Garmin/Tomtom vs the smartphone & Google

[Steve398]

I was busily updating my 3 Tomtom satnavs tonight when I hit a slight problem and was looking up the answer on the computer, among the results was an article outlining the overwhelming competition that Garmin and Tomtom face against Google and the smartphone.

It wasn’t a thing that I’d ever considered before but is now pretty obvious, the article describes how in the Christmas quarter of 2007 Tomtom sold 4.2 million units with a net profit of €107m, then over the next 2 years because of a general downfall in the market and introduction of the smartphone the shares went from €64.80 to €2.84, recording a €37m net loss by the first quarter of 2009.
They are now a far smaller company than before, but trading in profit once again and now seeking new sources of revenue with Nike GPS sports watches, and self-driving cars, which would obviously have huge potential.

Garmin was also in a similar position but is now successfully exploring smart watches, and navigation for boats/airplanes.

How long do you think we’ll be able to buy a stand-alone satnav? Just a thought…

[Stu]

Well Garmin would stand a better chance if they actually listened to their customers and fixed issues that have been found on the XT!

There is a bug in the software that if you import a route then ride it but end up going off that route it doesn't recalculate properly! Instead it tries to take you back to the point you can off that route!

I have even had it where it is trying to take me to that point I came off the route despite been on top of the next waypoint!

There is a fix/workaround and all the information has been passed to Garmin who have done nothing!

More info on another one of my forums here https://www.zumouserforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2301

As for smartphones I have been trying to use one but there is downfalls! lack of signal for a start which means you have to download offline maps before hand

I was using My route App navigation on Saturday just gone and it decided it didn't want to play ball! I switched to google maps which worked well if a little bit fiddly at times but once I set the route it was OK

I prefer to plan routes on my computer then go ride them rather than stick a destination in and figure it out on the way!

I am still leaning towards a dedicated sat nav rather than a mobile phone

[Steve398]

Irritating isn’t it?

I tried Garmin when I first got the RT but just couldn’t get on with it and returned to the Tomtom, however I have noticed that the once slick operation is getting increasingly cranky… now whether that’s down to age/over-loading of data on the unit or cut backs leading to problems within the company I don’t know.

The original difficulty I found was trying to delete the numerous other languages included on the satnav in an effort to clear some data space, as I have little use for my spoken directions in Italian, German, or Russian! I also wanted to remove the log of frequently used/received telephone numbers… can I do this? Apparently It is possible for the former (but that function didn’t work), but not the latter without a full reset, thus losing all my stored routes/favourite locations.

I don’t like a cluttered handlebar/dash area so decided against using the phone as a satnav but read through your experiences with the carplay type device with interest.
It’s a recent innovation for bikes to have this fitted and I note that the Honda NT1100 has Apple carplay I believe, so it’s a shame BMW didn’t follow that route instead of imposing their own TFT navigation app on the later machines.

[Glenn]

I came across this yesterday https://www.drivemodedashboard.com/ it looks good but I haven't used/bought it.

[Stu]

The car play screen was OK but for me again just didn't cut it!

There was issues phone side with connection and I had to keep restarting my phone to make it connect which isn't ideal. This is the same with the car if it doesn't connect I have to restart the phone so clearly an issue on the phone with android auto and not the screen.

The screen needs to be in the dash like the sat nav I would also like to see a way of controlling it with the wonderwheel or onboard controls.

Blackbox embedded do the wonderlinq which allows you to control a mobile phone and I have been using this and it seems to work OK but won't control Google maps! Sometimes you just want to zoom out to see what's about or where you're heading.

It does work with MyRoute app though but as I say I had issues last time and not sure why! I think it was phone connection issues to the Internet