Garmin nuvi 310D GTM12 TMC problems

Lairdie · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 06, 2006 Posts: 3

I have th e 300 and 310 and both work in the car with the GTM 10 and/or 12. I have however noted that the aerial position is sensitive. I have a heated windscreen and have found the best location is vertically as much as possible about 1 to 2 inches from the pillar.
By the way the power supply has a led indicator that indicates red when suppling power and green when not or open circuit..
Personally very impressed with the kit although traficmaster seem a bit slow.

swing · Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:54 pm Post subject: Re: My 2pence worth

Nikeboy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 21, 2006 Posts: 4

So, to sum up then the area of the UK most likely to be subject to trafic jams on a daily basis is somewhere you're least likely to get notified about.

ZOINKS!

swing · Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:37 pm Post subject:

Well, err, yes Smile

It's not all of the M25 that has bad signal, but certainly the North Western section isn't good (with a GTM12).

Mind you, I don't need to rely upon a traffic module to tell me to avoid the M25 Smile

etaf · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 30, 2006 Posts: 29

Lairdie - check the serial number of the PSU - I had one thatwas green / red - had it changed as it was one of the poor units for TMC and now only get a red led if connected or not and getting a much more reliable signal - although i travel from Slough M4J6 to Leatherhead J9M25 and have found on some mornings i get no signal at all - but on the way home I do get signal all the way !!!!!! strange

Although this week the M25 has been terrible, but only because my freeway traffic master tells me ...

SteveyB · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 05, 2006 Posts: 1

Having kept an eye on the concerns of this forum for sometime I opted for the Nuvi660 expecting a much better TMC performance. Not the case! The TMC performance on the Nuvi660 is exactly the same as everyone is reporting for 300 and 310. The performance is equaly as useless around the M25.
I think this goes a long way in demonstrating that signal strength is the major issue. It seems that the all the Nuvis would certianly benefit from an external TMC antenna as I see Tom Tom have done!

Has anyone had a go at using an external antenna yet?

swing · Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:02 am Post subject:

Have you got any urls for the TomTom external antenna - I thought their unit didn't support an aerial connection either?

Some of the M25 is certainly a bad spot for TMC.

A couple of people on these forums have connected a GTM12 / GTM21 to their car aerial, and reported improved results.

Nikeboy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 21, 2006 Posts: 4

Does anyone know what you shoud be seeing in the FM Table?

Currently I'm sporadically seeing "RAC Live" come up but most times it's empty.

Also, what are the inidcators on the GMT settings e.g. N-Sync?

I thought they were an American boy band?

Nikeboy

swing · Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 12:13 pm Post subject:

I would expect to see "RAC Live" in the Nuvi FM Table (and have done many times).

There are a whole range of values on that page which mean various things to various people - I have a fairly good understanding of what you see for each value, but I wouldn't worry about the Nsync value - only the "Level"

emmanueld · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 5

Well, unfortunately, I can report that I have the same problems with a brand new Nuvi 660. I bought it less than a week ago. From the first time I used it, I noticed that the Traffic info was extremely unpredictable. Went from London to Bristol, I had only info for 5 minutes. I came back from Bristol to London and it worked fine most of the time.
I've just noticed that it seems to be working fine at the begining of each trip (i.e. the first 5 or 10 minutes.) Then, it is completely unpredictable. (i.e. no information for a while, then an update for 5 minutes, then maybe nothing for hours).
If I am correct, it is a GTM21, i.e. one shared cable for the GPS and the GTM. The light is either green or yellow / orange. Yellow meaning no traffic update, Green being all okay.
It is very frustating, and I can't find any "official" information from Garmin. To me, this is completely unacceptable!!!
I am thinking about briging it back to the shop, but I don't like the TT910 as it is too bulky.

BoutTime · Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 7:36 pm Post subject: TMC Fine For Me!

Hi, Don't know if this helps clarify anything for anyone but my 360T arrived today and the TMC seems to work fine! At one point I had to scroll through a whole page to view all the alerts. Some were for over 200 hundred miles away unless I'm misunderstanding what they're saying. I have a 1 series BMW, attach the unit on the dash and run about two thirds of the TMC aerial along the bottom of the windscreen. It's the first Sat nav i've bought as my 3 series had it built in. But this unit is about 500 times better! I was a bit concerned after reading some of the comments but it does everything it's supposed to do and even better than I had hoped. The power supply ends in 6025.
And it works great as a hands free unit for my N80 and it's tiny! My only question would be how to connect it to the stereo and have it mute the music when it tells me something. I have an ipod input connector built into the car but then you have to select 'aux' to have it work. Then you can't play CDs or listen to the radio.

swing · Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 7:53 pm Post subject:

I use the AUX connector in my car, and simply play mp3 files from the Nuvi, and let it control the music, the navigation and the handsfree. I'm not sure it's possible to connect the Nuvi via any available "Telephone" type input to achieve what I think you are asking for.

BoutTime · Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 7:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks, i'm not sure if it's possible either. It's just that I read that you can have the sound through the stereo (like you have) and wondered about the mute. Thanks anyway

Nikeboy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 21, 2006 Posts: 4

I've been experimenting with this and as best as I can get is to use a splitter as a combiner and port both the ipod and Nuvi through the aux port. What I think I'd actually like is an external mounted speaker for the Nuvi. If anyone has rigged one up, let me know.

benjones · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 47

One thing I noticed about the 660 traffic receiver was the initial unit I purchased had one light on the top of the part which plugs into the cigarette lighter and this went either green or amber.

When I installed too many POIs and the unit wouldn't boot up I took it back to Halfords and exchange for a new one. The bit that plugs into the cigarette lighter now has two lights on the the side - one green and one amber so it's obviously a completely different design.

What has everyone else got with their 660? I've noticed that traffic reception is slightly better with this new unit Confused

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