GTM25 Premium Traffic Receiver

[TerryWalsh]

Does anybody else have experience of the GTM25 premium traffic receiver? I purchased one before Christmas having found out that it includes lifetime licences for all of Europe including UK.

I have read many complaints on the forums regarding difficult reception and I was very concerned that no wire antenna is included in the box, just a replacement 12 volt adaptor with the receiver itself being a small bulge near the satnav USB connector (and therefore close to the windscreen). I plugged into my Nuvi 205 (in Teford) and within a few seconds was receiving valid traffic information. On Boxing day I drove from Shrewsbury along the M54 M6 and M40 into London with the traffic info updating all the time and with no problems. I did however find it less than useful in London itself where I got caught in heavy traffic around the Westfield shopping centre. I suspect that this is due to the lack of traffic master sensors in the area.

I made this post mainly to say how well the system works with no antenna whatsoever and that is through the heated windscreen of the latest model Mondeo. One other plus point for me is that the new car adaptor cable is far more flexible than the standard none traffic one so the surplus is much easier to coil out of the way.

Terry Walsh

[BigJacko]

Hi Terry,

This is my maiden post here, so forgive me if I break any house rules!

My nuvi 265WT came with a GTM-25 when I purchased it new via eBay. Initially, that part (the GTM-25) didn't work, because it appeared to come with a US licence rather than a UK one, but the box and paperwork said it should be UK-licensed. A call to Garmin's support line sorted this out in about five minutes (yes, really!), as the support chap added a UK licence once I told him the various code numbers, etc.

It's all worked very well - subject to the limitations of the FM TMC system per se. Namely, some of the backroads are pretty sparsely covered with Trafficmaster sensors, so don't expect much info even on roads like the A36. For major routes (single-digit A-roads and motorways), I've found it pretty good, though sometimes a little overzealous (or tardy-to-update, depending on your point-of-view). We got 'auto-re-routed' when coming back from York on the M1 recently, but decided not to take the detour. To be honest, I thought the route was playing up, until after the event, and then it was too late to turn off! As it turned out, the blockage that was being signalled a few miles ahead had cleared by the time we got there - so no hardship, really. But I wonder whether it's simply a little late, or whether holds on to events just a tad too long, in order to be ultra-sure.

My GTM-25 came with a small separate plug-in lead antenna, but I've stopped using it - it has proven not to be necessary (but then, I wonder whether I'd be able to tell if I lost signal, and hence updates, once I'd started moving? This may be food for thought!)

My only criticism of the GTM-25 is the size of the cigar-lighter plug... it seems a tad on the long side, and with the cable being held in one of those moulded, ridged strain-relief rubbers, it protudes quite straight out and lengthens it further. Net result, it just touches my gearshift lever when I move into first gear. Not a big deal, but I have distracted myself a few times by looking down to make sure I'm not caught up. Luckily it doesn't do it in third or fifth, and I'm usually stopped or at traffic-lights at the time!

Regarding the limitations of the TMC system, I understand that the way it works is that the country is divided into 'grid squares' of quite large size, and relatively-speaking, quite few in number - so the TMC system cannot resolve an incident to a specific Latitude-Longitude position. Apparently there have been times when it's impossible to highlight an incident particularly accurately or closely (so I am told), which does seem a bit of an oversight in the system design. I haven't run into that being a problem for me personally yet though.

All in, I'd recommend the GTM-25, definitely. Frankly, there are journeys that I make which I know like the back of my hand and which I really don't need to use a sat-nav for... but having the traffic 'situational-awareness' is very useful (plus my 265WT is now my Bluetooth handsfree for the dog-n-bone) - so I find myself using the Garmin almost on every trip now, because it does actually serve a purpose!

Regards
Neil

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