[sjamma]

Greetings,
my wife went into two different Halfords stores in the London area with the intention of picking up a Navigon 4350MAX. On both occasions she was very strongly discouraged from doing so and recommended other units (In one case a TomTom IQ XL and in the other a Garmin NUVI 265WT). Poor postcode searching, poor support, spares availability and other stuff was mentioned.
Now as I see it the Navigon feature set compares rather well with these models (The TomTom has no TMC and text-to-speech while the Garmin, although speced closer has no lane assist) as well as being rather well thought of on this forum.
Is this just a case of individual sales staff having their own biases/commissions to consider or have I missed something significant about Navigons and this model in particular?
Regards,

[mrash]

its well known they get given Garmins and bigger commissions on the tomtom. Ignore the halfords staff.

[lynx]

Originally Posted by sjamma

(The TomTom has no TMC)

Tomtom IQ XL has TMC.

[terryh]

Just back from Halfords (trying to make a decision on which to buy!) and although the salesman steered me towards Garmin, he didn't try and put me off the 4350max, he did however say that Navigon 4350max is excellent value for money at less than £170, but then went back to taking about Garmin

I did a demo whilst there on first the Garmin 765t, very easy to use but I didn't like the layout and screen graphics much, found it to difficult to see the information easily.

Next was the Garmin 1390t, i thought it was slightly better than the 765, but only the screen graphic's, very similar, maybe even the same but somehow seemed better!

Lastly I tried the Navigon 4350max, not quite as easy to get around the menu's as the Garmin's but still pretty easy.
I liked the layout more than the Garmin's, much easier to see at a glance all of the information on the screen, safer when driving IMHO, although to be honest, I did find it a little 'old fashioned' the 3D screen display was more 2D, but still a nice unit.

These are the thoughts I relayed to the sales guy, he didn't disagree but still tried to get me to buy a Garmin.

I'm still undecided as yet, both the Navigon 4350max and Garmin 1390t meet my needs, oh what to do

[Spy]

Originally Posted by lynx

Tomtom IQ XL has TMC.

Is this the same as the Premium TMC on the 4350 Max or just the standard TMC ?

[guypb]

I bought the 4350max about a month ago after a lot of procrastination and worry.
There really is no "right" choice. You'll learn to love whatever you buy, despite a few teething problems with my 4350, I do now love it.
The option of routes is great, the traffic (for free) is superb, the "hands free" is ideal. I've been over the country - no problems - it picks up a signal v quickly and I know I can travel to Europe with it as well if I want.

the most important element is that I know I have value for money when compared to the competition and my wife can spend the money I "saved" on a new pair of boots!

[mrash]

What swung it for me was the map updates... £17 for 2 years with the Navigon, and they are updated every 3 months. Tomtom and Garmins updates are so expensive its just easier to buy a new unit....