Garmin Vs. TomTom

Both Garmin and TomTom are the leading manufacturers of GPS. Every Garmin and TomTom product comes with some special features. After going through Garmin vs. TomTom reviews, you would agree that TomTom is most competitive at the lower end and no one competes with Garmin at the higher end of the market. Moreover, the number of products introduced by Garmin is quite high. The products vary in prices, systems, travel features, and navigational capabilities. A buyer is always confused while selecting a GPS unit for his car. There are units for tech-savvy persons as well as for budget-conscious individuals. The buyer finally has to decide whether the unit is available at an 'affordable price' and whether it has the 'most wanted features'.

Garmin and TomTom GPS Units

It is a fact that TomTom is the industry leader in Europe while Garmin has successfully captured U.S. markets. 50% of the GPS devices sold in the United States are manufactured by Garmin. The reason behind Garmin's popularity in the U.S. is that customers have more models to choose from, at more price points. It is impossible to compare and discuss every single model of Garmin or TomTom available in the market. But features of some models are discussed below. Take a look at the comparison between Garmin and TomTom units and then decide which one to buy. Here is a table which will make some of the important points that you need to take into consideration while buying a Garmin or TomTom model, more clear.

Buying a GPS: Checklist

Here are some suggestions for what you should check for while choosing a GPS; since GPS units for cars greatly vary in features. You should ask yourself whether you want a user-friendly GPS or a GPS that requires more learning or memorization. You should look for information on which brand has more affordable updates both in the short and long-term, or which brand makes it easiest for you to make your own corrections to the included maps. You should decide whether you want a GPS that provides loads of information which may take a long time to find out what you exactly want, or do you want a model which provides less information which is presented in a way that makes it much quicker to find what you're looking for. If you want new or additional features, you will have to choose an appropriate model accordingly. In the table below, two models of Garmin and TomTom are compared. The models selected for comparison have wide screens, entire US/Canada maps with text to speech (street names and points of interest (POI) names are read aloud), an important feature, without which it is impossible to drive. Garmin and TomTom units are available for $100 and above.

Comparison between Garmin and TomTom

GPS Device	TomTom XL 330S	Garmin Nüvi 255W
Price	Mid priced	Mid priced
Memory	1GB of storage memory (about 940-960mb of which is used).	About 2GB of storage memory (just over 1.2GB of which is used)
Installation, Mounting, Dismounting	15-30 seconds to mount the unit, Doesn't provide a lot of room to work while attaching or detaching to/from windshield.	About 5 seconds to attach, Plenty of room to work.
Touch Screen	4.7 inches touch screen, light touch works, weight: 6.6 oz.	4.8 inches screen, slightly harder to press, weight: 6.1 oz.
Included Accessories	GPS, the mount, a plastic dash-mount circle, the cigarette lighter adapter, and a mini USB cable.	GPS, the mount, a plastic dash-mount circle and the cigarette lighter adapter
Memory/Expansion	Only 5% is left free. No expansion options	Only ⅔rd of the included memory is used, leaving quite a bit free. Plus an SD expansion card slot
Ease of Use	Lacks the intuitiveness but very easy to use	Extremely intuitive and easy to follow. Everything's clear, easy to see, and easy to navigate.
Customization	Adjusts the volume based on your speed, warns you if you're driving faster than the speed limit, suggests driving breaks, warns when near a church/school, plans based on walking routes, plans for bicycle routes, plans for limited speeds, picks and chooses which points of interest to show on the map, etc.	Lot of basic customization options, and quite a few features
Amount of Information	More information	Shows the most important things on the map, which is easy to read.
POI Listings	More are available	Has well-defined categories and sub-categories, Displays the addresses of each result in addition to the distance and direction.
GPS Tracking	Less Accurate (uses Tele Atlas technology)	Accurate (uses NAVTEQ map technology)
Routing and Re routing (if a turnoff is missed)	Perfect in city and rural areas	Fine in city but not in rural destination
Map Corrections	Corrects points of interest, corrects roads, anything that's wrong that has to do with your navigation can be corrected.	Has a "Detour" button which is easily accessible.
Software (Updates/Maps, etc.)	You can update over the Internet, can be connected to your computer. Better performance.	You can update over the Internet, can be connected to your computer
Software (Maps)	Free updates for 60 days, then a single map download is $80. Quarterly updates for $40/year ($10/map every 3 months).	Free updates for 60 days, Free lifetime map downloads for $120.
Software (Map Sharing)	Allows you to share custom maps, points of interest, corrections, etc with others, all for free.	Doesn't have anything like this. You can use only the maps provided by the company and be satisfied with the corrections made by them.

Selecting gps systems for cars can be quite confusing and difficult at times. Thinner and lighter GPS units often come with higher prices. The 'Where I am?' feature of the GPS can be quite useful in case of emergencies. You can have features like currency conversion, photo view, automatic re-route, fast/short route, trip distance, trip timer, avoid highways, avoid toll roads, etc., in almost all popular GPS models. If you consider other models, you will notice that TomTom One, 3rd Edition can do much more than the Garmin Nüvi 200, but the price is almost the same! So at the entry-level, TomTom would be the best. Nüvi 350 has some additional features like maps of both, the U.S. and Canada, receiving traffic and weather alerts, with subscription.

I hope, the above discussion about Garmin vs. TomTom GPS has cleared all your doubts about their special features. Garmin and TomTom are perhaps two of the first names that come to mind when you think of buying a GPS unit. Both Garmin and TomTom have captured the markets worldwide as both have solid product lines with a variety of GPS units. It is difficult to conclude which brand has a clear-cut advantage over the other. You can always compare the individual units within your price range. You should decide which features you want to have in your GPS unit and then read the product reviews of those units.