BEST SAT NAV

[mrjbrom]

Got a garmin i3 at the mo , but starting to get annoyed with it , keeps sending me on longer routes where i know i can save anything up to 15 mins by going a different way , so which sat nav would be best to upgrade to ? cxheers Mick

[nudda]

I had a Garmin i3 and found it to be very very good. It never let me down although once it took me via the scenic route even when I knew there was a paralell motorway going to my destination. Anyway, i think its a very powerful device for what it is (and worth) but there were a few features that let it down. The main reason I changed was because I was not able to browse around maps and find POI's in different location too easily. I wanted to be able to drag the map to where I want and not have to know names of towns/cities (comes in use when you want to explore)

So what do I have now ? A tomtom GO 910. A big jump from the i3 I know but I thought it was time i invested into a feature-packed GPS to make travelling easier. I am assuming you want to change to a tomtom since you posted in the tomtom forum (?). I was going to go for the 510 then 710 but then thought the 910 was for me as I needed mp3 playback and the 20gb hard drive feature was vey useful.

What do I think of the 910 ? Well, I havent used it yet ! (got it a few days ago but havent been anywhere much thanks to the heat). But I am due out around 5pm so will let you know what I think of it "compared to the i3".

It really depends on what you want feature wise ... I dont think there will ever be a perfect GPS (although you would expect the x10 series to be because of their price). The was suprisingly pleased with the Garmin ... lets see how it goes with tomtom.

[Tumbleweed]

[nudda]

[mikealder]

Please bear in mind that you are comparing two devices that have a cost differential of x5 the i3 at £100 is a bargain, and either unit is more than capable of doing what is asked of it, taking you to a destination.

The TomTom Go-910 at £500 is a costly purchase, but again it will do what is asked of it, i.e. take you to a destination, with a substantial few more bells and whistles (I am not going to list them, but to me the 910 is about as good as they come, for what I want from a navigation device in a vehicle).

All sat nav units have routing anomolies I have both the i3 and 910, they both do strange things at times, both devices have tried to send me down public footpaths etc (not ones with a gate for a car to go through, I am talking about over a fence and through a field! - my approach to this is to have a laugh and carry on, the device will soon sort out the alternate route that can be followed) BUT as the driver it is your responsibility to either follow the units instructions or ignore it - it is your call, the driver is in control of the vehicle not the nav device.

The same applies when you have local knowledge, simply ignore the directions offered, and you will get to the intended location, if you don't know the area, you have no way of knowing the shortest possible route but EITHER device will still get you there - Mike

[Tumbleweed]

[Skippy]

mrjbrom

Tumbleweed is exactly right. NO sat nav will be 100% perfect, nor will it complete with someone with local knowledge (although I have seen people who think they know a short cut which turns out to take longer than the sat nav route).

Upgrade by all means, and you will get more features, bigger screen, integrated traffic, faster route calculations but the routing will always have it's quirks - whatever system you buy.

Have a think about what features you are interested in and people here can recommend you an upgrade.
_________________
Gone fishing!

[nudda]

It depends what you mean by **best**. With knowledge of shortcuts, queues, traffic ahead, and other slow down ? Agreed a Sat Nav can never know what local know, theres simply too much to learn. What Im saying is that it should take you on the **shortest** route. A sat nav, with acuracy of +- 1metre should be able to do this much more accurately than any local.

[mikealder]

The Garmin i3 has the option to select shorter routes in Settings/ Route Preference.
The TomTom products offer a similar option, preferences/ Planning Preferences/ Always plan shortest routes.
To be honest this is the most useless set-up I have ever encountered on a sat nav, (they all have it), if you choose this option it will go the shortest route, but it will not be the quickest in terms of time, it might be OK for a trip of a couple of miles, but try planning anything over this and you wouldn't follow the advised route - Mike

[Skippy]

[robertn]

Shortest route is the ONLY provably correct answer to a routing problem.
Every other option is a balancing act the system manufacturers do with the data and algorythms. Therefore if you ask for the SHORTEST route, you shoud get the SHORTEST route. Are you expecting a route that is "the shortest, but not really 'cause I don't like turns and narrow roads"? -Now lets just get Garmin to program that one into your i3, because you must be right and they don't know what they are doing.

As for complaining the a computer got it wrong, and you know better ways to go, get over it. The computer uses data and programs and comes up with a single solution for everyone across the globe. You on the other hand use local knowledge, pre-programmed by past experiance, predjudices and you mother in law, to make a decision that you beleive is best. You will then selectively remember when you did better, forgetting the times the navigator did a better job, and post a complaint on the forum.

Lets play a game - alternative turns, me with my navigator, you with your "I know better". Each turn : Select a place to goto anywhere in the world, and see who wins.

Flame over

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!