TMC Traffic (and travel time prediction)

The TMC traffic comes from radio station reporting, and the information is only as good as the reporter who puts it into the system. If a reporter doesn't get the information in, or puts it in wrong, or does not give it a priority, the reporting is off. The Garmin GPS only reports what the radio station tells it. Every city has its' own station, so some area will be better than others.

I use MSN direct on my Garmin c580 andhhave teh same problems
I will say when it works it's awesome! but unfortunately I've found it to be teh exception not the rule :-/
plus I live in NYC and even though I should have FULL coverage 9 times out of 10 it has none
any one else have better luck? are tehir better systems? what about XM?

If you are talking about having your system calculate some very interesting arrival times when there is "traffic ahead", yes I have. When I first got the TMC, it did not seem to take that into account at all. Now it does, but sometimes seems to get a bit carried away with how much time it's going to take. I have no idea what they changed.

Its not only the "jumping" traffic times, but also there seems to be a priority of a bridge closed in 20 miles, over a 60 minute traffic jam. I've also noticed that it likes to report traffic when there isn't any, but I guess better safe than sorry.

I beleive the TMC is as good as the receiver built into the Gps, and whether or not you have a external FM antenna. The 2100 Navigon GPSr will scan across the FM band looking for the strongest freq to lock then holds till it out of the range then finds another. I am Tickeled to death about Liftime trafic on my Navigon 2100, it does the job here in clevelnd.

Clear Channel is transmitting in these cities,

NAVIGON® Real-Time Traffic City Listing
USA

* Albany, NY
* Albuquerque, NM
* Allentown, PA
* Atlanta, GA
* Austin, TX
* Baltimore, MD
* Baton Rouge, LA
* Birmingham, AL
* Boston, MA
* Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC
* Chicago, IL
* Cincinnati, OH
* Cleveland, OH
* Colorado Springs, CO
* Columbia, SC
* Columbus, OH
* Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX
* Denver-Boulder, CO
* Des Moines, IA
* Detroit, MI
* Ft. Meyers, FL
* Ft. Pierce, FL
* Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point, NC
* Greenville, SC
* Harrisburg, PA
* Hartford-New Britain-Middletown, CT
* Houston-Galveston, TX
* Huntsville, AL
* Indianapolis, IN
* Jacksonville, FL
* Kansas City, MO
* Las Vegas, NV
* Lexington, KY
* Los Angeles, CA
* Louisville, KY
* Manchester, NH
* Madison, WI
* Memphis, TN
* Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood, FL
* Middlesex-Somerset-Union, NJ
* Milwaukee-Racine, WI
* Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
* Nashville, TN
* Nassau-Suffolk, NY
* New Orleans, LA
* New York, NY
* Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA
* Omaha, NE
* Orlando, FL
* Philadelphia, PA
* Phoenix, AZ
* Pittsburgh, PA
* Portland, OR
* Portsmouth, NH
* Providence-Warwick-Pawtucket, RI
* Raleigh-Durham, NC
* Richmond, VA
* Riverside-San Bernardino, CA
* Rochester, NY
* Sacramento, CA
* Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo, UT
* San Antonio, TX
* San Diego, CA
* San Francisco, CA
* San Jose, CA
* Sarasota, FL
* Seattle-Tacoma, WA
* Springfield, MA
* St. Louis, MO
* Syracuse, NY
* Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
* Toledo, OH
* Tucson, AZ
* Tulsa, OK
* Washington, DC
* West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL
* Worcester, MA

Canada

* Toronto, ON
* Montreal, QC
* Ottawa, ON

I kinda like MSN direct over TMC, as it feels more updated. As a frequent user of www.traffic.com, I like how the traffic look exactly the same as the site.

The new version of MSN live is very good and takes traffic into consideration when routing. It's better than Traffic.com.

I check on it everyday before I goto work.

http://maps.live.com/#JndscD0x

Question about MSN direct.... I have a garmin C550 and when I went to garmin website one firmware update that I noticed is that include MSN direct....Can I download MSN direct unto this model? if yes how? Thanks.

You have to have an MSN subscription

I have have a Nuvi 650 and was thinking of upgrading my unit to use TMC Traffic(ie: buying the cord). So my question is, for those who already have it. Is it worth it? Does it really help enough?

Thanks,
James

I use traffic, and I find they are a little slow on canceling problems, so your gps may suggest a detour for no real reason. My GPS has a lifetime subscription, and the city I live in is a TMC city so I always have it on.
If you live in one of the TMC city's served by Clear Channel, I would highly suggest it. I like that it tells me of projects that are slowing or detouring traffic when I am out and about in the city (not necessarily on a highway) and routes me around them.

Bob

The TMC cables are expensive, though

I travel 4 days a week all over the SE - FL, GA, SC, & NC. While it it limited to what traffic data it gets, it has saved me quite a lot of time in the major cities. Since I am not a local of Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, etc., the ability to just hit avoid and let it reroute me is great. I will re-subcribe when the renewal comes up.

I have been using the TMC free trial on a Garmin 760 in the Phoenix area for the past 3 weeks. I have found it to be no better than the radio, which is not very accurate.

When there are minor delays on the freeway, the Garmin will try to route me onto frontage roads to save time. I can see that this traffic is moving slower than the freeway. I believe that the Garmin is not accounting for possible red lights at traffic signals.

There would have to be major improvements in both the TMC traffic information and the way the GPS device handles this information before I would pay for this service.

I use it daily in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Sometimes traffic info is quicker than the radio..sometimes not.

Overall, it works well for me.