Improving TMC on c550

[n4nick]

Hi Guys

Personally I think the Trafficmaster website is rather mis-leading. Whilst they may have national coverage of major roads, what good is this if they don't have national coverage via the transmitters so that the motorist can plan ahead? I will be emailing them for an explanation.

Some rural areas of Essex (where I am at the moment) and Suffolk (was there a couple of weeks ago) have a poor quality reception from the subject radio stations but none the less there is a reception. I would therefore expect TMC to work, however this is probably compounded by the fact there are reception issues with the GTM12.

Garmin have suggested to me that there is nothing wrong with the GTM12 as it works fine as a stang alone unit outside the UK. Making a connection to a car's ariel to improve reception is personally not an option as I have a company car and can't / don't want to go pulling it apart to do this.

From my conversations with them I don't think Garmin yet have a grip on this problem. While there is no direct competition (I read somewhere else that the beta test on the tomtom receiver is just that) I guess they aren't worried about losing sales? If anyone from Garmin is reading this please update us!

Cheers - Nick

[RDS]

Despite what Garmin say the fact that the GM12 apparently works OK outside the UK is totally irrelevent.

What is relevent is that they are producing and retailers are retailing a product that is designed and sold for use in the UK. Consequently it must be able to fully work with the TMC providers in this country ie Trafficmaster. The frequency and power of the Trafficmaster signal is fully known to Garmin and so there shouldn't be an issue and for Garmin to try and lay the blame elsewhere is totally wrong.

As I've said before I believe that if the reception problems were due to something Trafficmaster were or were not doing all TMC receivers would be experiencing issues not just those from Garmin and more specifcally the GM12.

The more I hear about Garmins response to what is a widely reported issue the more reluctant I am to buy another Nuvi.

[n4nick]

RDS - Fully agree with your comments but short of well organised liason between consumers, Trafficmaster and their partners and Garmin I don't think this will be solved. It's such an grey area with no clear cut fault, the system does after all work, that it will be easy for them to pass the buck. Not satisfactory for us but at the moment that appears to be the reality of the situation. Very dissapointing.

I can see why tomtom might want to delay release of their receiver. Get the bugs sorted out, go with Itis and if the coverage is better via Classis FM and if they can offer a reliable although perhaps not as comprehensive coverage, tomtom will increase their market share even more! When I say to most people I have nuvi they look at me very strangely. tomtom is associated with sat-nav as hoover is associated with vacuum cleaners.

I know Garmin have a good brand name via their marine and hand-held products - come on Garmin - pull your fingers out - this may be a low margin market but the volume could be huge - competition is good for your bottom line and the consumer! :D

[RDS]

As long as Garmin Customer Service is being contacted, Nuvi 310D's or GM12's , if bought separately, are being returned to retailers and discussions about dodgy reception are being posted on forums I would assume an increase in the number of support calls and shop returns along with a possible drop in sales might make a company stir themselves.

Personally although I have already returned my Nuvi 310D due to the reception problems I think the GPS itself is pretty good and when it worked the TMC was really useful, however I'm not going to buy another until the whole GM12 thing is sorted. Of course by then other manufacturers may well have their TMC receivers available which means it won't a given that I'll be buying a Garmin GPS at all.

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