TomTom 7 vs Garmin XT....which is better and why???

[DarkLord]

Originally Posted by zikronix

igo8 doesnt support tts....i dont know where that came from...

you're incorrect. it most certainly does. i use it daily.

[jmorton10]

Originally Posted by Mylt1

another option is google maps. im gonna see what kind of route if gives me for going home tonight. i usually use XT but for some reason it ran better and looked better on my titan than on the TP.

I have found that usually Google maps & GarminXT give pretty much the same route.

Of course it depends on how you have the XT options set (IE: shortest/fastest/car-truck etc etc etc)

~John

[Asphyx]

Another Garmin guy here...
I have both on my TP and I always use the Garmin. Best routes, good POIs. I never use it on battery unless I have to. Much better to plug it in.
You don't want the unit going to sleep just before it was supposed to tell you to turn.

[freeza]

I vote for IGO8, clearly the winner of GPS software. TTS is amazing on it as well as maps and features.

[superflysocal]

On my mogul i used igo8 and tt7 and thought the routes for tt7 was much better, so stopped using igo8.

on my tp, i have tt7 installed and just started using garmin xt now that my gps issues are finally fixed (not even sure how).

garmin has some great and usable features. Traffic built in at no extra cost is great. Built in google search is going to be priceless, since you never have to worry about poi's not being updated. Being able to extract smaller map on the pc with Mapsource is a great feature also.

However, i have only used it a few times for route. is it me or does sometimes it takes forever to calculate a route, like 30 - 60 seconds sometimes. TT7 is always super fast in calculating route, less than 5 seconds always. There might be other factors involved, so i would like to hear other's thought on this.

[jmorton10]

Originally Posted by Asphyx

Another Garmin guy here...
I have both on my TP and I always use the Garmin. Best routes, good POIs. .

I agree 100%.

I have used them all (long time NAV owner, I have a TON of experience in this area).

To me, all the features are neat & all that but the 100% most important thing any GPS/NAV unit can do is give consistently good routes & Garmin wins hands down in this category IMHO.

This is not just my opinion by the way, most if not all independent reviewers say the same thing.

~John

[kayfouroh]

Does iGo have free traffic?

[SporkLover]

I have used just about all of the packages that are out there and I prefer GarminXT 5+ by far.

The maps look better, it doesnt look like something from an 80's computer game
The interface is layed out better
Google Local Search makes it way better than TomTom's POI system
The routes are great
Weather, Traffic, a link to Panoramio (helps when looking for specific buildings and places), Fuels Prices... make it way more connected than other packages, and make it more rounded.
Multi-Stop routes are easier to build with Garmin
Proximity Points
The ability to send your exact position in real-time to contacts from within the software
Ability to control how much of the maps are actually loaded

As far as TomTom goes with customization.... other than changing the voices, and icons.... I mean really, what functionality does that add?

[Asphyx]

The other feature I like is that the newest Garmin adds a menu to the contact list menu that lets me see any contacts location on the map...
Google maps does this but not Tom Tom.

I also had issues in upstate NY with Tom Tom on streets that had two designations (like SR55 and CR141 where they overlap)
Tom Tom would not find the state route and you had to use the county route when entering addresses. That may be fixed by now since it's been awhile since I actually used Tom Tom there.

[mwalt2]

I'm happy with garmin on my diamond. I actually like the garmin xt with the more updated maps better than my older standalone garmin gps...just need some sort of mount to hold my phone .

Originally Posted by Asphyx

Another Garmin guy here...
You don't want the unit going to sleep just before it was supposed to tell you to turn.

Just fyi, the screen doesn't go to sleep when running on batteries (at least with default settings). The same goes for google maps.