TomTom vs Garmin. Your 2 cents please.

[Edbo1960]

Don't know about the Tom Tom but went from a car GPS to phone but finally bit the bullet and got the Zumo XT, worth it!

Can read in direct sunlight, fast and glove friendly......tons of features, no TPMS but I don't need/want anyway.

 

[Cycledude]

I have no issues at all seeing the screen on my 595. It's crystal clear even in sunlight. I bought a shade shortly after it was mounted on my bike.

yup you like the 595 screen but I hate it ! The new XT screen makes the 595 screen look even worse, a lot of folks that used to say the 595 screen was ok now say it’s crap after up grading to the new XT screen and there is no need for any sunshade. There is a very good reason why Garmin upgraded the screen !

 

[ballisticexchris]

That's cool. I'm going to wait a few years until they get these TFT screens dialed in. The 595LM is still the gold standard for GPS mapping and the ease of interfacing with Garmin Basecamp.

After a few model years the XT will more than likely catch up to it in features and ease of use. Good news is the 595 is discontinued so the XT will take off and just get better as newer models are introduced.

 

[HeliMark]

One new thing I have learned on the new XT, is when you bypass your waypoint, after a couple of blocks, it will ask you if you just want to skip the missed waypoint and continue to the next one. That is nice, the older Garmin just kept re-calculating to the waypoint you skipped, and it took getting into the actual route to tell it to skip the one you skipped.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Spent another day with the XT today. The more I use it, the more it impresses me.

I've had a bad attitude about Garmin for a long time. I need to reevaluate that.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Spent another day with the XT today. The more I use it, the more it impresses me.

I've had a bad attitude about Garmin for a long time. I need to reevaluate that.

Garmin makes outstanding products. Most all issues are user created. When I got my 595LM, I was blown away how user friendly it is and the interface with Base Camp is amazing. It's a learning curve but well worth it. With my blue tooth I don't even look at the screen. I can set up tracks/routes and it will tell me exactly where to go. Very nice for stand up riding. My old CX60/76 did not have that feature. It makes navigation of off /on road a breeze and much safer. Let's face it, when navigating tight unfamiliar single track it's tough with having to stop and look at a map or GPS screen.

When I did my Grand Canyon ride it was so nice to have the little voice tell me exactly how to get to the hotel, trails, cabin, etc. I was on a time restraint. That one added feature saved hours of stopping and extending the ride beyond my time limit.

 

[Conflubmw]

Years ago, rode with a friend who has a Tom-Tom. Bizarre, as his unit showed us going 2mph faster than my Garmin. Huh? Maybe his particular unit, perhaps mine. BOTH more accurate than the bike’s speedo. Seems to be whatever you start with, you stay with. Rented a bike with a TT. Took me a couple of days to become familiar, but worked like a charm. Wished i had studied it more, as i would have activated its tracking to download afterwards to keep a log of my trip. Current Garmins can be configured with the map showing, and various variables around the screen, including the speed I’m going. When speeding, it is highlighted in red. Then I find it hard to read. Whine, whine, whine.

 

[Conflubmw]

Garmin makes outstanding products. Most all issues are user created. When I got my 595LM, I was blown away how user friendly it is and the interface with Base Camp is amazing. It's a learning curve but well worth it. With my blue tooth I don't even look at the screen. I can set up tracks/routes and it will tell me exactly where to go. Very nice for stand up riding. My old CX60/76 did not have that feature. It makes navigation of off /on road a breeze and much safer. Let's face it, when navigating tight unfamiliar single track it's tough with having to stop and look at a map or GPS screen.

When I did my Grand Canyon ride it was so nice to have the little voice tell me exactly how to get to the hotel, trails, cabin, etc. I was on a time restraint. That one added feature saved hours of stopping and extending the ride beyond my time limit.

I‘m jealous. I’ve attempted the BaseCamp learning curve several times and havent mastered it yet.

 

[HeliMark]

My old Garmin didn't do this (one way street).

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[fac191]

My old Garmin didn't do this (one way street).

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

That's cool.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

My old Garmin didn't do this (one way street).

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapa

How's that location working for you?

 

[HeliMark]

How's that location working for you?

Unlike the way the picture was taken, it doesn't block the display, but I am not real happy with it, I would like to mount it above the display like you did, to put it in my line of sight, but there currently is no mounts to do that. I have to slightly tilt my head down to see it. I had it where you can partially see the XM radio, and that was pretty good, but mounting the XM low, just doesn't work for me, so it currently is a compromise. No way to use the right side due to the brake reservoir.

Love my XM, and really wish Garmin had continued to put it in the GPS. Would solve my problem.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Looks stable there. I have the over the TFT setup. A bit more bouncy than I like. Working on ways to stabilize.

 

[HeliMark]

Looks stable there. I have the over the TFT setup. A bit more bouncy than I like. Working on ways to stabilize.

The angle of the windshield, and support structure is a good 25* on my bike, and not so sure even with a bracket, putting it above the display would work, now that I have really looked at it. It would be above and in front (closer to me) of the display for it to work, and not liking that idea. The bar across the windshield is used to adjust it, so not really usable.

 

[regder]

I‘m jealous. I’ve attempted the BaseCamp learning curve several times and havent mastered it yet.

I have heard of people that know how to use BaseCamp and love it, I think it's a fairy tale like Bigfoot.

I've been using BaseCamp and it's predecessor (forget the name) for about ten years now. It sucked then, and has always sucked. Still nowhere near anything that could be called proficient with it.

I plan my route in Google maps and then recreate it in BaseCamp. Clumsy, but gets the job done.

Unfortunately, if you want to plan routes for transfer to a Garmin GPS, you need BaseCamp. I have tried a billion of the alternative strategies and none of them work well, and they generally fail right when you need them. BaseCamp it is...

Thankfully the Garmin GPS interface makes up for the dumpster fire that is BaseCamp.

 

[regder]

Zumo XT people, how is the music library interface? Do you still have to scroll through everything starting at A to get to where you want?

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Not a music on bike guy, so can't answer that one.

I have a tolerate/hate relationship with Basecamp. I have been able to create some new routes and get them into the XT. Worked fine. So my problem appears to be with the hundreds of existing routes i have. Still working that one.

I think I've spent enough time with XT to declare it a winner. Garmin really made massive upgrades from the 665. So many things I hated about the 665 have been addressed. Only the route planning on the GPS is where i find im missing the feature of the 665.

The jury is still out on the loss of satellite weather vs cell weather. Has not been an issue yet. So far, when cell coverage is there, the cell weather is superior. Traffic is also superior with cell.

 

[damianadv]

I am a big fan of TomTom GPS
They will never send you to the wrong side of the street like many of the Garmin I had in the passed, just my personal experiences
Very happy with the 550 Rider

 

[Olddino69]

I have a 595 I’m disappointed. Way to many useless functions like curve ahead? Animal crossing? It takes awhile to find addresses, they should refine there products instead of giving more useless information we don’t need

 

[Conflubmw]

Years ago, I was riding with a bud and his Tomtom. I had a Garmin. Probably both obsolete. Via the helmet intercoms, we were riding side by side at 2mph different speeds, according to our GPSes. Highway speeds. In the past, I've had a road Garmin and a hiking Garmin side by side, and their indicated speeds were identical. Who's right, who's wrong? Don't know. Anyone else see something similar? Fun to take one on a commercial flight and see 599 mph show up!