At the end of this month I am going to finally purchase my 1st portable GPS system. I am a bit apprehensive as the units seem to be evolving by leaps & bounds on a daily basis but the price has finally come down to an affordable level I am leaning towards the TomTom 910. I know the Garmin Nuvis are smaller & sleeker but after doing much internet research I feel that the TomTom is the unit for me. The biggest factor in my decision is that the TomTom will allow you to hook it directly up to your PC & create map routes that way. The biggest negatives for the TomTom is that it does not know which side of the street your destination is on & the display isn't the greatest in bright light (but I have read that the TomTom keeps you so well informed vocally that you don't need to look at the display much). I do intend to go to BestBuy or Circuit City & closely examine the TomTom vs Nuvi before purchasing. After my research I have no interest in Magellan.

I did a NAM search & couldn't find much input on the TomTom 910 (only lots of Nuvi info) so... Does anybody have a TomTom 910? Any advise? positive & negative experiences?

Thanks,
TT

 

I got the TomTom 910GO for Mother's Day. I absolutely love it. Admittedly, I do not have experience with the other systems out there so I have no real basis for comparison other than what I've read online since opening my gift. But my husband researched them thoroughly, and TomTom won.

My favorite aspect of TomTom thus far (besides the very sexy Brittish voice that guides me everywhere ) is the bluetooth/hands-free capability. Even with the top down at freeway speed, a call comes in, TomTom answers, and I can speak to whomever is calling. The volume adjust on TomTom is great, and I can hear my callers just fine top down. My callers say they can hear me fine too, and occasionally I get the "why are you yelling?" response...I think it's my natural reaction to yell into the microphone because the top is down. LOL

The travel planning and onlines services are terrific! We're planning our route to MITM now; still deciding where to stop, sites to see, etc.

My first long-trip experience with TomTom was last weekend. We drove from San Diego up to Cambria, San Simeon, Big Sur, Morro Bay, and Monterey....TomTom came in VERY handy in the city of Monterrey; for a Tourist destination they sure don't have that city arranged very well.

Anyway, like all things MINI, GPS/Nav systems are a personal choice. What's right for one motorer isn't right for another, and vice versa. For me, TomTom is awesome!

Note: You might want to hardwire TomTom in. His battery power dies at about 6 hours, and I can't stand having a cord plugged into my cig lighter mucking up the prestine look of the interior of my MINI.

 

I have the GO510 which looks just like the 910 but mine has an SD card where the Go910 has the built in 20gb hard drive. My whole family uses the Tomtom units for our work as we are off road and way out in the middle of no where all the time. We could not be happier with our Tomtoms. I have bought two of them from Shaper Image and one from Best Buy. I would stay away from the Tomtom One though as the window mount is horrible. If you have the money to spend definately get the Go910.

 

Thanks for the info tig & tdm So what do you guys think of the TomTom display? How is it in sunlight?

Also tig, have you tried to map out a long scenic out-of-the-way-on-purpose route yet? I am wondering how easy it is to force the TomTom to take you where you want to go as opposed to going the shortest or quickest way
oooh & a British voice is a big plus

p.s... Where do you guys have yours mounted? I am thinking of mounting either here


or here


I do not want to give up my cupholder as it is the only place I have to put anything.

 

bumpity bump...
cause I am oh so patiently waiting for more advice

 

Sorry! I went out to dinner tonight with a few peeps from the MINI club and just got home.

Let's see - the display screen on TomTom is big. I like it. Although, with the top down and the sun shining, not too much is visible on the screen. You can see the images, but it's not like HDTV if you know what I mean. The sexy male British voice guides me everywhere though. You can alter the display colors and images too, and it does have an auto-diming feature so that you aren't blinded by it at night.

I haven't planned a long scenic route yet. However, I will be doing that for MITM so I'll keep you posted. Though it sounds like you'll have yours already by then TomTom does have routing selections that automatically takes you to the nearest Freeways, or you can program him to specifically route you around/away from Freeways - still reaching your destination. You can also tell TomTom what time you need to be somewhere, and then insert the destination. Based on where the GPS determines your starting location to be, TomTom will give you the fastest route and an alternate route - all ensuring that you reach your destination at the time you indicate you have to be there.

Installation/Mounting - I'm a gadget girl. I have so many electronic toys in my MINI that I'm running out of room. I have a custom made cell phone/RFS radio holder to the right of my console - where the cupholder was at the time of delivery. I flipped the cupholder "pole" and bracket upside down and moved it to the left hand side of the console. I have small hands and it doesn't get in the way of putting the key in the ignition. I also have the MFSW, so I very rarely ever have to mess with the console radio buttons - so no interference from the cupholder.

Thus, my GTech RR, my radar detector, and TomTom find their way to my windshield/dash. The radar detector is mounted to the right of the rear-view mirror. The GTech is mounted squarely in the middle of the dash up against the windshield. TomTom makes his home in the lower left hand corner of the windshield, angled toward me, and at arm-length's reach so I can input commands if necessary once I'm rolling. All units are hardwired in, as I don't like having anything plugged into my cig lighter, and I don't want to see any cords/wires in my cockpit. TomTom's mircrophone is mouted to my sunvisor, with the wiring running down the A-Pillar inside the cover panel (used a flat plastic spatula type tool to tuck it inside).

Hope that answers all your questions. I can take pics of anything you'd like to see up close, no probs. Just say the word.

 

bamatt, here's another link for you to check what folks thought of the other non-Mini GPS devices. I'm in there with my 910 and I'm still lovin it!! Especially for the musak out of 910 into my speakers! Hope this helps but don't hesitate to ask any questions.

Cheers!!

 

Thanks guys. It looks like the NAM preference is toward the Garmin Nuvis. In my research readings the TomTom is winning the race due to it's ability to hook up to a PC & map routes. I am going to hold the NUVI & TomTom in my hand & play with them both before making my final decision just to be sure though

 

Just saw this thread, I have had my 910 since late January and love it. the computer interface could be better, but the unit is ready out of the box so you don't have to make many adjustments. Also, I use this for work a lot and can only store maybe 40 favorites, where I have over 300 locations I visit. That and the fact that it does not calculate total miles driven yet (for my expense reports) are the only drawbacks IMO. I love it , and I have a sexy british chick telling me to get on the motorway, you can even download other celebrity voices such as darth vader and MrT, but I have yet to figure that part out yet, I really want vader telling me where to turn

 

New props for the 910.
I just found a bunch of sites on google, now I have added C3p0, darth vader, KITT, and Yoda to my list of available voices on the tomtom, very cool IMO

 

I had a TomTomGo, and while I liked many features of it (including the English voice that told me to "Take the motorway"!) I also found the directions that it gave me were often wrong. One time it took me south on a 2 lane hiway 16 miles and told me I had arrived at my destination. Only problem was, there was nothing there! Turned out it was 16 miles north on the same road. I took it back and bought the Nuvi 660. Several things I like about it include that you can add locations directly to the unit, as well as the free updates from Garmin. I do wish I could download the celeb voices tho, that was one cool thing about the TomTom.
The Nuvi 660 also has the large hardrive, bluetooth, output to the speakers, handsfree phone interface etc. etc

I'd look at it as well. I also like the fact that Garmin is local (real local actually, based here in KC! ), TomTom is a Dutch co, I believe..........

Oh, and after trying various places around the car, I used the stock factory windshield mount and stuck it in the lower left corner of the windshield. Perfect location, out of the way of the view, don't have to take my eyes off the road and look down to see it, easy to reach, etc......

 

Did you check to see if the Nuvi gave you better directions? In the past I have found map errors consistent between mapping programs Google and Yahoo, only to find the error was in a database that they all shared.

 

I recieved a mapupdate dvd, and this has helped the innacuracies tremendously

 

I have a GO700 (older version of the 910) and I totally love it. It works well with my Mac and I really like the Bluetooth feature.

 

I just got home with my brand new TomTom 910

I really checked out the Garmin Nuvi & the TomTom thoroughly but playing with them in the store is really a joke. It's still a crapshoot until you actually get it in the car & try it out. I got a decently knowledgable Circuit City guy but frankly I knew as much as him about both units from my internet research Wish me luck as I go thru the unfun part of set up & direction reading

 

Well I must say the directions that come with the unit are quite lacking but in my playing around ohhhhhhh I think I bought the right unit. I can plug my TomTom into my puter & plan an itinerary from my computer screen which includes the ability to click any point on a map & add it to my itinerary (no need for massive waypoint creation or address entering to force the unit to drive a certain route). So I think I will be able to plot out long curvy routes for the MINI & have the TomTom navigate me thru them. WOOHOO I am so thrilled. Of course I have not drive tested an itinerary yet but I plan to do it tomorrow.

Now if I could just figure out how to get the sound to play thru my stereo speakers :impatient (you'd think the instructions might tell me how but noooooooooo )

 

I have a Tom Tom and it is Ok , the Garmin products are a better selection . I have garmin in my Plane ( TomaHawk Piper ) , i also use one when i saltwater fish and neither has ever let me down and seems to be the leader in the Industry. I have purchased most of my garmin GPS systems from www.gpscity.com ( do google search and you can find more outlets ) and do not be affraid of refurb's either , they also have brackets and items that you may find usefull. I also hard wired the systems in my car with a exernal antenna so that the unit is in eye sight but no one can see it on the dash nor stuck to the window ( i have a ragtop and the idea of a slash and take bothers me )