Navigon vs. TomTom
Ill be reviewing these two products as a relative newbie to the GPS navigation world. Ive never really felt the need for a true Navigation Unit. The last one I used was a Windows Mobile App from iNav. It did not impress me. Ive grown up reading maps so the GoogleMaps App fits me pretty perfectly. I usually just route my trips on it and pretty much memorize the route and turn to it for a cue here and there. But as soon as apps came out for the iPhone, Ive been itching to try them out to see why everyone loves Navigation units so much and of course how well they stacked against each other. Ive gotten a chance to try out both the packages from Navigon and the highly anticipated TomTom. Ive only tried them both for a day or so but enough to give me some strong impressions.
Here are some of the things I was looking at:
Performance:
TomTom was the clear winner here. Both the load time and the routing time were heavily in TomToms favor. I think at least in part, this is due to the richer graphics presentation of the Navigon app. Scrolling was a lot smoother and the screen actually rotates as youre turning on TomTom. With Navigon, it simply jerks you in the new direction.
Starting Navigon takes much longer than Id like. Its also finicky with the GPS signal, but that may be a good thing. (See below) It takes its time in locking on to the GPS signal.
TomTom starts very fast and the app seems so much more responsive than Navigon. The GPS signal locks on almost immediately. Determining and recalculating routes were much faster with TomTom.
Winner: TomTom
Presentation:
When youre looking at the Navigon App, it obviously appears richer and more pleasing. I would almost call it eye candy. But this didnt translate to better functionality. As stated above, I do think Navigon suffers quite a bit in performance because of this. On top of that, the street names are very hard to see while youre in motion and from a distance. The overall displayed aspect doesnt seem quite proportional to the actual road. Somehow, the way TomTom presents the streets; you get a better idea of how close or how far away the next street is. On Navigon, PIO icons that actually display company icons (like Subways, McDonalds, Staples, etc.) although look really cool at first, added to the chaos on the screen. TomTom displays, at the bottom, a separate panel containing many useful things: speed, next turn, distance to next action, etc. Navigon only has a few items and theyre all floating on top of the map, again making it a bit messy.
TomToms graphics is very simplistic, may a bit too simplistic. The curvy roads arent so smooth. The colors that are used arent as pleasing. Everything seems a bit oversized, which, as person who likes details, I didnt like very much. But during use, I found everything easy to see quickly without squinting (I have 20/20 vision). But the jagged graphics were a tad distracting, but thats just me.
As an artist, I normally would give high praise for aesthetics. But here, I was left hungering for simplicity.
Winner:
Aesthetics: Navigon
Usefulness(more important): TomTom
GPS Accuracy:
Here, the clear winner was the Navigon. As I switch both Apps to 2D mode and tracked the streets that I was passing and the turns I was making against how well the Apps tracked my position, Navigon was almost always dead on. Because of this, I find it easier to forgive how long Navigon locks on to the GPS signal.
TomTom seemed to lag a bit. Thankfully, while driving a route, the voice instructions were given repeatedly and well enough ahead of time that the lag was never really an issue. Of course the constant reminder before a turn is somewhat annoying in itself.
Winner: Navigon
Voices:
TomTom has a much bigger selection, all of which sounded better than the default voice from Navigon.
Winner: TomTom
TTS (spoken street names):
Neither has this, but I really did not miss this feature one bit. But it may have been more useful on the Navigon since the street names were harder to see.
Winner: Both losers!
Options:
I havent explored them much, but TomTom seems to have more options, especially in regards to routing. Its also a bit more intuitive how to access these options.
Winner: TomTom
Lane Assist/Reality View:
TomTom kinda missed one here. I would have appreciated at least some simple lane assist, besides the constant keep right, especially when the road forks in more than two directions. The Reality View feature on the Navigon App looks incredibly good and useful.
Winner: Navigon
Price:
$99-yikes! For what youre getting, not sure TomTom is worth it. But Id rather pay the extra money for a useful product than $30 bucks less for something Id hate. And adding the Car Kit for God knows how much, youre talking some big bucks either way. I hope youre really into consolidating technology, because a cheap GPS Nav unit can be had for around $100 now.
Bottom line:
The TomTom seems more ready for primetime. Both are lacking in some areas, but the areas that TomTom lacks in still leaves it with a very useful product. While the Navigon looks great, its tedious to use. For something that you should be looking at (or better not) while driving, the clearer, the better and thats TomTom.
Still, I only routed to place I knew well just to test them out. How I often Id use either of these, I really dont know. I was still itching to get out the GoogleMaps app and plot my trip. Not to sound political or preachy, but devices such as these, I believe, rob people (including myself) of useful skills.
