TomTom--Stag related

[Klaus Schlueter]

Hi all
my seven year old TomTom One has given up. Time to spend some money.
My question: does anybody use one of the newer TomTom units with or w/o "Live Service" in the Stag? Somewhere I read that the display is too light and the speaker is not loud enough for open driving?
Any help is very welcome.

Klaus

[Jeff]

Hi Klaus,

Not got a Tom Tom sorry, but I have had Navman now for about 9 years and the newest one is very loud, albeit possibly not the best satnav on the market, but then again, not the most expensive either.


Jeff.

[grahamm]

Hi Klaus,

For a recent charity driving trip from UK to Italy I renewed my old Tom Tom sat nav and this time went for a Garmin nuvi 2595 unit - my good wife bought it for me. This choice was determined largely by the offer of free life time updates of maps. I have been most pleased with the unit with the sole exception that the updates take forever to download (many hours sometimes) and my internet connection is not a slow system.

On the trip the team had two systems - the Garmin and a newish and up to date Tom Tom. Both worked well. After some time for learning the new to us Garmin system we concluded that they both did the job very well. The Garmin scored a small extra point as the display could be customised.

Overal, the Garmin wins for me as it is free map updates. With my old Tom Tom I had decided to not pay the fees for map updates as they were costing more than a new system!

Hope that helps.

Graham

[Andrew S]

If you have an IPhone, download it for £26

[grahamm]

and to add - the charity trip was in a saloon so there were no problems with seeing or hearing the system. I have used both my old Tom Tom and Garmin in my Stag - no problems with either - volume and visuals both OK.

Graham

[al-stag]

Navfree on Android phones is good. I really like Google Maps navigation on my phone, you can download maps on WiFi now. I have a built in Garmin Satnav in the Kenwood unit in my Eurobox, its absolute crap in comparison inacurate, stupid routes, never up to date. Thats where Google wins.

Al

[Jeff]

If you have an IPhone, download it for £26

I've got Skobbler (recommended) on my i phone (£2.69) and the volume is very low.

Tested that and my Navman at a junction, set to take me home, one said turn left, the other said turn right, they BOTH nearly flew out the window

[Klaus Schlueter]

Many thanks so far. Maybe there are further users experiences the next hours and days. This thread could be of interst for other Stag drivers as well.

BTW: we had a test carried out by Computer Bild (the most welknown computer mag in Germany) covering sat navigation for smartphones. The ranking:
winner: Navigon (Mobile Navigator), 2. Google Maps, 3. Nokia, 4. iPhone. 2,3 and 4 are free of charge, Navigon € 65. But Navigon covers only D, AT and CH. I need at least Western Europe icl. GB (going to the ESM in May).

I would like to stay with TomTom as my wife is used to handle the software as well and she would not like too much to change to a new system.

Any further experience?

Klaus

[DJT]

I've been using Skobbler on my iPhone for several months and found it to be very good. Certainly when you compare it with the 'established' SatNav machines or their (expensive) iPhone Apps.

I do still carry a road atlas in the car though as back-up...........

[RogerP]

Hi Klaus.
I've been using tomtom for the last nine years and so far have been very pleased with it....just before Xmas we bought a new one with the larger screen and the main reason was they are doing a special offer with free lifetime map updates ours has got live but that makes no difference, the problem is I think the offer ends, end of march. The layout has changed a bit but not too much, the main difference and I think it's a downgrade is you can only put in five via points, on the old system you could put as many as you wanted, but if you don't use via points not a problem the only other way round if you do is to save routes. Hope that helps.
Roger

[dasadrew]

..I need at least Western Europe incl. GB....

Klaus

Better buy one soon then whilst GB is still included in Europe maps!

Why not use Henny-Henny instead of Tom Tom?

[Klaus Schlueter]

Why not use Henny-Henny instead of Tom Tom?

We did that since the early sixties, Drew. Worked fine, much more exciting, especially when touring through the Sahara with our VW camper in the eighties.

Roger: which type is it? Go Live 1015?

Klaus

[RogerP]

Klaus....The one we've got is Go Live 825........................PS according to TomTom lifetime means about 10 years they reckon thats the life of most units..

Roger

[Klaus Schlueter]

Thanks Roger. Is the live-function a useful feature? Once during the ESM you showed me on your older TomTom the traffic situation around Cologne--very impressive. But in the longer run did you use this possibility very often and was it reliable? In Germany we pay €50 for one year in order to use it.

And screen visibility and loudness are ok during open driving?

Klaus

[RogerP]

Thanks Roger. Is the live-function a useful feature? Once during the ESM you showed me on your older TomTom the traffic situation around Cologne--very impressive. But in the longer run did you use this possibility very often and was it reliable? In Germany we pay €50 for one year in order to use it.

And screen visibility and loudness are ok during open driving?

Klaus

Klaus.....I used to do part time courier work and found it really useful, not just for traffic but was also useful for googling places......But for normal use its not really necessary with the live units I think you get the first 12 months free, after that time you've got the choice to renew or not, if you don't renew it doesn't stop the unit from working......I find it loud enought and normally the screen is bright enough as well, but of course there are times when the sun catches it and you can't see, but you can get a shield that uses Velcro to attach to the unit there may be others or you could make a small cover a bit like a peak cap.
Roger