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TT Live or RDS TMC
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RichardM
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PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 11:23 pm    Post subject: TT Live or RDS TMC Reply with quote

I have a TT 750 Live which is coming to the end of its first year of Live. Is the TMC system as good as the Live? I don't travel very much on motorways and feel that the just under £50 a year for Live is relatively expensive when you can get TMC for a one off at a similar price.
I would be interested to hear people's comments on the merits of each system and if the TMC is as good for my circumstances, where is the best place to buy it from.
Thanks in advance
RichardM
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Andy_P
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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In my experience RDS-TMC Traffic is nowhere near as good as LIVE Traffic. Live Traffic supposedly uses the same data source as RDS does PLUS several others including the track-logs of thousands of T-Mobile users.

(Having said that, there are times when the RDS system has jams which don't appear on the Live Service, which should be impossible if what I said was wholly true!)

Also, don't forget, your LIVE subscription also includes the other services, the most useful one being the Google search, which I find invaluable.
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playswell
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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 6:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Andy_P wrote:
In my experience RDS-TMC Traffic is nowhere near as good as LIVE Traffic. Live Traffic supposedly uses the same data source as RDS does PLUS several others including the track-logs of thousands of T-Mobile users



I think you mean Vodafone Andy?
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jeta1
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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've had a Go Live 550 for nearly a year now during which time I've driven nearly 30k miles mostly under the guidance of the 550 (I've had several other tomtom and garmin devices over a period of years). I use it in navigation mode for 95% of the time to get the benefit if the traffic reporting en route even when I know exactly where I am going.

For me there are a number of features NOT to like in tomtom where I prefer the Garmin feature set. However I have found the Live HD traffic data to be quite remarkably accurate. There are many many times it has shown delays on roads where I would not expect to get any help. Thinking about how it identifies precisely where the delays are and the likely delay time then I continue to be amazed at just how good it is.

There are many features in Garmin units that I like, such as the journey trip information and the ability to interrogate the journey data on a planned route, for my money these features are dealt with much better by Garmin, however said features have to be rated as nice to have. When I look at the traffic info on the tomtom then it really is a must have by comparison.

I know I'm going to have to renew the Live subscription in the near future so while I'm putting my hand in my pocket I'm wondering about spending a bit more and buying a new device. Given that my maps are probably 18 months out of date then there is a cost of updating those also, so I can start to make the case for buying new device quite easily.

I've been looking at what's available and I'm afraid to say that I'll probably stick with tomtom simply for the Live HD traffic. I have just a little experience navigating with a Garmin with RDS traffic, I think the biggest drawback is lack of coverage. If you look at the traffic master website (the RDS provider in the UK) you can see the roads which are covered, motorways are OK and some major A routes but I know I've received Live traffic info on the tomtom on countless roads which are not covered by trafficmaster.

If traffic info is important to you then for my money it's tomtom Live HD traffic that gets my vote even though I prefer the feature set in Garmins.
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falkirk81
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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Andy_P wrote:
including the track-logs of thousands of T-Mobile users.

Just to clarify, in the UK it is actually Vodafone sim cards that provide the Floating Vehicle Data that Tomtom use for their HD Traffic system.

Steven
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Andy_P
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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 8:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

playswell wrote:
Andy_P wrote:
.... the track-logs of thousands of T-Mobile users



I think you mean Vodafone Andy?


falkirk81 wrote:

Just to clarify, in the UK it is actually Vodafone sim cards...


Sure do! That's about the third time I've made exactly the same mistake in a post. Embarassed
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2216
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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One thing TT changed that for me made HD traffic worse is they limited the distance to about 60 miles, were it use to work for the whole of the route. Take today, I left Liverpool at about 2.45 PM heading home to Hitchin. It showed some delay down the M6 and I chose not to use the M6 toll going down the A50 to the M1 anyway ignoring the planned route. I just waited for HD traffic to display and reroute me away from the closed M6 J1. As I got off at J16 and heading down the A500 my TT thinking better than me tried to still take me down the M6, I must have then crossed the predefined HD coverage and it then warned the planned route showed a closed road M6.
Please TT can we have an option to chose the how much coverage to the planned route HD traffic covers. For me this would be the whole route. Others may chose any distance.
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Guivre46
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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are you able to say, if you had stuck to the TT route, would it still have had enough time to route you away from the hold-up?
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RichardM
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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks to all for their comments. It looks like Live is the better system, but even so I am not sure I can justify spending approx £50 every year bearing in mind my limited motorway or long distance driving. I have to admit that so far I have not used any of the other facilities offered by Live. I use the PGPSW camera data and have not needed to use Google.
If I decide to go with the TMC where is the best place to buy the mount from? TT are selling them for approx £50 + P+P. Anywhere else cheaper?

Thanks
RichardM
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2216
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Guivre46 wrote:
Are you able to say, if you had stuck to the TT route, would it still have had enough time to route you away from the hold-up?


Yes, but going with everybody trying to get round a very busy M6 near Birmingham, where I just breazed down the A50 then onto the M1. All I ask is that instead of having a predefind distance we could chose it. Not really much to ask is it, just a menu setting.
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mikealder
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 3:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

2216 wrote:
I must have then crossed the predefined HD coverage and it then warned the planned route showed a closed road M6.
Please TT can we have an option to chose the how much coverage to the planned route HD traffic covers. For me this would be the whole route. Others may chose any distance.

This is a classic example of why the new system is actually worse than the original version, whilst HD Traffic is good it could be made better by giving the user an option to increase range of incident detection even if it meant that you got less frequent updates as a result - Mike
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Darren
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you can justify the costs then get HD Traffic. Leagues ahead of the RDS-TMC data and had improved in leaps and bounds since it was launched.

As for the look-ahead of the data, I'm in two minds. I would not want to alter my route based of a minor traffic hold-up an hour or more ahead when the chances being high that it would be resolved before In got there.

But, there are occasions such as serious accidents/road-closures etc where the problem will inevitably mean huge delays and impact on traffic lasting hours. In those cases then we would want to know ahead of time.

TomTom need to try and grade these, forewarn of serious issues even if more than x miles ahead but only warn of lesses issues when they are closer to your location.

It's something I intend putting to TomTom and will post back with their response on this.

But, notwithstanding these issues, the data itself surpasses RDS-TMC. I would never rely on TMC data, it's far too unreliable, so much so that I'd rather rely on the radio reports than trust TMC data.

So if you cannot justify the cost I wouldn't spend money on RDS as a second choice.

And you can always use the Traffic LIVE web site if you wish to check traffic on your route before you leave.
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jeta1
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 4:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have 550 live bought about 1 year ago it has not been updated since I bought it, I was not aware of the 60 mile limitation.

A couple of days ago the M6 was closed around J15, I knew this because I was keeping up to date with the R2 traffic reports, which is always part of my route planning strategy.

My departure point was London City Airport and destination was Stockport. TT identified that a road was closed and asked what I wanted to do about routing around it. On the basis of the radio reports I elected to accept the original planned route anticipating that the closure would be removed before I reached it; and this turned out to be the case. When I set off the en-route delay was showing 95 minutes, as my journey progressed this reduced to the point where (as anticipated) the there was no problem by the time I reached J15 on the M6.

In this instance TT delay detection was working way ahead of me (way more than 60 miles) , am I to believe on the newer devices would not have alerted me to this problem on my route?
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Darren
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jeta1 wrote:
I have 550 live bought about 1 year ago it has not been updated since I bought it, I was not aware of the 60 mile limitation.

It only happens on the newer NAV3 devices (GO 1000, 1005, 800, Start 20, Via etc).
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Guivre46
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 6:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RichardM wrote:
If I decide to go with the TMC where is the best place to buy the mount from? TT are selling them for approx £50 + P+P. Anywhere else cheaper?


Got mine from Amazon for £25. Came from Germany. Purchased it late last year.

Edit: Oops, sorry Richard was thinking of the rds-tmc usb version. With a 750 you need the rds-tmc active dock. Have not seen that cheaper than your quote anywhere, but did see the standard dock was again 30% cheaper on Amazon, so suggest you take a look.

My post's a bit of a waste of space.....
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