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Joined: Jan 13, 2005 Posts: 11 Location: Leeds, England
Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2005 2:39 am Post subject: What's the use of SatNav without traffic jam updates?
I have just bought a Navigon Bluemedia BM-6300 but have not used or registered it yet. Having already got past the novelty stage, I discover that the main benefit to me is not just navigation, it is avoiding traffic jams. My RDS radio tells me about them when it is too late to avoid.
Navigon have a TMC unit for their Navigator 4 which may or may not be suitable for my newer kit. They are very slow to respond to queries. TomTom are due to launch TomTom Traffic for Navigator 3, details of which are sketchy. (www.expansys.com.) I understand that it is simple to obtain a recalculated route from a TomTom Go unit but can see no instructions for this on any of the Navigon literature.
As a newcomer to this game I would appreciate any real info available on the practical capability of any PDA type unit to deal with this issue.
Incidentally, for anyone like me who have just bought the BM-6300, Navigon have already issued an update to the firmware as there is a fault when you slow down or stop as it mistakenly recalculates a new route! Sounds like their test methods before launching in the UK (Makro) were not too good.
Joined: 02/11/2002 22:41:59 Posts: 11878 Location: Massachusetts, USA
Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2005 3:15 am Post subject:
Believe me, you haven't got past the "novelty" stage yet. Please do some reading in the site and the forums - there are lots of answers to your thoughts and questions. And some facts, too (Traffic has nothing to do with the GO, and TTN3 Traffic is long out and about)
In a nutshell - TMC is only available in four countries, it's not free everywhere, and it's data quality is only as good as the humans sitting behind it and entering the incidents/clearings. _________________ Lutz
Joined: 14/02/2003 17:02:20 Posts: 38 Location: Leeds, UK
Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 3:46 pm Post subject:
Although by no means one of the earliest adopters here, I've been running TTN since v1.something and Palmtop's Route Planner on a Psion S3a before that. None of which had traffic information until I used my free trial of TT Traffic towards the end of last year.
I thought it would be brilliant and save loads of time. It did indeed warn me of several major hold ups on routes that I was in the process of driving, but wasn't perfect. The problem wasn't with the information. For the large part, that was fine. Updates over GPRS rather than Navigon's TMC receiver are obviously less timely, but not by much.
The issue I found was when driving between Leeds and say, Coventry, I'd be warned of an incident on the M69 which is on my current route. I'm passing Meadowhall on the M1 and have time to think about several alternate routes but do I take them? As none of the systems tell you how long an incident will take to completely clear, you still don't know if you should plan to avoid it or not. Leave it too late and you get caught up in the growing delay, re-route too early and you head off onto a longer or perhaps slower route, only to find that the incident on your original route had cleared by the time you would have reached it.
The biggest benefit that either system gives you, is the ability to get to the point where you have to make a decision safe in the knowledge that you can vere off at any old slip road, jab a couple of buttons (at least with TTN) and have it find you an alternate route. Knowing about the hold-up 30 minutes earlier, for me at least, didn't make a perfect solution to the nightmare that is our motorway network.
With your Navigon solution, if it's the receiver that lets you add the TMC module, or with TomTom and Traffic, you at least have a choice. I wouldn't want to do half the driving I do without TTN showing me what the roads are like two bends in front (or, more valuably round the next bend when it's dark outside) or where the nearest KFC or Shell garage is. Long slogs back home stuck on the M1 or M62 are more bearable when you can at least see the miles to home counting down. Almost as useful (but more scary) is knowing how many minutes late your likely to be when you set of at 08:00 and aren't due at your destination for another three hours...
As Lutz said, the novelty stage leads to a whole bunch of new ways to make your journey more pleasant, less stressful and most of the time, quicker.
I'd say stick with what you have, or send it back and get TTN, but don't write either of them off as a novelty until you've clocked up a few miles with it in the car and a few journeys without it once you've got used to it.
Joined: Jan 13, 2005 Posts: 11 Location: Leeds, England
Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:21 pm Post subject:
Thanks :D A1Dox for that reply which was by far the most useful one yet! My situation has changed somewhat as I took back the Navigon and got a TomTom Go instead, mainly because the TomTom had the facilty to quickly plan alternative routes without too much sweat. Works too!
So far as Getting Gatso's are concerned, I still rely on my Snooper S6, but may compare this with our own system some time, no rush.
I have done nothing about advance travel info yet except swiftly calculate detours when I hear about it on my RDS radio. It is certainly easier with TomTom but as you say, the deteour is often longer because everyone takes it and the original blockage clears. Not always though.
I am amazed that some techie has not yet developed a Gizmo which does everything in one package. Route planning with four or more detours to cover a day's calls, Gatso Grabbing and travel holdups with alternative detours. As the Police typically take 3 hours to get their tape measures out and another three to clear the obstruction you would probably need to incorporate a crystal ball or the services of a Psychic
Does anyone else have experience of a Good Traffic Holdup System or are they all rubbish?
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