Why are we so loyal?

[Oldie]

I have just been showing my daughter how to use TTN2 on my iPAQ 3970 with Emtac BTGPS and found myself making excuses for the inadequacies of the software



As has been pointed out in other threads the presentation of the place names is chaotic. They can be different when you save them as a Favorite, and when using Search to find an address the large fonts lose much of the information. A reliable way of searching for a destination is so important if you are trying to set up a route in the car and I was having all sorts of problems when indoors! For instance, the bit in brackets after a place name, which is so important if you are to end up in the right part of the country, is lost off the RH side of the box in Search mode. Come on TomTom we deserve something better! For a start use County names not Local Authority names.



Would things be different if TomTom used NavTech maps I ask myself. So I started browsing the PocketGPS reviews looking for something better. Destinator 2 perhaps? but this does not have a single map for the UK and it is difficult to change between map segments. What other software will let me continue using my BTGPS and give me good street routing in the UK?



And so I end up thinking, is it a case of better the devil you know.



What are your views folks.



Richard

[Dave]

There is competition out there, but unfortunately no where near. Like you say with Destinator 2, it is a good product, but it's segmented maps which is a real pain to use. Navman lock you to their receiver, and in most cases so do TravRoute. These are the core players in the Street Routing arena. You can purchase at a large expense the storage card version of CoPilot which I believe will run with most receivers, but you pay a premium for the software (£249) for the UK only version which is more than double TomTom.

[TonyP]

Neither my wife nor my daughter will use TTN while driving, far too complex, especially when it crashes, or if the journey crosses a country border.



My wife stops and asks directions from people in the steet, and my daughter uses printed directions from MapBlast or MapQuest.

[Slupperman]

Don't know if you could call me loyal, but my experience with the product is great, I think it works very well, I started my GPS adventure with a Garmin eMap, and a couple of months ago I bought the TomTom Navigator 1.2 (1.5), while the graphics was in another league, I still missed some of the features from the eMap. All of these things has now been added to Navigator 2.

I'm running TomTom on an iPAQ 5450 and the entire Navigator software lies on a SD card.

I have had some trouble with version 1.5 where the .cfg files got corrupted if I turned of the iPAQ before closing down Navigator, this could easily be fixed by deleting the .cfg file.

Then there's the map thing, I really don't think you can blame TomTom directly, they have bought this information from another company. The current mapdata is really good, if you look at the danish maps, which I am using. Of course some roads are missing, but the NavTech data used by Garmin isn't a bit better!!

There's a lot of local TeleAtlas offices, maybe they would want the information about map errors. I have thought about contacting the Danish office.



Keep up the good work TomTom.

[George Pickles]

My first experiences with GPS started with Navman and their SmartPath and SmartCity software. And to be honest, although it was less impressive than I thought it would be, I found it useful, especially making long trips across France on my own.



I've now upgraded to Navigator 2 (still using the original NavMan hardware - can't afford too many new gadgets - 'er indoors commands the purse strings!) and it is brilliant, not just in comparison to the old software, but in general (my friend has an S-type with a GPS system and thinks the 3d view in Navigator is awesome!).



It may not be perfect, but if you consider what you are paying in comparison to a fully fledged in-car GPS system, a PocketPC navigation system is a bargain.



And being PocketPC based it is a lot more useful than a stand alone system - MP3 player, Address Book, Email etc. I bet the In car systems don't let you navigate to an address from your Outlook Contacts!



For example out of interest I got Navigator 2 to work out the route to a client's address. It took me on a different route to the one I normally used - and shaved 5 minutes of my journey time!



But as I said it isn't perfect... yesterday, it suggested I drive down the wrong side of the road in Brussels (not a good idea!)



Overall though I love it...



And things can only get better for us consumers!!! With convergence of different technologies (GPS, PocketPC, 3G) the next 5 years are gonna be interesting, that's for sure!



George

[MikeB]

I think loyalty is a matter of being comfortable with what you are used to. George coming from SmartPath and SmartCity software is suitably impressed. This is still a very young market at the moment and is growing in leaps and bounds.



From what I have seen and heard Tom Tom is currently the market leader, but the others are catching up or surpassing in some areas. Most people prefer to use products from a company they know rather than learning a new system, therefore we are now a captive market for the supplier: unless they really mess up somewhere.



The developers are learning at the same time we are demanding more functionality. In a few years time when full photorealistic 3D navigation systems are the norm we will probably still be with our current manufacturers.
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Mike Barrett

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