Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Hello colleagues,

today I've finally got my N800 and want to use Wayfinder for navigation.

Right now I have an old TomTom on SonyEricsson P910i. No new software nor maps due the old hardware...

I will surely try this 7-day test, but here is my question in advance: is Wayfinder on N800/N810 at all comparable to TomTom, Garmin etc? Can't believe it is better, but it is at lest not much worse?...

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

TomTom is best. Wayfinder use old maps, calculate not optimal route and very sloly make rerouting. I try Wayfinder 7 days and buy TomTom Go 910 after them, but not license for Wayfinder..

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

My TomTom maps are much older (and can't be updated anymore), so it is not an issue.

Anyway, today I've tried Wayfinder a little bit and here are my impressions, compared to TomTom Mobile 5 @ SonyEricsson:

- Wayfinder maps seem to be okay so far

- route calculation and recalculation is fast enough (not slower than in TomTom) but Wayfinder sticks to the initial route much longer: when I know a shorter or/and faster way, it tries to lead me back again and again until it recognizes that there is a another, shorter route. TomTom seems to re-calculate bigger part of the route and switches to the different/new one sooner.

- TomTom's general usability is much better: faster access to menus, more different options and features. Among other things, in Wayfinder I miss the quick "Navigate To" menu as well as possibility to see the route on map. Zoom in/out works also better in TomTom, which seems to be generally somehow more user-friendly. Hopefully Wayfinder will improve it.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Have you made use of (or has wayfinder interupted you with) the traffic aspect of it ?

I've been playing with Maemo Mapper and rather like it. Possibly good enough to do without any alternatives...

However, if it gives high quality "useful" traffic updates, Wayfinder offers good value.

Zuber

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Yes, I've tried to use traffic info, but not sure yet if it works as there were no traffic jams so far. Wayfinder just waits a couple of seconds and says that info has been updated. Tomorrow I will travel about 800 km and maybe I will know more then.

In the meantime, I can also confirm that TomTom calculates and re-calculates slightly "better" routes. Eg. it uses also small side streets to turn back if I miss something. With Wayfinder, I mostly get longer ways round. But, all in all, Wayfinder is not that bad, and I would acquire a license if I would know that the application will be improved during the next months.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

This is one of the reasons I like TomTom better than other navigators I've tried. The quick re-calculation is really important, particularly in areas with inaccurate maps (e.g. the original route tried to take you through a one-way road, or a walkway or some such): Just drive past it and TT immediately comes up with a new route based on where you're now heading.

I have very bad memories of Hertz Everlost and its insistent go-back-go-back-go-back and eventual long re-calculate (at which point you've ended up in some hopeless spot, particularly when you're on a road where you just can't stop the car.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Well, it's probably "once TomTom - forever TomTom"!
After my detailed testing I've decided to upgrade my mobile phone along with TomTom, because the Wayfinder is, unfortunately, not what I've expected. First of all, I do not like voice navigation and almost always use just the visual routing. In this area the old good TomTom (even on a smaller screen) is way better than Wayfinder on N800. Sorry but goodbye. At least for now.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Strange how different people perceive things differently.

I just started the WayFinder trial yesterday for a long trip. I actually quite liked it...

The maps don’t appear to be that old like someone suggested. At least not for the route I tried. It showed some quite recent changes correctly.

I should point out that I'm comparing with TomTom on a phone, not standalone TomTom unit.

Not sure why they call roundabouts "traffic circles".

Anyway, Things I like compared to TomTom :

1. I find the signs much better for motorway exits etc.

They look much more like the signs on the actual road. e.g. Shows junction number and locations much the same as the ones on the overhead displays. Makes it easy to relate the two.

2. On my TomTom, I used to use 3D display. Was disappointed with Wayfinder not having 3D that shows any road names on the map itself.

But to be honest, having used it in 2D, I've come to realise that the 2D display is actually much more useful. Particularly on a big screen. I tended to use the 3D more because it looked cool. Got over it now...

3. I like the way it sometimes gives you both the next direction symbol and the one that follows.

4. It seams to work better for me at roundabouts. As well as saying 3rd exit etc. It tessl you at the turn off as well e.g. Sometimes, I loose the plot at a large roundabout. Kind of a was that the 3rd exit or 4th etc. End up going round again etc.

With TomTom, I was finding that at this point, TomTom was totally useless and I ended up guessing which one I want and hoping it was right and then waiting to see if I'd got it right. When going round a roundabout, there was too much screen jumping/delay while it figured out where I was.

With Wayfinder,when I did this, it seamed to handle it much better. It said "Take this exit" or something like that. And the signs it showed made me confident I was taking the right exit as well.

It may be down to the Bluetooth GPS combo I was using, but I don't think so.

5. I like the red countdown as you approach a turning.

On the Negative side :

1. The interface is a little less intuitive. E.g. I did not realize you could plan a route at first. Only by accident. You get the option of entering an Origin as well as a Destination. But only when you untick the enable GPS option.

2. There does not appear to be any Text view to see the planned route. Or an easy way to see the route take turn by turn the way TomTom does.

Traffic Info

The Traffic Info looks like it works. I don’t know if it will redirect accordingly etc. but there are traffic info bit on the map. I tried alternate route option after planning a route and it actually went through one of the traffic Info spots.

Shows an arrow on the right with a traffic sign indicating that you will be going through the blackspot.

Got potential

Keep in mind that I’ve only used it for a couple of trips. I might actually subscribe.

I do think they should have included basic route planning free. But using this and Maemo Mapper as well makes the N810 a really fantastic GPS device(imho). Shame it does take a few minutes to get a lock sometimes.

Perhaps they could improve this by downloading some sat data directly. Like they did on the N95. It's called A-GPS (Assisted GPS).

IF the Traffic updates are good quality (fast, accurate and reroutes accordingly) and you really get software, map, speed cam and traffic updates for 3 years, then it’s actually very good value…

Zuber

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Glad to see traffic works at least in the UK... I haven't seen it in the US yet.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Glad to see you like the Wayfinder.
I also really wanted to like it (actually, bought N800 mainly because of navigation) but now I will stay with my TomTom, mainly because of worse 3D display and lack of some advanced route planning features.
P.S. traffic works in Germany too.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Out of curiosity, how (where) does it get the traffic information?
Does it need an internet connection, or is there a hidden rds receiver in the n800/n810?

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

It gets the traffic info from the internet, the radio in the N800 doesn't seems to be able to receive RDS informations.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

I actually like TomTom too. Both products have pro and cons...

I'm curious, do people actually find the 3D view more useful or just find it looks cooler (on TomTom or Wayfinder) ?

Personally, I figured it just looked cooler but in many ways, more confusing and less informative. Especially on a bigger screen.

Also, TomTom has more alternate route options. Like avoid next 500meters etc. quite useful when you litterally just come across a roadblock for example.

But I did not realise how much more enjoyable (though by no means essential) a large 4" screen is compared to a mobile screen.

I think having both Maemo Mapper and Wayfinder available on the same device could be a winner. I just watched a youtube video by ThoughtFix about GeoCaching. Thought it demoed it rather well (I'm an occasional Hiker).

Really would like some sort of A-GPS like they do for the Nokia N95 though. Made a huge difference to lock times on that device.

Anyway, if everyone was required to like and standardise on the same software, we would all be using Microsoft Windows (Oops) :)

Zuber

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

As Nikem says, it gets traffic updates from the internet. Either WiFi or Bluetooth to Phone.

It can be configured to get traffic info updates manually, every 10 mins, 30 mins, 60 mins.

I'm hopeing this is indicative of how useful the trafic aspect of it will be i.e bang upto date with latest changes. Hard to tell until you experiance it...

Zuber

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

re 3D: I've always used TomTom's 3D view on my rather small (2.6") smartphone screen and found it very informative and useful (not just "cool"). I don't like and don't use voice navigation, and with TomTom I also really don't need it. Now I have to say that Wayfinder's 3D view is much worse, partly also because of N800's big screen. Here is indeed "Less is more"! Not only "first person shooter" feeling is missing: Wayfinder's distance indicator isn't good as well. It almost permanently shows larger number than actually (eg. "157 m" to the next turn, although there are not more than 100m left). TomTom is much more precise. These were main reasons why I have decided to use TomTom on small phone display and not Wayfinder on this big one.

Re traffic info: I have paired N800 with a cell phone (which has data flatrate) and enabled update every 10 min. It seemed to work fine.... mostly! Because every 2nd/3rd update it has timed out.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Agree on the distance thing. It tends to say the exit is a little further than it is.

Might try and feedback that to the support guys...

On the timeout, do you think that is internet connection (reception related) or server related ?

Zuber

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

garmin mobile xt works very well on my nokia e61. right now this is the nav software with the best map of bulgaria and this is the main reason for me to choose it over tomtom, route66, navigon, wayfinder and smart2go

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

In general, I like the 2D display with TomTom. But there was one case (sounds silly I know.. but it really made the difference) where I simply couldn't get out at the correct exit of a 6- or 7- exit roundabout. I kept getting out at the wrong place and had to do a U-turn down the road. After the second wrong exit I switched to 3D mode and then it was suddenly easy to get out at the rigth place - I just watched the screen and followed. For some reason it didn't work out very well in 2D.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Funnily enough, that is the type of situation I ran into on my WayFinder test run.

The thing I liked (and one of the main things I liked about wayfinder) was that it actually displayed much better information about the exit I should take. Corresponding very well with the signs shown on the road.

In addition, it actually said take this exit as I got to the correct exit. The 2 in combination gave me a real confidence about which exit to take.

In a situation where you end up going round a big roundabout more than once, I found TomTom got confused (perhaps confused me may be more accurate) but WayFinder didn't.

Might just have been luck since I havn't done many runs with WayFinder yet. Might be doing another long run tomorrow.

Will be interesting to see if if I still feel as positive about it after that :)

On a different note (not really WayFinder). Anyone got any comparisons about batteylife with SatNav on the N810 v there mobile/TomTom. Not got my Car Charger yet.

I was really chuffed with the N810. Managed well over 3 hours from less than full charge (not sure how much less).

After that I played a number of Video clips while waiting for the wife to do some shopping and then back to SatNav again before it went flat.

Don't recall my mobile ever managing anything like that with Bluetooth TomTom. But I guess it depends on the phone...

Zuber

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

With enabled Bluetooth and running TomTom, my SonyEricsson P910i sucks power like hell. A full battery is guarenteed empty one hour later. N800 with two bluetooth connections (to phone and to GPS) and permenently active Wayfinder could work 2-3 hours, I guess, and N810 without Bluetooth should do it even longer.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

My (limited) experience with phones and bluetooth is that enabling bluetooth doesn't suck much measurable battery, but _using_ the BT for something sucks the phone dry pretty quickly.

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

Battery life is pretty key to these things. Though not so much for in car use.

I'm guessing Nokia's decision not to use Sirf III chipsets in their GPS enabled devices is at least in part due to wanting to go for a low powerdrain solution. Works out well on the Phones with A-GPS. Now we just need to get it added to the N810...

Where is the best place to suggest this ? I assume a Nokia forum somewhere ?

Also, on WayFinder. I just got put right off it. Did a quick local route just for the sake of it. Upon reaching my destination, it came up with "Well done, That wasn't too bad was it". Patronising or what :)

I miss Yoda on my TomTom.

Zuber

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

I too once used Wayfinder on N800 for a long drive.
1. It crashed once near the destination, so need to stop the car and start the Map app again.
2. The traffic cam and speed limits showed on Swiss motor way, which felt ok.
3. I too notice rerouting bit slow.

Thinking of to sell TomTom one or not?

Re: Wayfinder on N8X0 vs TomTom & Co
 

A brand new SonyEricsson M600i with Symbian OS and touchscreen has arrived few days ago, and since yesterday I am again happy user of TomTom Navigator. Oh, I've missed it so badly! :-)

Sorry Nokia, but I clearly prefer TomTom over Wayfinder. Once Wayfinder wanted let me drive over 1 km to U-turn and then back, although there were two possibilities to turn in between; another time it wanted I make U-turn where it was not allowed. It never happened to me until now with TomTom, and I'm using it a lot.

Another big minus: Eastern Europe maps of Wayfinder are hardly better than no maps at all: there is only one street (main transit road) in the Lithuanian town where I'm coming from. TomTom shows me all 50+ streets here, with all house numbers.