Bubba Ho-Tep
06-19-2006, 06:38 PM
Speaking of portable GPS's I'm a GPS whore. I have 3 of them. An old Magellan Roadmate 700 (bought it when it FIRST came out for $1299 ouch!), and more recently a TomTom 710 and Garmin c550. I travel a lot to areas I'm unfamiliar with so I use GPS quite often.
I can't figure out which I like better but I must admit a bit of buyers remorse on picking up the Garmin c550 last week as a "backup" the Garmin i5 would have been a more logical (ie cost-effective) "backup" but I got sucked into the idea of text-to-speech, and a new ultra-sensitive GPS reciever used in the new Garmin units. Here's a few bullet points from both:
TomTom 710:
+ Nice sized 4" widscreen display
- Screen hard to read in direct sunlight
+ Comes with lots of accessories right out of the box (cradle, indoor charger, TomTom HOME software, etc)
+ Has an available remote. I know a remote must sound silly but it's a must for me if I have to tinker with the display WHILE driving *not advisable* but it makes it much easier. Plus the convenience of zooming in and out with a touch of a remote button is great!
+/- Winshield mount is well designed but the way the TomTom unit "connects" to it is akward. Definitly takes some getting use to before quickly being able to mount and unmount it on the fly
+ Voices are loud and clear. Gives many choices of custom voices even downloadable ones via the HOME software. I personally fancy the John Cleese option. lol
- No text-to-speech option. Only available in 910 model.
+/- Menus are logically laid out but way too many of them. They could have organized them better (ie To cancel guidence you have to go through two pages of options to get to the "Clear Route" option)
+ Ability to auto dim according to available light
+ Can raise or lower the volume level dynamically by interior noise level
- Graphics are effective yet very basic looking (not a big issue as long as they are legible) but worth mentioning
+ Ability to change map color and download custom color sets
+ Fully functional Intinerary Planning. If I'm making a trip with several stops along the way I can preprogram an itinerary that will route me from destination A to destination B, to destination C, and so on.
Garmin c550:
+ Text to Speech!
- No option to change voice or disable text to speech for human voice guidance
- Smaller 3.5" screen
+ Much MUCH more legible in bright sunlight than the TomTom 710
- No ability to auto dim or auto adjust volume acording to noise level
+ Very well laid out menu design. All the buttons you'd use often are easily available, not burried under pages of menus.
+ Winshield mount is brilliantly designed. Very robust and easy to use. My only concern is that the ball-joint style mount might loosen over time and the unit will sag when hitting bumps while driving.
+ Very clean and clear graphics. Despite the smaller screen road names are easier to read
- No remote option (if it had a remote that alone might edge it out over the TomTom)
- No itinerary planning. Only offers ONE stop between starting point and destination.
+ Incredible GPS discovery speed, several seconds after turning it on it's already synced up with the satelites and ready to go. The TomTom is no slouch but not quite as fast as the Garmin.
+ FM Traffic Reciever. It has an FM traffic reciever built-in and will automatically route you around jams and road construction. It comes with a free 3-month trial out of the box but requires a $60/year subscription after that.
Overall they both have features over one another and lack others. It's a hard sell between them other than the fact TomTom comes with more accessories out of the box than the Garmin. The Garmin comes only with the carrying case, cradle, usb cord, and lighter plug for the car. The TomTom offers all of those with the addition of a indoor cradle/charger, software, and available remote.
They both have all us Maps pre-loaded on them but I think the has an internal HD rather than a 1 gig SD card which allows it to store much more data though it's kinda moot- There's no downloadable content for the Garmin (voices, map colors, etc) and I'm not going to use it to listen to MP3's. Both have the ability to link to your cell phone via BlueTooth and make/recieve calls directly through the GPS unit hands free, however I wasn't able to do it sucessfully with the Garmin. Well without reading the instructions that is- so thumbs up to the TomTom beings it worked the first time I tried it.
Either way they are both great buys. The Garmin costing $100 more than the TomTom but awards you an internal HD with more space, text-to-speech, and FM traffic reciever. After all this I still can't choose a clear winner.
I can't figure out which I like better but I must admit a bit of buyers remorse on picking up the Garmin c550 last week as a "backup" the Garmin i5 would have been a more logical (ie cost-effective) "backup" but I got sucked into the idea of text-to-speech, and a new ultra-sensitive GPS reciever used in the new Garmin units. Here's a few bullet points from both:
TomTom 710:
+ Nice sized 4" widscreen display
- Screen hard to read in direct sunlight
+ Comes with lots of accessories right out of the box (cradle, indoor charger, TomTom HOME software, etc)
+ Has an available remote. I know a remote must sound silly but it's a must for me if I have to tinker with the display WHILE driving *not advisable* but it makes it much easier. Plus the convenience of zooming in and out with a touch of a remote button is great!
+/- Winshield mount is well designed but the way the TomTom unit "connects" to it is akward. Definitly takes some getting use to before quickly being able to mount and unmount it on the fly
+ Voices are loud and clear. Gives many choices of custom voices even downloadable ones via the HOME software. I personally fancy the John Cleese option. lol
- No text-to-speech option. Only available in 910 model.
+/- Menus are logically laid out but way too many of them. They could have organized them better (ie To cancel guidence you have to go through two pages of options to get to the "Clear Route" option)
+ Ability to auto dim according to available light
+ Can raise or lower the volume level dynamically by interior noise level
- Graphics are effective yet very basic looking (not a big issue as long as they are legible) but worth mentioning
+ Ability to change map color and download custom color sets
+ Fully functional Intinerary Planning. If I'm making a trip with several stops along the way I can preprogram an itinerary that will route me from destination A to destination B, to destination C, and so on.
Garmin c550:
+ Text to Speech!
- No option to change voice or disable text to speech for human voice guidance
- Smaller 3.5" screen
+ Much MUCH more legible in bright sunlight than the TomTom 710
- No ability to auto dim or auto adjust volume acording to noise level
+ Very well laid out menu design. All the buttons you'd use often are easily available, not burried under pages of menus.
+ Winshield mount is brilliantly designed. Very robust and easy to use. My only concern is that the ball-joint style mount might loosen over time and the unit will sag when hitting bumps while driving.
+ Very clean and clear graphics. Despite the smaller screen road names are easier to read
- No remote option (if it had a remote that alone might edge it out over the TomTom)
- No itinerary planning. Only offers ONE stop between starting point and destination.
+ Incredible GPS discovery speed, several seconds after turning it on it's already synced up with the satelites and ready to go. The TomTom is no slouch but not quite as fast as the Garmin.
+ FM Traffic Reciever. It has an FM traffic reciever built-in and will automatically route you around jams and road construction. It comes with a free 3-month trial out of the box but requires a $60/year subscription after that.
Overall they both have features over one another and lack others. It's a hard sell between them other than the fact TomTom comes with more accessories out of the box than the Garmin. The Garmin comes only with the carrying case, cradle, usb cord, and lighter plug for the car. The TomTom offers all of those with the addition of a indoor cradle/charger, software, and available remote.
They both have all us Maps pre-loaded on them but I think the has an internal HD rather than a 1 gig SD card which allows it to store much more data though it's kinda moot- There's no downloadable content for the Garmin (voices, map colors, etc) and I'm not going to use it to listen to MP3's. Both have the ability to link to your cell phone via BlueTooth and make/recieve calls directly through the GPS unit hands free, however I wasn't able to do it sucessfully with the Garmin. Well without reading the instructions that is- so thumbs up to the TomTom beings it worked the first time I tried it.
Either way they are both great buys. The Garmin costing $100 more than the TomTom but awards you an internal HD with more space, text-to-speech, and FM traffic reciever. After all this I still can't choose a clear winner.