Tomtom and traffic data

pie691 · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Tomtom and traffic data

Hi

I fancy a portable GPS system, something based on a pocket PC and Tomtom navigator perhaps.......

What I would particularly like is one that uses real time traffic data like TMC or whatever its actually called.

Is this possible with a portable system?

I know its not now but what about the near future?

I can imagine it would need some kind of interface or GSM connection, but I dont know how this may happen.

Cheers - I really like the idea of the traffic master system but I do not want one to be hard fitted to my own car, it must be portable.

D

Dave · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Tomtom and traffic data

It is possible, but the only one available that supports any kind of TMC in the UK is TravRoute CoPilot 3.5UK with TeamWarrior LiveWire as a subscription service. CoPilot 4 will be due out soon, and it will be interesting to see what that brings.

iancjc · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Tomtom and traffic data

I'm using TTN2 plus I just got a treffic master freeway unit (£30 quid inc vat and 1 years subs from Watford Electronics savastore).

Used them yesterday for a trip to legoland in Windsor and the 2 together worked well - based on the traffic info and the "avoid m25 / roadblock" options in TTN2 saved me missing some major holdups and stuck me on some roads I haven't used since I was a kid going to Devon before the m4 was built.

One major problem was the traffic master talking to me, ttn2 talking to me and my radar detector annoucing "K band" all at the same time, plus my wife talking about boys toys and my 3 year old saying TRAFFIC MASTER! all the time! Still it does work and is a cheap solution and far betyter than relying on RDS traffic reports.

HTH

Ian

Dave · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Tomtom and traffic data

It gets a bit too much with all those voices. You'll have to get your 3 yr old to say "Daddy, slow down!" and you can then add that to TomTom as a custom voice.

iancjc · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Tomtom and traffic data

"daddy slow down"

as oppossed to "are we there yet?" from him and "pay attention" from her!

I have found that a decent nursery solves the first and a decent lawyer the second (although the latter at a cost that would make further investments in my "toys" difficult for a while!)

Ian (married to a divorce lawyer - yes really)

RobMob · Regular Visitor Joined: 31/12/2002 09:37:48 Posts: 103

Ian

Thanks for the post on the Freeway device - ordered mine this morning - due to arrive on Monday - looks like this could be a good temporary fix until someone comes up with a live feed direct to PDA/TTNAV.

Can't beleive the price - emailed to our sales team also today - I think Watford Electronics will be busy shipping these units for a day or two.

RobMob

gstenson · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Tomtom and traffic data

What you want is a Personal Roadwatch 1800 Vodafone which is the same as the freeway, only it costs £20 (sometimes less) and subscription free. They have stopped making them now so you may have to dig around a bit (some people are selling them off for a fiver - my Dad bought one for £5) - but with no subscription to pay I have been using mine for about 3 years and it works really well. I think the AA did them but I cannot find anything on their web site now.

Only downside is it eats batteries for breakfast.

Link to google search http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22personal+roadwatch+1800%22+vodafone&meta=

DavidW · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Tomtom and traffic data

The Freeway is a bit different to the Personal Roadwatch 1800 in that the Freeway announces information verbally, whereas the Personal Roadwatch uses icons and bleeps and you have to make a premium rate phone call to get further information.

I think the coverage is also rather better with the Freeway.

However, I'm happy enough with my Personal Roadwatch 1800! I may try to hook mine up to a 5V power supply to wean it off its appetite for AAA batteries!

David

iancjc · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Tomtom and traffic data

Robmob

glad to help - I'm pretty impressed with the freeway unit (and watford savastore) for the cash it's got to be worth the money - it's a very simple system but works well, only problem I (thought) I had was that I was convinced it wasn't working as I couldn't see the lights on the front working - but they are very easy to miss unless you drive along staring at the unit!

Cheers

Ian

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