal with far more POIs and if you're a AAA member you get an extra year warranty for free.
02-07-2008, 05:29 PM
#16
10th Gear
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I have the nuvi, and I really couldn't be happier with it.
The traffic alerts and the avoidance routes are nearly flawless. I was coming back up to NYC from Maryland the week after I bought it, and it re-routed me off of a jammed up I-95 onto some completely empty local highway, didn't see more than a car a mile. Ever since, I've been hooked.
It's super user-friendly, it has a pretty extensive collection of POI's, and to be honest I haven't found anything I don't like about it.
The traffic alerts and the avoidance routes are nearly flawless. I was coming back up to NYC from Maryland the week after I bought it, and it re-routed me off of a jammed up I-95 onto some completely empty local highway, didn't see more than a car a mile. Ever since, I've been hooked.
It's super user-friendly, it has a pretty extensive collection of POI's, and to be honest I haven't found anything I don't like about it.
02-07-2008, 05:51 PM
#17
I shoot people
btw, to the OP, if you go to youtube, there's tons of vids from your average joe to self-proclaimed experts reviewing just about any GPS's... maybe not every model but definitely every brand
02-08-2008, 12:30 AM
#20
Garmin
02-08-2008, 10:50 AM
#21
Don't Mess With Texas
Originally Posted by charliemike
I have had good experiences with my Magellan 4050. Yes it has quirks but for about $350 it's a good deal with far more POIs and if you're a AAA member you get an extra year warranty for free.
02-17-2008, 08:52 PM
#24
Senior Moderator
I have the Garmin 250W for the wife since she is on the road a lot for her work (re: conferences). Works great. We don't need 'text to speech' since the pronunciation isn't that great for non-English names (many Detroit street names are French due to the original settlers to the area and that screws us Canadians up). My sister in law took the Garmin to Montreal -- worked beautifully. Having North American maps is a definite plus!
Widescreen pays dividends when it comes to seeing what's beyond the corner when you have to turn. You can actually read the street names. Guess we shouldn't be doing that if we are the driver, but it helps when the navigator can read that, similar to a paper map.
Plus the TSX has built-in Bluetooth, so the Garmin 660 is overkill (for us, at least). Can't think of any other options that a 'must have' besides a SiRF III chipset and widescreen.
I'm sure the other makes (Magellan, Navigon, TomTom) are fine -- just find what works best for you. But I woudl recommend Garmin due to its very simple interface.
Widescreen pays dividends when it comes to seeing what's beyond the corner when you have to turn. You can actually read the street names. Guess we shouldn't be doing that if we are the driver, but it helps when the navigator can read that, similar to a paper map.
Plus the TSX has built-in Bluetooth, so the Garmin 660 is overkill (for us, at least). Can't think of any other options that a 'must have' besides a SiRF III chipset and widescreen.
I'm sure the other makes (Magellan, Navigon, TomTom) are fine -- just find what works best for you. But I woudl recommend Garmin due to its very simple interface.
02-17-2008, 10:02 PM
#25
I shoot people
Originally Posted by derrick
I have the Garmin 250W for the wife since she is on the road a lot for her work (re: conferences). Works great. We don't need 'text to speech' since the pronunciation isn't that great for non-English names (many Detroit street names are French due to the original settlers to the area and that screws us Canadians up). My sister in law took the Garmin to Montreal -- worked beautifully. Having North American maps is a definite plus!
Widescreen pays dividends when it comes to seeing what's beyond the corner when you have to turn. You can actually read the street names. Guess we shouldn't be doing that if we are the driver, but it helps when the navigator can read that, similar to a paper map.
Plus the TSX has built-in Bluetooth, so the Garmin 660 is overkill (for us, at least). Can't think of any other options that a 'must have' besides a SiRF III chipset and widescreen.
I'm sure the other makes (Magellan, Navigon, TomTom) are fine -- just find what works best for you. But I woudl recommend Garmin due to its very simple interface.
Widescreen pays dividends when it comes to seeing what's beyond the corner when you have to turn. You can actually read the street names. Guess we shouldn't be doing that if we are the driver, but it helps when the navigator can read that, similar to a paper map.
Plus the TSX has built-in Bluetooth, so the Garmin 660 is overkill (for us, at least). Can't think of any other options that a 'must have' besides a SiRF III chipset and widescreen.
I'm sure the other makes (Magellan, Navigon, TomTom) are fine -- just find what works best for you. But I woudl recommend Garmin due to its very simple interface.
And you couldn't hear sh!t with the bluetooth.... I'm going to look into Garmin, maybe Magellan too
02-17-2008, 10:21 PM
#26
B A N N E D
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ok so heres my schpeal from Best Buy that I used to tell people when they asked the difference.
TomTom- made in europe, less points of interests than Garmin, interface is harder than others to use. I wouldn't spend the money unless you get text to speech which you would need the TomTom ONE XL-S or higher - 720 or 920T* (comes preloaded with europe and north america)
Garmin- 6 million points of interest, made in usa, easy navigation through menus, 1 free map update from garmin. nuvi 200/200W is a piece of junk. i suggest a nuvi 260 if you are trying to save money, smaller screen but who cares when you have text to speech telling you the street names, plus all text and map sizes are the same on the wide screen as on the normal one so you just see more map of whats around... pointless since your route is always centered within the middle 1/3 of the screen. The nuvi 350 has a nice mp3 player function and also some travel kit upgrades you can buy, if you want to travel out of the country they come in handy. The 660 is sweet, FM transmitter is nice but i wouldn't use it since i like listening to music. The 680 has everything, bluetooth, fm transmitter and wi-fi through MSN with local traffic, weather and shit like that... however it is a monthly/yearly charge which i hear is expensive.
nuvi 7 series is basically the same as the 600 series, just a little bit thinner housing unit.
if you have bluetooth then i'd just say get a 350 and be save some $$$... its what I have.
Magellans are ok, good menu and the 3250's speak out your menu for you, but they lack in POI's...
check out the navigon 7100 if youre interested in bluetooth and free traffic for life or the harmon kardon, if you'd like to do iPod stuff as well as navigation.
GL
TomTom- made in europe, less points of interests than Garmin, interface is harder than others to use. I wouldn't spend the money unless you get text to speech which you would need the TomTom ONE XL-S or higher - 720 or 920T* (comes preloaded with europe and north america)
Garmin- 6 million points of interest, made in usa, easy navigation through menus, 1 free map update from garmin. nuvi 200/200W is a piece of junk. i suggest a nuvi 260 if you are trying to save money, smaller screen but who cares when you have text to speech telling you the street names, plus all text and map sizes are the same on the wide screen as on the normal one so you just see more map of whats around... pointless since your route is always centered within the middle 1/3 of the screen. The nuvi 350 has a nice mp3 player function and also some travel kit upgrades you can buy, if you want to travel out of the country they come in handy. The 660 is sweet, FM transmitter is nice but i wouldn't use it since i like listening to music. The 680 has everything, bluetooth, fm transmitter and wi-fi through MSN with local traffic, weather and shit like that... however it is a monthly/yearly charge which i hear is expensive.
nuvi 7 series is basically the same as the 600 series, just a little bit thinner housing unit.
if you have bluetooth then i'd just say get a 350 and be save some $$$... its what I have.
Magellans are ok, good menu and the 3250's speak out your menu for you, but they lack in POI's...
check out the navigon 7100 if youre interested in bluetooth and free traffic for life or the harmon kardon, if you'd like to do iPod stuff as well as navigation.
GL