TomTom Live Traffic

[Toms306]

Hi all,

As I'm getting out and about a bit more these days, and other people can't seem to manage to keep their cars the right way up and heading in the right direction, I'm getting fed up with being stuck accident traffic...really don't understand it, seems to happen nearly every day on the A12 or A14 when I'm on them! Now this obviously isn't good for MPG but more importantly it's really not helping my phobia of getting stuck in accident traffic. What's supposed to happen is I as go out more I realise that I'm worrying about something that doesn't happen often...but as said above, it does happen all the damn time lol.

My current sat nav is 6 years old now, and getting a bit slow/crashing occasionally/taking ages to work out its start location so I was looking into a newer one, not sure if brand new or used yet, but rather than spend £40 on new maps for mine might as well buy another lol. Now the current 'One' I have has 'IQ routes' but this is based on old events and not 'live', but I've seen the later TomToms come with this live traffic system that uses mobile internet to know the state of the traffic every 3 minutes. Now obviously it's not failsafe, but it's gotta work a lot better than just the IQ routes. I don't have a data-plan on my telephone so would need one with a built in SIM card.

I was wondering if anyone had a TomTom with this system and what you think of it?

Cheers
Tom

[C2K]

You can update the GPS settings by plugging it in to Tomtom Tom. This will speed up the start location, and should be done weekly ideally but nobody does . You can easily hack the old ones for newer maps.

Google maps is better for live traffic I find anyway.

[Toms306]

I do plug it in for updates every week or two lol, just seems to slow it down though as the updates get bigger.

Is there a sat nav that uses Google maps traffic or is that on phones o.only?

[Mattcheese31]

Just use a smart phone they all have live updates now don't they?

[Toms306]

My phone isn't capable of that sort of thing, plus I'd need to pay for internet for traffic updates. On the sat navs I'm looking at they come with lifetime free traffic so no data charges.

[306carter]

I use a TomTom with live updates and TBH it's not all that! If there is a reported delay on the motorway it will try divert you through back roads ect but in my experience it takes longer to detour than it does to just a wait it out.

I've got an RAC traffic app on my phone and before I leave I check there is no closures ect.

[Toms306]

I hate being trapped in stationary traffic though, so often take longer and (theoretically) clearer routes anyway. So if that's what it does I can't see a problem with it lol.

I do check local reports before leaving but the problems occur after that so not much help really.

[Slam Wagon]

Find somewhere that it can easily be returned, halfords possibly, try it, use it at busy times to see if it actually works then return it if youre not happy. They will probably price match or atleast give a decent discount if they cant so it wont cost you much more than if you were to shop around online.

[Toms306]

That is a good idea tbh...though Halfords are £80 more for a new one than some I've seen.

Think I may leave it for now anyway, seems like most people aren't impressed with it lol.

[C.A.R.]

My old TomTom Go XL is a bit pants too - granted I don't plug it in often enough but even immediately after updating it is slow and occasionally crashes

My boss got a new TomTom with lifetime maps for about £90. I think you have to subscribe for camera locations still, but it's much quicker and as you say - it's £30-40 for new maps on old units anyway.

I'm considering something newer, but my smartphone is also incredibly good (just not loud enough). I may be getting a company car in the near future however, which should have it built-in.

[Toms306]

Cameras are still subscription yeah, even on the top models, not that it matters if you don't speed lol.

The one I was looking at with lifetime maps and traffic via built in SIM was £180 new (or £250 in Halfords!) but not much point upgrading to one without that really. So I'll just stick with what I've got for now.

[LewisG]

We have the TomTom Go Live and it tells you how long it would take to wait it out or you can go a different route, and we went through the traffic and few times and its been right every time lol

[Eeyore]

tom i thought you had a decent phone? just use google maps?

[Toms306]

tom i thought you had a decent phone? just use google maps?

Think you're confusing me with someone else lol, I've got a 4 year old HTC Wildfire....

[Magenta Sunset]

Tom, what sort of mobile do you have?
Iphone can use CoPilot9,
or, depending on your network (I use O2) there's a short code (1200 on O2) for 'live' traffic info based on your mobile's location.

[Paul_13]

Blimey a wild fire! I had one and they are horrifically slow

[Toms306]

Lol, it literally says what phone above your post Magenta. It's a Wildfire S to be specific (sports model?). And on PAYG with Talk Mobile. I only really use a phone for taking pictures, calculating MPG and price per kilo of special offers in the supermarket and avoiding awkward situations so doesn't need to be amazing. I do use it to send or receive texts about once a fortnight on average. Must admit I would like the wifi to be a bit faster when I'm sat on the loo with it though.

On the subject of sat navs though, I never did buy another one anyway.