Garmin nuvi 310D GTM12 TMC problems

[JT-Mech]

So UK hills and vales are not the same as US/EU ones! Does anyone tune into Classic FM as they travel the UK? Is it a radio station that fades in and out in different parts of the UK?

For the last week I've been parking my car next to the river at Kew, traffic kicks in there quicker than the Bluetooth and maintains itself the whole way home, going to work is a different story, its juction 3 of the M4 before it starts (way too late by then) and is intermittant the rest of the way.

[lola]

Been looking at the AA website. They have a new Nav system with built in Traffic. In the user manual appears the following info-

To ensure that your unit receives Traffic incident updates ensure the traffic antenna is attached to the in car power cable, and that the antenna is placed in a vertical position on the windscreen. Open up the AA software and tap on Setup-Traffic and ensure this is showing "enabled". The unit must be receiving power via the in-car power cable before you switch on the AA software. The AA Navigator software and tuner are optimised to do this. In order to get the best quality of radio signal into the device, however, it is important to locate the portable wire FM antenna supplied in the best location and orientation (normally in a vertical position) to get the best signal possible. Alternatively, the tuner can be connected to your existing car ariel, which will provide better signal reception and also avoid visible antenna cables on the windscreen.Traffic incident information is collected by ITIS using a variety of techniques, and the updates typically reflect the situation on the ground about 30 minutes before broadcast. The information itself is re-broadcast every few minutes. Based on the quality of radio reception of the RDS-TMC broadcasts, the unit will typically receive and decode information every 15-20 minutes when on the move.

Also - went to Halfords today - they have been issued an message in this months tech bulletin re the 310D and reception which says that all new stock will not have the problem with reception. Anyhow, the Halfords bloke and I sat in my car for 45minutes with a new "fixed" cable and not one jot of traffic appeared - so I didnt buy it. All manner of excuses from having to drive around to the TMC is only received when the Traffic comes over the radio and the radio jumps into TP mode. Also - I may have to wait for an hour or so before getting traffic to pop up (which at 70mph is a long way). He recommended a system from Trafficmaster but that the subscription is expensive.

[swing]

[lola]

@Swing - Which is NOT a bodge to the power charger but a REDESIGN for the GTM.

So - is this why TT are delayed and does the AA unit work better? Halfords recon TT TMC is delayed because people have subscribed to TT Plus and if they release TT TMC too early they will have claims from the subscribers.

Thanks for info re: Europe signal strength. Also interested that Halfords know about this issue and to quote the bloke I spoke to "all FM TMC in this country will suffer in the same way". Odd though that the car aeriel is fine (powered antenna maybe).

OH-BTW - Halfords said the reason for the price drop for Nuvi is because TT One Europe is coming out this week and no one in their right mind will buy Nuvi for more money that TT One Europe especially because GTM does not work. It is not because 660 is coming out or overstocking simply because TT are going to drop Garmin's pants. BUT TT One does not have a TMC facility and therefore must use TT Plus services.

[swing]

To be honest, I don't think any work well in the UK - when Navigon (for the PDA) first came out with TMC, a lot of people ended up with y splitters on their car aerial, and connected the FM unit to the aerial (Navigon at that point "used" iTIS) (as did many GTM11 users).

People have had problems with the Navman unit as well, so I really think this is a bigger problem that a single product / manufacturer, and I also don't think it's something that easy to solve.

My car manufacturer will be lauching a TMC enabled SatNav CD early next year, but the initial reports are that it equally suffers from periods of no signal up and down the country (and that's obviously wired into the main car aerial).

Garmin's "problem" is that via it's sales of the 310D in Halfords, it's become one of the largest supplier of TMC units in a very short period of time - the others are also having problems, but the userbase is smaller and so the cries aren't being heard right now.

Personally, I think TomTom are delaying the unit (which has no onward aerial at all, not even a flimsy wire like the GTM12 - or at least not according to the pictures I've seen) not due to TMC problems (if so, they would simply not supply a UK license, and just sell it across the rest of Europe), but because most things they announce arrive late...

I think Halfords are right to some degree - every TMC unit is hitting problems in terms of decent reception across the whole of the UK. I think many manufacturers mask this problem by not giving you access to the diagnostics to show a lost signal, and they simply hold onto the old traffic data for longer than is probably best - Garmin could simply mask this by extending the timeouts before throwing away the old data, and maybe not throwing away all the data once a single new message is received, but I kind of prefer their honest approach (I would probably accept a slightly longer timeout before throwing away the data to "appear" to smooth over the weak radio spots).

Car aerials have spent years being designed, and of course, are outside of the car for a good reason

Oh, and the price is probably dropping because sales have fallen off, they've lost their exclusive (if they ever actually had one), and everyone else is selling it cheaper The 660 (which does not replace the 3x0 range) might have some bearing on it too.

[DJ_T]

Well in follow up to my post a week or so ago i've now been to cardiff twice and once I get near the M6 toll area I have traffic all the way down to cardiff. Just for interest i drove to the top of a local mountain in the lake district. (Hartside summit) From there I can recive FM radio stations on the radio as far away as the Isle of Man and I can recive Galaxy from the north east. However I got no traffic data at all. It seems that from Birmingham north tmc is about as much use as a choclate teapot.

[lola]

.....which is the busiest road network across Europe and you might therefore be excused in thinking that this is where TMC is of the greatest use.

[banjo12]

If the traffic system is left to one side what is the nuvi like as just a gps system ?

[JoshT]

Thats a tough one !

I'm an ex Nuvi 310 D and TT v2 GB user. GPS less

In my opinion I'd say routing and map accuracy are the nuvi's strongest points let poor user interface.

The TT had a really nice user interface with far better driver view information but was let down by the routing. I couldn't live with it not being able to find the fastest route. Seemed to always be looking for a motorway even if that mean't you had to go out of your way some distance (and time). i'm hoping its down to the Teleatla maps on the unit so waiting for the TT one v2 Europe version which has Navteq maps like the Nuvi.

[swing]

I'd say the Nuvi was a very nice little SatNav unit - easy to hold in your hand (I used it to navigate in someone else's car today, and it was a joy to use). Easy to put into a pocket when you stop and don't want to leave it in the car. However, I'm biased

[swing]

Some news everyone...

The new car charging cable (ended 6025) is the final fix from Garmin US - so for those of us still suffering from problems with the new cable, those problems are being caused simply by the lack of TMC signal strength, and there is nothing more Garmin can do about it.

However, today (again on a Monday morning), I felt the reception of traffic was fairly good, and overall am getting happier with the quality of data (it does seem with the new cable that you either receive all the traffic data, or no traffic data - unlike before when you often received 1 or 2 bits of data) - although I did experience the 1 bit of traffic data a couple of times last week.

I'll note the lead story on the PGPSW website today is a review of a GPS/radio/GSM roof mounted aerial, and Mike states it's improved his reception of iTIS's traffic (Classic FM) very well.

I'm guessing those that need to rely upon accurate traffic data will need to move to a different solution - eg the GTM-10, which can be connected into the car aerial circuit, and which might take the reception to a new level.

I'm hoping this thread stays open and people continue to report success with the GTM12, but I'm equally keen to hear from GTM10 and GTM11 users who have connected their Nuvis to their car aerial - from them I'd like to hear if they still have gaps of bad reception or not (ie would getting a GTM10 improve things further or not)...

[n4nick]

Hi

I had problems with the nuvi giving inconsistent routing (different routes for long and short journeys, often it would give a correct route at the start of a long journey but as the destination was reached the nuvi would calculate a new "improved" route which is actually longer. The problem with this however is that there is no easy way of checking where the new route goes prior to pressing the "take improved route" button).

I heard that the tomtom one had more options / preferences as to which roads to take or avoid and generally had better routing (fewer back lanes).

The re-routing option on the tomtom is also far superior to that on the nuvi (for the reasons explained above).

Nick

[lola]

In theory the GTM antenna can only be a single wire antenna. If it was screened COAX there would be no signal received (ever).

If I had a Nuvi I would be very tempted to try splicing a much longer wire into the antenna cable and if necessary routing this around the car (even outside along the roof rails to get a better signal. Maybe even two antenna sliced from the main.

A longer antenna would certainly pick up more signal but at the same time possibly more noise. How the Nuvi would deal with that I dont know and whether it will help is the key question. The Nuvi should lock onto the signal and therefore reject the noise but some trial and error may be needed.

I guess I should put my money where my mouth is. If I had a Nuvi I would do as above as a make or break.

[len73]

Unfortunately the GTM10 type fix wont work for those of us with StreetPilot 350/550 ( or the new Nuvi600) as they use the GTM21 which is a combined power and traffic receiver cable.

Hope Garmin's final fix will take this into consideration

[Dixie68]

I've just got a Halfords Nuvi 310D and I've got no traffic signals. BUT I live in Lincoln which I understand is a blackspot?
My question is this: is there anyone on this forum that lives in or near Lincoln - and if so, do you know would I have to drive to to test if my TMC is working?
I want to test that it works, but if it doesn't I'm not prepared to hang on until they sort it out, I'll take it back and go for the TT.

So, where near Lincoln does it work so I can test it out?

Cheers

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