"TomTom also uses yards instead of feet, which is impractical here in the Units States."

3 feet = 1 yard. It's not like converting metric to english. I guess I don't see the issue here.

Did someone actually drive each of the three routes using the directions provided by each GPS to validate the milage and time estimates? Or did we simple rely on the estimates provided by each of the route generators, and mapquest/google/yahoo?

Also, we didn't seem to evaluate the different routes calculated. Was there a reason why one route was chosen over another, which would effect the ideal distance/driving times provided. Driving one route at 2:00 AM might be very different than driving the same route at 2:00 PM.

Also, why didn't we test a pedestrian route of several blocks, and actually walk the route to see how effective each system is for that application?

Ryan: Most people don't think in terms of yards anywhere but the football field.

You are obviously a Garmin Fanboy. Get a more objective approach.

yes, i would also like to know the answer to 'bigalber''s question and I quote:

"Did someone actually drive each of the three routes using the directions provided by each GPS to validate the milage and time estimates? Or did we simple rely on the estimates provided by each of the route generators, and mapquest/google/yahoo?"

how come you didn't mention the LG? i thought that had the best routing yet it wasn't included.

RC - Unfortunately LG's unit doesn't allow you to do any trip planning or route simulation, so I couldn't test it thoroughly in different regions of the United States (well, I could, but I'm not about to fly out to San Jose and Boston to do it)...

I'm no Garmin fanboy (as some have accused me of being).

I have many, many GPS devices, so I was just as curious to see which one did the best job routing as all of you are.

The facts don't lie, and Garmin's unit tested the best.

No, I didn't actually drive every route I tested, but I'm very familiar with the areas in which I simulated the routes, and was able to objectively tell which route was actually the "best" route (between the three routes chosen by the GPS devices, not necessarily the absolute best route that a person would have given you).

There are benefits and drawbacks to each and every GPS -- this test is just a test of the routing engine logic of the three biggest players: Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom.

I own all three units tested, so there is no Garmin bias here.

I want to thak you for your website. I just bought a Mageallan Maestro 4040 gps. Before I received it in the mail, I pretty much knew how to use the thing just by reading your review on it. Again, I want to thak you for job well done.

One thing that I've noticed is that TomTom tends to over calculate the time it will take to get there. Just a factor to consider. Thanks for posting the comparison.

"Verdict: Winner - Garmin"
That we all knew before reading your "analysis".

"The facts don't lie, and Garmin's unit tested the best."
What facts? Entering a route in a unit and watch it calculate the route? Without driving the routes, saying winner is ridiculous. As bigalber asked, drive the routes.

As soon as I saw the headline "Garmin vs. Magellan vs. TomTom: Which GPS Picks The Best Routes?" the final answer was known. Why bother any more with this charade? My guess is Garmin pays all the bills on the site.

You didn't test the units against each other. You tested them against your logic of a route.

We take the testing methodology very seriously - if anyone sees a better way to test each GPS' routing engine logic, please let us know.

For now, as I've stated perviously, all the GPS units have their own unique pluses and minuses. Routing just happens to be a Garmin strength.

For the record, we receive no money of any kind, nor do we receive any "freebees" or free GPS products from Garmin (or any other GPS manufacturer). The entire objective of this site is honest, unbiased reviews.

--FLETCH

Part of why I picked my Nuvi 350, and upgraded to a 660 was Garmin's rep for having a superior routing engine...but even that can have its quirks. Have you tried the route comparison I e-mailed you yet Fletch?

While actually driving the routes may make the test even better, as it is the test is valid and shows that different GPSes make different routes even with the same maps and some do better than others.
This is an important fact to know when buying a GPS.

Fletch owned Magellan systems for many years and he is just being honest about his findings.
He did failed to mentioned that the Garmin takes a lot longer to re-route and TomTom have better user interface as far as remembering pervious cities and streets.
Each system have it's pluses and limitations, they are all winners and like choosing a car make and model, there is room for every manufacturers. Fletch also fail to mention the Garmin 680 is almost twice the cost of a TomTom or Magellan Maestro although the test has nothing to do with the cost of each unit, you have to admit that Garmin is stronger in NA and TomTom is winning the market in EU.
As long as the unit gets you to your final destination without getting you lost, the unit is doing what it is design to.

Fletch, you are providing an excellent service to everyone and don't let anyone get to you. You have a right to post your findings no matter what the results are.

One thing that wasn't tested here is the detour function, which I consider a routing engine issue. I own a Nuvi 660 and have noticed that when I detour, the unit writes off that particular highway seemingly for the duration of the trip. I don't own a Magellan, but have read the product reviews here and am impressed by the detour control feature described. This allows you to tell the unit how much of a detour you want to take (3 miles, 10 miles, etc.). If that works as advertised, it is a huge advantage. It could save a lot of time, since the route chosen by the Nuvi might, depending on highway availability add significantly more time than simply navigating around a jam up of some kind. Any opinions on this?

After a lot of research, I purchased a Magellan 6000T a couple of months ago. In NYC, the "exclude" function is a must. Nothing worse than not being able to tell the unit not to take a particular bridge or tunnel. With my Magellan, if I see it wants me to take the Manhattan bridge and I want the Williamsburg Bridge, then I exclude the Manhattan Bridge and BAM, it puts me on the Williamsburg. Also, I couldn't live without a countdown of miles left to my destination. The Magellan 6000T always tells me what side of the street my destination is on. And lastly, the screen is so crystal clear and colorful. I can always tell someone has a Garmin on their dash when you see this bright whitish, silver glazy tint coming from it. And by the way, Magellan is much more reasonbly priced. Just seems to me that Garmin is paying professional bloggers to write bad things about the competition. Not a blad marketing ploy since most people these days research the products on the inter-net before purchasing.

Congratulations !!
You are the first who's able to determine the quality of GPS units by in-house testing and a sample rate of 3 (!) routes ...
Quite impressive .......

What's next? A GPS satellite reliability test by staring at the sky for 1 hour ??

Steffan: That would make about as much sense as assessing your intelligence by re-reading your post for an hour.

Perhaps you're just too (bleep) smart to realize, as I did, that what was demonstrated here was there can be significant differences in routing engines between brands of GPSr, and one brand consistently produces more real-life sensible results than the others.

I'm so sorry, Please forgive my stupidity.
I thought that "consistently" and "3 routes" don't match ... , just like "real-life sensible results" and "in-house testing" .

Foolish me ...

My husband and I have never owned a GPS, but we are thinking about purchasing one. . .what would be your recommendation for a user friendly GPS? Ellen

Ellen - have you checked out the Buyer's Guide Quick Picks: http://www.gpsmagazine.com/buyers_guide-qr.php

--FLETCH

The comparison is clear and anyone can reproduce the results with access to the units. I am new to GPS units and appreciate the information that is presented. The reader needs to make his/her own decision based on the presented information. The fact that a "winner" has been selected for each test does not invalidate the test. Others are free to test and post results....

Thanks for the write-up, routing was not one of the attributes that I had considered -- I was more thinking that the different maps would be a factor.

As someone who has lived in in the SF Bay Area my entire life, I have to say that test 2 from Fry's where the Tom Tom takes me across the Bay Bridge is absolutely brain dead....especially during rush hour traffic. Not only would I need to pay toll, it is longer and I'm almost certain to be stuck in traffic on 880 and at the Bay Bridge.

okay, so first of all i have to say thanks for putting the information you have out there for people like myself who don't have access to all three systems. second, please excuse these a-holes that get on here just to knock you for trying to help people out. i'm assuming they have nothing better to do than sit on the computer all day and make comments to everyone about how they suck at life because in reality THEY have no life. i think the info you presented is very helpful, and i thank you for it :) it definitely helped me out! have a wonderful day...

Obviously, in an ideal world it would be great for three testers to all leave at the same time each using a different GPS and see who won -- somwrhing like The Great Race. However, I am also familiar with the three areas and I would take the Garmin route almost everytime. In the first example, TomTom routes you down the Saw Mill Parkway from Northern Westchester rather than down the Hutchinson Parkway to the Cross County connecting with the Saw Mill in Yonkers which is almost always a faster way. The Magellen seems to have the same route but the directions are not as clear.

I was wondering if there's a way to mark a road off of consideration on any of the units? For instance, the Cross Bronx Expressway is almost never a good way to go, but the Nuvi will take you that way to New York's West Side from 95 in New England rather than 287 to the Hutch, then the Cross COunty, etc.

Do any units have the ability to "drag and drop" the suggested route like Google Maps now has to make a customized route?

i bought a Magellan 4040; many features are great! problem is processing time and even worse is the time needed to re-caculate route is extreemly slow; i hear the garvin is v good with this? any feedback would be appreciated.

not sure for the other 2 test...but for test #2, it's quite true. Tomtom recommended to take I-880 which is the worsted route by the way. You will guarantee take +10 minutes longer that the time that Tomtom provided because of the wait time to at pay station before crossing the bridge (I-80). I live in the Bay Area so I can confirm this. Not to mention that you have to pay extra $4 to cross the bridge. Freway 101 is the correct choice. But the best route should be I-280 because there's less traffic at any given time. Might be a little longer distance but shortest time arrival.

Your testing a $600+ Garmin unit against a $400 Magellan and a $200 TomTom. Something tells me the $600 unit would be better without even looking at the results.

I HAVE WORKED FOR VERIZON AS A REPAIR TECH FOR 30 YEARS DRIVING ALL OVER HELL AND BACK AND I HAVE USED DIFFERENT GPS UNITS TO NAVIGATE THRU THE TOILET KNOW AS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.A FEW YEARS AGO I STARTING OUT WITH A GARMIN 2610 STREET PILOT.I HAVE TRIED THE TOM TOM AND DIFFERENT MAGELLAN UNITS BUT I CAN HONESTLY SAY,NOTHING,,,NOTHING BEATS GARMIN GPS UNITS.

THANKS DAVE. NOW HIT YOUR SHIFT KEY!

Hey,Fletch,thank you for this comparison!I purchassed a Garmin 680 a month ago,and I was still wondering:Was it the best choice comparing to Magellan and Tomtom?I got it from Costco online,for about $500 and everybody nows that the other two are cheaper.So was it worth the price difference?Reading your article gave me the feeling that I did the right choice.And if you don't mind,can you help me with an advice?My sister lives in Romania and now she wants a GPS system.What would be the best choice for Romania?I will be looking forward for your answer.Thank you!

Regarding the price differences, this test uses a $600+ Garmin but there are less expensive Garmin units. Can anyone tell me if all Garmins use the same routing logic? I've been looking at the Nuvi 200 or 250.

I would suggest your sister purchase the Garmin 770 which is the same unit as the 760 but with European/UK maps loaded on already.

SC,thank you so much for trying to help,it's very nice of you,but I'm afraid that Garmin 770 comes with the maps for West Europe(U.K.,Spain,Portugal,Italy,Germany,France and more) while Romania,which is part of East Europe,is not included.

I have had a magellan roadmate for 4 years right now, pretty good, am intrigued by the garmin's details and routing. My experience w/magellan CS is less than satisfactory, also locking up quite often. Do you have any reviews on the historical general reliability of magellan and garmin. I seem to find more magellan issues.

Which is a better unit?

I do not travel a specific route much like Dave from Verizon. I am in both rural and urban areas daily.

Which maps are better? Which unit can remap more quickly? Which has the better screen resolution and audio clarity?
Which company has better tech support/customer service?

Your input is appreciated.

Thank you.

Alex.

I drive all over Ontario, and western Quebec. I have a Tomtom One. I really like it. Most of the time it gets me where I need to be without any headaches. Living on the cusp of two languages and changing/growing municipalities; however does provide unique challenges.

Tomtom does not like it for instance when I say my destination is Ottawa, when it is in a municipality formerly known as Orleans. Or several places in Western QC where it looks like you are driving off the road into a field. If you are not from the area, and dont know the pre-amalgamation names, Tomtom is not 'smart' enough to figure it out. It is a bonus that it lets you search by postal code.

I would update my maps, but the Tomtom software keeps timing out. So I guess untill I fix it that is my own fault.

I have not used the others, but I can say that overall I am quite satisfied with the Tomtom. If I had to replace it, I would want to street test units before making a dead set brand choice.

I own both a Magellan 4250 and a Garmin Nuvi 750. Over the Christmas holidays, I made a trip from the west coast to the east coast with both devices in my car. This trip convinced me that the Garmin was the better of the two units and I found myself using the Garmin instructions over that of the Magellan. In one particular case the Magellan routed me into a maze of bad streets that the Garmin avoided. In addition, I found that the POI database in the Magellan is not very useful. It does not contain either Wendy's or Chili's. When you are "on the road" I like to find the "fast food" places and the Garmin does that fine. I am not sure what is going on with the Magellan POI database, but it is virtually useless.

I have been using a TomTom One third edition for several months now, driving in southern CA. USA. I have had virtually ZERO problems with maps, routing and re-routing with very fast sat. acquisition times, and extremely fast re-routing, usually only half a block or so. I notice that you were testing TomTom's one XL rather than third edition. Perhaps that is the reason you are finding Garmin better. I can honestly say that I would recommend TomTom (I have not tried Garmin) to anyone looking for great basic navigation and under $200. Take one of the third editions for a test drive and notice that it finds even dirt roads (named) without any street signs. It works perfectly for me, and the new Home2 interface is fantastic, it even allows you to add and remove streets or re-name them, and has two other great features. One is map share which allows you to download other users corrections, it also has a feature which determines where satellites will be for a few days so you can acquire a signal virtually immediately, even often indoors!

Try one out and see if you don't fall in love with it.
P.S. It uses Sirf III chip which is the best out there.

Larry

Why make this a Pissing Match ?? Garmin and Magellan are both wonderful ! I cannot get home with my Tom Tom being it takes me to a dead end street and going to work, it takes me too far...I tested all of them and a simple cheap Magellan Rocks My World !! for 150 bucks, you have your Toy !

Wow... why is everyone taking it so personal? I've seen side by side comparison reviews on CNet,rate4stars.com, buy.com, and many others. Garmin, for the most part, seems to be the "winner" in most cases (except price, gosh it's pricey). Even USER ratings on the whole show up better, so there's no editorial bias, guys...

I was dropped my Garmin off a mountain shattering it in to pices and spilling battery acid over the components. Garmin replaced it no questions asked. Garmin is the winner if just by customer appreciation alone!

sorry my computer said it didn't post so i hit the button again

What a joke. People like you should be banned from using the internet--or at least granted read-only access.

Yards are impractical in the Units States? First of all, learn to spell. Second, are you seriously saying that yards are a metric unit? 3 feet = 1 yard. If you can't see "30 yards" and figure out that it's 90 ft.--not that most people can judge that anyway--then go the f*** back to school and stop pretending to be an expert on anything technical.

I must say in all 3 tests the Garmins minutes vs miles driven makes no sense. In all 3 tests you'd have to speed to make Garmins times.

FYI, when Garmin units calculate the time it will take to drive a route they use the average speeds that you drive on roads of a particular speed limit to estimate that time. So if you tend to drive about 70 mph on roads that are 60 mph, Garmin will take the length of the 60 mph speed limit section of road and divide it by 70 mph to get the driving time for that segment.

I do not know how the TomTom or Magellan units work.

One other thing regarding the price, all Garmin units use the exact same routing engine, regardless of price, so you'd pretty much get the same results from a $200 Garmin unit as a $900 Garmin unit (assuming that you have the same set of maps).

I fist bough a Gramin GP
S at WalMart. I work in rual ares not cities. Could not find anything, calles
Garmin, person told me they only work in cities, told me to take it back. This I did, bought a Tomtom XL, finds any place I need.

Works in cities ONLY??? Too bad!!!! Should not call it a GPS.

Hi Guys

I'm coming over to the US for a vacation with my family from the UK. I'm good at yards and feet so some help please.

Why is SoCal a toilet?

Will the Garmin unit direct me to 29palms from LA?

I am a commercial real estate agent & drive my clients on building tours. I'll have a list of buildings to show, so I need to plot ALL the buildings (not just one at a time) in priority of proximity the night before, then the GPS needs to talk me through the entire tour while I'm driving. I am not a techie, need it simple.
I would like GPS to say the street names if possible. Price not an object, but don't want to throw away money, either. Also it needs to have current info & updated streets.
What should I buy? thanks in advance for your help.

Cooke:
I just upgraded my primary GPS to the Garmin nuvi 760. The reason I chose this unit is exactly what you described. The nuvi 760 has an advanced routing feature called "route planning", which let's you can save routes/tours with multiple waypoints/destinations. In addition, the nuvi 760 automatically sorts multiple destinations to provide an efficient route. With the FM transmitter, bluetooth handsfree speakerphone, and TMC traffic data, this unit has satisfied all of my GPS needs.

I just purchased a Magellan 4250 last week at Costco for $299. I have been using it every day hoping it would assist with more cost effective routing based on traffic etc. This is very important with today’s gas prices and traffic here in Los Angeles. I am truly disappointed in this unit. I drive to around 5 -9 different destination every day doing computer repair and this unit makes consistent illogical routes. Just today, I was about 1000ft from an onramp and the unit wanted me to drive on streets for over 10 miles to get to the next destination which was 1 block off of the freeway. I jumped on the freeway instead, and what do you know, there was no traffic. When it decided to reroute, it also said there was no traffic ahead. I saved a lot of time and gas by not playing stop and go on city streets for no reason. It has consistently sent me off the freeway just to end up parallel the freeway for no reason. I spoke to another coworker today who also has this unit and he complained about the same problems. Wow, free traffic for 1 Year and you get poor routing for free also.
I will be returning this unit tomorrow to Costco and spending an extra $50 for the Garmin 760 which has excellent review in comparison. It was also rated the BEST gps by Consumer Reports in a recent Auto GPS Comparison. I hope the Garmin lives up to its reviews.

Chris

Will you post a progress report please. I just bought a Nuvi 770 principally to navigate around LA on our upcoming vacation. When I flew in last time it look like a complete maze of streets and without the Garmin I will have to rely on my wife to navigate!!!

seems like the people ripping this review are the fanboys here, of tomtom and magellen. sometimes it's hard for people to accept that something they don't own is not the best. The bottom line though is all three do a pretty nice job, having used them all. Though I do like the Garmin, and do have to agree, being an SF resident, taking you up the 880 from San Jose to go to SF is enough to make you not want to buy a Tom Tom. Nice review.

I just bought a Garmin Nuvi 360 and am excited to try it out. My friends are split between tom tom and Garmin. However all the reviews I read ranked Garmin higher than tom tom. I think this article is merely a confirmation of that. Also as a resident of the Bay area, taking 880 to SF from SJ is a bad decision on Tom Tom's part.

We recently went on a trip and bought a TomTom 720. I can't wait to return it. It had us do the strangest routes. Occasionally we did not reach our destination when it said we had.
Friends of ours also on the trip had the same GPS and they have already returned theirs.
One up side was it tells you the speed limit on freeways and reroutes quickly. It has to, it's normally wrong
Looking at the Garmin now

I must say, most of these posts have been very amusing to say the least. :-D I consider myself a very good reseacher when it comes to making a purchase. I hate buyer's regret with a passion, as most of you do I'm sure. I started with Garmin because they're #1 in GPS devices, hands down. I then started looking at the Navigon's with their unique features, and then TomTom. I excluded Magellen for the most part because of their terrible customer support issues. I understand everyone's preferences and needs are different. Whereas each individual may be looking for certain or different features in a GPS device, I was looking for a basic GPS navigator that would get me from point A to point B with the best reliability. After much research, it boiled down to the leader, Garmin!

I have owned a Nüvi 360 for almost 2 years now. I am in the market for a GPS for my wife and bought a TomTom Go 930 last week because I was intrigued by the touted IQroutes and MapShare ability to get community map updates.

Garmin's route calculations have been for the most part very reliable with some annoying quirks, like it only knows to make a sharp right turn at a corner in my neighborhood for certain destinations, most of the time it sends me left instead and then tells me to make a u-turn. It also has been close with travel time estimates but tends to underestimate by a few minutes on a 30 min trip.

The TomTom 930 starts off slightly overestimating travel time. One thing I found annoying was that the destination has to be reachable by road. So if you saved a location in a parking lot at work for instance, it won't be able to route to it, while the Nuvi routes to the nearest road. It also refused to route across a dual traffic light on a divided 4 lane highway, i.e. separate light at the north bound and southbound lanes. It was nice to be able to verify with the MapCorrections feature what the turn-restrictions and potential road blocks were, but having verified that they were all correct, I was left with the conclusion that either the routing just had a fundamental flaw or two of the road segments were not connected somehow. Although adding roads is possible I have a feeling they need to be reviewed by TomTom before they are added to the map.

I think the TomTom folks are on the right track (pun intended) but they have a ways to go to get it right. In the meantime I am on the way to the store to return this latest model and will probably go with the consensus in this discussion a Nüvi 760.

I own a Garmin nuvi 770 and could not be more pleased with this unit. The routes it picks I could not do better with a map, and it takes me to the correct address every time. The satellite hookup is vary quick, the detour function gets me around the traffic jams and back on the same route quickly. The blue tooth phone hook up works great and the hands free voice activated dialing works great.. Having said that the only thing I wish it had was a removable battery, but for more money I could go to the nuvi 880 and would if I were buying one today.

I stand corrected, I have the nuvi 760 not the 770 as I put in my previous post.

will the tom tom one 3rd edition show your MPH

I read the article and I observed the tester confuse the customer using the term "best route" without defining what is the best route (the shortest or the fastest). Do not forget the velocity is distance over time. Best route is a compromise between them.
I was working as taxi driver for two years in North America, and I learnt that North American public prefer shortest routes rather than fastest, and they consider as being the best route. As taxi driver was in my advantage because I got more money that suppose to pay if they take the fastest way. I said it is not my business to change their mind since they are happy to pay more money to me.
To come back, also the tester forgot or omitted in purpose that Tom-Tom is fair and gives you those two alternatives shortest route and fastest route. This makes a big difference.
If you choose the shortest you get the same result as the others GPS devices and if you choose the fastest you get a longer route.
Tom-Tom gives you the time necessary to reach the destination and if you check there are big differences.
Also the tester forgot or omitted in purpose is that Tom-Tom is very flexible. Maybe is coming with more mistakes than Garmin or Magellan, but the user has the freedom to correct those. Tom-Tom calls this Mapping share technology.
Another omission of the tester is how those GPS devices start working.
A few people know the geostationary satellites do not have a really fixed position. They oscillate around a fixed point. North American GPS devices use this theoretical point. TomTom provides to their customer the current position of the satellites as an update. All GPS devices are able to scan and identify where needed satelites but his takes time are. Tom-Tom starts immediately using the supplied position when you turned it on and with a Garmin or Magellan wait like 5 minutes sometime. In the background TomTom scan the sky and find out where the satellites are which is transparent for the customer.
The last thing the tester omitted is the price to operate the GPS.
All corrections for North American GPS devices are not free. So in first year you are OK, then you have to buy an update. Tom-Tom gives you the freedom to update it, so you do not need to buy updates unless if there are major changes in street configurations, but changes like: name of the street, directions, blockages etc. are on customer power. Of course with Tom Tom you receive the change made by the others TomTom users and is your choice if you want to include it or not. You cannot change the map itself, but this makes sense.
So dear tester make sure you will be fair with all brands and do not work in the interest of any of them.
My advices are:
If you are too lazy to take care of so many features buy a Garmin or Magellan, because maybe is coming with a more accuracy map and you do not have to worry about. But do not believe in the best route. You get the shortest route, which is not always the best.

Actually yards are an "American" unit of measure - "non-american" would be meters (or metres).