October 24, 2008

J.D. Power ranks GPS customer satisfaction

J.D. Power and Associates has released their 2008 Portable Navigation Device Usage and Satisfaction Study(SM) which looked at six ratings factors: ease of use; routing; system appearance; speed of system; voice directions; and navigation display screen.

As you can see below, Garmin ranked number one, closely followed by TomTom.

Jd_power_ratings

Some interesting points from the study:

  • PND owners are particularly loyal to their brand, as nearly 90 percent report they “definitely will” or “probably will” repurchase the same brand in the future.
  • More than 60 percent of owners purchased their device at a retail store, while nearly 40 percent purchased online. Owners who purchased online provide much higher satisfaction scores with regard to their overall shopping experience compared with those owners who purchased in a retail store.
  • System mounting problems are the most common reported problem among PND owners, followed by accuracy of routing and address information...These mounting issues can be resolved by designing systems that are lightweight and less bulky. Accuracy issues are often an implication of outdated mapping software.  This continues to be a user education issue, as many consumers are not aware of the process involved in updating the necessary software.

I might add to the latter that mounting problems can also be reduced by use of a friction mount.

Here's the full news release.

Oct 24, 2008 7:54:47 AM | The business of GPS

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