Hilux 4x4 Forum

Is anyone familiar with the Garmin 710 and what are your impressions. Also how does it compare against the Tom Tom 720 which I believe has very similar capabilities. Your input would as always be appreciated. Thanks.

Can't say much about the Tom Tom as I have not used one. I do use a 7 series Garmin.

I have found the thing extremely easy to use. The interface is intuitive and I didn't even bother with the manual. I loaded tracks4africa Lesotho maps onto it and it all worked well. For pure offroading it would not be my first choice but then the pure offroading Garmins are not in my experience so good for road navigation. Perhaps the new generations like the Oregon have improved in this regard.

The screens of the 7 series are very good and the suction cup for mounting to the windscreen has not let me down even on bad roads. The preloaded maps are also good but I have had a few errors. Bad idea to turn off your brain when you turn on a gps anyway.

Hope that helps

Andy, go to www.garmap.co.za and you can get all the info you require on their forum. This forum is the busiest forum on the net, after this one of course
Ron.
P.S forget the tom tom

The Nuvi 710 is very user-friendly. But if you're going to buy one, consider also the Nuvi 500. Smaller screen, but better for off-road purposes.

South Africa is Garmin country, drop the Tom-Tom idea. At this stage anyway, T4A only works on Garmin GPS receivers.


-F_D

Thanks for the input, guys. I was inclined towards the Garmin myself, even with my limited knowledge about these products. The Tom Tom I believe, between these two models of similar price, has a few extra features over the Garmin, but some reviews speak of poor functionality which would render those features as gimmicks. What I'm looking for is a decent all-rounder at a reasonable price (about 4k should do it).

Eric, excuse my ignorance, but what is T4A ?

Tracks for Africa - off road maps

:D Thanks Niel. I'm slowly becoming educated.

My girlfriend works for tele atlas.
They do all the data capturing for the GPS systems.
NOW
They use to be georigin and mapit, and they sold the data to garmin exclusively.
Then TeleAtlas bought out the company and now they oonly sell data to Tom Tom.
They are the best in the country at what they do, so after a while the Tom Tom's data will be much better than the garmin's.

She had both a Garmin and a tom tom, are her opinion is that the tom tom is better,
and you can update your maps for free for life with the tom tom.

m2cw

Ek het nog altyd gedink Garmin is 'n bietjie een van daai snobbish brands so dis goed as hulle kompetisie kry.

BenHur wrote:Ek het nog altyd gedink Garmin is 'n bietjie een van daai snobbish brands so dis goed as hulle kompetisie kry.

Nope, not at all, Bennie. Garmin GPS receivers are second to none.

Mud Dog, consider the Nuvi 500, retails at around R4500.00.


-F_D

I have the Garmin V and the 710. I like the 710 for all the reasons mentioned and the radio transmit etc from the garmin to the radio. Knowing the V though, I miss some of the flexibility of the older GPS's. On the V, I can customise more functionalities and am able to tell the unit to navigate an old track. With the 710, you have to visually follow the line of the track. I am not referring to routes, but to previously made tracks, by foot, vehicle or plane. This said, the 710 is ages ahead of the old technology found in units such as the V - no competition. It's just that for off road use, I prefer to log the tracks with the older unit as I can set it to my needs (amount of waypoints logged etc).

Thanks for the different viewpoints ..... all helps to steer me in the right direction for my requirements which are not specific. As yet I don't find it to be an essential tool, but would be nice to have one. So without wanting to spend too much, a good allrounder seems logical at this point.

Oh, one of the nice things I heard was that the Garmin warns you of speed traps ahead, wonder if the Tom Tom does the same, and which one is better at it. This is a BIG PLUS feature (my 4y can still break the 120 k speed limit :D ).

just to let you know. I have decided to go with the Garmin Nuvi 500. I like the functionality and versatility of it's features. Smaller screen is a bit of a drawback but not critical. My boet bought one recently and he's also impressed.
Waterproof to 1 metre and shockproof are big plusses. :)
Thanks for all the input.

Good choice!


-F_D

While all the dogs are on this post,got a nuvi 500 when upgraded on my cell contract.Had to pay in R1300.00 but the normal selling price was nearly 5k. Just remember the tracks for Africa software is an opsional,witch can set you back another 500-600 bucks.Dont trust any Tom Tom Dick Dick Harry Harry in the bush.

Dont trust any Tom Tom Dick Dick Harry Harry in the bush.

I can get the Nuvi 500 for 4.4k with top & rec loaded so T4A not neccessary. If I push my luck I can even drop that price to 3.99K plus delivery. :shifty:

Fantastic deal,go for it.Times are tuff and stockists want CASHFLOW.

Hi Andy

Do not write off T4A. If you are going to travel in the "far away places", you will not find a better mapset than T4A. There is nothing at the moment that comes near to T4A for rural travel (bush travel)

At the moment for urban travel the other mapsets are better, but that is changing rapidly.

Cheers

T4A can be bought in pieces, you don't have to buy the whole lot at once. I bought the Western Cape bit for about R100. If I want to wander further afield I can buy the next bit.
Ron.

I have to agree here, T4A is dynamic, it's updated every six months and in deepest rural Africa, it remains your best friend next to your T4A-capable GPS, which, at this time, is only Garmin.

Having said that, the Garmap Africa Series is growing in leaps and bounds, but I doubt it will ever be as functional as T4A in really out of the way places. T4A is cheap enough and the maps are produced by a dedicated team not for profit but as a lifestyle.


-F_D

Irishman wrote:T4A can be bought in pieces, you don't have to buy the whole lot at once.

I like the way T4A sells their product. It does not have top cost you an arm and a leg

with regards to T4A, you must realise that each track/road displayed on the mapset has been GPS recorded by at least 3 different people/ sets of data. Tracks are not traced from other maps etc. Everything with T4A is done at ground zero.

Individual tiles can be bought for the different regions, but even at the cost of 1 tank of diesel, you can get the whole of Africa mapset with is actually very cheap.

Cheers

T4A can be bought in pieces, you don't have to buy the whole lot at once

I did'nt know that Ron, Interesting. I won't write T4A off altogether, will see how good the Top & Rec is for my requirements. I can always load T4A later.

Thanks again.

I drove Naauwkloof trial close to Mokopane today.
The whole trial is on T4a, i did the complete trial by just following the GPS, on Topo & Rec you only see contour lines.

I will also recommend T4Africa. I also want to put in a caution on the nuvi500 as an all round gps. A problem with this device is that it has an onboard rechargeable battery that lasts 8 hours. Many hikes, cycles and other outdoor activities last longer than that and you cannot simply slip in another set of penlights when your battery dies. Not good in any kind of critical situation which is exactly when you need a gps.

Yeah, Martin, I noticed that as well, and it's a definite drawback, but as I'm getting a bit long in the tooth ( ) for extended walks, there's always a vehicle reasonably close by to plug in and charge. A seperate battery pack would have been nice, but I guess they made it that way for the waterproof seal.
I can live with it.

You can also download a sample map of Kruger Park from T4A's web site, for free.


http://www.tracks4africa.co.za/demo_map.asp


Give it a try!


-F_D

Thanks for that Eric, I've already d/loaded it. :D