Go 740 Live - Very few posts?

[gatorguy]

MVL, I drive the same general area as NealH. He's correct that ALG is not as common as it should be here (very high traffic area), and Reality View is pretty rare. You already know my attitude on the way the TT740 displays traffic.

But on the plus side, my 740 is now showing local traffic incidents on the primary roads where nothing appeared as little as 2 months ago. It's improving, but until TomTom changes the display characteristics to show traffic flow even if it's already "known" to IQR, I'm just not going to be satisfied with it. I keep my GPS's on even when not navigating. My Garmin with MSN will audibly alert me to upcoming traffic tie-ups even with no destination set, and I can preview general traffic conditions wherever it offers coverage nearby. My TomTom won't. If I'm using both in an area that I don't regularly drive, my TomTom is largely useless for avoiding traffic congestion. I'm probably not going to know what roads are habitually clogged at certain times or days so it makes my Garmin much more appropriate to use.

 

[nealh]

MVL, I drive the same general area as NealH. He's correct that ALG is not as common as it should be here (very high traffic area), and Reality View is pretty rare. You already know my attitude on the way the TT740 displays traffic.

But on the plus side, my 740 is now showing local traffic incidents on the primary roads where nothing appeared as little as 2 months ago. It's improving, but until TomTom changes the display characteristics to show traffic flow even if it's already "known" to IQR, I'm just not going to be satisfied with it. I keep my GPS's on even when not navigating. My Garmin with MSN will audibly alert me to upcoming traffic tie-ups even with no destination set, and I can preview general traffic conditions wherever it offers coverage nearby. My TomTom won't. If I'm using both in an area that I don't regularly drive, my TomTom is largely useless for avoiding traffic congestion. I'm probably not going to know what roads are habitually clogged at certain times or days so it makes my Garmin much more appropriate to use.

Ugh. I was expecting that the Live Services were better than free FM traffic from Garmin(guess not in the Tampa area).
I was expecting the LIVE services from TomTom would be more accurate especial if they expect me to pay for it.

 

[gatorguy]

The 740's traffic is more current by probably 5-10 minutes as best I can tell, at least compared to MSNDirect. In general, if an incident is reported by my 740, my 760 will also show it. But the reported delay times usually are different. I haven't used TMC for more than a year except a couple of rare occasions on a Navigon, but suspect it's probably outdated by much more than that by the time it shows on the device. Of course even the fastest traffic delivery apps aren't truly "live" as it takes a few minutes to gather the base information, a few more minutes to figure out what it means and a few more to get delivered. I can't imagine the whole process taking less than 10 minutes at best.

 

[mvl]

Just remember Gator first owned a Garmin, and old habits die hard. Without IQroutes, you tend to second-guess the routing, and Garmin owners habitually look at the map for a comfort level that they are being routed in a reasonable way.

When I use my Tomtom, I always program a destination and almost never look at the map screen. An entirely different habit, that comes from the Tomtom giving much better routing that it's easier for me to just trust it than second guess it. So far, every time I second guessed a Tomtom route in unfamiliar areas, I ended up in a worse off jam than I would have been in if I just trusted it.

 

[gatorguy]

The way TomTom has chosen to show traffic is still a problem with no set destination. With a route set, I really have no issues with the TT computed one, nor with the way traffic alerts are integrated. And honestly I don't look at the map display to second-guess it. More just to see the upcoming turns, other local roads and anything else that might be in the vicinity. . . like a potentially new fishing spot

 

[nealh]

The way TomTom has chosen to show traffic is still a problem with no set destination. With a route set, I really have no issues with the TT computed one, nor with the way traffic alerts are integrated. And honestly I don't look at the map display to second-guess it. More just to see the upcoming turns, other local roads and anything else that might be in the vicinity. . . like a potentially new fishing spot

I still do not uderstand exactly how the traffic works on TT unit. But more distressing last night on my way home from TPA Int'l airport, I was never able to connect to the "server" so I got 0 updates. Not an issue at 900pm but if it was 5pm, it would be diaster.

Also there were no "reality views" on ALG. too bad, I hoped to see one.

I do have a bad habit at looking at the nav unit..I like to see it in action....

 

[mvl]

I still do not uderstand exactly how the traffic works on TT unit.

See this link. Tomtom shows commuter view and Garmin shows traveler view. It's a personal preference, as Gator and my back-and-forth shows.

While the realtime traffic data is usually pretty similar on Tomtom and Garmin (covering mostly highways and limited main sideroads), Tomtom's IQroutes covers nearly 100% of sidestreets, so the combination of IQroutes and LIVE traffic gives better congestion avoidance directions vs any other brand most of the time.

 

[mvl]

MVL, I drive the same general area as NealH. He's correct that ALG is not as common as it should be here (very high traffic area), and Reality View is pretty rare.

Tim at gpsreveiw.net had posted about getting a ride on a Teleatlas mapping truck once. He said they spend summers in the north and winters in the south to be more efficient. The last couple of Tomtom maps were huge improvments in Boston Lane Guidance, probably from trucks driving in Boston in the summer of 08 (eg: they now show left-turn-only lanes on some city stoplights). My guess is that they ran a drive through Tampa in winter '08/'09, and you'll see the improvements showing up on map 840/845 in the next 1-4 months.

 

[nealh]

great info MVL..thanks

I really like the TT 740 so far. I do think they need to improve the status bar..dump the sat signal and make the direction larger ie comapss heading letters N, S, E etc larger and get rid of degrees at least for the US..just too small to see.

Also the traffic bar takes up too much real estate...just a small icon would fine.