Thank God for TomTom

[Lobo777]

I was approached by a lady in her vehicle as I was getting the mail today and she asked me, sir do you know where the business is? I looked at the business card and she was about 12 miles from her destination. She says I even have a GPS and I'm still lost. I glanced in at her dash and noticed a Garmin and I stated that's why your lost, you have a Garmin. She says well aren't Garmin's the best, I said no TomTom's are better. I asked her to hang on for a minute as I retrieved my XLS from my truck and put in the address she was looking for and my good ole TT XLS mapped it to the tee. She told me thanks and she was getting rid of the Garmin for a TomTom. Just wanted to share this story, it was kinda funny how it happened.

 

[Yooshaw]

That's a nice story, but I can site many examples where my Dad's Garmin was right on the money, and my TomTom was way off, and Vice-versa. I think it's just luck of the draw on which map has better information.

 

[Lobo777]

True....I was being somewhat silly. They ALL have their good and bad issues, it doesn't matter which unit or brand you have.

 

[GAW]

Most likely the address had been plugged in wrong on the Garmin.

I know of a few TT users who get messed up all the time - but it is not the TomToms - it is them. They should get hired as Beta testers - they do things (accidently) that were probably never considered by the programmers.

 

[dhn]

Most likely the address had been plugged in wrong on the Garmin.

I know of a few TT users who get messed up all the time - but it is not the TomToms - it is them. They should get hired as Beta testers - they do things (accidently) that were probably never considered by the programmers.

I DO test software for a living and you are absolutely correct in saying software developers tend to have a very narrow focus when it comes to apparent functionality when various keys are pressed (or tapped). Good testing also includes the attitude, "Hmmm... what happens if I do this?"

 

[Pedro2NR]

Great story.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Genius of Love]

Similar story, my wife was out with friends... They were driving in an unfamiliar area with a Garmin. They had the urge to go for coffee at Dunkin' Donuts -- the Garmin guided them to an open field that was 5 miles off the highway in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Yooshaw]

Similar story, my wife was out with friends... They were driving in an unfamiliar area with a Garmin. They had the urge to go for coffee at Dunkin' Donuts -- the Garmin guided them to an open field that was 5 miles off the highway in the middle of nowhere.

LOL! I'm glad Garmin folks can feel my suffering too, one time my Tom Tom directed me to a Grocery store when I was trying to get to a state park!

 

[dhn]

LOL! I'm glad Garmin folks can feel my suffering too, one time my Tom Tom directed me to a Grocery store when I was trying to get to a state park!

Look how smart the TomTom is! It knew you needed supplies & food for your visit!

 

[Internetpilot]

Great story!

I've never had that happen to me when the other person was using a Garmin, but I have had that happen to me literally dozens of times when the other person was using an OEM Honda, Acura, Toyota, Nissan, etc. in-dash nav system. We usually end up comparing the map views side by side in their car, and it's incredible how bad their map data typicallly is. Of course, a lot of this is their fault because they never upgraded their DVD since they bought the car (haha), but sometimes it's the latest DVD they can buy and it's still more out of date than my TomTom.

My favorite thing to to do is when a group of people are at my house or another house, and they start talking about how to get somewhere, blah blah blah. Instead of talking about it, I just go pull my GO700 out of my car, bring it in, plot the route, and then show them.

Typically, I get comments like, "Wow...I guess there is a positive to having an aftermarket nav device." Duh.

Then someone always says something like, "Well, I just look on Google or Mapquest when I'm at home."

So I always reply, "Yeah, those are great services. Now grab your Google or Mapquest, dock it in your car, and drive the route you just plotted...OOPS!"

TomTom has its own share of flaws (untested software updates seems to be a rather common one), but it's much nicer than an in-dash nav system, and so far I haven't felt the overwhelming need to switch to another portable nav
solution namebrand.

 

[twistrman]

my wife and I were coming home from a nearby city and wanted to stop at a store at a mall. we had no idea where it is but knew the name of the mall, so i type it all in, and bam TT tells me where to go. It then proceeds to take me to who knows where and i end up in a neighborhood, it says i've arrived and i'm on a dead end street in front of someone's house. Either that or the tinniest mall ever.