Garmin & Tom Tom Satnav question.

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Well the time has come for me to get a Sat Nav, but I have a few questions.

Is it possible to set a destination by inputting GPS co-ordinates rather than a postcode? And secondly can you plot a route on a Pc inputting waypoints then transfer this to the unit.

I had a quick look in my local Halfords and just got more confused, the assistant there said ease of use go for Tom Tom but reliability the Garmin had the edge.

For a max budget of £200 which unit do you folk recommend?

Thanks all.
 
On TomTom you can set a destination by Lat and Long

You cant plot a route and transfer it to the Tomtom, but can plot multi stop points directly on the device.

I have always had TomTom so cant really comment on the Garmin satnav's apart from once when i used one in Iceland and found it really frustrating to use, and the voice commands annoying in comparison, it was a couple of years ago though so they may have improved that.
 
I have a garmin, but would never get another one. It was ok when it was new, but now it just wants to take me down the narrowest lanes for no particular reason, and quite often lags so i miss my turning anyway. Its also incredibly slow to find satellites.

I've used Tom Toms and always liked them, except I found they would crash occasionally. Thats why I went for the Garmin, but wish I didnt.
 
Had tom tom for quite a few years, the 1st cost £500 and was a lump, the last one £100 which is far neater with everything the 1st one had.
I guess all varities have their own drawbacks, but TT for me has been great.
 
My mum uses a Garmin, I have a Tom Tom.

I find the Tom Tom to be really straight forward and easy to use. I have installed additional points of interest from McDonalds & KFC's to Maplins and Halfords, everything I'd ever need whilst working away.

It's so easy to use and straight forward. Well recommended!
 
I have a TomTom for driving and a Garmin E-Trex for 'other stuff'...
I've always found the TomTom invaluable when driving on the Continent and it's only been 'out' a couple of times when venturing through the former East Germany down the back-roads, looking for old Soviet-Era bases and fortifications along the IGB.
Just subscribe to map-updates and you'll get quarterly downloads of fully-updated maps and weekly downloads of map corrections.
I also get the Traffic and 'safety-camera' updates...very helpful for the lead-footed amongst us...
 
I use Microsoft Autoroute to plot my journies on the PC, and then transfer the waypoints to my Garmin. Occasionally, the Garmin and Autoroute will differ slightly with the route they select between waypoints, but it's usually minor and can easily be tweaked if necessary.

The Garmin will also accept GPS lat/long points as input for a destination.

As with most things in life, there are subtle differences between Tom Toms and Garmins and each have their strong and weak points. The one area I couldn't get on with when using a Tom Tom was how they use their Home program for updating the units. I had no end of problems getting stuff downloaded and transferred. With Garmin, you just plug it in to your PC and then drag and drop.
 
I use a Tom Tom and am happy with it, had it nearly 3 years now and need to update the maps but it has been invaluable. I hated the inbuilt voices and downloaded a new one from tinterweb, we call him Bruce and it's his fault if we get anything wrong ;)

When doing my research I decided it was a matter of personal preference in terms of presentation as there didn't seem to be much difference in content and options

For my hillwork I use Garmin but that was a choice between Garmin and Magellen.
 
I've had both Garmins and Tom Toms. Started with Garmins when they cost £1k. I think the TT provides a marginally better in-car experience but I won't be buying another one. Their software (on the computer) is karp. Everytime I connect one of my Tom Toms (I have two identical ones) to the computer something goes wrong and takes hours to sort out. As a result, I haven't updated maps for about a year. And, with the help of their support line, I had to revert to an older software version on the Tom Toms due to issues between the latest version and iPhones.

I'm currently looking at nav options that are available on the iPhone.
 
I have satnav on the blackberry too. Never used it in anger, but probably very good in an emergency.
 
I have a TomTom, my OH has a Garmin. Yes, you can navigate with the TT by inputting the GPS co-ordinates. Not sure about inputting waypoints though.
I find the Garmin frustrating to use - it doesn't give enough warning of turns etc, especially when re-routing, and the voice is annoying as it mis-pronounces everything :lol: (eg Nuerth instead of North, Mucky instead of McKee) My TT is old - I've had it for about 5 years now, so there are better models out there (I have the Go 500). If I was to buy another GPS, I'd definitely go for another TomTom.
We have used them both at the same time (don't ask!) and they have given us slightly different routes to the same destination - sometimes TT is better, sometimes Garmin!
 
Thanks all for your input, most interesting. Sounds like TT is the way to go, anyone use the 550?
 
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