12-08-2008
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Owner, Green Bay Packers
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: SW Michigan
Posts: 10,322
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In the last year I've road tested the Magellan, a Mio, the Tom Tom 110 (?) and the Garmin currently on sale here on sailnet.
I like the display and the overall usability of the Mio I got at Radio Shack for $150 the best. It has one glaring deficiency; the maps cannot be updated. In fact, it came with maps I'd hardly call current, being at least two years out of date. Depends on how much traveling down new roads you're going to do, I guess.
Second place went to the Garmin. (The Magellan had all the reputed reliability issues that Magellan has become known for!) The Garmin was easy to use and had a decent display. Not nearly as good a display as the Mio but livable.
The Tom Tom was the worst overall. The display does not give you any intuitive sense of what you're looking at when comparing what's out the front window and what's on the little screen. It also does not track where you're at but automatically assigns you to being on the road. Thus it jumps quite quickly to your "new" location on the exit ramp it didn't know you were taking. Btw, the Mio gives you the option of showing yourself on the road or displaying where you're actually at.
At $100, the Garmin is a good deal and you can update the maps. At $150 the Mio was an equally good deal just on ease of use. I should point out though that the Mio is better for localized use. The whole USA is in there but it's harder to pull up addresses out of state; the Garmin does that better by asking you what state each time.
The Tom Tom was my boss's, a gift from his wife, and you couldn't give me one! Admittedly, it's the cheaper one you see on sale everywhere now. The display of info is almost unreadable, settling for just mostly unusable.
You should be aware that you'll probably find that you'll use the visual aspects of it on a small scale, or panned out, if you're anything like me. As time goes on, you'll find that you use the visual map less and less but the voice commands and the displayed street names more. You glance over and see that the unit says you're on I-94 and that you're getting off at exit 102. That's it, until the unit tells you one mile to go or something. Readability and legibility of that info is very important.
One glaring deficiency of the Magellan was that you had to know what township the address searched for was in if it was not in a town itself. Useless without local knowledge. The Mio let's you put in a Zip Code alternatively to the address.
I've yet to see any unit, anywhere, where you can determine how up to date the maps are that are loaded on it. Thus my Mio had the same old mapping that the two year old Magellan had. Again, if you're going to be using it a lot where you think there may be new building developments, like the 450th "Hunter's Ridge" to be laid down in the last ten years, get a unit that can have new maps loaded on it. You might be able to find out the currnecy of the maps after you buy it but, rest assured that nowhere pre-purchase will you be able to find out a damn thing.
Also, if you're able to demo a model you're interested in, check out how hard it is to alternate plan your route. If you know that I-94 is blocked off due to construction, how hard is it to eliminate I-94 from your routing? And I mean eliminate it while you're rolling along...anybody can lay out a course while in their driveway! They'll all re-route you if you get off course or take a side trip. Trying to block out twenty miles of interstate and the unit's desire to get you on that interstate is another matter.
I should say that the Magellan had the nice display picture wise but that is hardly enough for me to consider getting another one. You'll find that you'll use the box where it shows a turn arrow more than the overall display itself.
One of the reasons that you'll find that you use the actual road map less and less is big city driving. If you're on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago and you're looking at the unit to see what lane you should be in or where the road goes, you're going to kill yourself. In traffic, you'll just glance up to see what your next exit or road change is and then follow the road signs. It is nice though, if you goof up and get off on one of those exits that has no on ramp back onto the interstate, all the units will route you around to get you back to where you're going.
I wouldn't spend more than $150 on any unit. The Magellan was quite a bit more and there isn't anything that's available on any of them that's worth the extra money. If the Mio maps were up-datable I'd recommend it even over the Garmin.
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Last edited by sailaway21; 12-08-2008 at 10:49 PM.
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. I'm almost considering getting a standalone unit myself.
