Traffic App - INRIX vs CoPilot vs Waze...

[havoc]

I need a traffic app to help with the new commute. Googling throws up the 3 above as likely contenders, but has anyone any first-hand experience? PH search has just gone down too, so that's not going to help...

- INRIX is newly improved and getting good reviews, and is free, but is apparently a battery-hog now.
- CoPilot is £20 (£35?), and seems to come high in all the tests.
- Waze is also free and seems like an interesting idea, but getting mixed reports on accuracy.

Finally, Google maps appears to have traffic too...is that any good?

I've got a TomTom with nav and cameras, but I can't add traffic to it and given the hassle of TomTom's 'new' PC interface, I really don't want to go giving them any more money right now.

So nav is less important than accurate traffic prediction...

Thanks,

Martin.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

I do 70k+ miles a year and I've been using Waze since February.
Can't fault it really, I've not been stuck for longer than 15mins so far and I travel all over the country at all times of day.
It's free, give it a go?

[surveyor]

Have you looked at TomTom Go (yup it's an app).

Works well for me.

[giantdefy]

I use Google Maps which has v good traffic and seems to be able to route me round it with ease. It's also useful to be able to plan trips on my laptop using Google Maps to take my preferred route or to add stop offs etc and then be able to ping it straight to my phone for the use in the car.

[gmaz]

Google maps works pretty well as a satnav but I don't know if it updates the route in real time based on traffic. I'm also a bit wary of how much data it downloads over 3G/4G.

I've used Co-Pilot for years and the recent versions have been very good.

[X5TUU]

A second for Waze here. Used it extensively in the Uk, USA, Canada and Thailand with no issues over some 50k miles

It is also owned by Google and uses / shares their traffic management elements so is nearing the best of both worlds IMHO plus free!

[DaveH23]

gmaz said:

Google maps works pretty well as a satnav but I don't know if it updates the route in real time based on traffic. I'm also a bit wary of how much data it downloads over 3G/4G.

I've used Co-Pilot for years and the recent versions have been very good.

It does. Google maps is fantastic. It uses Waze to re route around traffic.

[wombleh]

Does waze work without an active data connection? Tried it in the past and it was no good in deepest darkest Devon where t'internet doesn't reach.

I've used copilot in the past when regularly commuting past Birmingham and it was great at picking the best route.

[Markbarry1977]

Waze is owned by Google. I have been using it for a few years. It's fantastic in my opinion but the UI does look a bit cartoonish, I have a f1 race car as my position hehehehehe

Does require a data connection and is hard on batteries but my phone is always on charge in a cradle and I have 3 mobile with unlimited data.

[markmullen]

I use Waze, after many years of owning each year's top of the range tomtom I've gone fully to Waze. You need a decent cradle for your phone, my preference is Brodit, and a power supply as it hammers batteries. It does use data so if you're planning a new route out of signal it won't work but it seems to catch enough that the usual dark spots aren't an issue day to day.

[weeboot]

Another waze user reporting in.
Regularly use it for a standard commute and it's saved me from nasty traffic on many occasions.

[Glasgowrob]

100k+ a year here and wont use anything other than waze, I've used everything over the years but waze is far better than anything else by a long shot

[greenamex2]

Big fan of Waze BUT it does need an internet connection to at least get started.

I also have Navmii installed as a backup as it doesn't need internet.

[weeboot]

Anything without offline maps will needs connection to get started.

[giantdefy]

weeboot said:

Anything without offline maps will needs connection to get started.

But since the OP is asking for a TRAFFIC app s/he will need to be online anyway.

[Actual]

I use the Android versions of Google Maps on a Nexus 5X and Waze on a Nexus 5 - both mounted in drop in Brodit cradles.

Google Maps has very accurate traffic and clear to view real-time traffic. The navigation and estimate is very accurate for normal journeys.

Waze is good but it is not as easy to manipulate such as zooming out to view an entire route. Due to the crowd sourcing nature it is very useful when an incident has occurred.

One thing that frustrates me is the integration. Google Maps understands my map browsing history from my desktop PC but Waze can't do this and neither seem to be able to integrate with the addresses in my contacts address book. This is disappointing considering that Alphabet who owns Google also owns Waze.

Google Maps seems to struggle with road closures but Waze understands and routes round.

The killer app for me is the free TomTom Speed Cameras which runs in a tiny floating overlay window on top of Google Maps so TomTom Speed Cameras combined with Waze gives me good road safely warning capability.

And on the Nexus 5X I make and receive calls and run Spotify and it all works at the same time over Bluetooth through the car audio system.

[havoc]

OK, quick update.

I've been using INRIX for over a week:-
- It does drain the battery to a degree (~50-60min commute each way, so probably 1hr 45min use or so each day), but with mild use at work (I'm busy enough that's all I need to use), I only need to recharge overnight.
- In 7-8 working days (12-15hrs use) it's soaked up <100Mb of data, so it's not a big drain on my contract.
- It's not 100% accurate in flagging up traffic, but IS pretty reliable...>90% hit-rate on jams and >80% accuracy.
- The interface is pretty good and intuitive.
- The route-planning can be annoying if you know a better route - rather than telling you to turn around, and then after that reasonably quickly recalibrating (like the TomTom system does), it flicks the display upside-down/right-way-up repeatedly while on and on telling you to "take the next left in 100yds", "take the next left in 200yds"... (i.e. the right turn you didn't take because of the queue). "Nagging" is a good description.

So I'm currently using TomTom for nav/route timings and for Camera Alerts (PGPSW database), and the INRIX for traffic. Which with the visors down in the sun right now is impacting a little on visibility...need to think what to do about that, might 'hide' the TomTom behind a visor and turn the volume up for the Camera alerts.

Might swap to Waze in a bit, see how that compares...

[motco]

I have found Waze to be good but after an update a few weeks ago it kept crashing and closing. There's been a couple more updates since and it now seems stable again. Did any other Waze user have this problem?

[Far Cough]

I`d be interested in how WAZE users have avoided speed traps etc. I used it years ago when no one else was hence it was pretty bad. Seems now its had a resurgence. So would be interested to hear.

[weeboot]

A recent waze update has added speed limits, with the option to warn above them (configurable)