TT nav engines across the device range?

[Old Baldy]

Does anyone know if there are different or more sophisticated navigation engines within the range of TT devices? i.e. do the more expensive devices such as the 720/920/Rider, etc actually calculate better routes than the cheaper devices (TT1, etc)?

I ask because lately I have been comparing my TT One New Edition (with latest maps and firmware) to my wife's cheapy and clunky and simplistic Garmin C330, and the damned Garmin almost always calculates the faster/quicker route when running both devices in the car and entering identical addresses!

This is despite the TT1 actually having the route fully mapped in its map database.

On some occasions, I have driven less than 25 miles and the C330 calculated a route that was 16 minutes quicker than the TomTom One. If I follow the C330 route, the TT1 has all the roads and continues to recalcuate the route until near the very end of the C330 route, and then it finally adjusts its arrival time to match the C330 when I'm a few blocks from the destination.

This is distressing to me, as I much prefer the UI and look and feel of the TT to the old C330, and like it's features and customizability etc - but the C330 seems to provide much better actual direction/navigation than my TT1.

Has anyone upgraded from say a TT1 to a more expensive model and compared the routing directions to see if the nav engine is the same?

PS In my comparo of the C330 and TT1, I set both device to calcuate the quickest route.

Thoughts?

 

[Smokiewolf]

I only use my TT when I want to get somewhere without getting lost, and so far, I have NEVER been lost. You can't rely on a machine to find you the fastest route, there will be times that it lets you down. I bet if you took that c330 against the TT and calculated 100 different routes to various random locations, they would score pretty evenly. It's like flipping a coin, you never know what it will show, but you have a 50/50 shot at getting it right. Not a sermon, just a thought!

 

[Old Baldy]

I only use my TT when I want to get somewhere without getting lost, and so far, I have NEVER been lost. You can't rely on a machine to find you the fastest route, there will be times that it lets you down. I bet if you took that c330 against the TT and calculated 100 different routes to various random locations, they would score pretty evenly. It's like flipping a coin, you never know what it will show, but you have a 50/50 shot at getting it right. Not a sermon, just a thought!

I disagree. There is no reason to surmise that every satnav system provides the same level of guidance. I'd suggest that it depends on the map database and navigation algorithms coded in the device. Some devices will be generally "better" at finding the quickest route given identical parameters, to others. In my own tests, the C330 outperforms the TT1 in the cases I have tried. I don't presume that the C330 will ALWAYS outperform the TT1 in routing, only that in the tests I have done, it does.

My question remains open - does anyone know if the more expensive TT devices provide "better" (quicker) routes than the cheaper versions, or do they use the same navigation engines? That determines whether I stick with TT (which I like/prefer, in so many respects and would like to stick to TT - perhaps a higher-end model), or switch to another manufacturer. I have no real reason to stay with TT, other than I do like their UI....but not at the expense of a poorer routing engine.

 

[ezerhoden]

I disagree. There is no reason to surmise that every satnav system provides the same level of guidance. I'd suggest that it depends on the map database and navigation algorithms coded in the device. Some devices will be generally "better" at finding the quickest route given identical parameters, to others. In my own tests, the C330 outperforms the TT1 in the cases I have tried. I don't presume that the C330 will ALWAYS outperform the TT1 in routing, only that in the tests I have done, it does.

My question remains open - does anyone know if the more expensive TT devices provide "better" (quicker) routes than the cheaper versions, or do they use the same navigation engines? That determines whether I stick with TT (which I like/prefer, in so many respects and would like to stick to TT - perhaps a higher-end model), or switch to another manufacturer. I have no real reason to stay with TT, other than I do like their UI....but not at the expense of a poorer routing engine.

I doubt there is any difference of routing engine used between the various versions of TT units.
To add more fuel to the fire, I have read a few comparisons and the TomTom (720 was used) always loses out to the Garmin and Magellan on it's route selection.

I look at it this way. I still get where I am going, even if a few minutes later. And I prefer the TT map screen features (heading arrow, speed, arrival time, etc...)
It seems to me it would be easier for Garmin to add the same features than for TT to improve it's routing engine. Imagine a TT unit with Garmins navagational engine. That would be pure navagational bliss.

 

[Smokiewolf]

At last, someone who gets it!

 

[Old Baldy]

I doubt there is any difference of routing engine used between the various versions of TT units.
To add more fuel to the fire, I have read a few comparisons and the TomTom (720 was used) always loses out to the Garmin and Magellan on it's route selection.

I look at it this way. I still get where I am going, even if a few minutes later. And I prefer the TT map screen features (heading arrow, speed, arrival time, etc...)
It seems to me it would be easier for Garmin to add the same features than for TT to improve it's routing engine. Imagine a TT unit with Garmins navagational engine. That would be pure navagational bliss.

Thanks Ezerhoden. THAT'S the type of response that's useful to my relatively simple, but apparently sensitive question. My guess is that you're right, the nav engine is probably the same across the range.

Of course, we could easily check.

How about I send two specific addresses, and you enter them to see the route distance and time from your 720, and I'll compare to my TT1.

Would you mind checking and posting the results for me?

Thx guys

OB

 

[ezerhoden]

Thanks Ezerhoden. THAT'S the type of response that's useful to my relatively simple, but apparently sensitive question. My guess is that you're right, the nav engine is probably the same across the range.

Of course, we could easily check.

How about I send two specific addresses, and you enter them to see the route distance and time from your 720, and I'll compare to my TT1.

Would you mind checking and posting the results for me?

Thx guys

OB

Sorry if I was misleading. I do not have a 720. A 720 was used in the comparison. I also would be curious of the results if someone reading this with a 720 or 920 would want to give it a try.

 

[Old Baldy]

Sorry if I was misleading. I do not have a 720. A 720 was used in the comparison. I also would be curious of the results if someone reading this with a 720 or 920 would want to give it a try.

No problem. I'll post the two addresses, if anyone with a high-end model would care to run the route on fastest route setting to see the route time.

The start address is:

57865 Hidden Timbers Dr, South Lyon, MI

and the end address is

2399 Ellsworth Rd, Ypsilanti, MI.

My TomTom One New Edition calculates the route as taking all of 51 minutes, while my wife's ugly old clunky Garmin C330 calculates the identical route at only 33 minutes, a savings of 18 minutes.

The TT1 route takes 54% longer than the more direct C330 route.

What's more, when I followed the C330 route, the actual arrival time was within a minute of the initial estimation, while the TT1 was obviously eventually 18 minutes out on this short trip.

This is one of many such comparisons I've done, and not one of them has resulted in the TT1 calculating the better (faster) route.

To your point, Ezerhoden, if the difference was only a coupla minutes, I wouldn't mind at all. I truly like the TT1 features and form factor, but now that I know it is not giving me the quickest (or even most logical route), it's a little disappointing. I travel a lot, and use the device extensively, and would love to have a TomTom with at least equivalent routing capabilities to the competition. Unlike the other poster here, I seldon use the satnav to not get lost (I can read a map fairly well) - I use it for convenience and it's intelligence to find a good route for me.

BTW....Here are the pics of the two identical routes, and the arrival times on both devices, for comparison.

You can see the Garmin shows an arrival time of 10:08PM and the TT1 an arrival time of 10:26PM (22:26), both from the same location and both set to find the faster routes and both clocks in sync.

First, the route pic. Note the more direct route of the C330.

http://www.timmfamily.com/satnav/P1040170.JPG

Then the actual arrival times...

http://www.timmfamily.com/satnav/P1040169.JPG

 

[The Spook]

This type of comparison will not give you the answer you are looking for, because the maps on the ONE, 720 and 920 are different. Hence, you will quite probably get different routes planned.

The navigational engine is the same in all of them though. You can prove this to yourself by taking the TT system files from one TomTom and putting them on another. They work and will plan exactly the same routes. The only thing that will be different is that you may lose some device specific features. i.e. putting the system files from a 920 onto a ONE will give you the button for voice recognition, but of course, it won't work because the ONE has neither the required map, or a microphone.

 

[ezerhoden]

This type of comparison will not give you the answer you are looking for, because the maps on the ONE, 720 and 920 are different. Hence, you will quite probably get different routes planned.

I disagree. I doubt the North America map has roads the USA_Canada map does not have that you would actually want be routed on. The NA maps are more detailed but I think the routing would be the same. But, lets see some routes and know for sure.

 

[The Spook]

I disagree. I doubt the North America map has roads the USA_Canada map does not have that you would actually want be routed on. The NA maps are more detailed but I think the routing would be the same.

The maps may be different versions, built from different source data. Even if you are comparing maps built from the same source data, there will be differences. There are differences in road coverage, but also you have to consider changes introduced by Mapshare.

Nevertheless, this doesn't alter the fact that the only logical way to check for different nav engines is to try the same route, on the same map, with different versions of the TT software. Otherwise it is not possible to rule out differences in the maps.

 

[Old Baldy]

without wanting to belabor the point, here's another example.
I'm heading out to the SOS office to plate a motorcycle I purchased. The SOD DMV office is in a nearby town, not far from where I live (but in opposite directions to my previous example posted in the thread above).

The trip is less than 7 miles from my starting location.

The Garmin C330 routed me via a route 7 minutes faster than the TT1. The TT1 said it would take 23 minutes via it's route. The C330 route to the same destination is only 16 minutes.

The start address is:

57865 Hidden Timbers Dr, South Lyon, MI

and the end address in this example, the DMV office at

236 W Summit St, Milford, MI.

http://timmfamily.com/satnav/P1040171.JPG

I find this type of routing efficiency difference in favor of the Garmin C330 to be the case in nearly every example where I have compared them to identical destinations. (and this is with the original old Garmin maps which I have not yet updated). Both devices have the same roads in these examples, as when I follow the route of the Garmin, the TT1 also sees and recognized the Garmin roads....it just does not actually route me that quicker route.


Anyway, I'm done with this topic now, although I would really like for someone with a higher end TT model to run some of these addresses for me and see if the routing is the same as the TT1. (I'd love to have an excuse to upgrade the TT to a higher-end model, for the wife! You can see who wears the pants in this house )

Thanks guys.

OB