Tomtom or Garmin GPS?

[jd_1138]

I have a Tomtom 140s. It is the smaller type -- 3.5 inches. I had the larger one but it was just too bulky and unnecessary, so I sold that to a friend. The 140s has IQ Routes, spoken street names, Advanced Lane Guidance. The IQ Routes means that it takes into effect traditional traffic patterns in areas, especially cities, to get you to take the fastest possible route.

I have used GPS's for years, almost every brand, and I have to say Tomtoms are the best, IMHO. The ability to do things like remove roads that are no longer there or washed out is invaluable. There's an important bridge near here that is permanently out of service. When I had a Garmin (brand new with the latest maps), I couldn't remove it from the GPS, so you'd have to examine the route to see if the bridge was in the manifest and then click on detour many times to find another route without that bridge. Or guess and start driving in another direction to see if it would reroute around the bridge, but then it may have been better to head in the other direction. Sounds like not a big deal, but it matters. It's just not clean and easy. But with the Tomtom, I simply clicked "revise map" and highlighted the bridge and marked it inaccessible.

And the Tomtom user interface is more logical and easier to use. The Garmin's is kind of muddled and not as intuitive. I've also used Magellans and Rightways and Nextar. None have matched Tomtom. In a job I had for 2 years, I had to do a lot of driving to customer's houses, and 99.9% of the time, the Tomtom got me to their front door. Hardly ever had to look at a map or consult Google Maps.

I had a Tomtom 130 that my company gave us 4 years ago, then I bought a brand new Garmin but was not impressed, so I picked up a 140s 2 years ago. I was out visiting my parents, and they loved the spoken street feature, so I let them keep it, and I took their 130 in exchange, but then I bought another 140s.

[BigFoot]

I agree the Tomtom has nicer features. But mine has gotten me lost so many times. It would just give bad directions. Got ticked and bought a Garmin I have never been given bad directions once. Was the Tomtom just a lemon?

[Topgumby]

Funny, when I think GPS I still think handheld.

My aging eyes may convince me otherwise, and soon.

[art803]

i have 2 tomtoms. One is the small from a couple of years back and it has given many bad directions. The other is a newer wide screen and it works great, no bad directions.

[jd_1138]

You have to connect Tomtoms to your PC at least once every 2 months or so to download new GPS data (as to where the satellites will be) or else they will gradually become unusable. But this only takes like 2 minutes to do. Tomtom Home is the computer application that you will run. And you have to make sure the settings are set correctly -- "fastest route", "allow highways", etc..

I used Tomtoms in my last job, and they got me to hundreds of addresses with no problem. Only time I had problems were if the person didn't know their own address. Like, they'd tell me they lived on Johnson St., when they really lived on Johnson Ave..

[Go West Young Man]

If you're the DIY type, a cheap hackable GPS unit from eBay and a downloaded copy of iGo8 is the best solution out there.

[OLDMAN]

We've had a Garmin for 3 years and it has not let us down yet.

[rickboone1]

if you care to know where you're going...garmin. i've had both. tom tom nearly got tossed out the window many times.