Forum Discussion

a64armt's avatar
a64armt
Explorer
Nov 11, 2013

Garmin Live Traffic

I just ordered a Garmin RV 760LMT. We have a Garmin Nuvi 750 that is 5 years old and it has served us well. Other than a few directional or location errors (data is only as accurate as the person inputting it) it has only let us down once. Two years ago we left it on the dash of our car one hot summer day and “she” was acted loopy (almost brain damaged) on the drive home, locked up on us going over the bridge (and we didn’t notice) and got us lost in Washington DC driving back from Ocean City MD. We ended up in the less than desirable area of town. I still haven’t forgiven her. Lately the touch screen has been a little annoying and my wife is prepared to use her as a wheel chock.

I am curious how the Live Traffic and Weather smartphone app and link are or have worked out for Garmin users. This is a feature on a GPS that I have wanted for a while and I am looking forward to having the info as well as the avoidance feature.

We are headed to Asheville NC for Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to seeing how the new unit and service will improve the drive.

Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.

OJ
  • hawkhill's avatar
    hawkhill
    Explorer
    Nov 11, 2013
    We have found the live traffic useful in the bigger cities. Twice it has saved us from sitting at least an hr or so in blocked traffic due to its alert and mapping a detour. We find the Smartphone link to be really useful. Sometimes I find out where we want to go on my smartphone as we are looking for reviews. Once we decide where we want to go it is painless to send the location from my phone to the GPS. We rally have not used the weather application. We have used trip routing and Base Camp. It is a little different than Mapsource, but usable once we get more familiar with it.
  • a64armt's avatar
    a64armt
    Explorer
    Nov 11, 2013
    Thanks for the info, I didn't realize you could use the smart phone app to send destination info to the unit, that will be a nice feature.

    I was a MapSource junkie. I had a Garmin Chartplotter with their Bluecharts on our boat as well as Topo Maps for our handheld unit. I loved them both as well as the Mapsource interface. I have also found BaseCamp not as intuitive as Mapsource was, especially when planning routes.

    OJ
  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    Nov 11, 2013
    The Smartphone link weather option is a paid service. If you don't sign up for that then all it does is relay the current temperature shown on your phone on the Garmin. The traffic option does not require a smartphone link (assuming you have the paid traffic option) but there is an advance "live" traffic option which seems to make no sense to me since the traffic receiver in the Garmin gives live traffic info.
  • a64armt's avatar
    a64armt
    Explorer
    Nov 12, 2013
    As usual, the best features cost. I admit I took it for granted they were included since the SmartPhone is the source of the info.

    Are the services a one time fee or a reoccurring annual, monthly fee?

    Thanks for the info.

    OJ
  • Miles_Away's avatar
    Miles_Away
    Explorer
    Nov 12, 2013
    Purchasing a GPS unit simply because it has traffic alerts is not a contributing factor for me when shopping for a GPS because there are too many holes in the system. I have found that the traffic alerts available on most GPS units are limited to only SOME larger cities. For example; from the Tampa and Orlando, Florida areas to Cincinnati, Ohio, the only traffic info available on the GPS is in Atlanta. There is info available for Nashville, (I-24, I-40, & I-65) but nothing for Chattanooga or Knoxville, both of which are subject to major delays on I-24 and I-75. Many units will tell you there is a delay ahead, but will not show you exactly where it is or what direction is effected. If there is a major incident on a rural interstate, which may shut it down for hours, your will never know about it until your already stuck.
  • CallThisCamping's avatar
    CallThisCamping
    Explorer
    Nov 13, 2013
    The smartphone link traffic is different than the default lmT that comes with the RV760. I believe it uses the data from Google maps traffic, which, I believe gets its' data from mobile users motion in aggregate, so it has a much wider coverage area that the somewhat limited power cord traffic receiver. The smartphone link traffic alerts you to traffic ahead, and construction delay on your route, and displays right on your screen.
    I also subscribed to the weather and got severe weather alerts and animated weather maps on the GPS.
    The subscription is for the life of the device, not an annual fee.
  • ktmrfs's avatar
    ktmrfs
    Explorer II
    Nov 13, 2013
    CallThisCamping?! wrote:
    The smartphone link traffic is different than the default lmT that comes with the RV760. I believe it uses the data from Google maps traffic, which, I believe gets its' data from mobile users motion in aggregate, so it has a much wider coverage area that the somewhat limited power cord traffic receiver. The smartphone link traffic alerts you to traffic ahead, and construction delay on your route, and displays right on your screen.
    I also subscribed to the weather and got severe weather alerts and animated weather maps on the GPS.
    The subscription is for the life of the device, not an annual fee.


    x2. IMHO the live traffic, or google maps traffic is far superior to any of the FM traffic providers. near instantaneous traffic updates if there is any cell phone's on the road. cell phones don't even need to be making a call, they are just using the handoff and gps info from the cells to see traffic speed and compare it to road speed limits.

    and it will give you traffic info on the vast majority of roadways, unlike the FM traffic. Only downfall is if you are traveling in an area w/o any cell coverage, then there is no cell data to determine traffic from.

    FM traffic providers, like the std garmin traffic, only get new traffic info when it is entered into the system.
  • Lantley's avatar
    Lantley
    Nomad
    Nov 13, 2013
    I have found both features the OP inquired about to be very useful. The Smart Link allows you to look up info on your smartphone and simply transfer the info to the GPS via Bluetooth without have to type it in.

    THe Live traffic info has also alerted me to two upcoming traffic jams that I was unaware of. Unfortunately I did not trust the Garmin and I ignored the traffic warning.
    A few miles down the road I came upon the traffic jam that the Garmin tried to warn me about. This same scenario played out twice..I'm a slow learner.
    While I was happy with my basic 6 year old Tom Tom. The new Garmin is loaded with info and has lots of nice features. I highly recommend it.

    I also purchased the optional wireless Garmin BC-20 Camera. It is a another nice feature.
    BC 20 Camera thread
  • a64armt's avatar
    a64armt
    Explorer
    Nov 13, 2013
    Thank you for the info. I will go with the Live Traffic and weather. I know there will be some outlying areas that the live traffic doesn't cover, but I have found that those areas are usually the source of my traveling woes. While I already have weather on my phone, I like the idea of having alerts and such on the GPS unit too.

    The Camera will be an excellent addition. The other thread is great info. I was concerned about the distance for the receiver and the extension cable will be included in the order.

    OJ

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