Goodbye Garmin Mobile XT, Hello Mapquest Navigator

I am (or at least, I was) a big fan of Garmin Mobile XT, which is a version of Garmin’s navigation software that runs on smartphones. It really is an excellent product, and Garmin has just made it even better with their recent upgrade to version 5. I give Garmin top marks for their user interface; it’s the best I’ve used. And the fact that you get all of the online capability (gas prices, etc.) with no subscription fee makes it an attractive tool for people that don’t want to pay a monthly fee for something like AT&T’s TeleNav. However, that is the extent of my good comments about Garmin Mobile XT (GMXT), especially after a recent bad experience with Garmin customer service. Let me explain a little about that.

My recent grievance with Garmin has more to do with their terrible licensing scheme and product packaging, than it does with the product itself. It has to do with the various incarnations (versions) of this software that Garmin markets. When I first purchased GMXT in February 2008 for my Samsung Backjack (which has no builtin GPS receiver), I asked Garmin support which version I should buy if I wanted to build routes on a PC, then transfer them to GMXT. I was told to buy the “Garmin Mobile 10 for Laptops” version, which comes with a bluetooth GPS puck, nRoute navigation software for the PC, Garmin Mobile XT software (to be installed on a smartphone from a PC), and City Navigator NT maps of North America. Since February, I’ve been happily using GMXT on my Blackjack. My problems started when I decided to upgrade my phone to an AT&T Tilt, which has a builtin GPS receiver. Thinking that I could just reinstall GMXT on my new Tilt, I followed the same installation procedure as I did for my Blackjack. Unfortunately, Garmin neglected to tell me that this version of GMXT they recommended to me had to be used with their GPS puck; it will not recognize an internal GPS receiver. Not only that, but when I asked Garmin support what I could do to get my GMXT to run on my Tilt, I was told that I had to purchase the “Smartphone edition” of GMXT. That’s right, they want me to spend another $99 for the same software and maps that I just bought less than a year ago, just packaged in a different form. Nope. I don’t think so, and I don’t care how great their software is. If they had offered me, say, a 50% discount on the other version, I might have gone for it. So through their bone-headed licensing scheme and pitiful customer service, they’ve managed to alienate a once-loyal customer.

So what do I do now? Well, I could still use GMXT with my Tilt if I continued to use their GPS puck, but one reason I got the Tilt was because it has a builtin receiver, so I’m not going to do that (just on principle). Since I have an unlimited data plan with AT&T anyway, I decided to try out the 2 major “online” competitors: Telenav and Mapquest.

I won’t waste time talking about Telenav; suffice it to say that I saw nothing attractive about the product. When you click on “Get Telenav” on your AT&T phone, what you get isn’t even a full version of Telenav, which makes it hard to evaluate their product. The second choice, Mapquest Navigator, is a different story. It’s not as well-polished as GMXT or Telenav, but it wasn’t until I started using this product that I realized how seriously out-of-date Garmin’s maps are, even the most recent ones (2009). The Mapquest maps are more accurate (at least in my area) than Garmin’s, whose maps still show a bridge down the road from us that hasn’t existed for 15 years! Mapquest correctly shows a dead-end road. I even verified with Navteq that their database does not have the bridge 2 years ago, so why does Garmin still show it, even on a 2009 map? And for only $50 a year for Navigator, I’m getting current maps, gas prices, and other online goodies for much less than the price of a Garmin map update, which in my case aren’t up-to-date anyway, as well as announced streets (text-to-speech), which GMXT still doesn’t support.

I still prefer GMXT’s interface, and I’m not yet convinced that Navigator’s routing is as efficient as GMXT’s, but if you’re paying for an unlimited data plan already, Mapquest Navigator may be a better solution. And if I was Garmin, I’d think about changing their “we’re the only game in town” attitude.