What a Minefield - Garmin or Tom Tom

conjopley · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 30, 2009 Posts: 38

I'd almost settled on a 1490T after a typical net search, but having read through the forum its swings and slides with faults on both sides.

My current SatNav is inbuilt into my 10 year old car and since 5 years ago it cannot be updated.

I would like to have the ability to view the route selected, distance countdown to direction change and destination.
I'm not to fussed up with traffic conditions, but bluetooth hands free phone and MP3 player would be handy.

A canny voice would be a bonus, the one exceptional goody I would like to bring with me from my current dated system. Laughing

Cheers Con.

Darren · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:31 pm Post subject:

TomTom and Garmin are the top sellers with good reason but there are as many who swear by one as the other.

Personally I find the Garmin display and interface not to my liking but others love it.

Can you get to a Halfords and have a play with one of each. The interface is similar across all Garmins and similarly all TomTom's.

That way you can decide if one is more to your liking than another which will at least help you refine the short list to one manufacturer?
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Darren Griffin

MaFt · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:27 pm Post subject:

not sure on the price difference between the 1490T and the 1690 but if it's still in budget i'd go for the 1690 over the 1490. the traffic for the 1490 is through fm transmitter and comes with a really thick, cumbersome power lead / antennae. even if you're not using the traffic services on a particular journey you still have to have this great big inflexible cable draped over your dashboard... the 1690 has a simcard built in that gets it's updates from a mobile network (though there is a yearly fee for this) similar to the tomtom X50 range.

i have both at the moment for review but it may take a while until this is complete!

MaFt

conjopley · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 30, 2009 Posts: 38

Sound advice Darren, I'll get into town ...... now were is Halfrauds ..... could do with a SatNav Laughing

These current devices are totally different to the displays on my car jobby, so that side of it shouldn't take to much getting used to, its more to the niggles and reliability feedback that only the likes of yourself can give after road testing them for a canny few years.

Pushed the wrong button while checking out prices on the net and nearly committed to buying a TT 950 @ £436.00 Shocked

...... on the same page they were advertised for £240.00 Confused

..... does that dealer ever sell any Question

Regards Con.

conjopley · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 30, 2009 Posts: 38

conjopley · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 30, 2009 Posts: 38

By the way - Whats with the forum timing/date ??

Regards Con.

Darren · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:55 pm Post subject:

conjopley · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 30, 2009 Posts: 38

gatorguy6996 · Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 6:01 am Post subject:

MaFt · Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:22 am Post subject:

gatorguy6996 · Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 1:58 pm Post subject:

Maybe now they'll replace it Thumbs Up

Some of these companies make media inquiries such a low priority. Garmin is one of them. Very short-sighted and doesn't make them a lot of friends among the bloggers and reviewers.
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Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr.

Darren · Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:02 pm Post subject:

How very true! I've been so frustrated with Garmin, they can't even be bothered to provide us with PR copy on regular occasions despite repeated requests.

That they treat Press and PR relations as such a low priority is surprising and for such an otherwise successful company is hard to understand.

We all know that press reviews are simply re hashed PR bumf but blogger and community site reviews are much more detailed and can often sell a device for them so to treat us with such contempt is very disappointing.
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Darren Griffin

MaFt · Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:10 pm Post subject:

very true. i've been pestering garmin for a month before i managed to get these devices... yet still never receive any PR...!!

MaFt

gatorguy6996 · Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:28 pm Post subject:

MaFt, on the touchscreen issue, it may just need a quick calibration. Then again it could be defective. Worth a try, assuming it works the same as the rest of the 1xxx's. The procedure differs a bit from the older nuvi's.

Start with the device off. Then press and hold the top left corner of the touchscreen. Turn the 1690 on while leaving your finger on the screen. Continue to hold for about 30 seconds and an option to "press the dot" should appear.
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Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr.

MaFt · Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:38 pm Post subject:

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