Thinking of returning Garmin Sat Nav for a TomTom

silvine

I just bought a Garmain Sat Nav 250 and am slightly disappointed by the lack of information on it. It doesn't have a great database of schools and my estate (two years old) isn't on it. I paid EUR200 for it in Halfords.

I have made sure I am using the latest maps as advised elsewhere on these forums. I am thinking of returning it and getting a TomTom. Are their maps any better?

ElNino

Navteq maps are reckoned by most to be better than Teleatlas maps in Ireland. TomTom used to use Navteq maps but they bought Teleatlas last year and switched to Teleatlas maps. Garmin use Navteq maps.

So to answer your question no, the Garmin maps are probably better than the TomTom maps.

Alun

TomTom only used Navteq maps on one device (the Go?) IIRC, all the rest were TeleAtlas. TeleAtlas maps aren't too bad in the major cities, and actually seem to be better than the current Navteq ones in some areas (mine for example), but once you get out into the sticks they're considerably worse.

You could try looking for your estate on navteq's MapReporter website .. they're updating that as they go along, so maybe it's already on there, or maybe you could do the 'right thing' and report it's absence yourself and ensure it's on the next release?

robinph

Two years old is probably still a bit too new to get in the latest versions of either set of maps for Ireland unless you get lucky with your particular estate getting updated. But the lack of your own estate being in the maps shouldn't be an issue really as I assume that you know your way around there without the GPS?

silvine

Indeed I do! I was just wondering it's missing my estate, what else is it missing?! I guess I'll keep it so. Thanks for the advice.

coylemj

You're assertion earlier that you were thinking of returning it suggests that you're under the impression that Halfords would exchange it for a Tom Tom, do you have any basis for this assumption because they would not be legally obliged to change it?

AnCatDubh

I own a TomTom product, I have used but don't own a Garmin product, and i wished i owned the Garmin instead of the TomTom. Regularly enough I'd travel around the country and I find major junctions missing, roads running through rivers which they obviously don't (not a problem as i tend not to drive in rivers ;o), bad line alignment and confusing junction display, and generally poor coverage. If it were me I'd stick with the Garmin. This of course is only a personal opinion.

silvine

coylemj wrote: »

You're assertion earlier that you were thinking of returning it suggests that you're under the impression that Halfords would exchange it for a Tom Tom, do you have any basis for this assumption because they would not be legally obliged to change it?

Yes, the guy in the shop told me if I have any problems I could bring it back!

coylemj

Sounds like good customer service. BTW you bemoaned tha lack of schools in the Garmin unit, I have never seen a school marked on a GPS map of any country, makes sense when you consider the number of pervs about and anyway if you're kids go to a certain school, you're hardly going to rely on SatNav to get you there after the first couple of trips.

If your estate isn't shown on the map I suspect that's because the county council hasn't supplied the data to the Ordnance Survey. By any chance was there a delay in the county council assuming responsibility for maintaining the road in your estate? If so this might also explain it because sometimes if the builder doesn't complete the estate to the satisfaction of the local authority then the council won't accept responsibility for the roads which theoretically remain priate property and they won't feature on OS maps.

parsi

coylemj wrote: »

Sounds like good customer service. BTW you bemoaned tha lack of schools in the Garmin unit, I have never seen a school marked on a GPS map of any country, makes sense when you consider the number of pervs about and anyway if you're kids go to a certain school, you're hardly going to rely on SatNav to get you there after the first couple of trips.

I think it's less to do with "pervs" and more down to the fact that in a strange town you need the location of pertrol stations, hotels and hospitals rather than schools "Oh my God, it's a new town I must find the closest school and do my 27-times tables..."

coylemj wrote: »

If your estate isn't shown on the map I suspect that's because the county council hasn't supplied the data to the Ordnance Survey. By any chance was there a delay in the county council assuming responsibility for maintaining the road in your estate? If so this might also explain it because sometimes if the builder doesn't complete the estate to the satisfaction of the local authority then the council won't accept responsibility for the roads which theoretically remain priate property and they won't feature on OS maps.

Plenty of private roads on OSI maps. Also Navteq did a lot of their own mapping independent of councils and the OSI

coylemj

The ability to find the nearest hospital, police station etc. is in the 255 but not the 250.

JHMEG

coylemj wrote: »

If your estate isn't shown on the map I suspect that's because the county council hasn't supplied the data to the Ordnance Survey. By any chance was there a delay in the county council assuming responsibility for maintaining the road in your estate? If so this might also explain it because sometimes if the builder doesn't complete the estate to the satisfaction of the local authority then the council won't accept responsibility for the roads which theoretically remain priate property and they won't feature on OS maps.

OSI do not sell or licence maps to any of the satnav companies. Navteq drove the country and surveyed it themselves. TeleAtlas bought most of their data in bits and pieces from various sources (none Irish) and glued it all together.

Alun

JHMEG wrote: »

OSI do not sell or licence maps to any of the satnav companies. Navteq drove the country and surveyed it themselves. TeleAtlas bought most of their data in bits and pieces from various sources (none Irish) and glued it all together.

I've seen a TeleAtlas survey vehicle (Belgian registered) around Dublin recently, so it looks like they're doing some of their own stuff now as well.

JHMEG

Alun wrote: »

I've seen a TeleAtlas survey vehicle (Belgian registered) around Dublin recently, so it looks like they're doing some of their own stuff now as well.

That's why I said most.. they do survey a very small percentage themselves, the likes of the port tunnel for example.