# Why has TomTom dropped in price?



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Anyone know why, TomTom has dropped so low in price the last few weeks?

New model? Problems with this Model? 
Going out of business?

We want a GPS for the car (the one that would go indash for our model is $3,500)...

I would like a Garmin, but they are $500+

So I have seen the ads for TomTom lately for $199

So I am curious what the deal was


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## skessel (Aug 11, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Anyone know why, TomTom has dropped so low in price the last few weeks?
> 
> New model? Problems with this Model?
> Going out of business?
> ...


I had a TomTomGo 910 for a couple of months and I had to Ebay it. The mount is really poorly designed and if you go on a street/fwy that doesn't have a perfect concrete layer then it'll vibrate really bad and if you drive long enough it'll end up facing down... TomTom had a mount recall but the replacement mount wasn't any better. Terrible.

The software, however, is great.

I have 2 garmins, a Streetpilot c540 and a Nuvi 660, both are fantastic and the c540 (the whole streetpilot franchise, actually) is an amazing buy. IF you don't need the traffic receiver a 540 is a perfect solution, and relatively inexpensive.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

Earl - I've been in the market for a new GPS As well. I've also noticed the huge price drop but I think it is really across the board and not just with Tom Tom. I've been seeing several different models for such low prices I've wonder what the heck was going on as well. 

I've read a lot of reviews in different places and it seems like Tom Tom is a decent product and I know a few people that have them and love them so as with everything else it is completely subjective. I don't think that you can really go wrong with Garmin but they do seem to be a little more pricey. 

My suggestion would be to buy from a place with a great return policy like Buy.com, I've had tremendous luck with them and they even picked up the return shipping at no charge and no restocking fee. Better yet would be to walk in to a place like Best Buy or Costco and see which ones appeal to you then once you make your decision look for the best deal.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I received the following email yesterday:



> As a DeLorme registered customer, you can now buy the updated 2008 Street Atlas USA software with the DeLorme Earthmate GPS LT-20 for only $59.95. That's right, the updated 2008 software plus our acclaimed USB laptop GPS together for only $59.95. Or, only $79.95 for the LT-20 GPS with the new 2008 PLUS software version, which adds phone listings, custom data import, and more.
> 
> You can also save on the two new software versions without GPS. As a DeLorme registered customer, you can upgrade to the regular software version for only $31.95, or the PLUS version for just $47.95 - a 20% savings for each. This way you will have our latest data updates and software functionality just in time for the autumn travel season.


Software AND hardware from Street Atlas for $59. I'm tempted, although I really don't need it as I am still using 2006 which is just fine for my purposes. A few years ago the software alone was over $100.00. Isn't competition great???


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

The DeLorme is not a standalone unit, it would be a little cumbersome to use in the car. 

For years I had Pharos products with my PDA. The acquisition time was long and I fried a receiver in the car, which I should not have been able to do. On another occasion the battery began swelling up so large it no longer fit in its compartment. I made multiple offers to test their equipment, including face-to-face at CES. I work 4 miles from their offices. Nothing, even though I had spent close to $1,000 with them over the years. 

My new GPS is a standalone Magellan. You don't hear as much about them but they are well known in aviation, as is Garmin. I bought the $299 one at Costco and I'm very pleased. I've had it about 4 months and they've had 2, possibly 3 free software upgrades. No map software upgrades yet but we'll see what the coming months bring. 

Why is Tomtom dropping their prices? Well they came into the US market like gangbusters after being in Europe for a while before that. Maybe they are planning a large product push for the holidays. 

Basically from what I have read you will be happy with any current GPS with the latest acquisition chips, they are quite speedy. They all seem fairly similar in capabilities, the major difference being screen size, routing options, and the bundled other features (MP3 player, photo viewer) you get.


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## dbconsultant (Sep 13, 2005)

I love my TomTom!!!! My husband got it for me last Christmas and it's been the most-used Christmas gift ever! It got us to the Who concert in Fresno in February when all sorts of routes were shut down!


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Earl: My daughter in-law has a Garmin StreetPilot C330 and I have a Magellan RoadMate 360. We are both very happy with them -- The C330 sells for under $230 at Wal-Mart, and the RoadMate 360 lists at $209 on the magellangps.com web site.
Both were rated well by Consumer Reports. The C330 received a Best Buy from them, as did the TomTom One. The only drawback with the RoadMate 360 is that it doesn't have a built-in battery. None of the three are "Traffic capable". GPS with Traffic capability typically run around $500 plus.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I've been using StreetAtlas on a laptop in the car for years. I first used it serously for my cross country 2004 trip. For that it worked great and got me to everywhere I wanted to go. I agree that it would be a problem if I had a passenger in the right seat, but I really like having the large screen rather than one of the little screens.


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## fwlogue (Dec 6, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Anyone know why, TomTom has dropped so low in price the last few weeks?
> 
> New model? Problems with this Model?
> Going out of business?
> ...


Earl I have the 910 and the 700 from Tom Tom we like them both. The mount for the 910 is tricky but works great if you put it on right. When you first install it to the windshield you turn a knob on the base 1 click then adjust it for your view. When you get it to the position you want then you tighten it one more click. That is the trick if you do not tighten this second click it will fall of the windshield. I have had mini mounted to the windshield for 4 months now and it has not come off at all. During this time we took a round trip road trip of over 2,000 miles. It works great.

If you are talking about the Tom Tom 1 which I have seen at that price I have heard bad stories about that one though.


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## flexoffset (Jul 16, 2007)

> I would like a Garmin


I use a Garmin StreetPilot 2720 because they said it had good navigation "common sense."

While it got me around Indianapolis 99 percent of the time, there was still that magical 1 percent where it failed me.

I was in downtown Indy heading towards Iaria's Italian restaurant. I turned one street early ended up a couple streets off due to a series of one-way streets being on the route.
I waited for the Garmin to recalculate and was shocked to see a 6 hour transit time to travel two streets over to the restaurant.

Apparently, Garmin was confident the best route across the street was to hop on the interstate, go to CHICAGO, make a u-turn, and drive back to Indianapolis.

On the flip side, it predicted within 9 minutes accuracy the arrival time on the 8 hour drive back home.

 :nono:


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## BobbySteelz (May 24, 2007)

I've been a user of the TomTom One for sometime, and have recently just moved up to a 720. The TomTom One was incredibly easy to use, and so simple to set up that my completely non technical girlfriend has used with absolutely no problems. 

My experience with the 720, has been great so far. The text to speech has worked great, and the map share feature has been really helpful in updating the route for my trips home from work. 

I'm not really sure why the prices are dropping, but I'm sure it's not because of product quality.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

Speaking of Tom Tom One - Here's a refurbished one for only $169!!!

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Refu...sem/rpsm/oid/189716/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Woot ran a Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS for $199.99 + $5 shipping today. Of course they were long ago sold out.


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## Dave (Jan 29, 2003)

I've seen some of the best advertised prices at www.pricegrabber.com

They have Garmin, Magellen, Tom Tom just about any brand you could want. Some of the Magellans start at about $ 70.00


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

funhouse69 said:


> Speaking of Tom Tom One - Here's a refurbished one for only $169!!!
> 
> http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Refu...sem/rpsm/oid/189716/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do


Seeing that you can get a a brand new Tom Tom One for $199.99 these days, I wouldn't consider that to be a bargain.


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## Tideman (Oct 12, 2006)

I bought a TomTom One on sale about 2 weeks ago. Love it. Also a Consumer Reports Best Buy.


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## DrZaiusATL (Sep 5, 2007)

Maybe the price dropped because of all the car wrecks that have occurred from people trying to get directions from a 3" screen that they strain to see.....


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## TomDavis (May 16, 2007)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Anyone know why, TomTom has dropped so low in price the last few weeks?
> 
> New model? Problems with this Model?
> Going out of business?
> ...


I got the TomTom 720 for $500 and it worked good but I had to return it with a technical problem. I was a little put off by the price so I waited on the replacement. I would have replaced it with the Garmin 350 for about $329, which is the #1 seller from all accounts I read. I went with the HP Ipaq 5915 though because it got good reviews as a GPS, is a very good PDA and cost the same as the Garmin 350 with about the same screen size. It also uses TomTom software as the base.

I'll let you know how it is. It is due in on the 26th.

Tom


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## Guttboy (Sep 9, 2007)

Not sure why Earl....however, for those that dont like the mount (I did not it was too far away for me).....I modified it with parts available online! Check it out here....

http://www.tomtomforums.com/showthread.php?t=2051&page=2

I love the 910! What I like is the ability to do multiple waypoints and add miscellaeous other programs...much like a Palm device!


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## BobbySteelz (May 24, 2007)

TomDavis said:


> I got the TomTom 720 for $500 and it worked good but I had to return it with a technical problem. I was a little put off by the price so I waited on the replacement. I would have replaced it with the Garmin 350 for about $329, which is the #1 seller from all accounts I read. I went with the HP Ipaq 5915 though because it got good reviews as a GPS, is a very good PDA and cost the same as the Garmin 350 with about the same screen size. It also uses TomTom software as the base.
> 
> I'll let you know how it is. It is due in on the 26th.
> 
> Tom


What technical problem did you have with the 720? from all accounts I heard it worked pretty well.


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## TomDavis (May 16, 2007)

BobbySteelz said:


> What technical problem did you have with the 720? from all accounts I heard it worked pretty well.


It failed to update on line. I could not get it to sync to the website or even be recognized by my PC. When I took it back they could not get it to sync either.

I have just gotten the HP 5915 and used it to go from Boston to NJ this weekend. It performed adequately and was very good at rerouting when I chose a different route than recommended. The mounting was good and convenient and the fact that is is a full functioning PDA is a real plus for me. So for $325 I found it a very adequate alternative to the TomTom 720 and it runs on TomTom software. There is no text to speech but I did not find that a problem and it may be added in a future upgrade. The 5915 does not have an FM interface but I don't think I would use that anyway.

So for me the HP5915 is a good alternative because it functions well as a GPS and a PDA, is quite portable and has a walking mode for out of car use.

Tom


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## AlbertZeroK (Jan 28, 2006)

Becareful. I ordered a TomTom 910, and found they didn't have the street I live on listed in it's database. While the Garmin Nuvi 350 I got the spring before last does. If anyone complains about the TomTom mount, the Nuvi mount isn't much better, especially on a hot day.

But I'd go Garmin before TomTom, just because the mapping data on the Garmin seems to be more up to date. (Of course, we could talk for days about mapping data and data sets at who has what and how old the systems are, etc. But the funny thing is that Virginia Department of Transportation freely distributes an ESRI shape file of the roads with name in VA that is less than a month behind - there is no excuse to not have a road listed in VA.)


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## BobbySteelz (May 24, 2007)

I noticed something like that in VA as well, but my friend used the mapshare on his 720 to correct the issue...works pretty well in situations like that.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Most of the GPS manufacturers use navteq as their map provider. You can check with your manufacturer to find out what firmware level is current and when an update is forthcoming.


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## BobbySteelz (May 24, 2007)

Cholly said:


> Most of the GPS manufacturers use navteq as their map provider. You can check with your manufacturer to find out what firmware level is current and when an update is forthcoming.


Actually I know of two companies that use TeleAtlas maps...Tomtom and Mio.


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## funhouse69 (Mar 26, 2007)

I know this is a little off the OP question but I was in Best Buy yesterday and one of the sales people pointed out this new GPS. He said that everyone has been talking about it and that it is one of the coolest ones he's ever seen.

http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en

After playing with it a little, I have to say I agree it is really cool.


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## Tinymon (Sep 21, 2007)

The TT1 is a nice basic unit. Have had mine for about 4 months and it works very well and is easy enough for my significant other to work on her own...And I have to hang up her cell phone for her occasionally.


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## 4DThinker (Dec 17, 2006)

Many GPS companies are revamping their product lines with new models and new features. As such you'll find clearance prices (or "New LOW Price!) on many of this year's models.


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## Randino (Oct 12, 2007)

I just think that it is there marketing advantage over Garmin. Consumer reports picked it as a CR bestbuy. And it scored better than the Garmin nuvi as well. Shop around, there are lots of diff prices for this. Pepboys is running it on Black friday for $140.00.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

http://staples.shoplocal.com/staple...d=Staples-071122&promotioncode=Staples-071122
Staples early bird special. TomTom One $124.99 plus receive a $20 gift card.


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## bubbers44 (Jan 23, 2007)

Richard King said:


> http://staples.shoplocal.com/staple...d=Staples-071122&promotioncode=Staples-071122
> Staples early bird special. TomTom One $124.99 plus receive a $20 gift card.


I got the GPS this morning just after 6:00 AM. I was having trouble with check out so called their 800 number. Radio Shack has it for 149.95 today and tomorrow also. I think they will run out of stock early at that price. She checked stock for me and they still had them at that time.


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## aim2pls (Jun 18, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> The DeLorme is not a standalone unit, it would be a little cumbersome to use in the car.
> 
> For years I had Pharos products with my PDA. The acquisition time was long and I fried a receiver in the car, which I should not have been able to do. On another occasion the battery began swelling up so large it no longer fit in its compartment. I made multiple offers to test their equipment, including face-to-face at CES. I work 4 miles from their offices. Nothing, even though I had spent close to $1,000 with them over the years.
> 
> ...


I've been a delorme street atlas customer for evet (i think) .. get updates at least every two years (usually yearly) .... runs on my 15 INCH display on my laptop .... blows the hell out of the tomtom types ..... if you use it for work related activities .. its the balls .... when the wife calls on the cell .. ?? when you want dinner ?? .. look over to the display and tell her 57 minutes (etc) .... multiples stops ona trip .... ?? 99 enough ?? ... NO? .... multi-trip it then .. easy .... at 10 MPH ... it has paid for itself many many times over ... time savings .... weeks of savings ..... location specifics .. like a phone number .. oh yeah


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## Snoofie (May 29, 2003)

Amazon had a Tom Tom 3 for $149.95, but it is now sold out. I was thinking of getting one for my wife, but I was wondering about ease of use. How easy is it for someone to use if that doens't like fooling with technology? Also, I was always under the impression that there were monthly fees for these, but since I started looking lately, I see no mention of monthly fees. Do you just pay for the unit and that is it?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Caution should be used when purchasing items that carry restocking fees.

I picked up the Garmin this morning from BestBuy... and returned it this afternoon. Got dinged 15% ($25)

(Returned it after I did some more research with it, and found out that it's battery life was only 5 hours and didn't come with an AC adapter to charge in the house, and other reasons too).


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## pilam99 (Aug 15, 2003)

Snoofie said:


> Amazon had a Tom Tom 3 for $149.95, but it is now sold out. I was thinking of getting one for my wife, but I was wondering about ease of use. How easy is it for someone to use if that doens't like fooling with technology? Also, I was always under the impression that there were monthly fees for these, but since I started looking lately, I see no mention of monthly fees. Do you just pay for the unit and that is it?


No monthly fees. If someone is a technophobe, take them to the store first to try it out. I have a TT GO 700, it's touchscreen so people with long nails or fat fingers would probably hate it, not familiar with the TT3. Pairing it with your cell requires some Bluetooth familiarity.


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## Snoofie (May 29, 2003)

I ended up getting a Tom Tom One 3rd edition from Wal-Mart for $162 and it came with a carrying case and home charger. I ordered it online and picked site-to-store shipping so I am still waiting for them to e-mail me when it is available to pick up. I will mostly use it when I have to go places for work around town and don't know where I am going, but I can't wait to try it out on a long trip and see how it performs.


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