I know there have been posts about which GPS software is better, Tom Tom or Garmin. But how does Sprint Nav Compare with them? I just signed up for sprint Nav and am still playing with it, but I wanted to see if anyone had some direct comparisons to share with me. Is it worth $10 a month?

Also, I noticed that sprint nav seems to be for low resolution screens and is not as sharp as it could be. Is there going to be a VGA update, and do the other programs support VGA screens?

i never used tom tom or garmin but i have been suing the sprint navi for about 2 months. the UI is not blurry to me at all. the screen is crisp and has good resolution. are you using a screen protector?

the sprint navi is included in the 30 dollar all you can eat data pack,,fyi

i have used sony gps and clarion gps units for years. the sprint navi is worth every penny. you get turn by turn, re calculates within seconds. you can speak your destination. it will then send the link to your phone and the gps program will route it. it has included traffic updates... i mean if you have used it you know how it works...

what specifically do you want to know? its worth 10 dollars a month if i were paying that and i use it more than my sony NAV-U.

if you have not really used the sprint navi, i can give more information....

You can try it free for a few days. I'm on the trial version and it has worked without issues. It has a few cool features, but its hard to justify $10/month. It was not included in my unlimited data plan either. I'd rather pay a one time fee for something like the google navigator, or iguidance than a monthly fee. I just hope that the other gps software will integrate nicely like the sprint so i can click drive to right out of the contacts menu.

Why not just use Google Maps or Live Search for free? You can't need any more hand-holding than that in your daily rounds

Well for one GM and LS don't have voice prompts and at least for me, I don't want to have to be glancing down at my phone every few seconds. Also, a lot of people have noticed that the GPS on the Touch Pro seems to be lagging by about 1-2 seconds and/or 50 meters (others report no such issues). However, for GPS programs that use them, the voice prompts remain spot on (despite the map position lagging by about 50 meters). Peronally, I do have this issue on my TP, the GPS shows my position about 50 meters behind where I actually am but the voice prompts (from TT and Sprint Navigation) are still spot on. So at least for the TP, having voice prompts in a GPS program could be an important feature for some people.

They are all excellent programs. The main point to consider is whether you want to spend a couple of hundred dollars now or pay a monthly fee? With Sprint Navigaton, you get always up to date maps and points of interest because they are downloaded wirelessly on the fly as you travel. The downside to this is if you enter a location with no wireless data service, then you have no way of getting the maps onto your device and the Sprint Navigation program becomes useless.

OTOH, you can go with a program like TomTom and pay a couple of hundred dollars up front. The maps you get will be the latest version but once TomTom releases a new version of them, yours will be outdated and upgrades/updates are not free or cheap. The good news though is that you store the maps locally on your storage card so if do ever venture into an area with no data service, your GPS will still work fine because you will have the maps already on your device.

The cost for Garmin & TomTom for the smartphones with GPS built-in will run you around $100. The advantages are as stated - you don't need a wireless connection to get access to maps or POI databases, and you don't pay a monthly fee. The disadvantage is that your maps and POI database may become out of date.

However, the updated Garmin Mobile XT software can now do a Google search to recover locations for you rather than pulling exclusively from the POI databases. That's huge, because unless there's some pretty significant construction, it's the POI database that will change rather than the map. You will need wireless access to use this, but compare the $100 one-time cost to a subscription and you could come out ahead. The Garmin software can also have maps for other countries loaded to it, which may not be available for the subscription service.

If you'll be a heavy GPS user, the purchase probably makes sense. Light? Stick with the subscription.

Thanks for the opinions. I have used GM and LS to find things on the fly, but for true navigation needs, like jury duty at a court I've never been to, I use my stand alone GPS (Mio 520). The voice promts and situational data are key! I would like to be able to use my TP as my stand alone GPS and that way it is always with me. Then I get the best of both worlds. My frustration with GPS' is that it is hard to try them all (there are many) and settle on one that I like, then return the rest. Especially with software only and not hardware. Thats where you guys come in. So thank you.

I have now had a chance to try Sprint Nav and I find that when compared to my other GPS it is slower to react to movement and the moving map is choppy and less detailed. However it is at a huge advantage in the fact that it is connected to the internet and can check traffic, has tons of POI's, and is always up to date. I find the voice prompts good , but I wish my TP was louder even after the audio hack.

in my limited testing Sprint NAV became useless if I was en route and had to make a phone call, because it continues to rely on the netwok throughout the duration of your trip.
TomTom looks and feels great on the Pro. I highly recommend it.

I am considering iguidance for $109. I believe that the garmin version requires you to use their small capacity sd card, so thats out. Tomtom is still an option, but my friend had a stand alone version and it always gave weird routes compared to my garmin stand alone. If you plan on using the gps for a year or longer it seems much cheaper to just buy one instead of pay sprint $120/yr. It will also work anywhere. I could always use google maps to find the newest pois and check traffic if i needed to. I've had my garmin stand alone for a couple years and never needed to update the road maps. How often do they move or create roads? Do you plan on keeping this phone for 10 years? I just wish google maps had a turn by turn option without using their navigator program which got really bad reviews. I love google maps!