best for Europe, TomTom Vs Garmin vS TomTom

[happyhiker]

Sorry for yet another whats the best sat nav question, but I'm getting confused as different sources tell me different information.

I have TomTom5 on my phone and am Looking to upgrade to a dedicated system, primarily for Holidays in France. Its either TomTom one, one XL or Garmin 250. The TT v3 has map share but no expansion slot. The TT XL appears to have an expansion slot, but not be V3, so no Map Share, is that right? Do the TT's have street level european maps, I can't find anywhere that says street level, just 'most up to date'.

Also Garmin looks good, but can you do advanced planning with these ? and I presume no map share? Do garmins let you avoid roadblocks etc?

And whats the viw on wide screen, worth an extar £30 or so ?

Thanks for any help.

 

[r2d2_c3po]

Wonder how you got along with your choice...

I got myself a TomTom One v3 GB last week, worked fine out of the box. But it died after I updated it using the TomTom software... It had a flashing Red Cross that came up once you put it on, and the PC software couldnt connect/update to the device either.

Went to Currys and they promptly gave me a new one. The same thing happened with the second piece, and I went and got my money back.

Few things for sure:
* TomTom Documentation is crap - hard to find troubleshooting help
* TomTom Website is also quite rubbish when it comes to details - it tells me I can buy Western Europe maps for my device (900mb) but the device comes with only 512mb memory
* No memory expansion slots on the TomTom v3 GB, so expansion is limited
* Onboard software is crash prone
* Update process can kill your device! - Always Backup first, even though the manual/software dont ask you to do this!!

From what I see in other forums, Garmin nuvi 250 seems to be quite good, comes with Europe maps, has stable onboard Software and overall Garmin Maps are supposed to be more accurate (although voice commands aren't as nice on the Garmin, and no mapshare).

Regarding details of European Maps on the Garmin 250 -- It has a diagram on the box that shows the level of detail for each European Country. Most Western Europe countries seem to have full detail, and eastern Europe is partial mapping only.




For me it is bye bye TomTom, hello Garmin.

 

[horribleman]

I'd avoid garmin personally, after having trouble with one finding satellites, and finding that others have had the same issues.

I got a Navman S70 with Euro maps and it's really good once you figure out the best route preferences.