RTi Sat Nav - any good?

[tvrforever]

Ok so I've been a TomTom user for the last 6 years or so and found them to be great but now looking to change to a new S80 and Satnav has come up...

At the moment all the new S80s (except the 2.0D) come with the RTi system as standard at no extra cost, however :-
1) Is the RTI system any good compared to TomTom?
2) How often are the maps updated and at what cost?
3) Can I transfer my current TTG POIs onto the RTI? (as i have all my normal destinations in a POI)
4) Can I get a speed-camera POI on this? (currently use PocketGPSWorld)

For the 2.0D I also have the option of getting a Garmin 760 fitted by Volvo for £460 hardwired re a design agreement they have between Volvo & Garmin - any experiences etc?

Or should I stick with TomTom and work out how to get power to it (as S80 power socket is in centre console between seats)?

Any thoughts / experiences much appreciated...

[F i F]

tvrforever said:

Ok so I've been a TomTom user for the last 6 years or so and found them to be great but now looking to change to a new S80 and Satnav has come up...

At the moment all the new S80s (except the 2.0D) come with the RTi system as standard at no extra cost, however :-
1) Is the RTI system any good compared to TomTom?
2) How often are the maps updated and at what cost?
3) Can I transfer my current TTG POIs onto the RTI? (as i have all my normal destinations in a POI)
4) Can I get a speed-camera POI on this? (currently use PocketGPSWorld)

For the 2.0D I also have the option of getting a Garmin 760 fitted by Volvo for £460 hardwired re a design agreement they have between Volvo & Garmin - any experiences etc?

Or should I stick with TomTom and work out how to get power to it (as S80 power socket is in centre console between seats)?

Any thoughts / experiences much appreciated...

Have experience of RTI in various Volvos and even a far too short blurt in an Aston, plus we have a Garmin Nuvi 760, however no experience of Tom Tom apart from limited anecdotal evidence.

1) The RTi is far better than the Garmin in many ways in terms of directions, and ease of input and control. My daughter who has experience of Tom Tom having borrowed her Mum's car with the Garmin reckons that the Nuvi performs better than the Tom Tom.

A number of people have said the RTi looks old fashioned and it's true the menus have a typeface which looks to be from an old Amstrad, but actually very legible and simple to follow. The mapping I find far better, roads are simply depicted as lines, as opposed to a two lines except on the junction diagrams. The Garmin interface and maps look prettier but don't do the job any better and in some cases not so well.

The position placement on the map and timing of direction instructions is far better than the Nuvi, as that simply relies on the GPS positioning where it looks to me as if the RTi system uses vehicle sensors to track position, eg it keeps track accurately through tunnels re distance and direction when you've lost the signal.

The RTi unit inputs are from a remote control, which means passengers can easily alter things, or the driver has two buttons plus a little joystick on the steering wheel. Very easy and rapid inputs, the Nuvi positioned on the Volvo mmount can be a bit of a stretch, though of course it's easy to demount.

On routing instructions the RTI seem better timed and clearer, ie it takes account, mostly, of which is the major road, whereas the Nuvi 760 seems at times a bit lacking in that respect.

Screen much bigger, and I like the split screen effect. I have the RH screen zoomed in as far as possible, though it automatically zooms out a notch above 130 kph.(ish) :cough: The LH screen I have zoomed out a bit to get a wider view of the journey ahead, so you can spot traffic problems ahead. When you get to an instruction, a junction diagram pops up on the LH screen, with a marker which shows your position on that diagram. Thus a complicated roundabout you can actually see, should you so wish, when you are approaching your desired junction on complicated roundabouts. Remember the compass and distance tracking comes in handy. Equally if you get the instruction to turn right in 200 yds, by looking at the RH screen you can easily see you don't want the junction that you can see, but the one that's pout of sight round the next bend.

Sometimes both the the RTi and the Garmin give you strange routes, but no satnav is a substitute for good accurate local knowledge. You can modify preferences, but have many more options on the RTi than the Garmin, including narrow roads, slippery roads, all the usual problems, plus you can select specific roads or custom picked areas to avoid.

2. My experience is with systems using DVD discs, 3 discs cover all of W Europe, some of E Europe and Scandinavia. These are updated every so often but not as often as mapping which is downloadable, and the cost for a set of discs is £200. There is a place somewhere on the official Volvo site where you can check map updates and coverage, I'll try and find it as it isn't easy to find hidden away for some reason.

However the current RTi system talks about a hard drive, so therefore I have no idea whether this truly is a hard drive, ie no longer DVD discs, and that might affect the answers to questions 2 & 3.

3. For the DVD based system nope you have to code them in and save them as up to 200 iirc individual locations. Hard drive system don't know.

4. Nope, see 3. Personally I don't use speed camera locations even on the Garmin but that is my choice.

Summary, no choice for me, next Volvo will have the RTi, end of.

[F i F]

Oh yes, forgot to add, whilst the RTi TMC system works well I find the re-routing when you do get a problem is crap. Not got experience with the Garmin TMC system and re-routing yet.

Flashes up a message, do you want to re-route? You pick yes, easy input from steering wheel buttons joystick.
System calculates optional route and shows distance and time for both options, still being guided on original route.
You pick alternate route.
Starts guiding you on alternate route but then finds another problem.
Reiterate round the picking an alternate route, but all it does is find your original route, so you just end up flicking between the two.

You do have a avoid button, which tells it to find a way round the problem, and you can tell it to take a diversion of varying selectable lengths, never used it much so no real valid user comment.

Anything else you want to know just ask.

[F i F]

Sorry for spamming the thread....

Link to information on system for S80
They say updates 1-2 times per year for £179.99 ouch, the screen shots on that page look very similar to my current DVD system, and it says it's a DVD system.

Link to info about hard drive system
This will be in my next car, and it looks as if they've prettied up the maps, but you get a good idea of the split screen effect I'm talking about.
Also I see it includes speed camera data and a superb multilane positioning advice. Reinforces my decision about which system to have.

Info on garmin system

Edited by F i F on Monday 28th July 15:07