Difference between speed camera add-on and what's already on my tomtom?

[Bexx]

I asked this on the official forums but this one seems a lot busier so might get more answers

I got a new map last night and when I looked it said my speed camera was out of date. Which got me wondering what the difference is between the speed camera alerts that come up on my tomtom, and the add on I can download and install.

Is it that the add on shows more speed cameras than what's already on my device? If so that's a bit unfair, that you can be driving along and not get all the alerts when you've paid so much money.

I'm inclined to get the add on if it's worth it but it only lasts a year anyway!

 

[Andy_P]

As you're from the UK, I'm guessing you're referring to the PocketGPSWorld camera databse?
There are others, but that's the best known in the UK.

So...

What's the the difference is between the speed camera alerts that come up on my tomtom, and the add on I can download and install.

TomTom's own camera warning system:

1. Slightly easier to to download and update (aka 'not many options'!) and has an easier way to report erors while out on the road.

2. It has SOME directional ability so it should be able to only warn you about cameras on "your" side of the road.

3. Only bleeps at you - gives no audible indication of the speed limit

4. Is notoriously inaccurate and out of date (especially for temporary "SPECS" average speed cameras in roadworks, which are often continually bleeping at you for miles, months after they have been removed)

5. Is supposed to only alert you to mobile sites that have been reported "today" - This simply doesn't work at all in my experience.


The PGPSW camera data:

1. A MUCH more comprehensive set of data, vastly more accurate.

2. Updated more often, easy to report changes using a Google map at home.

3. More camera types (red-light cams and all possible mobile sites for example).

4. opportunity to get FREE updates for a year simply by being the first to report a new or changed camera (with some terms and conditions)

5. Uses the standard POI system included on every TomTom

6. Can have user-set warning distances (different for every speed and camera type)
and they can be set to "Warn only when on (a set) route" or not, again on a "per camera type" basis.

7. Can have real VOICE warnings ("Warning - GATSO ahead, 40 mile per hour limit" ... that sort of thing),

8. Alerts to all mobile camera sites that are known about, rather then just "today's" ones

Is it that the add on shows more speed cameras than what's already on my device? If so that's a bit unfair, that you can be driving along and not get all the alerts when you've paid so much money.

Exactly!


(I should add I'm biased, as I help out as a camera "verifier" for PGPSW in my area)

 

[Bexx]

Lol thanks for the info but I meant the ones you can pay for on the tomtom website, I have 2 £8 vouchers so thought about buying it but don't want to if it's just for a year.

I'm always keeping an eye on the speed limits more now that they come up on my tomtom and I'm sure I'm getting alerts for all the speed cameras I'm passing but as I go further afield to places where I don't know where the cameras are I feel a bit cheated if my tomtom isn't telling me things but I'm given the option to pay to know about it

 

[Andy_P]

Well you get what you pay for.
The ones supplied on the device when you buy it are just to show you the system.

Usually (unless there was some special offer on at the time) you get ONE free update, so they are up to date when you first start using it (or as up to date as they ever are!)

After that it's a paid-for service.

As Pocket GPS tend to make around 40-50 changes to their database EVERY WEEK, you can see how quickly the TomTom-supplied ones will get out of date.

But as I say, they are pretty poor even when they are fully up to date.....

 

[Bexx]

Such a shame it's that way though, I know I've got the basic of basic tomtoms but as a driving aid you'd think it'd show you where all the speed cameras are. It might aswell only show me half the roads! :lol:

 

[Andy_P]

All TomToms use the same data set, so it's not that you bought a cheap one...

It's a problem they suffer from in several areas, they produce fantastic systems to deliver certain information, but then mess it up by buying in poor data.

If you had a "LIVE" model, you would have found the same with inaccurate petrol prices and sometimes with poor traffic alerts (although that's pretty good these days).

You can have the most fantastic technical method for getting the info onto the sat-nav, but what's the point if the data itself is rubbish?

The PGPSW database is entirely checked and updated by the pool of thousands of users, who do it for the love, and it is incredibly accurate because of it, far more so than a system that depends on a few paid spotters.

 

[Bexx]

Do you think it's worth buying the year long tomtom add on then, the speed cameras europe I think it's called, or is my device showing enough cameras to suit my needs (I drive to local places/towns, never more than 50miles away I just have a bad sense of direction!)

I would look elsewhere like I've been suggested to before but I have tomtom discount vouchers and would rather use those than pay full price

 

[Andy_P]

How long is a piece of string...

Whether the existing cams are good enough for you already, will depend on how old the installed database version is, where you live, how much you drive, and how likely you are to go speeding!

If you're not in the habit of NEARLY getting caught by speed cams regularily, then I guess what you've already got will probably statistically be good enough.

But if you spend all your time slamming on the brakes for them, then you need things to be as up to date as possible.

From what I've said already though, you'll know I'm no fan of TT's own database.

I wouldn't waste your money on an update for them if there's anything else you might want that you can spend those vouchers on instead.

 

[Bexx]

I actually got caught by a speeding camera 2 days before my tomtom arrived lol I have a course to attend this Thursday now, serves me right for practising driving in towns I don't know!

I think I'll carry on how I am then, and if I find myself in any close calls where the tomtom doesn't alert me or things like that then I'll probably get the add-on

Thanks for your help

 

[artleknock]

If you don't speed you don't need to worry. I know, I know, the reason I bought my first TomTom is that I was clocked speeding, 8 o'clock on a Sunday morning on a deserted road, towing a caravan at 35mph in a 30 zone.
I have always used Tom-tom's speed cameras and had no problems at all, even in Europe.

 

[Andy_P]

I have always used Tom-tom's speed cameras and had no problems at all, even in Europe.

I'm amazed.
I REGULARLY find cameras it does not know about and also get many problems where average speed cameras for reduced speeds in roadworks are still showing when they were removed months previously (especially annoying as the TomTom bleeps at you constantly because it thinks travelling at the normal speed limit is too fast).

 

[artleknock]

Perhaps its because I am such a Saint on the roads
I always have the over speed limit alert on my TomTom set, so I don't need to be so vigilant about cameras.