TomTom or Garmin?

By nX07
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Grand Master

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Absolutely. I was using my iPhone gps and it works well, but this works better. I wasn't going to get one but target was clearing them out to prepare for black Friday. They had some for even cheaper. I haven't even had it for 24 hours, or a long trip, but around town it has been extremely accurate.

Go check em out. Target had em on display to play around with. I was basically going for either gramin or Tom Tom and the Tom ton just happened to be the best bang for the buck. As an initial review I would definitely say at least go check em out.

Ok so my local RadioShack has the TomTom XL 340S 4.3 on sale until today for just $159, since they were still closed because it was very early in the morning and the Sears next to them was already open I asked the sale person if they would match the prices and he said yes without delay, he asked where I had seen that price and after telling him online, he asked how much they had it on sale for, I said I wasn't sure if it was $150 or $159, he went ahead and checked RadioShack's site and it was actually $159, however guess what... he matched the price to $150, so that's what I ended up paying plus taxes, so I think I got a good deal because all other retail stores had it at anything from $229 to $249, so far I have tried it around town and it seems pretty accurate, let's see how it behaves on a long trip, I also have GPS on my phone, but there's no comparison between that an a real GPS, btw thanks a lot for info man.

Grand Master

Scraggles

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Ok so my local RadioShack has the TomTom XL 340S 4.3 on sale until today for just $159, since they were still closed because it was very early in the morning and the Sears next to them was already open I asked the sale person if they would match the prices and he said yes without delay, he asked where I had seen that price and after telling him online, he asked how much they had it on sale for, I said I wasn't sure if it was $150 or $159, he went ahead and checked RadioShack's site and it was actually $159, however guess what... he matched the price to $150, so that's what I ended up paying plus taxes, so I think I got a good deal because all other retail stores had it at anything from $229 to $249, so far I have tried it around town and it seems pretty accurate, let's see how it behaves on a long trip, I also have GPS on my phone, but there's no comparison between that an a real GPS, btw thanks a lot for info man.

I actually have to thank you. When I was playing with it in the car last night, my girlfriend kept saying 'I want one'. So, of course I gave her 'oh, we'll have to save up some money' runaround and I went behind her back and got one today, only the Target was sold out, so I did exactly what you did. Went to sears and bought the 340s. The 9$ was a price match guarantee they have so I got it for the 150 as well, except I bought 2 5$ scratch offs this morning, and won 85$ on them so I ended up getting the 340s for 150-85 I won on the scratch offs + 10 I paid for them initially. Basically only cost me $75.

Thank you for pointing me to radio shack/Sears Ely.

Grand Master

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Hehehe that's great, I'm glad you got a great deal too, I have a question though, I have plugged it into my computer via the USB cable that comes with it, upon connecting it, it told me there was a new map available and suggested to download and install it to the device so I said yes, it is downloading now, it's a big file (over 1GB) however after reading reviews on line I have seen many people saying you must upgrade the firmware first before installing the new maps, How do I go about doing this? the program never gave me a chance to check for any other updates presented me with the map update first, I went to their site and I don't see any firmware downloads anywhere, should I cancel the download of the map and try updating the other stuff first?

Grand Master

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Well then you probably have not updated your maps, cause it is actually over 1GB in size, and yes it actually it failed to update the map as many reviewers said, what happens is that the default software when it first runs attempts to update everything including maps, and it fails because the new stuff does not fit, so once you follow the prompts and accept the map install failure and turn off the device then connect it back on the software will update itself to the latest version then remove some stuff from your device and everything will then fit, new maps and everything, be sure you update everything including maps, as of right now it's updating the latest map to the device, it's almost done, crossing fingers.

Grand Master

redvamp128

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Garmin is where GPS is. TOM TOM, is like a kids toy.

You would not say that around here-

Tom Tom actually gets it right here.

Garmin says that 400 plaza road does not exist (it only goes up to 399) and that is where I work.

Also try going from 399 plaza road to the downtown post office and well....

Out of 5 one way streets it will take you down the wrong way down 2 of them to get there.

How often do they actually update-- because I really wish they would fix that. Not to mention You could be standing in the parking lot for Smithfields chicken and BBQ and ask it for the location in Laurinburg NC and if you follow its directions it will take you to the center of town then say you have arrived but you are standing at a BANK. :blink: And yet after 4 years they still have not fixed that one.

Grand Master

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I'm not whats going on, but its telling me straight out of the box, the memory is full. So I deleted some of the foreign voices, but it only free'd up a few mb.

I'm trying to update it but no such luck. wtf.

Just go to the TomTom Home control panel, and play with the update options in the menus, at some point it should tell you that you can update your software and maps, just accept it and after downloading and trying to install at some point it will tell you that it cannot because there's not enough space in the device, just accept that, click on tools on top and select 'Disconnect Device' once it says it is now safe to turn it off disconnect it and log off the Home software, then reconnect the device to your USB and start the TomTom Home software and attempt the update again, this time it should update the other software first and also give you options to update the maps, select to update everything else first of just follow the updates as presented, that's what I did and it worked for me.

Grand Master

Scraggles

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Just go to the TomTom Home control panel, and play with the update options in the menus, at some point it should tell you that you can update your software and maps, just accept it and after downloading and trying to install at some point it will tell you that it cannot because there's not enough space in the device, just accept that, click on tools on top and select 'Disconnect Device' once it says it is now safe to turn it off disconnect it and log off the Home software, then reconnect the device to your USB and start the TomTom Home software and attempt the update again, this time it should update the other software first and also give you options to update the maps, select to update everything else first of just follow the updates as presented, that's what I did and it worked for me.

Yeah, that worked perfectly.

Let my girlfriend take the Tom Tom out for the day and she fell in love. She claims with her next paycheck she is going to get one. I have to deter her somehow. She doesn't know I already have one for her.

Ely, did you notice that with TomTom Home if you go to 'Tools - Use Latest Map Guarentee' it gives you a free update to the most current US map so even if this device was like 3 years old and you just bought it unopened you would be sure the maps on it were brand new. Don't know if Garmin or any of the other companies do that, but it's got me entirely confident that I have the latest maps on my device.

Grand Master

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Ely, did you notice that with TomTom Home if you go to 'Tools - Use Latest Map Guarentee' it gives you a free update to the most current US map so even if this device was like 3 years old and you just bought it unopened you would be sure the maps on it were brand new. Don't know if Garmin or any of the other companies do that, but it's got me entirely confident that I have the latest maps on my device.

Yeah I did notice that, it's a nice touch, so you are all set ah? I'm glad to hear that buddy, this is the first real GPS I have ever had and so far so good, TomTom needs to get their act together in what has to do with the software/firmware updates though, they definitely have issues with that, the vast majority of negative reviews I have seen about the XL 340s is about people getting frustrated with the software and maps updates and just returning the item.

The main problem I see is that the new software they attempt to put in does not fit in the first upgrade attempt, then on second attempt the old firmware will update first thus being able to detect the problem and remove the old stuff first then it all goes smoothly, but most people never make it to the second try it seems because the error messages are not clear enough.

I love my TomTom. I wouldn't use anything else.

For how long have you had yours?

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