Best live traffic info twat nav?

Stonker

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I have been driving a Nissan Navara pickup truck for the last 4 years and have found the live traffic info on the sat nav invaluable, especially when the M25 is blocked. I'm now looking to get a new one for the bike (also usable in a car and would like to pick you guys brains on which solution to go for. It seems that the Zumo 660 is currently the hot favourate sat nav system but would it also be best if I wanted live traffiv info?
 
If for car use then I find the Tomtom service to be the best- bike wise I use the BMW Nav IV so no hope of traffic!
 
I'm looking for something that I can use on the bike but also in my car. All my buddies seem to use Garmin so I was veering towards that although at the mo, I only use an old PDA with Tom Tom on it.

Why is TomTom live better?
 
Not sure how it does it, but the TomTom service seems to be updated much faster- I've seen an accident happen in front of me, I've pulled over to help (as I'm obliged to...) and when I've checked the Satnav in the car, it's shown the delay on the traffic bar.

AFAIK Tomtom rider has a TMC receiver and as such Traffic service is available by subscription on it. Obv the tomtom rider is retrofit-able to a car mount.
 
I think Garmin Zumo's have some sort of traffic monitoring system that can be subscribed too... (though this may only be in the USA)...:nenau
 
I run TomTom in the car and have Traffic on it just by plugging in the TMC ariel, works really well.
On the bike there is an option for traffic on my Zumo500 but it says I need a module or something, not sure what but possibly similar to the TT.
Not really bothered about traffic on the bike as it is rare that one cannot filter through
 
I think the Zumo traffic cable is very hard to get a hold of- I've had a look myself to see if I could fit it to the Nav 4.

I was told the Nav 4 only offers traffic if it's plumbed into K series or R12R tourers.
 
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I think that's the one that works with the BMW Nav IV as well- but you can't use the BMW dock with the 4 buttons (and therefore my lockable mount) with it...
 
mm...so is it that tom tom is best for traffic info but the 660 is the best option for the bike?
 
I guess you guys don't use live info then?

Is tom tom about £50pa and Garmin a once only charge?
 
The Zumo is a quality bit of kit- plus Garmin service seems to be pretty good on the whole. Map updates take hours though.

If you can get a 660, with the TMC cable and a car dock then you have a winning combination, IMHO!
 
Stonker said:
How good is their live traffic info though? Is it just UK or pan-European
Click to expand...

For Garmin traffic data I think you need to pay a subscription for each country.

The traffic receivers, or devices with it included, usually come with a subscription for the country they're sold in.

In some countries I believe that there are some basic free traffic services as well.

The used StreetPilot 2720 I bought some years ago came with a traffic receiver, wasn't that good for my use TBH, maybe OK for someone who travels for business on a regular basis pounding up and down motorways and major roads. The few bits of traffic it did alert me to, from some way off, were usually gone by the time I got there. Roadworks it was useful for. Having said that I tend to stick to A and B roads. On the bike you can usually ride around traffic anyway.
 
I think there are two traffic services available - one that comes via an FM radio signal, and a second which requires GSM or similar to connect to a data server. Garmin used only to have the FM service, which (2 years ago when I last used it) was a complete waste of time. There is no licence fee for the FM service - it is included in the purchase of the FM receiver/aerial. I had it set up on a Zumo 550 which I occasionally used in the car. The Garmin traffic info was so frequently wrong that it was useless - flagging up m-way closures that did not exist for example.

If traffic info is a key priority for you then I'd recommend one of the TT Live devices. The TT Live HD Traffic uses several data sources (such as the transit of Vodaphone mobiles from one reception cell to another) and usually gives accurate and up to date info, even on non-trunk roads. It costs though - £48 per yr at present. I think most TT Live models come with an initial 12 mo. sub included in the price. The cost is well worth it to me just to avoid the trauma of being stuck in the cage in traffic jams :rob

If you want a good sat nav for following routes that you plan in advance then IMHO the Garmin Zumo 220/550/660 are the best choices. But as I explained above I don't rate the traffic service on these devices - you only have the option of the Garmin FM service.

The solution for me is to have a Zumo 220 for the bike (they're £180 from Currys at present) and a TT XL Live in the car (also about £180)

HTH

PS: If you're thinking that a TT Rider might be the best choice for traffic and for bike use, check that it has the Live services available. From memory, the older Rider versions did not have TT Live. I'm not sure about the new models.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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