streetpilotIII deluxe or TomTom GO?

thursday · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 11, 2004 Posts: 3

Any advice please!

I am buying a sat nav system for my husband for Christmas. I have currently bought the Garmin StreetPilot III Deluxe, which I got on promotion at Tandy for £399 (seems to be a very good price). However, since buying it, I have read some more reviews and womder if I should be swopping it for the Tom Tom GO instead. I am concerned about:

- a point I don't understand - some reviews of teh StreetPilot suggest that you have to plot your destination on a PC before your journey. Have I mis-understood or is this just an option for ease of entering data more easily?

- Is data entry much easier on the TomTom b/c it's touch screen?

- Is it irritating having to plug the StreetPilot unit into the cigarette lighter to use the voice navigation? I can't see why you would want to use a sat nav system in anything other than voice mode! Is the Tom Tom better b/c you can use the voice mode on the battery alone?

Have I missed any other key comparison points??

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks very

Thursday

Tim Buxton · Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:07 pm Post subject:

Hi, and

I must say that £399 does sound a good price. Perhaps that model is being phased out now that the 26xx series has been around for a while.

Regarding the route plotting on a PC, this is an option. You can also plot routes on the unit itself. I have a Garmin GPS V (smaller screen, greyscale, no voice) and I find plotting on the PC far easier, although obviously if I'm out and about without my laptop, being able to plot routes on the unit is a necessity.

I wasn't aware that you had to have the StreetPilot running from the car battery to get voice guidance. Are you sure about this?

My own opinion follows, and bear in mind that I own neither product.

The Garmin has better maps. I prefer NAVTEQ to TeleAtlas, no doubt about it. Also, the ability to preplan a route on a PC can be a Godsend, believe me. On the down side, the Garmin uses a proprietary Storage Card, meaning that Garmin controls the price of them. Also, the Garmin can't make full use of the excellent $afety Camera Database this site releases monthly, whereas the GO can. The GO doesn't offer any tweaking when it comes to the choice of road, so I understand, and also you cannot include stopovers, as you can with the StreetPilot.

Did the StreetPilot come with Unlock codes for the whole of Western Europe included in the price? The GO only comes with UK maps, although I think you can get the whole of Western Europe for an extra £100 or so.

It's not an easy choice. Read the reviews here and anywhere else you can find them. Read reviews for the Navman iCN510 as well. You might prefer it to either. It does everything the Garmin does, except the ability to plot routes on the PC, and it does everything the GO does (I think) plus you can select up to fourteen stopovers per trip and you get to tell it what sort of roads you prefer to take, to a degree.

I've probably added to your confusion, but hey, if you're having second thoughts, third ones won't add to the payload too much.
_________________
Tim

Houdini · Banned Joined: Dec 12, 2004 Posts: 38

Hi All...

I have also been an avid reader of this forum, but never bothered until now to sign up ..

IMHO having owned a Street Pilot III for a number of years and had a demo of the Go machine........ the answer is to your question is none of the above.

The Garmin unit (voice does work fine with out being pluged into the 12v source) and the Go are what they arel, and whilst being very good at doing what they do, they pale by comparision to a pda / ppc device.

Look at it like a toaster.... its great for making toast but thats it. A pda will make toast and as a bonus will apply the butter and jam as well.

Its of course not all as simple as toast as the Garmin has far better maps, (at a price), so realy a question to your question needs to be asked.

Why does your husband need a gps and where does he intend using it. (just in the UK) ?

Dave.

thursday · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 11, 2004 Posts: 3

many thanks both for the replies.

to some points:

- husband will only be using the sat nav in the uk so european maps are of no interest.

- Dave - i rejected the pda route as husband already has a smartphone which he uses like a pda. But it's a bit complicated as the phone he uses in his car is not the smartphone, so I can't go for software for the smartphone either. so a standalone sat nav unit was the only option.

- I am struck that both of you suggest teh Garmin has much better maps so that seems a big plus for the Garmin. And Tim your comments taht plotting routes on the PC is a bonus not a disadvantage sounds good - I guess you can plot lots and just save them on the memory card to use as and when so you don't have to do it anew every time you go on a journey? Stopovers also sound good as husband frequently does mutli-stop trips.

- I have been reading the TomTom forum and was a bit alarmed at the "my tom tom has blown up" thread! Having had a troublesome Psion in the past that also spent more time in repairs than should have been necessary, the idea of more dodgy technology worried me.

So all in all, the Garmin has come back to my favourite of the 2 (I haven't looked at a third option yet)

Have I missed anything?

Caroline

thursday · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 11, 2004 Posts: 3

PS the £399 price was a deal b/c Tandy opened a new store in my town and offered £100 off the first 10 they sold on opening day. I was there 45 mins after opening and got unit no5.

Though it may still be b/c it's a winding-down design being replaced by the newer Garmin units.

Houdini · Banned Joined: Dec 12, 2004 Posts: 38

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