pkphilip

Get a TomTom Go, Bestbuy has the refurb Go 730 for $129.99, I am planning to get one and hack it to run the Go 740 engine.

TomTom is very hackable, I have been updating my 2006 TomTom One with the 2009 engine and 2010 maps, I get text to speech, IQ Route, Lane Guidance and all sort of good stuff that only comes with the higher "Go" series.

Garmin has a better interface, and entering address is easier. Some people say that TomTom has a perference to use highway more, and Garmin can vary the routing. I never encounter this problem with my TomTom, the IQ Route feature just steer me away from traffic (Seattle especially), and get me there with little issues.

Philip

pkphilip

The Curtis is not a bad find, it's a Windows CE device with 500Mhz processor. It will run the Mio Nav or IGO software nicely. It only has 2GB tho, which is very limited. That's why I prefer the TomTom Go series with SD slot. The SD slot will override the built-in memory, so no modifications is needed to the internal software.

Philip

pkphilip

All TomTom 10,20,30,40 series are doable, but without SD card is risky because certain upgrades requires an updated "bootloader", and without a SD card, you can't upgrade to certain level because the device won't boot.

GPSUndergound and IPMart has tons of links and resources for maps and modified Navcore.

Philip

pkphilip

TomTom Navcore 9 is faster than Navcore 7, try the new x 40 or x50 series and compare that to Garmin with IQ Route. You will see that TomTom works better.

I have Garmin on my phone and it is slow, I just miss the IQ Route and Auto Lane Guidance.

Philip

pkphilip

Just got a used Go 730 for cheap, installed Navcore 9 and it runs faster than Navcore 8 that it came with.

Built-in memory is only 1.91GB, so I must use the North America 2GB map. The SD card slot works with SDHC, and putting the full map on with all the POIs on a 4GB SD works equally well other than the speed is a little slower (I was using a class 2 SD).

Philip

pkphilip

I got mine for $85 shipped :-). Tech to me are just toys, GPS is not something I use everyday, so I don't mind getting one used. Since I use TomTom mostly for hacking and playing around, this just fits my bill.

Philip