Maps, lane guidance and general navigation #1

sbukosky · Maps, lane guidance and general navigation #1 Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:31 pm

I have a TT930 with the traffic cable. I have to pay $60 to renew the traffic subscription and $50 for the latest NA map and another $50 if I want the quarterly map subscription for a year. I bought the TT930 primarily because of the navigation features, like advanced lane guidance. But they are a dud for my driving in Wisconsin and Chicago area, IMO. As I don't know if Garmin or any other brand is better, I ask if an alternative could be recommended.

Are the lane guidance features between TomTom and Garmin pretty much equal? I'm trying to decide if I should spend the $110-$160 to keep my TT930 current or spend the money on another brand/model. I don't need the whistles and bells that the 930 has. It disappointed me as my Sprint MotoQ isn't compatible. Voice recognition is better on my phone than the TT. The FM transmitter sucks. So it comes down to maps and navigation features. FWIW, I've got my eye on a Garmin Nuvi 755T.

mvl · + Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 870 Location: Boston, MA

The quality of Tomtom routing and lane guidance has improved with later maps. Based on the cost of your subscription, I assume you have map 810 or earlier. Map 815 added time-of-day IQroutes, which vastly improves the quality of routing.

Compared to the latest Tomtom maps, you won't find similar quality of routing on another brand, except maybe the Magellan 4700. Depending on the congestion where you live, that may mean a little or a lot. In Boston where I live, IQroutes saves 25%-50% driving time on a typical trip.

What happens when you attempt to pair your bluetooth phone? Tomtom bluetooth compatibility is limited, but it does work with more vendors than Tomtom has tested in its lab. Tomtom support won't attempt to support vendors that it hasn't tested, although we could try.

I haven't used a Garmin, but lane guidance features are reported to be similar. Garmin is better on coverage. Tomtom had lane guidance in very few places a year ago, but their latest map probably has lane guidance it in about 75% of where the latest Garmin map has it.

Tomtom voice recognition isn't very good, and reported to be worse than other brands.

sbukosky · Cell phone pairing Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:25 pm

I have no problem pairing my Sprint MotoQ and have had it work rather well along with importing all of my Outlook contacts. The problem is that it works inconsistently and is therefore unreliable. As the phone is from where I work and the bulk of my needs are work related, compatibility with this particular phone and provider is desirable.