TomTom GO 930 vs. Garmin Nuvi 880

• The Contenders
• Design
• User interface/navigation
• Features
• Route guidance
• Performance
• The winner is...

Round 5: Performance

Road tested

TomTom GO 930 GPS

Garmin Nuvi 880

In the final round, we check out how each GPS performed both off and on the road. Was the system responsive or slow? Was it a good navigator or did you want to run over it with your car?

Player	Wayne	Antuan	Bonnie	Total
TomTom GO 930 GPS	4 In driving tests, the 930 got a satellite fix quickly after power-up and it reacted quickly to menu inputs. It seemed slow to recalculate when we purposefully chose a different route.	4 When the TomTom loses track of its satellites, the device compensates using accelerometers to guess what the vehicle is doing. The system isn't 100 percent failsafe, but for the most part it allows the TomTom to stay on course slightly better than the Garmin.	3 The TomTom GO 930's performance was just fine, but it was a little slow to alert me to upcoming turns. The one area where the GO 930 really pales compared with the Nuvi 880 is the voice commands. I found it was only accurate about 50 percent of the time.	11
Garmin Nuvi 880	4 The Nuvi 880 offered similar performance to the 930, with a responsive touch screen and equally slow route recalculation.	3 The Garmin's route guidance is spot on when it has a clear view of the sky. However, between the tall buildings of the city, which bounce satellite signal around, it has a tendency to lose track of where it is and offer very random directions. After a while, it figures itself out, but by then you could be well off track.	4 Although route calculations were a bit slow, the Garmin Nuvi 880 just offered smoother performance from start to finish. Plus, the voice-command system is the best I've tested to date.	11

Winner: Tie