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TOMTOM 930 VS GARMIN 760
I've owned Garmin's for more than 5 years and I currently own a NUVI 760. I've heard the great news about the TOMTOM 930 with IQROUTES, lane guidance, and the HOME feature so I decided to buy the 930 so I can give it a spin and compare it to the NUVI 760 with MSN DIRECT. TOMTOM Pluses: Arrival time - The arrival time with IQROUTES are MORE accurate than Garmin's. The NUVI keeps updating the arrival time during the trip. I compared the arrival time from the start and the TOMTOM was more accurate. TOMTOM is constantly collecting the travel times and updating their database. When you sign in to the HOME program the IQroutes from your trips are uploaded to the TOMTOM server. Routes: If anyone writes a review about a GPS and states that routes are 100% accurate then they are lieing, I have not found the perfect GPS with perfect routes. The routes on both the 930 and the NUVI 760 have been identical. With the 930 I see minutes left on the trip, time left, and arrival time. I can even tell the 930 what time I would like to arrive at my destination.I can AVOID any of the roads on my trip. You CANNOT avoid roads on the NUVI 760. TRAFFIC: I'm using traffic on the 930 through my ATT Tilt phone and it seems to work and it is accurate. It uses my Tilt to access the traffic on the TOMTOM server through the Internet. If you have cell coverage you should have traffic data. MSN Traffic on the 760 is not accurate and the avoidance feature does not work that well. The bad thing about the MSN Direct feature is that it does not have good range. I live in Chicago and the service does not work in many of the outlying suburbs. PLUSES: Iqroutes are more accurate than the NUVI. Lane guidance works in my area. Avoiding roads on your trip. Being able to correct street names, closed streets, one ways, and many other errors is a big plus. Traffic works well. The GPS chip has not lost reception. I've lost the signal numerous times on the NUVI. More information on the 930 screen than on the 760. TOMTOM minuses: The screen is hard to see in sunlight. The maps are not bad since I loaded the Garmin map look on the 930. I even have the magenta route line on my 930. The battery does not last more than 1 hour. The Text to speech does not work all the time. The street names are not pronounced as good as the NUVI. You don't get the constant reminders that the NUVI 760 provides. Sometimes I don't think that I drive the 930 with my eyes close. With the 760 you can close your eyes and not miss a turn. I cannot locate an address by ANY city like the NUVI. Sometimes the 930 cannot locate an address if it thinks it's in a different city. You have to input the surrounding city names to get the correct address and route.Nice features and software, but poor display and USA maps
I purchased TomTom 930 today, and I am writing this review after driving about 60 miles with it. I also went to a local BestBuy and compared the interface with a Garmin. TomTom 930's software has a few revolutionary features which makes it superior to any Garmin: * MapShare let's you correct the map, and share the corrections with many other TomTom users. This makes TomTom superior to Garmin, given that many people in your neighborhood use TomTom. Unfortunately, it seems that not that many people use TomTom in the US, as the map still has many errors. * IQ Routes is also revolutionary. TomTom automatically collects information from all drivers on the average speed at different times of day on any road, and uses this database to determine the best route to take. This is really high-tech software, not matched by any Garmin. * Every time you connect to the PC, TomTom downloads the positions of the satellites in your area. This allows finding satellites much faster than Garmin. * TomTom has many bells and whistles that make Garmin devices seem dumb. It's software is quite intelligent and well packaged, and very dependable and useful. Everything good so far, but TomTom fails in 2 major areas: The USA map supplied by Teleatlas is less accurate than Garmin's Navteq. This can be quite an annoyance, because it results in inaccurate routing. For example, TomTom did not know that I can make a U-turn on El Camino Real, Mountain View, California, thus it came up with a routing that lead me through an intersection very far from my destination, to avoid U-turns. Also, TomTom can be a few blocks away from your destination, since it may not have the correct house numbers on the street you are going to. I found the navigation to be quite good until you actually get close to destination, where it can lead you in circles because it misses features of the local neighborhood. On the other hand, TomTom is much better than Garmin on the European maps. There is really no contest here: TomTom wins hands down for Europe, and if you are planning to get one for your next trip to Europe (like I do), get one! The other way in which TomTom falls short compared to Garmin is the display. Garmin's is a pleasure to look at, being much much brighter, with antialiased roads, and a good color scheme. TomTom looks dull in comparison, and the road edges are pixelated and jagged. Unfortunately, this may be a deal breaker for many, as Garmin's screen does make people fall in love with it.Very satisfied so far...
I've owned the 930T for about a month. First, I was totally impressed with Crutchfield and Amazon's delivery. I had the 930T in my hands the day after my estimated ship date, wow. The box had everything I needed, as advertised - car power adapter, traffic antennae, windshield mount, PC cradle and USB connector, remote, and the 930T. The unit seems well constructed, solid, but not heavy. The screen coating is anti-glare, and fingerprints wipe off easily from the screen and the whole device using a microfiber cloth (not included). The windshield mount is high quality, suction is great (and removes easily) and the square head snaps into the 930T quickly. The remote feels comfortable in my hand and works well once you play around with it a while. I live in PA and travel to NYC and surrounding CT area regularly, so the traffic antennae is very important to me. The map data (I've had one free update already, no issues with the download) seems to be good. I've only had two occasions where there was supposed to be a street, but the street was no longer there. Both times I kept driving and the 930T quickly gave me corrections to go around and find another route. One other time it took me to an address in a business park that was off by about 1/4 mile...I found my way with little effort since I was close. Other than these three events, the map data has been spot on. The GPS acquisition is very fast, within seconds of turning it on, I have 8-10 satellites and no noticeable drift. The traffic data is really amazing, quick updates, shows how far away the congestion is from you, how long the delay is, and asks if you want to avoid each delay. It has saved me several major headaches with the traffic I experience in the Northeast. I have not really tested the battery for more than 1 hour as I typically have it plugged-in. Visibility - no issues, the brightness is manually adjustable or automatic. Sound - no issues, loud enough even with the sunroof open, and the FM transmitter works as advertised. Voice address input is nifty, but I don't use it much as I typically plan my routes the day before. I love the ability to find a place in Google Maps, then send it to the 930T when it is connected to your PC. It pops into your Favorites without typing any address info, very cool and a real time saver. Also while connected to your PC you can manage your Favorites (rename/delete) and type other addresses into it, download POI's, share map data, update maps, change preferences, and basically operate the 930T using your PC keyboard and mouse. So what's the downside? My only slight problem is with the bluetooth. I can't get it to sync with my Blackberry 8703. Since my car has bluetooth also, that's not a real problem most of the time. However, my wife's car does not have bluetooth, so I would like to get the 930T bluetooth working for that reason. I know the 930T bluetooth does work though, as it will sync with my wife's Treo. By comparison, I used the Garmin 770 for two weeks of travel in Europe, but thought it had enough flaws to keep me from buying it. Overall, I really like the TomTom 930T and in my opinion, is the best GPS on the market today. By other comparisons though, it seems some people have had issues with it. Like all technology, satisfaction can be subjective, and one bad experience can ruin the whole outlook on a product. For me, the 930T serves my needs very well, and if you choose it also, I hope your experience is just as positive. Happy motoring...and stay out of the left lane unless you're passing (my friendly European-inspired driving tip).go 930
I purchased the Tomtom 930 unit about 2 weeks ago and really like it. I have owned and used a Magellan 6000 GPS unit but decided to give the Tomtom a try after my friends told me how well it worked for them. Likes: Voices are good Routing is execellent, much better then my magellan unit Ability to reroute around 1 road is awesome Reroute is fast Much better software than other GPS providers. Dislikes: Screen washes out in sunlightDon't be foolish like me: Buy a Garmin. PLEASE. Tech support is SO bad.
Some months have gone by and I feel I can give an assessment based on experience of using the unit AND using their tech support & customer support. Mine is a 920 but essentially the same as a 930. Important thing is they're made by the same company, which is unbelievable bad with customer support. This is the fifth GPS navigator I have owned, my first TomTom. With most consumer electronics products the after-sale support is only important when something goes wrong; with GPS units it's also critical even when the item is functioning correctly. Mainly because of map and technical updates and the complicated nature of these feature-loaded units like the 920 or 930. The other reviews have give lots of info on the technical aspects of TomTom devices, so I'll just say that it works reasonably well if you don't expect to use features like voice-entry and bluetooth syncing with your cell phone. I would give it a 3 out of 5 for operational performance. It's the customer support that really brings down the score: it's horrible! First, it takes many, many days to get an answer via email. Forget about toll-free phone assistance: you'll miss at least one meal waiting for someone to answer your call. My 920 package included a fancy certificate with computer-generated code (called "Always up to Date") that purportedly represented one year free map updates of the maps that came with your unit. That's what the certificate said, and it gave instructions how to obtain these. Problem was, it didn't work, so this initiated many email requests for technical assistance from me. First they said I had to fax them my receipt, even though this model was introduced less than a year ago and the guarantee is for one year. Okay, once that was done, the Activation Code on my certificate was apparently inoperable and the 1-year guarantee it clearly stated turned out to be 30 days. And the maps it guaranteed? only North America, not all the maps (namely, Europe) like the certificate promised. By the time all the delayed emails had been sorted out, my 30 days was up and I was out of luck. Too late to return it to the vendor, too. Everywhere I asked for advice while shopping for this GPS I was consistently told "Buy Garmin" !! Foolishly I ignored this advice and now I'm stuck with a so-so unit that has one-year-old maps. Don't make my mistake; Please !! Buy Garmin (unless you live overseas, in which case I'm told the customer service is better, since that's where the company originated and is based. The North American market is just an after-thought for them; they don't even offer a Mexico map, like Garmin and the other companies.)Keyword : tomtom
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