Garmin Live Traffic Reviewed
Garmin officially launched their live traffic service in Gauteng in mid-July.
Altech Netstar Traffic provides the traffic data over their radio network to Garmin Global Positioning System receivers (GPSr) equipped with GTM traffic receivers.
“Anonymous information collected every one to three minutes from thousands of vehicles fitted with tracking devices is processed by Altech Netstar Traffic and thereafter streamed via the Radio Data Service (RDS) to your Garmin traffic receiver,” Dr. Chris Crozier, Chief Technology Officer of Garmin Distribution Africa, explained when the service launched.
In order to test the service Garmin kindly provided a nüvi 1410 with a GTM 25 Traffic Receiver and car charger.
Price
Garmin Live Traffic requires that you buy a GTM traffic receiver as well as a subscription to the Live Traffic service.
Lower-end 300-series nüvis and the zumo 660 use the GTM12 cable which goes for around R820 at retail.
The discontinued 700-series uses the GTM21 cable and the higher end nüvis (1200, 1300, 1310, 1410) and zumo 220 use the GTM25 cable. Both cables retail for between R850 and R900.
All of the cables come bundled with a 1 year subscription to the Garmin live service. According to Garmin a new Annual Traffic subscription or an annual renewal is R299 (incl. VAT).
Interface
Congestion on the roads is displayed by various colours on the map. A green route indicates no traffic delay, a yellow route indicates slow-moving traffic, and a red route indicates a highly congested route.
If you are busy driving to a destination, information about known incidents along the route and an estimated traffic-related delay are provided on-screen. You then have the option to tap the delay icon and opt to avoid the traffic problem.
Accuracy
Various routes between Johannesburg and Pretoria were tested during the period of the review. With the road works returning after the FIFA World Cup it was a golden opportunity to see how well the device detects congestion.
On a number of occasions the device timeously and accurately warned of unforeseen congestion on major routes and allowed me to route around it.
Sadly, slow moving traffic or congestion wasn’t accurately reported most of the time.
In one case I was routed to a shopping centre in Melrose on the corner of Atholl-Oaklands and Fort Street via Atholl-Oaklands drive during morning traffic. I was routed from nearby Waverley and the Garmin didn’t warn me about the severely congested Atholl-Oaklands drive.
Other examples are a number of trips to Rosebank where the GPSr insisted on routing me via Corlett drive rather than Glenhove road or 11th Avenue. Despite it being an inefficient route, the Live traffic system didn’t pick up that Corlett drive was a disaster.
It also happened often that a delay due to traffic was only reported once I could see the backed up traffic and it was too late to find a route around it.
Verdict
The annual license fee for Live traffic isn’t that expensive. Radio stations also typically only have traffic reports during peak times, so if there’s an incident outside those periods Garmin Live Traffic might just save you time.
Some may be able justify the cost of a traffic receiver and annual subscription for the few times the service will save you the frustration of sitting in traffic. For most, however, the additional cost simply wouldn’t be worth it.
Bottom line: Don’t get Live Traffic for your Garmin if you expect it to replace traffic reports delivered over radio during peak times or common sense.
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