Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73079
Non LR Sat Nav
Looking to get a sat nav system that has TMC info, anyone got suggestions of good systems. Mrs DSL says that the TrafficMaster data is very good so looking at the SmartNav. What I also need is to be able to see if a Mway is closed 300 miles away, ISTR that the LR system only gave you the nearest 30 incidents. Do any of the PDA type devices receive TMC data along with GPS based mapping, this would be good as I could run Memory Map on it ??? I remember a TomTom system being highly thought of (720 or 910???), any details??
Main use would be to see problems ahead rather than point to point navigation.
9th Nov 2007 9:12 pm
simonsi
Member Since: 14 Oct 2007
Location: Auckland
Posts: 1264
Alpine built-in sat nav is brilliant and works excellently - but at a price. I have used it in both NVE077 and -099 forms for nearly 7yrs. The TMC integration on the NVE099P works very well (the earlier NVE077 used a seperate unit to provide the TMC input but the functionality is the same), BUT I think the TMC data as transmitted by Classic FM is, I believe related to the transmitter you are receiving, this stops you receiving TMC data for the whole country and makes the TMC data it does display more relevant. It could be that the unit receives all alerts and only displays those in say 100mile radius but I think it may be decided by the transmitter from the behaviour I have seen.
If this is the case then all TMC units presumably would have the same visibility of alerts if they feed off Classic FM.
As an example, firing up in Leicester it will give me TMC incidents as far away as say Coventry but will only start to display London alerts as I drive down the M40 past Oxford...Cheers
I have a TomTom 710. It has TMC on it but I can't use it as TMC is not supported in Australia.
The system works through GPRS on your mobile phone.Did you think I would leave you crying,
When there's room in my D3 for 7,
Climb in here Joe we'll soon be flying,
I can go just as fast with 7.
2005 TDV6 S with Terrain Response (& all that entails), Tasmods (gorn). 2008 TDV6 HSE (gone). A Dark Side umbrella (here) & car (here).
Member Since: 16 Sep 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 6019
TMC is nationwide and it is normally the sat nav unit which filters the radius for reporting. On my old car you could set it for a certain radius around your position or in fact a radius around a destination so you could see in advance if there were any problems. You could see the whole country if you wanted.
I have a Tom Tom, but no the TMC receiver yet. The unit itself is the best I have used so far and the camera alerts are useful. It has most of mainland europe as well. It is the 710 or 720 I think.
I have had various incarnations of the TomTom from version 3 on my PDA and now use TomTom Rider on my motorbike, however the SWMBO liked it so much she nicked it for her car I got her a TomTom Go910 for her birthday and got my rider back. Anyway, they both link through bluetooth to the mobile phone and use the GPRS for TMS, it searches the whole of the route and gives a graphic display of the route as a line and any holdups are marked on it at the relevant distance, it also calculates how long the hold up will add to the journey and ask if you want to re-route. The SWMBO likes the TomTom much better than the system in the RRS, infact she reconed the LR system is C P
Both the Rider and the 910 will function as a handsfree for the GSM even to letting you read SMS messages, we also use the TomTom Buddies to let us see where each other are when we are traveling incase we lose each other.
9th Nov 2007 10:52 pm
countrywide
Member Since: 16 Sep 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 6019
I never knew what the buddy thing was, but that's pretty cool. Is it over GPRS and could you use it to look up where someone is from a PC on the internet.
I never knew what the buddy thing was, but that's pretty cool. Is it over GPRS and could you use it to look up where someone is from a PC on the internet.
I'ts over GPRS but to TomTom's plus service, if you have your TOmTom connected to your PC then you can bring it up using TomTom Home, it is pretty accurate, but cumbersometo do that way. There are other options for tracking mobile phones and also you can get GPS trackers that you can look up over the internet, they use SMS messaging either to your mobile and/or the internet, they can be quite useful
Member Since: 14 Oct 2007
Location: Auckland
Posts: 1264
countrywide wrote:
TMC is nationwide and it is normally the sat nav unit which filters the radius for reporting.
OK, have never found a setting on the Alpine to control the radius so thought it might be by Classic region....cheersCheers
Simon
10th Nov 2007 8:23 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73079
If you are picking up data for your nav system via GPRS is that costly (i.e. some 0900 number) or can it be part of your bundles minutes??? I have 2 x O2 GSM phones with GPRS, each with 400mins/month so loads of unused time.
Don't know about the UK ones, I have one in Belgium, it uses a pay & go sim card from Proximus (Vodafone) and it just sends a txt message to your phone. However if you want to have it send to the web then it costs 1 euro per message and on the website you get a table of all the data history that you have requested, it will also show you it's location on a map. Other features it can have are tilt and movement sensors and it txt you when it is moved. Geo Fencing you can set up an area where it will let you know if it moves in to or out of a predefined area, you have to give it the co-ordinates of the "fence". There are outputs and inputs on the unit to connect to external devices (eg. switch off ignition in a car).
I use it for asset tracking, it is small enough to be hidden quite easily, about the size of a cigarette pack,
Where I got mine http://www.lecatecs.be/ there are simillar units available in the UK, I had them on our vans, was handy knowing just where the boys were
10th Nov 2007 5:17 pm
DarrenG
Member Since: 31 Jan 2007
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 144
Forget SmartNav, it's pretty poor. I'd go with a TomTom 720T which has TMC.Darren Griffin
Editor
PocketGPSWorld.Com
10th Nov 2007 5:28 pm
DG Site Moderator
Member Since: 12 Dec 2005
Location: The Gaff
Posts: 50978
...and theres a man who should know When is the next PocketGPSworld show Darren?21 year LR veteran > D2 GS 2003 > D3 S 2006 > D3 HSE 2009 > D4 HSE 2013 > D4 HSE 2015 > D5 HSE 2018 > DS HSE R-Dynamic P300e 2021
10th Nov 2007 5:32 pm
DarrenG
Member Since: 31 Jan 2007
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 144
Not till next Easter unfortunately, been too busy to sort one out this quarter Might have my G4 D3 or FFRR by then , can't decide which I prefer!Darren Griffin
Editor
PocketGPSWorld.Com
10th Nov 2007 5:36 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73079
Cheers Darren, pulled off the brochure from t'internet & will have a read.
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I got her a TomTom Go910 for her birthday and got my rider back. Anyway, they both link through bluetooth to the mobile phone and use the GPRS for TMS, it searches the whole of the route and gives a graphic display of the route as a line and any holdups are marked on it at the relevant distance, it also calculates how long the hold up will add to the journey and ask if you want to re-route. The SWMBO likes the TomTom much better than the system in the RRS, infact she reconed the LR system is C 
P 
Might have my G4 D3 or FFRR by then , can't decide which I prefer!
