RDS-TMC versus Tom Tom LIVE?

loofer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 15, 2009 Posts: 3

Hi guys, was looking for a little advice on this as i'm considering the following sat navs for my dad for christmas.

Tom Tom 540 GO LIVE
Tom Tom XL IQ LIVE
Navigon 4350

I've read a lot of good things about the tom tom live service but the fact that it's subscription based means i need to be sure it'll work before saddling my dad with payments so i had a few questions for anyone with prior experience.

1) Do both RDS-TMC and LIVE cover Northern Ireland and the Republic?
2) How good are both services at reporting traffic? (i've read some bad reports on RDS's accuraccy and update speed)
3) How accurate is the LIVE services fuel prices? i think this would be a feature my dad would love being totally anal about saving pennies on petrol...
4) If you don't use the LIVE service on the Tom Toms can you revert to RDS or is it not equipped (i've checked the website but can't find a clear answer)

Thanks, any help is appreciated.

Andy_P · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:20 am Post subject:

1. HD Traffic is OK in NI, but no service in Eire (coverage map is on TT website HERE). Not sure about RDS-TMC Traffic.

2. In the UK HD Traffic is pretty good at the moment (it did have a big problem at rush hour periods for a period of several days, a week or two ago)
There are still issues with reception for the RDS service, but it's better then it was originally.

3. Fuel prices are pretty poor!
My 940 ALWAYS has "phantom" entries at the top, suggesting that I can unleaded at around 80-95p - I wish I could find them! Following that are usually a load that are still a few pence cheaper than you'd ever find in reality. So you have to ignore anything that looks stupid.

For example, there are options to search "cheapest in area", "cheapest nearby" and "cheapest on route".
Looking just now, "cheapest nearby" has one BP station within 2.3 miles at £0.98 and the rest at £1.07p or £1.08p so you have to assume the first is wrong.
But if you look at "cheapest in area", it reckons the cheapest is at a Tesco 9.8 miles away at £0.81, and the next SEVEN are all under £0.90 and a total of 15 are under £1.
So it's basically useless.
It also doesn't deal in the "point nine of a penny" we almost always have to pay, so when it says £1.07 you've no idea whether it has rounded down and means 106.9p or rounded up and means 107.9p

4. Yes you can on the XL IQ LIVE and on the x40 models, but I've heard reports that you CAN'T use the RDS-TMC receiver on the x50 models (not seen that confirmed for definite though)

Eagle15 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 30, 2007 Posts: 26

My experience (as a professional driver driving all over the UK) is that both the RDS-TMS Traffic, and the GO LIVE Traffic are both rubbish.
I plugged the lead into my 720T for over a month, ignored its suggested re-routing, and never experienced the delays it was telling me I would get. I've just made the mistake of purchasing a 950 LIVE and ignored the suggested reroutes from the months LIVE free trial. Again, I never experienced a fraction of the delays it was telling me I would get.

JockTamsonsBairn · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:24 pm Post subject:

loofer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 15, 2009 Posts: 3

great, thanks very much for all the info guys, Andy, some very interesting stuff there. I knew that the GO series had an add-on for receiving rds-tmc signals but it gets terrible reviews. If the XL series has that built in i'd be sold as i don't want to commit my dad to anything financially that doesn't work.

I had a couple of more questions if you don't mind, firstly, from what i've read the IQ routing system takes regular rush hour traffic into account on all routes so i guess the live traffic feed is just for out of the ordinary traffic problems (when it actually works) does any IQ tomtom tend to avoid traditional traffic hotspots?

secondly, i've read about a tomtom problem of reporting 50mph speed limits on motorways here

http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2009/08/25/tomtom-xl-live-iq-routes-edition-review/

is this a common problem?

Thanks.

Andy_P · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 5:28 pm Post subject:

mikealder · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 5:47 pm Post subject:

Andy, Traffic via GPRS and your mobile phone service is also a subscription service offered by TomTom its certainly NOT free - Mike

Andy_P · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:03 pm Post subject:

My mistake (probably not for the first time either!) I told you I always forget about that one! Embarassed

loofer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 15, 2009 Posts: 3

thanks a million andy, really appreciate the advice Very Happy

falkirk81 · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:56 pm Post subject:

I use HD traffic everyday for my delivery job and find it picks up most major delays. Not all, but there is no better alternative that I know of.
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Tomtom GO 1005 LIVE

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dhn · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:22 pm Post subject:

The OP originally posed the question in a US based gps site I moderate. I pointed out that there probably wouldn't be many, if any responses and directed the poster to this site and assured him (her?) there would be very good responses.

Once again, you people have NOT let me down! Thumbs Up

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David

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