I have been a user of Tomtom almost from year dot, when it ran on a PDA.
Mostly Tomtom has been excellent on the navigation front over the years and I’ve tried others, like Garmin, on several occasions.
These days my job often takes me all around the country and over a year ago I upgraded to the Tomtom Go Discover unit with its new faster interface/OS and maps.
On many of my trips I simultaneously run Google navigation alongside Tomtom. In the past I’ve found Tomtom to be slightly more accurate iro routing and traffic than Google. But in the last 6 months or so I’ve found Tomtom trying to take me down routes that are blocked, whereas Google, quite rightly, has been navigating me around them. I’m not sure if this is only an issue on the newer Tomtom OS or across all other Tomtom platforms.
I’m getting to the point of trusting Google over Tomtom now. Have others been having similar experiences?
I started using a tomtom on my HP pda that I had on a waterproof RAM mount fitted on my bike for touring in the UK and overseas. That was more years ago that I can reliably remember. I had tomtom go and some other devices but since google maps came about it became my primary navigating tool. To be honest I haven’t used a tomtom for many years and google maps is extremely good. the only downside is the route planning that you have a limited POI, and they are all destinations - cannot at the moment be defined as waypoints. the plus its free, and I also use the timehistory feature (you need to have the GPS tracking enabled on the phone) in case you pass from a nice area all you need to remember is the time and you can figure out where you were later on.
Wase is another navigation app but I have not used it.
I use Google maps for most of my navigation now. It’s the fact their maps must be as up to date as is possible and it’s dynamic taking account of traffic flow, hold ups etc. It gives you a constant idea of how the traffic is flowing on your route with the time and distance showing up in green if all is well, orange if not, and red for more serious issues. I do on occasion use Waze to mix it up a bit, which is just as good really although I prefer a proper satellite image on the screen and not sure you can get that on Waze. I was originally a TomTom user years ago then moved on to Garmin and do still stick the Garmin in the MX-5 on occasions as it came with lifetime map updates so still getting my money’s worth!
You do wonder how you ever got anywhere using just maps!
Google for me, it also gives info on crashes as well as ETA to get through the blocked road. There is also a new feature on Google maps that shows routes with lower fuel consumption, which is useful on a long drive.
As far as I am aware, Google Maps uses live phone positioning and therefore movement to provide real time traffic flow. As they also own Waze, although a different app, I presume it does the same.
You can add waypoints in Google maps quite easily, even from your phone. When you search for your destination, click show route rather than going straight to “Start” which will show the start and end point. Click the 3 dots and select “Add Stop” You can add as many as you want.
I lost faith in TomTom a few years ago now when it was in my MX5.
Waze is basically very good, but just for driving.
Google is great, as it give you real time traffic and you can use it for driving, cycling walking and even trains if you so wish.
Use it quite often in walk mode when in unfamiliar towns/cities.
The bonus of course is you don’t have to pay any upgrade fees, (unless life time maps) either.
Very much this. If I put my business name into Google Maps (or Google for that matter) It shows where I am, and it should do because that is the information I gave to Google for the business. If I put the business name into my 72 plate car’s Sat Nav I get a home address that I have not lived, nor been registered at Companies House at since 2012.