What's the difference between NAVTEQ and Clear Channel Premium Traffic?

The two carriers source their traffic information from different providers. I believe NAVTEQ gets their information from INRIX. You can have subscriptions for both providers on your GTM but only one will work at a time. If you lose access to all Clear Channel traffic and there is a NAVTEQ carrier then the receiver will eventually switch over.

I have a GTM20 that has both on it and it normally favors Clear Channel for some reason. If I am in the Buffalo, NY area where there is no Clear Channel service, it will eventually switch to NAVTEQ.

I have had both and have found better coverage with Navteq, especially much better coverage on the main city streets in addition to freeways and highways.

Both are not in every area as far as I know.

I thought they each required a subscription, at leats in the "old days" when you had to subscribe to Traffic.

Many of the recent Garmin Units have free traffic included. I don't know which provider they use.

Garmin uses Navteq. Don't know which is better though.

Another alternative is the GTM 60™ HD Digital Traffic Receiver.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=104181

Faster (10X)update rate than the RDS traffic (Navteq/Clear Channel Premium). It is provided by Navteq in the U.S. The traffic infomation is broadcast through HD Radio,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Radio

It is supported only by the more recent Advanced/Prestige series models though.

Navteq provides their own data and it matches what you see on Bing Maps or Here.com.

Clear Channel is actually now using TomTom traffic data.

See http://www8.garmin.com/traffic/ for coverage areas.

I also have both Navteq (free) and Clear Channel (paid lifetime subscription). Over time, the unit gradually builds a list of active channels and scans that list for a good channel to use. I'm assuming it picks one with a good signal level, uses it until the reception is lost and then scans again. It also drops channels from the list...assuming here this occurs when it doesn't get any signal from the channel after a certain amount of time. As it goes through the list, it switches back and forth between Navteq and Clear Channel depending on the channel it picks. Currently, my 2595 has about twice as many Clear Channel stations listed, I think it depends upon where you have been driving lately, but spot checks over time have shown that the split is about 50/50 on which service it uses.

If you set up the Nuvi with certain non-U.S. countries, you have the option locking in one or the other subscription, or leaving it as automatic. (Both)