Dont know anything about the Garmin but i am not too impressed with the Tom Tom. Cannot get an extra power cable and it has a "weird" plug. Has to be charged from the mains if it is off the bike, i.e. cannot use a USB connection. Tech service is poor. When you try to back out to see a larger map for alternate roads the road detail becomes non-existent. Cannot set a fixed size map, it knows what size is best for you. Effectively impossible to read in bright sunlight. Cannot load European and UK maps. When you have to deviate from the target route, rather than plotting a new route it tries to get you back on the old route. In one case this led right through down town Ottawa. Bluetooth is not very loud, battery charge on Bluetooth receiver doesn't last very long and again has to be charged from the mains, helmet attachment for the Bluetooth will not stay attached to my Shoei 3/4. Reason I bought it was that it was advertised specifically for bikes and was the only one (at that time) that was compatible with a MAC

 

Not sure that app would be reliable here in central La. were we can't even get cell service in most places!

 

I've had my Tom Tom Ryder II for a year and a half and have no complaints And at about half price of most other motorcycle GPSs it's the best deal for me.

 

I have the Garmin 450 (got it for a song and dance 2 years ago) Just purchased the liftetime map updates for $120 (that's 4 updates a year for life). I love this unit and the map software the came with it. Its been thru some pretty rough rain storms. I don't know much about the Tom tom version (don't think it comes with software from my understanding).

 

I had LIFETIME via Garmin..Yeah, until you have a failure and THEY replace unit , or you have to buy a new unit It's ALL OVER..NO MORE MAPS they are for THAT UNIT ONLY.SO much for 'lifetime' ... I will never buy Garmin again,too big for service..Bill

I also had a Garmin iQue M5 that THEY REFUSED TO SUPPORT AFTER ONLY 4 years , internal battery failed and they said "TOO BAD buy a new one!!" ..$800 down the drain,,No thanks NO GARMIN FOR BILL

 

I have a TomTom Rider 1 I bought new for $250 when the 2s were introduced on Amazon. It had all the RAM mounting options you needed to mount it about anyway you wanted, the mounting cradle for the unit itself, and the harness to wire it into the bike. It was about an hour long job to install, mainly removing the outer fairing on my UC. The screen is bright and clear, and going out on line I have a cool HD splash screen that comes up when it boots, a cool touring bike icon for my position indicator, updated North American maps including Canada, POIs including all HD dealerships, Shell gas stations, and a couple of restaurant chains (Outback, Chili's and Perkins). The only downside to it is it has no external speakers for voice prompts. You have to use a phone type BT receiver to hear the directions. The one the unit comes with isn't that great, so i use a Motorola one I got as a freebie from AT&T once in some promo. Since I don't use my phone with BT, that bugs me a little as I now have some really dumb looking "Star Trek" looking thing in my ear. I've actually gotten pretty adept at not using the voice on rides in areas I'm somewhat familiar with. On a long run in unfamiliar territory though I like to hear the prompts in advance. In addition, I like using my iPod for tunes so I could care less about satellite radio so although they may be features you like, I wouldn't use them.

I bought the unit originally to use in a 911 Memorial ride that a buddy and I had to get from Orlando, FL to Somerset, PA to participate in. The ride was escorted from there to its end point in NYC, NY. But I used it to nav around NYC and around upstate NY after the ride and of course back home.

The unit has performed flawlessly, it's quick, it's database, depending on your frequency of updating it, isn't bad. I have a Garmin Nuvi in my car and it has about the same flaws in the database as the Garmin, which makes sense since the DoD sells the database to the only two providers in the world. It sometimes will not reroute you for what I feel is an inordinate amount of time if you leave it's recommended course and it thinks its better to turn around then use an alternate. It has programmable options for routing using highways, toll roads and etc., as well as a speed warning function you can set that when you exceed your limit it sounds a pretty annoying alarm in your ear until you slow down. It has good battery life if you shut down and go in and eat at a restaurant so you don't have to reset your destinations again. Especially on a multi-leg itinerary. It's water resistant and I've used it in several "frog choker" rainstorms and it's navigated me almost 10,000 miles now.

So, in summary, I think either would be a good choice. Europeans seem to prefer the TomTom while us Americans seem to like the Garmin and Magellans. They make touring and exploring much easier and efficient than trying to read paper maps or write directions in grease-pencil on the windshields like we used to do. For $250 it was a no-brainer for me.

 

i like the 660!!

 

The reason we Europeans use the TomTom is that it originated over here, just as Garmin originated in the USA. Apart from BMW, who went early with Garmin, anyone after a satnav had no choice for a while, until Garmin put their backs into selling here. Even then, their European mapping was weak. June last year I went on tour to Poland with a group.

We were on the only Harley, in fact the only non-BMW. None of the Garmin users had detailed mapping for Poland or Slovakia, so the 2-3 of us with TomToms had a chuckle at their expense. I believe Garmin has caught up this year. There are differences in the way each of them operates which seem in part to reflect the national characteristics of their respective designers!

 

Graham,
Next time I'm in Ampthill at Lockheed Martin we'll have to go to a pub and get a pint! I usually stay at either The Swan, or in Milton Keyes at the Hilton.

I knew TomTom was more euro-centric and Garmin was more NA, but it's interesting about your conclusions on the mapping "holes" each has when outside it's usual sphere. Since I've never used my TomTom "OCONUS" (not counting Canada, which is really the same continent at least) I have no experience with it's performance. I'll have to defer to your's. When I fly into Gatewick or Heathrow I always get the AVIS GPS unit in my rental and I think it's a TomTom unit.

I have a NUVI in my Porsche and there's really only a couple of little twists in using either unit. They're pretty self-teaching I believe. The TomTom seems to "blackout" certain capabilities once the speed goes to anything other than zero. Probably to keep the Rider from "playing" with the GPS versus concentrating on riding. The NUVI, maybe because it's an auto-centric unit doesn't. Figures you can drive and fidget with it when you're on four-wheels I guess.
Cheers for now,
Jim

 

Jim,

I'm little more than a walk away from LM, in fact we're dining in Ampthill this evening. Send me a PM when you have a date.

I have a built-in satnav in my car by Navtec (whoever they are!) but we have just ordered a new car for my wife without satnav, because the separate units are so much cheaper and also easier to use.

From my BMW-owning friends I gather Garmin mapping for Eastern Europe has caught up with TomTom now. When plotting a route between two places it is interesting to compare what each of them recommends! At a T-junction in Germany last year my brother's Garmin wanted us to turn right, while my TomTom wanted to turn left. I am sure we could have got to our destination either way, but it taught us to travel separately, otherwise we were going to be in continual conflict!