Real-time Traffic with Garmin GPS

 

I'm a little curious about others' experience with the Traffic Alerts boasted in the marketing of many of the Garmin models. I currently have a Nulink 1695 (previously had a Nuvi 1690 until it died), and my experience with both units is that traffic alerts are very inaccurate. I regularly see "yellow" (or sometimes "red") warnings ranginging from a couple minutes to tens of minutes delays, that when I physically arrive into the designated zone, I see no problems. Other times, there are big traffic slow downs that don't ever show up on the GPS. From where do these units get their information? Occasionally, the GPS will actually re-route based on the traffic conditions it sees. I wonder if that is always necessary. In fact, I've jokingly thought to myself, "Wow, I wonder what kind of new traffic jam will result when all the folks blindly following their GPS instructions are rerouted to a new (same) alternate route." Any other observations, or is it just me?

Traffic

Best of my knowledge the info comes from FM radio stations.

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

Garmin FM traffic updates do that

yeah, I've seen that many times. as above, I also believe the traffic updates are coming from FM stations and sometimes the device reports "ghost" traffic or is not aware of the actual traffic. it works OK for most of the time though.

for traffic updates I find the Google Navigation on my cellphone much better, it's way more precise (alternate routes), faster to leave trafficked area and usually no problem with "ghost" reports or missing actual jam spots in updates. it could be that Google pulls traffic information from many more sources at same time.

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Garmin nuvi 2595LMT; Android 5.0 (Samsung GS3)

Mis-Tuned?

Melaqueman wrote:

Best of my knowledge the info comes from FM radio stations.

Yes, and unfortunately, too often Garmin's traffic seems to be tuned to the Golden Oldies traffic station, rather than New Wave.

HD Digital version

Supposedly the new HD Digital version is more timely and up to date; comparable to Google. I am still researching this.

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JRoz -- DriveSmart 55 & Traffic

I have the HD traffic on my

I have the HD traffic on my 3490 and 3590 and it works great.

Traffic Alerts - NuLink

I have a Nuvi 1695 as well. You get 2 years free and then you have to pay for it. Not only does it tell you traffic alerts, but also gives theater show times, gas prices, etc. I have found that for the last two years using it, the traffic alerts were very late. Usually it reported the traffic alert and the traffic was gone. I would always turn on my FM radio and listen for the traffic - it was a little more accurate than the Nuvi. The show times seemed to be accurate but the fuel prices were not. The nuvi did not have all the stations and the correct fuel prices, nor did it have diesel fuel prices. Am I not renewing it.

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Larry - Nuvi 680, Nuvi 1690, Nuvi 2797LMT

,

Traffic most of the time is behind what is going on

lol

perpster wrote:
Melaqueman wrote:

Best of my knowledge the info comes from FM radio stations.

Yes, and unfortunately, too often Garmin's traffic seems to be tuned to the Golden Oldies traffic station, rather than New Wave.

I don't care who you are that's funny right there ....

.... and true, can't tell you how many times in the Philly area I've just come to a near stop in a traffic jam to hear .... "traffic ahead".

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. 2 Garmin DriveSmart 61 LMT-S, Nuvi 2689, 2 Nuvi 2460, Zumo 550, Zumo 450, Uniden R3 radar detector with GPS built in, includes RLC info. Uconnect 430N Garmin based, built into my Jeep. .

uhm

Orlandorealtor wrote:

Traffic most of the time is behind what is going on

Any event that is relayed is reporting something that has already occurred. Forecasting traffic reports would be telling you to avoid I-4 between 7 and 9 AM or 3 - 6:30 PM. Notice even the most current reports never tell you "an accident will occur in your line of travel in exactly 2 minutes and 34 seconds. Take the next exit toward..."

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Illiterate? Write for free help.

I've tried the Garmin

I've tried the Garmin traffic, even the HD one and found them to be practically useless. Google Map showing traffic is pretty accurate FWIW.

Waze--

I like Waze because it's getting data from local Waze users who are driving around in the same mess I'm enjoying... Think of it as crowdsourcing, without involving middlemen such as analysts, traffic reporters, or the like. Yeah, I know I should avoid northbound 101 between the airport and Palo Alto in the morning because it's usually a crawl; I don't need a traffic analyst to tell me that. On the other hand, I would be interested in knowing that the usual crawl is gonna be substantially worse because a big rig has decided to roll over on its back to have its belly scratched...

The downside of that is that it does rely on having other Waze users nearby experiencing the same mess. But in metro/urban traffic situations, it's a pretty safe bet.

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Nuvi 2460, 680, DATUM Tymserve 2100, Trimble Thunderbolt, Ham radio, Macintosh, Linux, Windows

Is Waze user reported or is

Is Waze user reported or is it using the location and speed data of the mobile device? If user reported then I would attempt to get a hundred friends to report massive traffic jams on the roads I want to use! smile

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Nuvi 3790LMT, Nuvi 760 Lifetime map, Lifetime NavTraffic, Garmin E-Trex Legend Just because "Everyone" drives badly does not mean you have to.

It uses both

I have never used it for trip routing, I like my Nuvi for that. I will often use it along with the Nuvi to get a better picture of what's happening around me.

If I am in a backup or slow down it will often ask me if there is a problem. Every now and then it will even ask while I am waiting through several cycles of a real long traffic light. It will also automatically show slow downs and back ups just from using the GPS sensors in the phones of the people using the app. I find it to be accurate about 90% to 95% of the time. Of course the app relies on other users around you. If you are the only user on the road you are traveling on it will only have your own data.

It also has a chat function where you can chat with other users to see what might be causing the delay (I only use this if I am completely stopped). I used this about a week ago while waiting on I-70 for 3 hours because of a jack-knifed semi. You can send out a general chat which anyone else with the app can answer. The chat requests only show up if you are stopped.

When I give reports like hazards or speed traps other users will often hit the "Thanks" button. It's always nice to know you helped someone.

If you want to see what they are currently showing on their maps, they have an on-line map available at http://www.waze.com/livemap/. You can use the scroll wheel of your mouse to zoom in and out and then you can move the map around by clicking and dragging.

The only thing to watch out for while using it is battery drain. It will eat up the phone battery pretty fast if you don't have it plugged in with a power supply. On my Galaxy S3 it will eat about 20% an hour so unless it is a short trip I will always plug it in while I have it turned on.

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Live every day like it's your last. Some day you'll be right - Benny Hill

Well ... to be fair, the

Well ... to be fair, the traffic that causes a person to stop didn't JUST occur ... it isn't like the user is sitting still on the side of the road listening to see if it would be a good time to go for a drive, the user is moving INTO the traffic that was there (usually) for some amount of time prior ... hence the comparisons to other services like Google Maps. If they can tell you ahead of time, why can't Garmin?

CC