TomTom Online Planning

Anonymous · April 14, 2009, 04:20:08 PM

You can now get TomTom to plan a route online and, if the travel time is soon then it will calculate the journey based on current traffic conditions:

http://routes.tomtom.com/t/

T-Bag · April 14, 2009, 04:28:22 PM

I'm in favour of progress, but wouldn't it be better to have the traffic monitoring in the TomTom so if 2 hours into your journey there's grid lock then you can avoid it?
I think my satnav (CoPilot Live built into my phone) can do something like that but because I don't get free data on my contract I've never used it.
I suppose it's useful if you're making a fairly short journey and you're away from home with access to the internet. So you're a travelling rep or something staying at a WiFi enabled hotel with your laptop.

Overall: Good idea, useful to some people. However I think Satnavs should be fully functional when away from a computer which is how tey will be used the majority of the time.

Gandalf · April 14, 2009, 04:30:46 PM

Tomtom does have live traffic updates as it will do on my phone, but it's a subscription service so not really worth it for me (I ran the monthly trial).

It did work ok, and would be invaluable for a rep, etc.

Anonymous · April 14, 2009, 04:33:00 PM

Quote from: T-Bag;272613I'm in favour of progress, but wouldn't it be better to have the traffic monitoring in the TomTom so if 2 hours into your journey there's grid lock then you can avoid it?
I think my satnav (CoPilot Live built into my phone) can do something like that but because I don't get free data on my contract I've never used it.
I suppose it's useful if you're making a fairly short journey and you're away from home with access to the internet. So you're a travelling rep or something staying at a WiFi enabled hotel with your laptop.

Overall: Good idea, useful to some people. However I think Satnavs should be fully functional when away from a computer which is how tey will be used the majority of the time.

Sorry but you missed the point of the post. This is for pre-planning. I have a TT Go 520 with Traffic Monitoring but if I don't have it to hand and I want to check how long a route will take then I can fire up a browser and check. When I am driving I use the TT with Traffic Info.

Anonymous · April 14, 2009, 04:33:55 PM

Quote from: Gandalf;272616Tomtom does have live traffic updates as it will do on my phone, but it's a subscription service so not really worth it for me (I ran the monthly trial).

It did work ok, and would be invaluable for a rep, etc.

You can get a TMC aerail for a tomtom that plugs into the base and then pulls live traffic data from Classic FM./ Thats what I use.

It is FREE

Gandalf · April 14, 2009, 04:36:03 PM

Interesting. Would it work on the software only though? As I've got the software version installed on my HTC TyTN II. Built in GPS, etc so made sense. One less thing to carry around

Anonymous · April 14, 2009, 04:47:14 PM

Quote from: Gandalf;272619Interesting. Would it work on the software only though? As I've got the software version installed on my HTC TyTN II. Built in GPS, etc so made sense. One less thing to carry around

Prob not as it has a specific connector for going into the bottom of the TT Go (like an audio connector but with a collar)

smilodon · April 14, 2009, 05:32:52 PM

I use the Tom Tom 540. It has a built in vodaphone simcard and picks up live traffic info as it goes. I also get Google Local finder , weather reports, live speed camera database cheap fuel finder and some other gizmos. It cost 7.99 a month but as I drive 30,000 business miles a year it's worth it for me. I used to use an arial system and then one synced through my G3 mobile but this combined system is the best and simplest by far

I think the combined Sat Nav sim card idea will become the standard before long. For 'power users' it's a real benefit but if the price dropped to a single annual fee of Â£30 - 40 or thereabouts I think it would start to get mass appeal.

The Tom Tom routes is a a nice find, cheers. So far I think only they do online route planning which combines traffic reports etc.

Nefertem · April 14, 2009, 11:43:13 PM

Quote from: BlueBall;272624Prob not as it has a specific connector for going into the bottom of the TT Go (like an audio connector but with a collar)

Aye doesn't work for PDAs and the like. And TomTom recently stopped selling the RDS-TMC antenna with the "normal" plug, and only sells the ones with usb plugs these days, so not all of the TomTom devices can get them anymore. Although some retailers and sites like ebay might sell the "normal" ones..

T-Bag · April 15, 2009, 05:18:49 PM

Quote from: Gandalf;272619Interesting. Would it work on the software only though? As I've got the software version installed on my HTC TyTN II. Built in GPS, etc so made sense. One less thing to carry around

I'm on CoPilot Live 7 on an HTC phone (one of the Touch models - T-Mobile call it the Compact III), there is an option to get 24 month subscription to the traffic service for Â£34.24 (I don't know why it's a silly price, maybe the VAT change).
That doesn't include any data charge you will rack up by using the internet on your phone to access the service. If you have it built in though the service seems quite cheap. I don't do enough miles to justify it though.

Link to Subscription

The software itself costs Â£40 on Amazon, though I got mine bundled with my phone. Before buying check if your phone is compatible.
I had a copy of the TomTom software, and the AA software on my phone for a while (my dad used to drive 50,000 miles a year so he went through his fair share of satnavs, and had spare keys for the software on ones that had broken or he didn't use). I have to say that on a mobile this software is the best I've used. I love the actual TomToms and as a standalone Satnav wouldn't recommend anything else. However you get far more stuff free with copilot such as voices and camera alerts etc I find it hard to fault.