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176 of 180 persons found the following review helpful.
It works, with limitations
By JPReno
I found it very difficult to find data on how this works and what it does, so I took a little gamble based on the only review here at Amazon. After using it for a couple of weeks, I have to wonder if the other review is a shill--it would have been nice to know what to expect, not just "it's great" sort of thing.
So I'll try to pass along my view of what this may do and why it is fixed (based on my experiences with a Nuvi 205)
You plainly use this in place of your DC adapter in your automobile, making it basically invisible to you (nice--no extra wires to run). As you are driving, it is a receiver of publicly broadcast traffic data for the area you are in (thus the service is free) "when available". When your Garmin detects these broadcasts, it in some manner compares the selective information it gets with your emplacement and planned route. Garmin puts a little traffic icon on you display, indicating how traffic will affect your travel.
The icon is color coded--Green for no problems, yellow for a good deal of delay, and red for major delay. I think Garmin takes into account the delays on your route in calculating the arrival time. It does look for substitute routes, and I believe that if it finds a better one, it will mechanically reroute you.
If you tap on the traffic icon, it Garmin takes you to another screen with a great deal of options: 1. view traffic map 2: see traffic on route and 3: see traffic in area. Since there were no instructions provided with the product I'm not sure incisively how you're supposed to use these, but I'll percentage how I think they work:
1. view traffic map: This plainly changes your navigation map more or less so that the bad traffic areas are highlighted (in yellow or red) as you drive. I don't recognise why this is done as a distinguished map--why don't they just color code the navigation map?
2. Traffic on route gives you a zoomed-out map showing where you are and where the traffic issues are
3: Traffic in area shows a list of all the major roads in your area for which there are reports and color codes them. I found this to be the most utile feature.
So that's what it does (maybe it does more, but I haven't figured anything else out yet), but how well does it work?
The simple answer is that the device does what it is supposed to, but it is fixed by the info staged to it. I've used it now a few times in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, and on a vacation that had me drive up the PA Turnpike, to upstate New York, to Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Watertown, NY. For the most part, the data staged on Garmin was never any better than that which could have been heard on a local radio station.
The coverage did not seem bad--every metro area we were near did have reporting. The only places without reporting were finelooking rural.
On the vacation, we ran into 4 distinguished traffic backups (in areas with reporting), only 2 of which Garmin knew about. The two that it knew about, it approximated our delay as in regards to 1 or 2 minutes, but one was in truth 15 minutes and one was over an hour. The two delays that Garmin did not know with regards to were significant--one was a half hour, and one was a closed highway that cost us over an hour (and made us miss a ferry we were scheduled for). In the worst cases, had Garmin had the information, I'm sure it would have given us a better route. It's not Garmin's fault, but it does show you the limitations.
So bottom line is that this device works, but it is fixed in the selective information available to it. Is it worth getting? That is up to you--I like having a great deal of clear or deep perception into what is going on around me, even if it didn't modify things for me. It's kind of neat seeing the list of dissimilar roads and there problems--perhaps this will help more if you are a commuter in a major metro area. If you do get this though, don't suppose miracles--you'll have to experiment a little and use it like I do--as a tool that provides numerous more selective information to you (albeit not perfect)--and not a say-all, end-all on what you will have to do.
20 of 20 persons found the following review helpful.
I'm sure it will prove worthful once I figure it out.
By sassytexasgirl
This doesn't come with any instructions. Fortunately, I've found input from reviewers on other web sites that are helping me figure it out. I live in the DFW area where there are frequent backups due to accidents. I purchased this to aid alert me when I need to find alternate routes. It's worth the price if you have a unit that doesn't come with the traffic included. If you are buying a new unit and want this feature, suppose to remunerate the extra $100+ for the price of the unit. It only works in huge metropolitan areas, so it won't help you much if they're doing construction on an interstate when you are traveling. I guess there are still a good deal of things AAA is good for! Don't waste your cash on anything with MSN Direct traffic. Microsoft is dropping help for MSN Direct in early 2011.
17 of 20 persons found the following review helpful.
keep up with the traffic
By Jeff Mick
If you are a commuter & you don't value time expended behind the wheel, this item may save you from misery of sitting in traffic. It will give an estimate of how much of a delay & prompt the user for an alternate route. I haven't rather figured out the "alternate" percentage of it yet because it will display message: "you have already been given the most immediate possible route". I normally stick with the traffic I'm in but I'll tune into a traffic station to find out the delay & if it is something major, I go in front & take another route.
This cord allows for trffic updates & I don't know if it does almost the same as MSN? MSN will update sure businesses so they may be contacted on the fly but when you basi buy the unit, there are a lot of businesses that may be contacted for restaurants, gas stations or hotels. Your GPS unit will lead you to them & a phone call will get you the info you need.
The cord may likewise be employed as power charger, even with A/C if you have an adapter.
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