Renewal of TomTom traffic subscription

[littleowl]

Must confess that I 'update' at work as we have a 70Mb+ connection. At home, it would take a week to download an update! Years ago it was convoluted, however, with the most recent 'Garmin Express', it's a breeze. Do you have the latest one? 6.3.0.0

I do always update the software, it's probably that one of my satnavs is an old model (Zumo 660) and has all kinds of problems, Ive given up with it. I do have a newer one which doesn't seem to have so many problems - although it still doesn't recognise the SD card?

 

[littleowl]

The standard Traffic Message Channel (TMC) only covers some main routes, while live traffic data (available from TomTom, Garmin, Waze, etc) provides real time traffic info from all roads and streets where drivers use these devices.

The result is that with TMC-only, COMAND always directs me to the main arteries, which in London are usually clogged-up with traffic, while Waze takes me through back streets bypassing the busy main routes.

At rush hour, COMAND will take me to my office using Marylebone Road / Euston Road / City Road, a 1:00h to 1:15h journey, while Waze does it in 35 to 45 minutes through Islington's back streets.

When driving out of town, Waze has less of an advantage because TMC is reasonably OK for Motorways (though Waze does have some additional information about hazards).

I thought the Comand Traffic info was live, as it's described as 'in real time' - that's a bit useless then, a subscription fee for something that doesn't work properly . I've not used it yet so haven't discovered how helpful (or not) it is!

 

[stephenmercedes]

I do always update the software, it's probably that one of my satnavs is an old model (Zumo 660) and has all kinds of problems, Ive given up with it. I do have a newer one which doesn't seem to have so many problems - although it still doesn't recognise the SD card?

Garmin express doesn't appear to 'recognise' SD cards, though it does know they are there. My latest map update was 7Gb. I only had about 50Mb of internal memory left, though a 16Gb card was fitted. The update went OK so obviously just automatically went to the card. I do agree that it's not that user friendly, and would be much nicer if it offered the option to select the location to store the update...

 

[markjay]

I thought the Comand Traffic info was live, as it's described as 'in real time' - that's a bit useless then, a subscription fee for something that doesn't work properly . I've not used it yet so haven't discovered how helpful (or not) it is!

Yes, the TomTom Live Traffic subscription for COMAND is indeed based on live data collected in real-time from other vehicles using TomTom and COMAND units.

It replaces the default and more-basic Traffic Management Channel (TMC) service that is provided for free with COMAND.

TMC is based on monitoring of some major routes and as such does not have the same coverage as the Live Traffic service.

The result is that with TMC, COMAND has no knowledge of traffic conditions in roads not monitored by TMC, and therefore won't reroute you to use them even if traffic there is actually running free.

 

[st13phil]

I do always update the software, it's probably that one of my satnavs is an old model (Zumo 660) and has all kinds of problems, Ive given up with it.

I still use a Zumo 660 and run the current cartography on it

Garmin Express was (is?) the work of the Devil, so I use the older MapUpdater software which will allow you to load cartography to either the device's internal memory or an SD card. It will also allow you to select which region(s) to load cartography for (e.g. UK & NI, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, etc.) so there's no need to spend time downloading and installing cartography you have no need of.

If you want to avoid using an SD card in the device and you're reasonably computer literate I can send you some instructions that detail how to work around the Western Europe mapset needing more space than the Zumo 660's internal memory has. You lose the 3D building eye-candy, but it retains the Junction Views and works fine. Just PM me an email address.