Sat Navs tackling traffic jams

Nine_Lives

Heading back from the Trafford Centre on Friday & i got stuck in a jam.

Do these Sat Navs really take you the best route & work around traffic jams? I've never had one that's done it.

I had a budget NavMan SatNav i think it was.

I have the TomTom app for iPhone as well as CoPilot Live.

A SatNav that tells you - this route is the shortest, but there's a jam & if you stick on it you'll take 3 hours, however if you nip off here, it's an extra 20 miles, but the total journey will be 2 hours.

Sgt_Pepper_2

TomTom do a lead which picks up jams.

maxheadroom

Google navigation has a traffic feature and suggests alterntive routes, not bad and its free

jd87

Recent TomTom's don't even need a lead or extra accessories to do this. You just need one with Live services. It picks the info up over the mobile network and it does actually work rather well IMHO. Once driving out of London it told me there was a jam ahead, directed me on side roads then brought me back onto my original route just past the exact set of traffic lights that was causing the jam. Very impressive.

forgotmyname

They are OK upto a point. I you were looking at a couple of satnavs and one had that option for the same price or a couple of £ extra then why not.

But its not something i would pay more than £5 for. Watchout because some have subscriptions. Co-Pilot does.
Not sure if thats £6 - £10 ish a month or a year?

If you see traffic divert. Just head away from it or click the diversion button.

vikingaero

I have a Tom Tom Sat Nav with LIVE services. I find the traffic feature to be very hit and miss.

In the Surrey area of the M25 it is brilliant and has guided me around some horrific jams. In other areas (urban with good phone signal) the Sim card takes too long to connect or never connects.

At times the unit has been frustrating because it has been bricked far too often by software updates from smackhead techs at Tom Tom who don't do their testing job thoroughly and I have to spend a couple of hours restoring backups. The Irish customer support team are so disinterested and useless. I find calling the Dutch customer support much better as most of them can speak good English anyway.

dacouch

Also use the "TA" (Traffic Annoucements) button on your radio which will patch in local and national traffic announcements on the radio

forgotmyname

Problem with most of the systems, Your sitting in the traffic when it pops up to avoid that road.

Do you want to pay extra for a system to tell you that your sitting in a jam?

Gloomendoom

I've got a Garmin with traffic and I think it works very well. The built in sat nav in my car also has traffic and, if anything, it is better than the Garmin. The built in sat nav in my wife's car doesn't have traffic and we miss it.

On thing I have noticed, particularly on long trips on the Continent or in the US, is that the unit will react unnecessarily to traffic problems hundreds of miles in the distance that are still several hours away.

In my opinion, it is very useful and, yes, it is worth paying extra for.

davidlizard

Knowing where the traffic problems are is very useful.

However, I prefer to use my own knowledge of the roads to work the best way round it, rather than blindly follow the suggested detour some of these things squirt out.

Sgt_Pepper_2

davidlizard wrote: »

Knowing where the traffic problems are is very useful.

However, I prefer to use my own knowledge of the roads to work the best way round it, rather than blindly follow the suggested detour some of these things squirt out.

Not everyone knows the whole country like the back of their hand.