TomTom Vs Garmin
TomTom is a Dutch company that was founded in 1991 and currently sells Satelitte Navigation Systems all over the world. TomTom is currently the global leader in navigation and mapping products and makes a range of GPS systems and release its first navigator product in 2002 when it release a Windows CE powered PDA. Today TomTom makes a range of products for cars, motorcycle or even your RV. The range consists of an all-in-one navigator, the TomTom Go Series, a car specific sat nav in the TomTom One XL and the TomTom One which the difference being the size of the screen, the TomTom rider for your motorcycle and the TomTom Navigator which is TomTom’s navigation software for your palm or pocket PC. TomTom is well known for fantastic navigators with very easy to follow turn-by-turn instructions.
Garmin is a multinational corporation with offices all over the world, however is based in Kansas, USA and was formed in 1983 and since this time has sold over 126million GPS units over a full range of sectors. Garmin makes Navigators for not only cars where it makes the Nuvi series, but also boats with the Marine Series, aviation with the G series, motorcycles with the Zumo series, Dezl for the trucks, Camper for the RV’s and eTrex for the hand-helds. Garmin is well know for their fantastic customer service, amazing websites that give you real information and super easy interface’s and menu systems, meaning that actually you do not even have to read the instructions.
We would highly recommend that when you’re buying a Sat Nav you stick with the brand named companies as these are definatly better units. Yes the competition may be slightly cheaper or have new features that are in principle a great idea, however in our experience they seem a great idea in principle, however in reality either they do not work properly or are the sort of features that you will never use. TomTom and Garmin have been together making Sat Nav’s for over 100 years and therefore have had a lot of practice in how to make a good GPS unit and how not to. Often these two brands, can be more expensive, however you ‘re paying for a quality product that will work, will be updated continually and will get you from point A to point B with the easiest route in the quickest time.
TomTom XXL Classic
The TomTom XXL Classic comes with a super clear, 5-inch touchscreen sat nav device that comes with TomTom’s easy to use menu system and interface meaning that you can easily find your way around your sat nav and find the features that you want to. The menu system connects well to the maps meaning that after you have typed in your destination using the touch screen keyboard, the device will calucate the best route and show you the route on the maps on your device.
The XXL Classic comes with not only super detailed maps of the UK, but also 22 countries of western Europe meaning that you will not need to buy additional maps if you decided to travel abroard. The sat nav, uses a combination of both spoken turn-by-turn directions and advanced lane guidance with 3D images to provide to you with the easiest directions therefore making sure that you always know the direction and road that you need to take to get to your destination.
Maps are continually updated via TomTom’s online pier-to-pier website which uses real life data directly from users to make sure that maps are always updated and any new roads or junctions are always shown on your sat nav. The unit also come with a “help me” button which allows you to search through a massive points of interest database for things such as the nearest cash machine or petrol station and the unit comes with an okay windshield mount which works well, however this is one area that you might want to upgrade and get yourself a good friction mount which can be used on your dash-board.
Overall the TomTom Classic XXL is a very good Satellite Navigation system that could do a very good job, however it does have some flaws. The screen is only a single orientation screen meaning that you can only have so much information on it before it becomes un-readable and whilst the unit does calculate routes quickly, re-calcuations when you make a wrong turn can be annoyingly slow.
TomTom GO 600
The TomTom GO 600 is TomTom’s all new 2021 car Sat Nav system that has been re-designed from ground level up to put you in the control of your route planning and ensure that you get to your destination in the quickest possible time on the easiest route. The device comes with TomTom’s latest 6-Inch touchscreen that comes with an excellent Pinch and Zoom meaning that you can easily zoom in and out when looking for your desination.
The already very easy to use interface and menu system has been made even more simple to the point where you really do not need to read the instructions before completely understanding how your Sat Nav system works. When you are ready, simply press address’s and your system will open an on screen keyboard that uses predictive text to make entering your destination quick and easy.
TomTom’s latest processor chip means that location are found quickly and the spoken navigation starts. The device gives you spoken turn-by-turn directions together with spoken street names and 3D images to ensure that even on the difficult junctions you’re easily able to find the right lane to be in to get to your destination.
The Go 600 comes with many other exciting features such as a route bar which gives you a whole host of extra information that could be useful to help you arrive at your destination on time such as traffic alerts, speed camera and weather conditions and a massive points of interest database to help you find close parking places or petrol stations if needed.
Overall a fantastic Sat Nav device, however because it’s a 2014 model with all the latest features it is quite expensive and to be honest a few of the older models have better features and work better. As with all sat nav’s that have just been released, they are quite buggie meaning that not everything works exactly how it is supposed to and will need a few TomTom updates to really make sure the device works how it is supposed to.