Tom Tom v Garmin

[mid4did]

It's Garmin for me. Something I've gotten used to. A bit like a nagging wife, you learn when to ignore the dodgy instructions but know when to obey them.

 

[Budgie]

I Use an old 10 inch tablet linked to phone as same problem seeing a small phone, prefer Waze as it's bang up to date with informing you of accidents, pop up speed traps etc.

 

[Fisherman]

It’s what you are used to for me. They are both good Satnavs. My only advice don’t buy a satnav, use your phone with CarPlay or android equivalent, or if that’s not an option buy a cheap screen to connect up to.
Here’s one on eBay for £45

Pardon our interruption...

 

[silverweed]

I too like Garmin and im not particularly bothered about having a camper one, I just wanted something I could see easily when I glanced at it. What I wanted was to be able to add the wildcamping poi on to it

 

[Rumour]

We use a Garmin. I did try two units from China which were cheap and we found out why from one of them in the wilds of darkest France! Maybe we were unlucky, but never again. We bought a car Garmin unit before we had the camper, in around 2014, but not good for the van. So after persevering for about a year, we bought a Garmin Camper 770 LMT-D. We have used it up until June and it is still working well. But I got the Garmin Camper 795 LMT-D as a present in July, so will retire the 770 now. The 795 seems to be a lot quicker to load and operate, but apart from some gadgety stuff, it is basically the same.

So thinking of flogging the 770. Still with free updates and mounts and cable. But it will soon be necessary to have it connected to a phone as the old way of getting traffic is being phased out. But it is also getting better.

 

[Nabsim]

I always liked Tom Tom in the car and on my bike but since I got the van I have used Aguri which is a dedicated motorhome/camper sat-nav. I always prefer a dedicated sat-nav rather than using my phone or a tablet but I have tried some apps.

I do have a question for those who use apps on phones, how much memory is taking up downloading the maps in case you lose signal when driving and do you just download parts you are going to rather than sy full European maps?

 

[Martin P]

We updated from a Tom Tom to a Garmin. Much prefer the Tom Tom because we could get the voice of Homer Simpson on it and we found his incompetance to be reasuringly comforting

 

[Robmac]

We updated from a Tom Tom to a Garmin. Much prefer the Tom Tom because we could get the voice of Homer Simpson on it and we found his incompetance to be reasuringly comforting

I had the same Homer Simpson voice on my Tom Tom Martin. I'm a big Simpson's fan but it got on my nerves after a while.

 

[Nabsim]

I met up with a couple of my old mates at Hawick a few days ago and one had his two sons with him. Both the sons were raving about Waze and their dad said he was going to investigate more when he got back home. They are all on motorbikes though and I think all using one app or another on their phones.

 

[Robmac]

I met up with a couple of my old mates at Hawick a few days ago and one had his two sons with him. Both the sons were raving about Waze and their dad said he was going to investigate more when he got back home. They are all on motorbikes though and I think all using one app or another on their phones.

I liked Waze on my bike Neil, it even warned of 'large pothole ahead' a couple of times.

I found it easy to follow at a glance and although a bit 'no frills' was perfect for me on the bike.

 

[Tezza33]

I had the same Homer Simpson voice on my Tom Tom Martin. I'm a big Simpson's fan but it got on my nerves after a while.

I had Ozzy on mine, I picked my MIL up, and she was sitting in the front, and Ozzy said, "Turn left at the Fu**ing roundabout"
Her face was a picture

 

[Martin P]

Not only did we have Homer on it but we had all the wildcamps loaded too.
The audible alert we had set for them was a hunting horn. Diddle de daaa de daa.
Some friends asked to borrow it for their car road trip to Mull from Oxford which was fine except we forgot to tell them about the wildcamp alerts.
When they returned it to us they were giggling a bit and said.
"Did you really shag in all those laybys"

 

[Andy Shaw]

I have a Garmin Camper, which is ok but what annoys me is that despite putting in the dimensions including the weight of the motorhome as under 3.05 tonnes, it gives me the speed limits of goods vehicles.
Bearing in mind the ridiculous cost of the Garmin, if buying again I would probably go for a tablet with a suitable sized screen and use an app on there

+1 Sold my Camper 740 - it also warned me about nonexistent narrow bridges and frequently took me on long circuitous trips to avoid perfectly acceptable roads. Bought a straightforward car variety Garmin, now it's only the traffic information I have to ignore.

 

[colinm]

I do have a question for those who use apps on phones, how much memory is taking up downloading the maps in case you lose signal when driving and do you just download parts you are going to rather than sy full European maps?

When I was using windowsphone downloading a countries maps was no problem.
Google tells me TomTom's 'western europe' mapping is around 5GB, with nearly 200Gb spare on my phone that will be no problem

 

[mark61]

I liked Waze on my bike Neil, it even warned of 'large pothole ahead' a couple of times.

I found it easy to follow at a glance and although a bit 'no frills' was perfect for me on the bike.

I think Waze is still the fastest for traffic updates, road conditions etc, and certainly more accurate than TomTom for speed limits.

 

[bartman]

I think Waze is still the fastest for traffic updates, road conditions etc, and certainly more accurate than TomTom for speed limits.

When I discovered that the cash-cow emissions zone at Bradford included the bypass around it, Waze was the only app I had that would plot a route avoiding such zones.

 

[Rumour]

When I discovered that the cash-cow emissions zone at Bradford included the bypass around it, Waze was the only app I had that would plot a route avoiding such zones.

Our new sat nav can have emissions the standard of the vehicle put in the details. I'll let ya know if it works! But you are right about Waze. I have not checked Magic Earth for accuracy yet.

 

[Geek]

I think it is what you are used to,

Indeed. The best approach with any new satnav is to use it for all the journeys you know well and don't need a satnav

That way, you learn how it works, and you can judge how well it plans routes before you depend on it. How well it give directions, both visually and audibly. How well it gives you a sense of your location.

Using this technique I keep trying out different satnavs and tablet apps.
Sems that I always revert to the one that remains the best. And it's not Garmin or Tom tom.

 

[mark61]

Used a TomTom and mainly google maps on phone/tablet on this trip.

In Spain, or at least the Spanish bit the Pyrenees, TomTom was appealing with speed limits, if I say it got a quarter of the 30 kmh limit in some parts of villages, I’d be exaggerating. Google pretty much got them all.

Now back in France, TomTom has pretty much been spot on, while google hasn’t got one 70 kmh limit ( giving a 80 kmh) right and missing a lot of the 30 kmh’s in towns/villages.

Still, like most on here, I’m old school and take note of those funny lollipop things at the side of the road.

 

[YeoBlade]

Used a TomTom and mainly google maps on phone/tablet on this trip.

In Spain, or at least the Spanish bit the Pyrenees, TomTom was appealing with speed limits, if I say it got a quarter of the 30 kmh limit in some parts of villages, I’d be exaggerating. Google pretty much got them all.

Now back in France, TomTom has pretty much been spot on, while google hasn’t got one 70 kmh limit ( giving a 80 kmh) right and missing a lot of the 30 kmh’s in towns/villages.

Still, like most on here, I’m old school and take note of those funny lollipop things at the side of the road.

I think TT and Google have the same problem as us! We all aren't really . Traffic sign recognition in cars is maybe the only way forward with constant changes. I have this in my car and it 99% right But it can see signs that are for trucks (lower speeds) as car speed limits, eg in France the A10 80kph >3.5t limit but cars 120kph.