Two days ago my TomTom GPS quit working.

I've had it two or three years, it is a low-end model, bought at fire-sale price (about $80), discontinued because it lacked sufficient memory to upgrade to the latest maps. Quite a few people "bricked" their new units trying to upgrade to a newer map. Turns out you had to delete extraneous stuff first (alternate voices, unnecessary geographic regions, stuff like that) before there was room for the new map, and if you didn't, you were done for.

Anyway, now when I turn it on, it fires right up with the TomTom logo, then you can Continue to the "Nanny Screen" that tells you not to use it while you're driving (?!), then Continue to the "User Information" screen (owner's name, address, phone number), and that's as far as I can get. Pressing "Continue" at that point does nothing. The TomTom software on the computer doesn't see the device, nor does Windows Explorer, so reflashing the firmware seems not to be an option.

Driving in Guadalajara without a GPS is simply terrifying, so I think I am going to have to buy a new one.

A screen larger than the 4.3" screen on mine would be nice. It has to come with Mexican maps, or at least have them available, and must speak to me in English. I should be able to switch between kilometers and miles.

What I do NOT want are lots of features that make the user interface complicated. I don't need to know where the next gas station is, or restaurant or hotel or airport.

I also have a Garmin Novi GPS whose user interface is so frustrating that the device has gathered dust in a drawer for several years. A few examples of frustration: In Mexico there are more revolutionary heroes than there are roads, so as a result there are five different places, miles apart, in Guadalajara with the address "3500 Juarez". With the Garmin, you cannot enter the address unless you know the name of the "Colonia" or neighborhood where the address is located. The TomTom displays them and lets you take your choice. When you come to a Glorieta or roundabout as it is called in other places, the Garmin says "Turn right on Juarez Street". There might be seven different exits from the Glorieta, NONE of them with identifying signs. Good luck with that! The TomTom changes the screen to an enlarged picture of the Glorieta, tells me take the 4th exit, draws a red line along the proper path, and puts a yellow triangle showing the current position of my car within the Glorieta.

I don't know who makes the maps that are in my Garmin, but the TomTom maps by NavTeq, old and out of date as they are, are greatly superior. Oh, there are still problems occasionally, such as when the TomTom tells me to go the wrong way on a one-way street, or turn left while on an elevated section of divided highway, onto a street that is 30 feet below me.

Does anyone have recommendations for a simple, basic GPS unit for my car? I looked on Amazon and there seem to be literally thousands of choices, many more than I can deal with.

tanstaafl.

I have a Garmin Nuvi 3790 unit. Love it. Have used it in Canada, USA, England, France, Germany, and Italy thus far. Works well, and hasn't given us grief. Sure, she has a mind of her own at times, but we don't follow her blindly.

Big plus with this unit (and current, similar models) is that it can be oriented for a vertical display, rather than the typical horizontal "I won't show you more than two streets ahead" view.

About the same size as most smartphones, except thinner.

Cheers

Oh, and not to mention the micro-SD card slot so that it never runs out of space for new maps.

I have not looked for nor used one, but perhaps there is a downloadable app that uses TomTom map data and routing algorithms.

For whatever tablet, phablet, smartphone or iPod Touch you happen to have or are willing to purchase.

If it uses pre-stored map data then there is no need for mobile data service.

You can get car mounts for almost anything from these guys.

You can't use an iPod touch for navigation I'm afraid, it doesn't have a GPS.

I would like to make the case that newer smartphones do a better job at GPS than a standalone GPS ever can. I think this is one of the rare situations where a general-purpose device can do a job better than a special-purpose device can, because the integration of the systems improves all of the features significantly. I will never go back to a stand-alone GPS.

My iPhone 4s makes for fantastic GPS navigation, and I can choose from several different high-quality GPS applications, including ones which precisely duplicate the stand-alone GPS's. Although the latest smartphones are expensive, the *prior* models are still available and are usually quite inexpensive. You can get an iPhone 4s for free right now (if you sign up for a contract with the cellular company of course). I'm sure this holds true for Android phones as well.

Earlier versions of the iPhones had low quality GPS chips in them, meaning that they did not work well for turn-by-turn navigation. Android phones also have varying GPS chip quality, so you have to pick the right model of phone for good GPS. For Apple at lest, the 4s models (and later) have a great built-in GPS chip, and the navigation software all works fantastically on it. Don't know which Android models have the good GPS chips in them, but I'm sure you could look that up.

Some of the navigation software, such as the TomTom software, has all of the maps already downloaded (just like if it were a standalone GPS), so you don't need a live internet data connection to use the software while you're on the road, you only need the internet connection to be live when installing the software or getting updates. This can be useful if you're traveling somewhere that doesn't have cell or data service.

I made a small, unobtrusive dash mount/charger for it (commercial ones are also available), and this works even better for me than a standalone GPS would. It's less obtrusive, and since I always take the phone with me anyway, I don't need to worry about my GPS being stolen because I never leave it in the car.

More advantages of using a smartphone over a standalone GPS:

- Software bug fix updates, software improvements, and map/POI updates are automatic and frequent, they just come down over the phone's internet connection. With a standalone GPS, you have to hook the GPS up to a PC (or at least transfer files to an SD card) to update it.

- Information about businesses and addresses is integrated with Google searches, and so it's as up-to-date as you can get. For instance, I might search for a restaurant, and Google search will show that the restaurant has been closed permanently, or it's not open on Mondays, or not open for Lunch. That information will be nonexistent, or potentially quite out of date, with a standalone GPS. Don't have an internet connection right now? You can still run, say, the TomTom software on the smartphone and its maps and POI database are still there, just like it would have been on a standalone GPS.

- I rarely need to type in an address. The more common situation is, I have googled the location of a restaurant or other business, and I merely need to tap on the address in the web browser, and the smartphone automatically launches the navigation app. If I don't want to use the phone's default navigation app, I can long-press on the address and copy it to the clipboard, then paste it into my navigation app. This is still much easier than typing the address into a standalone GPS.

- Address book and contact list integration! My smartphone automatically synchs its contact list to my Google Mail contacts, so any time I have someone's address in my contacts, it's automatically accessible to my GPS software on my smartphone. I can also do the reverse: When I do an internet search for the address of a restaurant or business, a couple of clicks adds that permanently to my contact list. If I'm taking my chances with voice recognition, I don't even have to say the address, I just need to say the name of the person or business that I want: "Navigate to Fred Smith's house" will work for any name in my contact list. And from those same screens, I can tap his icon and it'll offer me the option to call him and tell him I'm on my way. Y'know, cause it's a phone, too.

- Traffic data is free and ubiquitous, no need to subscribe to a service. Some standalone GPS's have optional traffic data, but you have to subscribe to a special service to get it. On the smartphone, the traffic data for things like Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze is all free as long as you have an internet connection. In fact, Waze is of particular note here because its traffic data is crowdsourced and highly accurate: It's able to show the average speed in MPH of each traffic-congested section, simply by agreggating the route data from all of the Waze users.

- Additional features can be found which are simply not available on standalone GPS's. Waze, for example, crowdsources the locations of police patrol cars and speed traps. If, while I'm traveling, I see a cop, I tap the screen a couple of times, and now every other Waze user knows he's there, he's shown on the map and a warning box pops up for them as they approach. The best part is, at least here in Seattle, Waze users have reached critical mass for that a long time ago, and I'm more frequently tapping the "thumbs up" button on existing speed traps than I am reporting newly discovered ones. Another feature that Waze gives me that you won't find on a standalone GPS: if I notice an error in the mapping or route data, I can go back to my PC and submit a correction to the map, which will then appear on my phone shortly thereafter.

- Ability to select from a wide range of different GPS software choices, and to change to anything I want, on the fly. Some of the software is free or nearly free, and some of it costs money (I think I paid about 50 bucks for TomTom). With a standalone GPS, you are stuck with that particular piece of software. If you happen to like the standalone GPS's software, you can most likely get it as a app for your smart phone these days. You can have several different GPS apps installed and choose whichever one you feel like using at that time. Personally, I use Waze most of the time, but I use the others when I have a particular need. For example, if I don't have an internet connection, I run TomTom since it has the full map data already there. If I just want to shout at the phone "navigate to Bucca Di Beppo!" from any screen on the phone, then I'm stuck using the Apple Maps software (which is quite good these days), since Apple only offers that ability with their own software, though I hope someday that might change. If I want the best integration with Google searches, I use Google Maps on my phone, and that's also quite good.

- You always have the smartphone with you, so you can use the GPS in places other than in your car. You can use it for walking or biking directions, for instance. You can study your route, potentially making adjustments to it before getting in the car. A big advantage to this is that you can punch in the destination and then look at the ETA that the phone software gives you, so that you can plan a perfect departure time.

- All the other things that make smartphones useful that are not related to GPS.


There's only one big downside to a smartphone versus a standalone GPS:

- Monthly phone bills with an internet data plan are significantly more expensive than just a voice plan. I personally think that it's worth it, because I use the internet in my pants constantly. But if you don't already have a smartphone with a data plan, and you don't think you need to have the internet in your pants, then a standalone GPS that doesn't involve a monthly bill is of course the smarter and more economical choice.

No need to even get a smartphone tied to a data contract. Plenty of people sell their used phones when they upgrade. Both Android and iOS devices work fine without cellular service, relying on WiFi for their internet connection.

True, but then a lot of the benefits I cited wouldn't be applicable. Many of those benefits exist because the device can communicate with the internet most of the time.

Somebody used to sell an add-on module that added the GPS receiver, as I recall. Probably better to repurpose an iPhone, I suppose.

Hmm, at one time I actually owned a Magellan car mount that had its own GPS receiver which fed into the iDevice connector. Sold it a while back...

http://gps.about.com/od/mobilephonegps/a/iPod-Touch-GPS.htm

Dunno about the iWorld phones, but I have tried just about every available GPS-Navigation app for my Android Galaxy Nexus smartphone, and they all suck hugely compared with the dedicated Garmin GPS unit.

The fonts are too small, the buttons microscopic, the voice prompts unclear, voice recognition non-existent, and the contrast too low. Not nearly as suitable for use while driving a vehicle. Otherwise fine.

And the in-car mount, power, and speaker systems for the phone are non-existent compared with the excellent dedicated setup for the GPS.

Oddly, Garmin do sell their software as an Android app, but only for Australia -- the app looks exactly like the dedicated GPS, with good fonts, voice, and buttons.

Note that I last looked into this about 6-months ago.

Cheers

Hm, maybe the Android situation is different than the iPhone situation. I had precisely the opposite experience on my iPhone, everything is great. Perhaps I'm less picky about things like the size of the UI elements, since I'm already used to the phone screen at that size.

Thing is, those UI elements are way more important when driving a vehicle, than when using the device hand-held. I've tried the two devices side-by-side with various Nav apps on the smartphone, and it was simply too dangerous to use while driving.

Maybe if I didn't already have the excellent Garmin 3790, then I mightn't know any better. But I do.

Cheers

Where I am living, cell and wi-fi connections are far from ubiquitous. Without that universal connectivity like you have in Seattle, most of the advantages you state are, well, less advantageous.

Besides, I am weird, I despise telephones (I don't own any kind of cell phone, much less a smartphone) and the only thing I want a GPS for is to have it give me turn by turn instructions on how to get to the address I told it to go to.

In any case, the whole situation has lost much of its relevance for me. Contrary to my expectations after reading Amazon.com reviews, I got prompt and useful response from TomTom technical support. They showed me how to RESET the device, and now it works again!

tanstaafl.

BTW, Tony, that was a great post you made!

Just to chime in here, I've used a Windows phone (Nokia 920) the built in navigation app is great and it allows you to download maps for off-line use. I used it in Italy last summer and it worked perfectly. With the new larger phablets UI elements shouldn't be a concern, they aren't for me at least even on the smaller 920. I think the HERE navigation app is available to all Windows phones now, it was locked to Nokia only, not sure on what they might charge though.

But sounds like a separate stand alone device fits your bill the best!

Thanks, Doug. I'm glad your TomTom is working well again!

Doug, which TomTom do you have? Trying to figure out whether to just purchase Mexico maps or upgrade mine to a newer one.

Mine is a long-discontinued model (it was discontinued when I bought it - fire sale price, about $80 I think) and is a TomTom XL IQ Route model. It has little memory (64 MB) and newer maps are to big to load into it.

Looking at the Amazon.com reviews of the newer TomToms, I'm glad I got mine working again because there are a LOT of people who don't like the feature set of the newer ones. They took away useful features and added other stuff that was useful only under bizarre circumstances.

Also, looking at Amazon.com reviews, the older reviews (dating back two or three years, about the time I bought mine) have nothing good to say about TomTom technical support -- two-hour waits on hold to talk to someone in India who barely speaks English, that sort of thing -- but I can tell you from first hand experience that the technical support I received now was impressively good. Emails answered within hours, follow-up emails to make sure that everything was now OK, personal interaction with the tech guy. I was impressed.

JD Power did a survey that indicates that today (not years ago) TomTom's support is among the very best out there.

tanstaafl.

Macros?

I'm wondering: Are the map updates, and the software/feature changes, two separate things? Can you still get updates to the maps for your old unit, and can you take those updates without losing the features you want?

Yes.
Yes.

But with caveats. The new maps are too large for my unit, but apparently I can install them in "zones", I haven't investigated fully, but I have the impression that I could install the North America map excluding Canada (sorry, Mark) and just have USA and Mexico. However, for my purposes my old maps are OK. There are only two major changes in Guadalajara since my maps were made (elevated access onto and off of Calle Lazaro Cardenas) and since I know about them, I can deal with them without difficulty. No doubt the newer maps would be more refined, with corrections about one-way streets and the like. So far I haven't come across any compelling reasons to upgrade.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The firmware can be updated separately from the maps.

tanstaafl.

I'm curious about something, and maybe those of you who have used these GPS units can let me know about it.

One of the things I like most about the navigation app on Android is how it adjusts the zoom level for the distance to the next directional instruction. The navigation in my car doesn't do that so I end up zooming in and out a lot, especially when I have to get on a highway to get where I'm going.

Do other GPS units do automatic zooming?

My Garmin adjusts the zoom level based on the vehicle speed. The slower I am travelling, the more it zooms in. When I speed up, it gradually zooms out for a wider view again.

Hmm. I think I prefer a mixture of that and the distance to the next directional change. Even if I'm on slower roads, I'd prefer to see far out in front of me if I don't have to worry about anything anytime soon. Likewise, if I'm at fast speeds on a highway and I need to get onto an exit at full speed, I want that to be zoomed in so I can see it carefully enough.

But I don't know, I haven't used the Garmin. I might prefer that method.

It has other special displays and zooming when a "directional change" is upcoming. I haven't used it as a "tell me where to go" thing for a while, so I don't remember exactly how that works, other than that it seems to Do The Right Thing(tm). Highway exits are very clearly shown in a split screen photo-realistic view, as well as intense zooming-in.

And the current zoom level is still adjustable with the + / - onscreen buttons, which seem to also adjust the auto-zooming.

Cheers