Traffic alerts on Sat Navs - Any good?
Discussion
Afternoon all
I'm getting a sat nav for the other half for christmas. The main feature I'm looking for is the ability to show (and avoid) bad traffic as she does seem to spend a lot of the time driving in heavy traffic with work.
This feature only seems to be on expensive ones, so before I splash the cash, does anyone know if the live traffic feature is any good? Does it actually help?
I'm mainly looking at the Tom Tom or Garmin ones. Cheers.
I'm getting a sat nav for the other half for christmas. The main feature I'm looking for is the ability to show (and avoid) bad traffic as she does seem to spend a lot of the time driving in heavy traffic with work.
This feature only seems to be on expensive ones, so before I splash the cash, does anyone know if the live traffic feature is any good? Does it actually help?
I'm mainly looking at the Tom Tom or Garmin ones. Cheers.
I've used a TomTom 825 Live for just over a year now and as a frequent user of the M25 it has saved me many hours of grief by avoiding the frequent traffic jams.
I've just renewed the Live subscription which was £47.50 - I'm sure that I would have used more petrol than that sitting in jams.
The only problem has been that over a year there have been about six times when the Live connection either dropped out or failed to connect for an hour or so.
I've just renewed the Live subscription which was £47.50 - I'm sure that I would have used more petrol than that sitting in jams.
The only problem has been that over a year there have been about six times when the Live connection either dropped out or failed to connect for an hour or so.
Another thumbs up for Tomtom Live Traffic.
I have had it for three or 4 years now and despite a few bad calls over the years (missing actual traffic delays and showing traffic that wasn't there) I couldn't be without it.
The M62 has been a nightmare recently and I reckon TT Live Traffic has saved me around 6 hours last week alone.
Mike...
I have had it for three or 4 years now and despite a few bad calls over the years (missing actual traffic delays and showing traffic that wasn't there) I couldn't be without it.
The M62 has been a nightmare recently and I reckon TT Live Traffic has saved me around 6 hours last week alone.
Mike...
Sarkmeister said:
Cheers for the replies. Sounds like it's worth it then, I'll look into the Tomtom options in more detail.
There should be some reviews on pocket gps world that may helpJimmyTheHand said:
There should be some reviews on pocket gps world that may help
Cheers. I'll have a read through a few today.Another thumbs up for TT Live Traffic.
Although as a company they are turds (rolling out unfinished software, failing to provide promised features, removing existing features etc) I am afraid to say their traffic is very good, to the point that I drive with my Via 125 Europe on all the time, even backwards and forwards to work where I know the route like the back of my hand.
It also does speed cameras, including temporary ones, if a driver further up the road tags it.
Although as a company they are turds (rolling out unfinished software, failing to provide promised features, removing existing features etc) I am afraid to say their traffic is very good, to the point that I drive with my Via 125 Europe on all the time, even backwards and forwards to work where I know the route like the back of my hand.
It also does speed cameras, including temporary ones, if a driver further up the road tags it.
AA traffic uses the tomtom system so you could have a look at that to get an idea of how good it is.
http://www.theaa.com/traffic-news/index.jsp if you zoom in a to city level you'll see the traffic arrows
http://www.theaa.com/traffic-news/index.jsp if you zoom in a to city level you'll see the traffic arrows
I'm still clinging on to my TrafficMaster Freeway. They officially switched the system off in the summer but about half is still working - the Freeway is/was the very best car gadget I have ever had and I feel naked without it chattering away to me. The fact it talks is a huge advantage over the screen display my Garmin has.
Sad days indeed
Sad days indeed
Word of caution though, HD Traffic is great when it works. However, I recently replaced my TomTom 1005 as it proved unreliable (cycling on and off) with the Hd Traffic inoperable for be last six months despite numerous requests to their customer services.
Replaced with theiFail App and I still do t have the HD Traffic option despite paying an additional subscription!
Replaced with theiFail App and I still do t have the HD Traffic option despite paying an additional subscription!
Interesting about the Garmin - I was comparing the same thing with my TrafficMaster and the Garmin was all over the place with wrong alerts. It tried to divert me down a parallel road to avoid a jam on the A1 that I knew wasn't there and then didn't tell me about a jam further down that was a good 15mins. I'm not sure I could trust that info.
They all rely on road sensor data and the time it takes for a vehicle to pass certain points(TrafficMaster tracks partial number plates) so the data is always going to be historical and can change very quickly.
They all rely on road sensor data and the time it takes for a vehicle to pass certain points(TrafficMaster tracks partial number plates) so the data is always going to be historical and can change very quickly.
tonyvid said:
They all rely on road sensor data and the time it takes for a vehicle to pass certain points(TrafficMaster tracks partial number plates) so the data is always going to be historical and can change very quickly.
TomTom HD Live traffic uses statistical analysis of mobile phones movements (Vodaphone in UK) ( Wiki link - TomTom) as well as the sensor data. From my experience I'd estimate there is something like a 5 to 10 minute lag 
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