andyxandies

Strictly speaking, this is a bit of comparing apples with oranges. But I just want to share my experience with these two systems used mainly in Southern Ontario, and see what other think.

X50V (WM2003SE A05)
BT-338 (v3.1.1)
TT6 (v665.1294 for NA)

vs.

Garmin c530 with City Navigator NT v8 for NA

I bought the BT338 bundled with TT5 back in July 06 to use with then my 2yr old x50V, then got the TT6 in Jan/Feb for the $50 upgrade price.

Around Sep, 06, I also bought a Garmin c530 with NT v8 map for my parents. In the last few weeks I had the chance to evaluate both systems and here are my thoughts:

1. Hardware/software compatibility -
Some have inquired about TT6/X50V compatibility. I report yet another by-and-large happy testimony in this regard. Once in the last three months, however, my X50V did hang during the start-up of TT6, and required no less than a hard reset to resuscitate. And this was the only time my Axim required a hard reset for a freeze for the entire time that I had it (almost 3 yrs). Otherwise, there has been no snag with my BT338/X50V combo whatsoever. The Bluetooth paring works absolutely trouble free and satellite signal lock is again superb.

2. Map Accuracy -
The old TT 5.21 map worked reasonably well on a trip to Nova Scotia last summer, probably because there had been comparatively fewer development and hence little changes to the landscape in the Canadian East Coast. However, the TT5 did not even have highway 407 here in Southern Ontario.

Then came the TT6 that I highly looked forward to. It now indeed has the 407 (whew ...), but otherwise my experience with the c530 showed that Garmin NT v8 map was clearly superior in accuracy and completeness, at least here in Southern Ontario. Here is a small list of the roads not present in TT 665 but found on the Garmin in the last few weeks:

Sir Jacobs Cres, Brampton, ON
Appalachain Dr, Oakville, ON
Mccutheon Cres, Milton, ON

These are not cases of TT6 messing up the search function and when you drive up to the actual location only to find roads "pleasantly" showing up on the screen (I have heard and encountered this problem, too). I browsed the map itself and found these simply to be tracts of missing subdivisions. To be sure, Garmin's NT v8 also has subdivisions missing, and for that matter, I know subdivisions that have been around for more than 2 years but haven't made their way onto Google Maps. Google maps are more complete than both probably because it is constantly updated and relies on the combined NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas data. But I have yet to find an address missing in Garmin, but present in TT6.

Fortunately, apart from missing subdivisions, there does not seem to be any major highways missing in both maps. Therefore, I can always rely on either unit to get me to the vicinity if necessary.

3. POI -
TT6 POI database is poorly organized and compiled. Garmin's is the opposite - functional, and generally reliable. Case in point - when I asked TT6 to list the hospitals in Hamilton, Ontario, it listed a whack load of clinics, fertility centres, x-ray places, etc, but missed 2 out of 4 general hospitals, i.e, McMaster University Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital. Conversely, Garmin clearly lists the four general hospitals' location/phone numbers without the cluttering of other clinics, wellness centres, etc.

The one caveat against both is that they all seem to list distances to POI as linear distances. Therefore, 3 km up on the escarpment can translate to an actual road distance of 13 km. In their defence, this may be unavoidable because they would not have the time to calculate actual travel distances before spitting out a list and they could not know your intended route of travel beforehand anyways.

4. Map rendition and presentation -
In one sentence, I like the TT6 map presentation better. Garmin's color scheme is simply gaudy, although usefully bright - more on this later. TomTom's rendition is superbly done and its 3-D most closely approximates what you actually see in the car IMO. Complex overpasses and highways are sketched very well with the new 3D-shading in TT6. Many of the structures next to the highway such as rail lines, bodies of water are illustrated clearly and vividly on the TT6. Everything on the Garmin screen seemed just cartoonish in comparison.

Moreover, the Garmin's map position update seems choppy in actual navigation and sometimes does not follow the car well enough during a turn. This is most problematic when say, you have two quick right turns one after another in short distance. It may get "lost" for a second or two - enough for you to miss or make a wrong turn. TomTom's map progression is quite smooth despite the fact that BT338, like other GPS devices as I understand, only updates its position once per second. I wonder if TomTom uses some sort of interpolation method in making travel seem smooth. I am curious if users familiar with TomTom One or GO products see the same because I also wondered if this could be a processor issue. I presume my X50V has a faster processor than what the c530 has.

Lastly, this may or may not be a map issue, and could very well be a BT-338 vs c530 SiRF receiver difference, or a hardware processor speed issue again. My X50V/BT338 seems more sensitive in resolving position changes. This can be seen in parallel highway split-offs. It takes the Garmin a while to figure out that I didn't take the route it prescribed whereas TT6/BT338 would seem to detect this faster. Again, this could be totally unrelated to TomTom per se as I am not using their receiver.

Having said all this, the Garmin does self-zoom intelligently in and out of view depending on where you are on the highway. E.g, when you are traveling on the straight portion of a long stretch of highway, it zooms itself out to show you the towns ahead, to the left and right. I don't myself particularly fancy this, but others could conceivably find it useful.

5. User interface -
They both have a save-to-favourite function, and they both have a recently-found list. But the Garmin's intelligence stops here. On the other hand, entering address in TomTom shows much thought in easing user input. It logically assumes that the next location you enter is probably in the same city as the last, or at the very least in the last five cities you entered. And if you enter a different city, it remembers the last three to five streets you listed in that city. Garmin doesn't have any of those features. This is probably not a deal-breaker for anyone, but when you want to go to a different location in a city like "Mississauga" each time, it quickly gets very tedious with the c530.

Garmin has an automatic day/nigh color scheme switch that I find nice to have. In TT6 you have to do this manually, not a particularly big deal, but nice touch for Garmin nonetheless. Garmin's overall user interface is very simple and intuitive, although seems less sophisticated than TT6. The downside to TT6 is that it's not as intuitive.

6. Screen -
This is another apple vs orange part. X50V has a VGA screen so it is truly a pleasure to view the well-executed TT6 map on the screen. However, when it comes to brightness, this is where the Garmin truly shines. The c5xx series sports a sun-light readable screen and this makes a world of difference in terms of in-car usability during day time. With normal weather the X50V screen is very washed out and essentially unviewable when it’s brightly lit outside. The c530, although has poorer screen resolution, by virtue of its screen, is usable 24hs. If one wants to nit-pick, viewing only becomes a problem with the c530 when you look at the screen through sunglasses. I don't know anything about TomTom One and GO series screens' sun-light readability. I am interested in others’ comments on this.

Some users have suggested a visor which significantly improves day-time viewability of a PPC screen. I am surprised that such an accessory is nowhere to be found after a cursory search on the net.

Conclusions:
It is not my purpose here to recommend one over the other. I do feel that the map quality (apart from rendition) is higher with the NAVTEQ-based Garmin product (at least for Southern Ontario). Perhaps the difference is not huge, although clearly detectable in my "neck of the woods". Possibly in other regions (i.e. Europe), Tele Atlas maps are more up-to-date than NAVTEQ as I have come across such opinions.

In terms of POI usability, Garmin wins hands down.

Everything else about the map, and responsiveness, I like the TomTom/X50V combo better. TT6 maps and interface seem very professionally rendered indeed.

On a practical level, I am looking to purchase perhaps another all-in-one device mainly because of the screen brightness issue. I personally find it a bigger deal than missing some subdivisions. Otherwise, I found my X50V/BT338/TT6 to be quite satisfactory. I would like to hear a comparison between this or similar combination with the new Garmin Mobile 10/PPC combo.