TomTom Live vs Garmin Digital Traffic

[markmullen]

I've been a TomTom Live traffic subscriber for the past 5 years or so and wouldn't be without it, it has saved me hours and hours, to the point that I have my TT running even on the way to and from work where I couldn't possibly get lost, just to keep an eye on the traffic.

My Live subscription renewal is coming up and I thought I'd get a new unit, probably a 1005 HDT-M but have seen that Garmin has introduced a live traffic system, Digital Traffic, in its high end units.

Has anyone tried the Garmin? Is it as good as TT Live?

One of the things I really like about TT is that if someone further up the road sees a camera van and hits the mark button I get told about it, does Garmin do this?

[JimmyTheHand]

markmullen said:

Has anyone tried the Garmin? Is it as good as TT Live?

The Digital Traffic appears to be TMC using DAB. Garmin mentions data from millions of cellular phone owners, but whether that is the same as TomTom using anonymous mobile phone users to detect traffic I am not sure (or even if it is used in every country)

You might want to check on PocketGPSWorld

[markmullen]

It turns out to be crap.

I bought the Garmin, not only did it switch itself off and reboot several times in its one and only journey but to get live traffic like TT Live you've got to subscribe separately to their premium service which uses your mobile paired over Bluetooth to download updates. That wouldn't be a problem if the built in bluetooth hands free was usable, which it wasn't.

Back it went, and swapped for a TT 1005 with 3 years live services and lifetime maps.

[Cemesis]

TomTom are just about to release a new unit which includes traffic for live. You might want to consider returning the 1005 and waiting a couple of weeks for the new one which has 3D maps (buildings and so on) and lifetime traffic.

[JimmyTheHand]

Cemesis said:

TomTom are just about to release a new unit which includes traffic for live. You might want to consider returning the 1005 and waiting a couple of weeks for the new one which has 3D maps (buildings and so on) and lifetime traffic.

Knowing TomTom and seeing how the new units seem a total change - Personally I'd be waiting a little more than a couple of weeks (several months at least), just to let others do the Beta Testing on the new devices

[markmullen]

JimmyTheHand said:

Cemesis said:

TomTom are just about to release a new unit which includes traffic for live. You might want to consider returning the 1005 and waiting a couple of weeks for the new one which has 3D maps (buildings and so on) and lifetime traffic.

Knowing TomTom and seeing how the new units seem a total change - Personally I'd be waiting a little more than a couple of weeks (several months at least), just to let others do the Beta Testing on the new devices

Indeed. The 1005 will keep me running for the moment, I could actually do with a couple of devices, for other cars, so if a new one comes out and works in a few months I might buy another.

[matt666]

Last time I looked at tom tom traffic, people were complaining because the radius that you got the traffic reports in got cut down. For example there might be two routes you can take to get to a destination 100 miles away but you need to make a decision which route to take 20 miles into the journey. If the traffic only shows jams for 50 miles around you you still won't know which route to take, as there might be a jam 80 miles down one of the routes and tom tom wouldn't show it.

Have they fixed this?

[mybrainhurts]

matt666 said:

Last time I looked at tom tom traffic, people were complaining because the radius that you got the traffic reports in got cut down. For example there might be two routes you can take to get to a destination 100 miles away but you need to make a decision which route to take 20 miles into the journey. If the traffic only shows jams for 50 miles around you you still won't know which route to take, as there might be a jam 80 miles down one of the routes and tom tom wouldn't show it.

Have they fixed this?

Not sure if they've fixed it, but it's better than it was. Looking at the summary screen, it highlights problems up to about 100 miles from me.

[mybrainhurts]

markmullen said:

TomTom Live? Garmin live?

I run a TomTom 1005 Live and a Garmin nuLink 2340. If it doesn't say nuLink, it's not live traffic, but the old crappy RDS system.

I have both because TomTom has an occasional habit of crashing out for up to 24 hours and I cover a lot of miles...1020 last weekend.

If you've used a TT, you'll be disappointed with Garmin's level of map detail. Also, I set TT to ask me if I want to reroute, but I can't find any way to do this with the Garmin....it reroutes without telling you.

It's interesting to run them together, they sometimes come up with different solutions.

Although I prefer the TomTom, I wish they'd dump information from the Highways Agency. They started to incorporate this just over a year ago and, as we all know, HA information is always crap and/or out of date. I've experienced three problems where the HA information was fighting another source of information and my poor old 1005 was thoroughly confused.

[markmullen]

matt666 said:

Last time I looked at tom tom traffic, people were complaining because the radius that you got the traffic reports in got cut down. For example there might be two routes you can take to get to a destination 100 miles away but you need to make a decision which route to take 20 miles into the journey. If the traffic only shows jams for 50 miles around you you still won't know which route to take, as there might be a jam 80 miles down one of the routes and tom tom wouldn't show it.

Have they fixed this?

Yes, they extended the horizon after a massive facebook campaign.