Streets & Trips vs. Garmin Nuvi - On-Road Comparison

I am just back from a ski trip to Angel Fire, NM. During each of the two 24 hour one-way treks, I was able to do a heads-up comparison between the Garmin Nuvi installed in the vehicle and MS Streets and Trips 2008 running on my laptop. Here are some of my observations, in no particular order:

The larger field of view of the laptop gives a better understanding of the road ahead and the next turn as it is approached. However, the Nuvi also had an advantage with a greater announcement lead distance and full-spoken (text to speach) instructions.

The Nuvi seemed to present the car icon with better "real-time" accuracy. S&T lagged a little further behind, but not terribly.

I understand from the Nuvi's owner that it is difficult to set up the route. S&T is so accomodating that I was able to adjust the route "on-the-fly." I did a great deal of adjustment to the S&T route to get it to be identical to the route on the Nuvi. I accomplished that with relative ease.

We would search for restaurants while in-route. S&T seemed to have a greater POI/Nearby Places data base. Additionally, several options could be highlighted on the S&T map and analyzed visually by zooming out. I did not see the Nuvi being operated in this way and I assume that either it doesn't do this, or it isn't worth the bother with such a small screen.

Securing the Nuvi was easier at stops because of its size. More people could see and enjoy the S&T map because of its size.

All in all, both systems were helpful... However, I do like S&T much better!

Thanks for the comparison. It would be helpful for full understanding if you could tell us which version of maps were in the Nuvi and Streets&Trips.

Both manufacturers (Microsoft and Garmin) acquire their detail map data from Navteq so I'm surprised to hear there was a noticable difference in POIs. That would be explained by two possibilities.

The most obvious would be different (newer vs. older) map versions.

The other would be a difference in how "near" each will list in the display. That is, the Nuvi with its smaller screen might only list things "near current location" if they're really near, whereas Streets&Trips knows it has a bigger area it can display without panning so it may list things that aren't quite so near.

Also, some of Garmin's units will only display a limited number of "hits" (e.g. 25 is a number I've seen for some units) when you are displaying "near" here, no matter how many might be within its normal display range. I don't know if Streets&Trips has such a limit.

...ken...

It is possible that the larger screen size made the lag a bit more obvious.

Great observations, guys... Thanks... I have sent an e-mail to find out what map data base the Nuvi is running... The S&T is 2008 with NavTec, as I recall... I will re-post with the Nuvi info when I receive it...

Here is the 411 on the Nuvi:
NavTec is the map source, 2008 map. Unit is a Nuvi 350.

...and your Streets & Trips 2008, which released Q3 or Q4 of 2007, has Navteq map data from 2006 (Q3 or Q4 of 2006 is my guess)

The NavTec copyright on my S&T 2008 is 2007. Found that under "About".

I have a Nuvi 465T and MS Streets and Trips 2010, using a Garmin "runners watch" as the receiver. S&T is running on a netbook mounted on a Ram mount.
I am FAR from an expert, but have some initial observations.

We use the units in a Motorhome, and are just beginning to compare them real time. We have a long trip coming up, so I'll report as we go, but here are some initial observations:

Since our rig is 12'8" high we are very concerned about bridge heights. The 465T has that built in. M&S requires POI's to be loaded and I've not yet found a way to produce a warning. Advantage: 465

S&T allows drag and drop route changes by adding "stops". The Garmin allows Routes to be downloaded, but I have not found a way to "force" it to go the way I want it to go. There may be a way in the Garmin to override this, but I've not found it.
Advantage:S&T

Trip planning is great on Streets & Trips. Not so much on the 465.
Advantage: S&T

The 465 is plug and play, put in the address and it will get you there.
Streets & Trips is a bit harder to set up, but more flexible.

Advantage:465

The 465 has a small speaker, and it's barely audible over the noise of the RV. The small speaker is raspy sounding. There is no way to hook it into an amplifier or the radio to increase volume.

S&T volume is limited only by the netbook and can be output to a radio or transmitter to provide significant volume.

Advantage: S&T

Real time changes and searches are simple on the Nuvi 465, more difficult in S&T. The driver or passenger can quickly make changes on the 465 without a keyboard.
It's more flexible, but more difficult on S&T.

Advantage: 465

That's all for now. I'm sure that our more extensive trip will provide different insights and potentially change our views.

Would love to hear alternate thoughts and also if anyone has suggestions on pre-loading the POI's or other ways to improve S&T or the Nuvi.

This is my first post here, so please forgive me if I've made any mistakes.

Best,

Paul

Good post, Paul You might see if you can change the voice style on the Nuvi to improve its clarity.

Paul,

I can't wait to hear more. I am researching the best way to go get my mother and father in-law setup with a GPS. They travel each winter in an RV, rock hounding and fishing. They just got a new laptop and I am thinking something software based is the easiest way to go but that doesn't mean it will work the best. I will keep my eyes open for your posts.

Jon