Sony NV-U92T or Garmin nuvi 670 or TomTom 910?
Discussion
Has anyone made the comparison? Seems that the tomtom has a handy cable for plugging into car stereo, which could be useful if the built-in speaker isn't loud enough with the roof off, but is bigger & heavier (340g) than the garmin (190g) or Sony (250g) and the shortest battery life. Garmin is the only one that doesn't require paid subscription to TMC services - and the tomtom requires a separate receiver at £80 (unsure if that includes the subscription?) The Sony has other sensors to try and work out where you are when there's no GPS signal (e.g. tunnels) which the others don't seem to, and has the biggest screen at 4.8" but no bluetooth.. the tomtom feature of reading SMS on the screen is appealing.
Does anyone have experience of these specific models? What the specs don't say is what they're actually like to use and how well they do what they're supposed to.
thanks
Does anyone have experience of these specific models? What the specs don't say is what they're actually like to use and how well they do what they're supposed to.
thanks
Not sure what features the 670 has but I have a Nuvi 660T and use the headphone socket to plug into the stereo. Now an Elise is possibly the worst soundstage in the world (especially with a sports zorst) but I can play MP3s through it and hear directions and alerts pretty well on the motorway. Hands free even works reasonably well if needed (although you wouldn't want a long conversation but then you'd expect that with the roof off).
TMC works reasonably well, reception can be patchy at times (TMC coverage isn't brilliant throughout the country) and traffic updates can't be expected pick up every jam but it's got me out of a few tight spots. I'd always treat this feature as a bonus.
It's a brilliant all-round package
TMC works reasonably well, reception can be patchy at times (TMC coverage isn't brilliant throughout the country) and traffic updates can't be expected pick up every jam but it's got me out of a few tight spots. I'd always treat this feature as a bonus.
It's a brilliant all-round package
Edited by kevin ritson on Wednesday 29th August 20:11
kevin ritson said:
TMC works reasonably well, reception can be patchy at times (TMC coverage isn't brilliant throughout the country) and traffic updates can't be expected pick up every jam but it's got me out of a few tight spots. I'd always treat this feature as a bonus.
Just in case no one knew, but the TMC data is broadcast on a carrier on the Classic FM radio channel. Unfortunately coverage is still a bit patchy and it is recon'ed that you should get a decent signal for about 70% of the UK - though obviously built up areas are better. The way it is supposed to work is that you have an FM receiver for the satnav, which then locks into the Classic FM channel. Then it downloads the data as and when it is available and redirects you as required. Since receiption of Classic FM is patchy, so is the receivers for the signal anyway. I have a massive FM wire for my satnav which is long enough to get a decent signal most of the time. However, the nature of the signal means that a horizontal alignment is best. I wonder how many people who complain about poor TMC receiption actually have their wires set correctly and understand how it is supposed to work. Then again, the TomTom solution is bobbins and uniformly panned as being crap - though it does seem to work for some people. So much so that the new x20 models are not coming with TMC in the UK - maybe never! Will have to see on that one.
kevin ritson said:
Not sure what features the 670 has but I have a Nuvi 660T and use the headphone socket to plug into the stereo. Now an Elise is possibly the worst soundstage in the world (especially with a sports zorst) but I can play MP3s through it and hear directions and alerts pretty well on the motorway. Hands free even works reasonably well if needed (although you wouldn't want a long conversation but then you'd expect that with the roof off).
TMC works reasonably well, reception can be patchy at times (TMC coverage isn't brilliant throughout the country) and traffic updates can't be expected pick up every jam but it's got me out of a few tight spots. I'd always treat this feature as a bonus.
It's a brilliant all-round package
Very useful - thanks. Have basically eliminated the tomtom I think, have read so many comments about the poor mounting, mapping problems and the thing just switching itself off now and then. So, the sony or the garmin...TMC works reasonably well, reception can be patchy at times (TMC coverage isn't brilliant throughout the country) and traffic updates can't be expected pick up every jam but it's got me out of a few tight spots. I'd always treat this feature as a bonus.
It's a brilliant all-round package
Edited by kevin ritson on Wednesday 29th August 20:11
I have just replaced my ancient PDA based TomTom (I started with v2(?) back in 2002(?) then upgraded to v5 a couple of years back) with a Garmin Nuvi 370.
The 370 is the one with all the gizmos on it including full European and North American mapping, Bluetooth, SD slot, text to speech, lifetime TMA traffic etc, but is not widescreen. I couldn't see the point of the widescreen one unless your eyesight isn't so good - what esle does it do...?
Anyways, The Garmin's more reliable than my TomTom, easier to use and much more compact. It acquires satellites massively faster. (My TomTom seemingly no longer hot or warm starts, only cold).
What is has done is dumbed things down. Any moron including me can use the Nuvi, TomTom slightly more fiddly BUT is much more configurable. I like the full postcode search of the Garmin and the better POI listings (although depsite it being brand new and fully updated with Garmin's on line service, some POIs are massively out of date - ie: 3 years)
I have traded off geeky customisation vs ease and reliability. Suits me.
ETS : Nuvi 370 has the 3.5mm socket for plugging into car stereo also. When a text message comes in, it gives you the option of read on screen or it will do text-to-speech and actually read it out...!
The 370 is the one with all the gizmos on it including full European and North American mapping, Bluetooth, SD slot, text to speech, lifetime TMA traffic etc, but is not widescreen. I couldn't see the point of the widescreen one unless your eyesight isn't so good - what esle does it do...?
Anyways, The Garmin's more reliable than my TomTom, easier to use and much more compact. It acquires satellites massively faster. (My TomTom seemingly no longer hot or warm starts, only cold).
What is has done is dumbed things down. Any moron including me can use the Nuvi, TomTom slightly more fiddly BUT is much more configurable. I like the full postcode search of the Garmin and the better POI listings (although depsite it being brand new and fully updated with Garmin's on line service, some POIs are massively out of date - ie: 3 years)
I have traded off geeky customisation vs ease and reliability. Suits me.
ETS : Nuvi 370 has the 3.5mm socket for plugging into car stereo also. When a text message comes in, it gives you the option of read on screen or it will do text-to-speech and actually read it out...!
Edited by Roop on Thursday 30th August 13:09
munky said:
Surely it's not just Classic FM though? I rented a Vectra at the weekend (someone has to!) and its built-in satnav was picking up a TMC signal from Clyde FM.. also it had a setting for switching between fully auto, regional only or picking a station manually
There are a couple of frequencies around the country and it does vary - that's probably where the problem comes in! The majority of the UK is covered by Classic FM, but in areas where there is congestion with other broadcast frequencies, it is carried on other stations. Actually, the fact that the factory satnav has an option to allow you to find the TMC channel indicates that even the makers are not confident that it will work properly! There should be just one channel and that is it - but since the BBC insists on broadcasting 4 radio stations on 60% of the available FM channels, it leaves little for commercial radio or other services.....
off_again said:
munky said:
Surely it's not just Classic FM though? I rented a Vectra at the weekend (someone has to!) and its built-in satnav was picking up a TMC signal from Clyde FM.. also it had a setting for switching between fully auto, regional only or picking a station manually
There are a couple of frequencies around the country and it does vary - that's probably where the problem comes in! The majority of the UK is covered by Classic FM, but in areas where there is congestion with other broadcast frequencies, it is carried on other stations. Actually, the fact that the factory satnav has an option to allow you to find the TMC channel indicates that even the makers are not confident that it will work properly! There should be just one channel and that is it - but since the BBC insists on broadcasting 4 radio stations on 60% of the available FM channels, it leaves little for commercial radio or other services.....
In case it's of interest to anyone, the Sony has an extra aerial wire which should be fastened in place with extra suction cups; sounds like a hassle to me, assuming you'd want to detach it each time you leave the car to avoid it getting broken into. The Garmin has the aerial built into the 12v power cord. Sony charges £20 for lifetime TMC subscription, Garmin includes it in the price (which is a lot higher than the Sony but then comes with US + Europe maps - the Europe only nuvi 660 is a lot closer to the price of the sony)
AlexHancock said:
I'm thinking about the 670 but thanks for the review of the 370. The 670 also has the FM transmitter which is useful for some cars. It's always hard to know if the differences are worth the money!
Bear in mind that if you are only using it in cars with headphone jack inputs you won't need the transmitter. But if you will be using it in a variety of cars and aren't sure if they have this socket then it'll be useful (although you could always get an MP3 FM transmitter seperately for those)munky said:
Perhaps, but it worked perfectly in the vectra in Scotland, re-routing me around Glasgow traffic and when routing back to London, knew that the M40 was closed and avoided that too. However the unit uses the external car aerial, things could be different with a piece of wire running along the dashboard!
Yeah, the factory ones work pretty well - I have tried BMW, Toyota and Vauxhall units and all worked well - but then again, they are units which cost £1500 and upwards so they better be! The FM channel used is different according to area but the data is the same - its not regional. So you will get traffic information for London in Scotland. That way its a bit more guaranteed. When you get a TMC signal then you get everything and the navigation computer can sort itself out, whether you get another TMC FM signal fix or not.munky said:
In case it's of interest to anyone, the Sony has an extra aerial wire which should be fastened in place with extra suction cups; sounds like a hassle to me, assuming you'd want to detach it each time you leave the car to avoid it getting broken into. The Garmin has the aerial built into the 12v power cord. Sony charges £20 for lifetime TMC subscription, Garmin includes it in the price (which is a lot higher than the Sony but then comes with US + Europe maps - the Europe only nuvi 660 is a lot closer to the price of the sony)
Its funny isnt it. Quite how they are going to police the "subscription" is anyones guess. The data is of a particular format and you need a computer program to decode it and understand the information. But since you dont need to enter in any "key" or similar, quite how your TMC subscription is cancelled again is anyone's guess. And since there is nothing to directly stop you from paying the £20 in the first place, its all a bit daft. There is a long and complex story behind this, but someone let a monopolistic commercial company be responsible for the handling of traffic information in the UK. They want a fee and everyone must pay it! There are now two sources for the data - Traffic Master and ITIS. Both charge and there is virtually nothing we can do about it. Things are changing on the continent, but in general traffic info is free to end-users pretty much everywhere.....The Garmin one works well, but obviously you must have external power connected for it to work. This is the most efficient one that I have seen since you dont need sodding cables draped everywhere. But its a little questionable if the signal receiption is any good though. It really needs to be in clear sight of the sky for decent FM signal lock. Bizarrely almost all of the satnav vendors talk about "integrated TMC" - this just means that the decoder is built in to the unit, you still need the cable. It would be good to have a decent unit which had the wires and the GPS receiver all in the same unit. Now that would be clever....
Currently looking into the Road Angel 9000 which uses a built in GPRS system for getting the data. Now that sounds good but a lack of decent third party reviews is not quite convincing me its worth the cash.
I'm sure I saw one that can plug into your car's aerial system for the TMC, but for the life of me I can't remember which one it was, have read so many specs and reviews that I'm starting to forget which one is which! The FM aerial in a Tiv isn't great anyway (still no idea where it is even) so I paid little attention. Did read about GPRS as an alternative, (does TomTom use that for its proprietary traffic service?) however then you're at the mercy of GPRS signals (can be tricky abroad) and an unknown cost (well, I know my data tariff on O2 is pretty steep, but I've no idea how frequently it would need to connect or how large the data packets are) so the thought of a one-off payment for TMC appeals. I'm also curious to know how the sony unit knows whether you've paid - perhaps the same key entry it uses for the scamera database?
the sony seems to have a clever soft gel suction device that sticks well to either dash or screen without leaving any marks at all for thieves to see - but this benefit is negated if you then have to stick standard suction cups on the screen for the TMS aerial.
the sony seems to have a clever soft gel suction device that sticks well to either dash or screen without leaving any marks at all for thieves to see - but this benefit is negated if you then have to stick standard suction cups on the screen for the TMS aerial.
What I've done with the Elise is route the power cable from under the dash (the 12v socket is by the gearstick), then up round the back of the dash top by the windscreen. The FM wire is taped between the windscreen and surround and can't be seen - I've stuffed the suction pads under the dash in case I need them in future.
It works well - there has been no loss of reception and it also means I only need to remove the cradle and SatNav unit. Only snag is when I use the work pool car now and again I have no traffic info and have to rely on the internal battery (around 3 hours if Bluetooth is switched on) but the leads go on ebay for around £50 or it's £30 for a non-TMC one
It works well - there has been no loss of reception and it also means I only need to remove the cradle and SatNav unit. Only snag is when I use the work pool car now and again I have no traffic info and have to rely on the internal battery (around 3 hours if Bluetooth is switched on) but the leads go on ebay for around £50 or it's £30 for a non-TMC one
The Nuvi 370 TMC antenna is not integral to 12v power. It's a separate wire with a small 'blob' of electronic gubbins that plugs into a USB port on the side of the unit and is stuck up the side of my winscreen with suckers. Given more time, I will hide it in the A-pillar trim. Works very well though it must be said. I have only had the unit just over a week, but in this time, it has successfully warned me and re-routed me round traffic.
Regards FM transmitters, my experience of them is pretty shite. The FM radio band is so congested that if you drive more than 20 miles, your transmitter starts to interfere with a station you couldn't pick up before on a frequency you thought was free. I have got the FM transmitter on my phone (Sony Ericsson W810i) and although it's great for local use, that's about it.
My 370 was £300 all in from Global Gizmos.
Regards FM transmitters, my experience of them is pretty shite. The FM radio band is so congested that if you drive more than 20 miles, your transmitter starts to interfere with a station you couldn't pick up before on a frequency you thought was free. I have got the FM transmitter on my phone (Sony Ericsson W810i) and although it's great for local use, that's about it.
My 370 was £300 all in from Global Gizmos.
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