PktGPS or Tom Tom Database which to chose?

[trapper]

I have been using the Poketworld Camera database for some time on my Navman Icn510. I found that as this worked by distance from the unit, in ANY direction, it was warning of cameras not on my route or even on my road. I have now bought a Tom Tom 710 and was wondering how their database warnings compared to the PocketGPS one.

According to the TT Website theirs seem to warn on the road your on either direction on 2-way street but on a dual carriageway warnings only activate in the direction you are travelling in, there are no warnings if the camera is on the opposite side.

Any personal opinions and thoughts appreciated.

Trapper

[Andy_P]

The TomTom has an option to "Warn only when on route" that gets rid of most of the spurious alerts from nearby roads.
It still false-alarms for cameras on roundabouts at the end of motorway slip-roads though, as for some reason these are seen as part of the main route.

Like most satnavs, the TomTom cannot be set to ignore cameras pointing in the other direction on a single carriageway, but will on a dual carriageway. A few brands are starting to get this feature, but the TomTom isn't one of them, I'm afraid.

This is a function of the units themselves not the databases so you will get the same results with both the TomTom and the PGPSW versions (although the PGPSW one is better in just about every other respect).

[trapper]

Thanks again Andy, I succeeded in using Copy and Paste to transfer the data from the TT SD card to my 2GB card last night, thanks for that!!

I have seen the TT notification to 'warn only when on route' I assume by this it will only warn when on a planned route and not on a map route only, ie no destination entered in. So if I travel a 'planned' route the warnings will ignore cameras which are NOT on my actual route, but, if I am using a map with no planned destination it will warn of cameras on adjacent roads even though they are not on my bit of road? Hope that makes sense!!

Thanks again

Trapper.

[Andy_P]

Sort of...

Warn only when on route" ticked / and a route set:
Gives flashing on-screen and voice or sound alert for cameras on the carriageway you are on (including ones facing the other way). Ignores ones on nearby roads and on the other carriageway of a dual carriageway (except some on motorway junctions, as said).

Warn only when on route" ticked / and NO route set:
No warnings for any, but cameras still visible on navigation screen as you drive.

Warn only when on route" NOT ticked / and a route set:
Gives flashing on-screen and voice or sound alert for any cameras within the radius you have specified, both on the carriageway you are on or on nearby roads.

Warn only when on route" NOT ticked / and NO route set:
The same as above... Gives flashing on-screen and voice or sound alert for any cameras within the radius you have specified, both on the carriageway you are on or on nearby roads.

It would have been nice to have a third option, something like "Warn only if on route, unless no route is set, in which case warn anyway" (I did ask TT for that, but no joy!).

In fact, it doesn't seem to be a big deal for me, as I usually drive around with a route set, even if I don't intend to follow it. The TT updates the route within seconds if you go your own way, so it always picks up the cameras on your road.

The one thing I'd say is that if you use the speed-zoned version of the database (by far the best option), it would take you ages to change the "warn on route" settings for all 24 types every time, so you tend to get used to one way of having them!

[trapper]

Andy, that's Brill!!

Just what I needed to know, :D .

In theory then if I enter in a destination and get a bit lost it will only warn of cameras on my route (Whether sticking to the suggested route or with a slight variation on the route). I will play with it to see if it works. Your right about your suggestion, pity TT wont or cant play ball. I also think an external volume control would be handy, according to driving conditions and if the Mrs is asleep in the passenger seat

Thanks again.

Trapper

[mikealder]

If you want an external volume control for the device consider purchasing a remote control, this only supplied with a 910 but they are available for purchase and work with the 510 / 710.

Changing the warn only if POI on route box for all 33 or 24 camera POI's is quite easy if you createa second .cfg file then simply swap out the one you don't want for the one you do want, it would be nice if someone were to create a third party plug in to swap the file on the fly so to speak - Mike

[lj_matt]

Hi everyone, first post here
I recently got a tomtom one and quickly discovered your site and the camera database as the built in one leaves a lot to be desired
I already use a talex which I was hoping to get rid of now but I'm not convinced as it IS quite annoying to be warned of cameras on the opposite site of the road etc, and also there's no provision in place to tell me to slow down when approaching a camera above the limit.
The talex is excellent at what it does, although the amount of possible warnings does get very tedious on a long drive.
Does anyone know if there will be a directional improvement anytime soon to allow us to ignore cameras that can't catch us anyway?

[trapper]

Welcome to the forum lj_matt.

Mike wrote

[motley]

Post deleted by Admin. Poster has a commercial interest in the site linked to which he has not declared.

See here.

[Andy_P]

Very interesting...
If, as it says, it is direction sensitive, then it has to be more than a simple POI database. The TomTom and it's POI system simply can't do that on its own!

[Darren]

Just posted on this in another thread, see here.
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