TomTom GPS advice

[Stephen_Chase]

I am considering purchase of a TomTom One unit. It seems to me they are all pretty much similar but this model in much less expensive, especially on eBay.

 

I would welcome any TomTom One advice, suggestions or other model GPS advice.

Thanks,

Stephen

[marcopolo]

Why not Garmin, which seems to be the most widely used make for motorcycles? Great source in Canada is GPS Central in Calgary (you'd pay no provincial sales tax, by the way).

 

http://www.gpscentral.ca/

 

Many are buying the Zumo these days, either the 450, or the 550. I have a Garmin 276C, which I bought in 2005. I really like it, but if I were buying today I'd consider the Zumo, as well as the marine units like the 276C, 376C etc.

[jclevenger]

Why not Garmin

 

For me the $400 price difference was reason enough! The site marcopolo referenced has the Zumo 450 for $649, The Tom Tom One can be had for $249 and even cheaper if you have time to shop around.

 

That being said, there are pros and cons to saving the cash. I have never used the Zumo but from the pictures it does look to be very user friendly and I have used the Garmin interface and preferred it to the Tom Tom interface. The Tom Tom One is a basic GPS, it doesn't have bluetooth or many of the other bells and whistles some of the more expensive models offer, for me that was fine. I wanted a GPS that would keep me from getting lost! I don't personally care for the voices at all and keep it muted most of the time so bluetooth didn't matter. For what I need the Tom Tom One has been fine and I don't regret the purchase.

 

In exchange for saving money you will need to ensure it is put away when it's raining, probably enter your routes with your gloves off, and not be able to hear it talk to you. If you can live with those trade off's then you have an extra $400 to put in your gas tank!

 

IMHO of course

[Stephen_Chase]

Great ideas but I should've added that I don't need Bluetooth, or the extra cost it involves.

 

Aside from higher initial purchase cost, my understanding is that Garmin has a regular industry selling various maps & software updates. My understanding is that TomTom offers these services for free.

 

Stephen

[jclevenger]

I know that there is some maps that Tom Tom does charge for, not 100% certain which ones. There is a fairly extensive community at tomtomforums.com that could answer that for certain.

[Damean]

I have a TomTom Go 510 that I use for work that I absolutely love. I've always been skittish of the self contained gps units, and this one was a very pleasant surprise.

[ricko]

Just acquired the 550 Zumo--actually acquired a '07 1200RT and BMW has a promotion that includes the Zumo. The Zumo is full of neat stuff, but it is not all necessary for following a route. But, since it came with the RT, couldn't pass it up.

[HexHead]

Just acquired the 550 Zumo--actually acquired a '07 1200RT and BMW has a promotion that includes the Zumo. The Zumo is full of neat stuff, but it is not all necessary for following a route. But, since it came with the RT, couldn't pass it up.

 

The BMW Zumo is closer to the 500 than the 550. No XM.

[rgmanley]

My understanding is the TTRider One has been superceded with TTRider Two.

Neighbor has TTRider one. He swears at it every time he tries to turn it one. ON/OFF switch not rider friendly at all--needed to use huge fingernail.

Very challenging to share routes with any Garmin Zumo user--the de facto standard. Tom Tom uses their own formats so very hard to set up a route on a computer and download to the TT.

If the Zumo 550 is to feature rich, check out the lesser Zumos on the Garmin web.

[marcopolo]

...Garmin has a regular industry selling various maps & software updates. My understanding is that TomTom offers these services for free.

 

Software updates from Garmin are free for both the unit's software, and for Mapsource (the mapping software you load onto your PC and on which you can create routes etc. to download to your GPS). You will pay for updates to the map data, should you choose to do that. It's generally $75.

 

I can't comment on TomTom as I don't have one, or know anyone who does. Garmin appears to be the industry "standard". Whether they're the best, or worth the price, is something only you can decide. You should check to see if TomTom is offering free updates to their map data, or to other software. I'd be surprised if you got free map updates, but who knows?

 

You might also try the "Layin' Down Tracks" forum over at ADVRider.com

[DavidEBSmith]

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2007/09/28/navtones-pities-the-fool-whos-late-with-mr-t/

 

Owners of TomTom GPS navigation units that are tired of the plain, boring voices that the systems shipped with can now get Mr. T’s voice on their TomTom GPS system thanks to Navtones. Don’t miss a turn with Mr. T as your navigator sucka! I pity the fool who gets stuck in traffic.

 

If 80’s TV series stars aren’t your fist choice to tell you when to turn as you go about your travels, Navtones also offers Gary Busey, Burt Reynolds and Dennis Hopper celebrity voices along with a slew of non-celebrity voices to choose from

 

But which Dennis Hopper do you get? The cool biker from Easy Rider? The drugged-out photographer from Apocalypse Now? The mysterious-gas-sniffing Frank Booth from Blue Velvet? That could make for some interesting navigational commands, none of which I can possible suggest on this DB.

 

And why have the voice of Curt Schilling for your GPS????