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The TomTom RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver gets traffic information on the go, to
your GO. For the one-off cost of the receiver you can get traffic updates
and let your GO reroute you around congestion.
Well I bought one, despite the poor instruction
leaflet, It was simple enough to fix to the screen of the car and plug it
in. The diagram shows the cable going horizontal across the screen, they
must think we all have 8 foot wide windscreens ?
 I placed my unit
on the left of the car windscreen, about 3 inch from the top, then tucked
the cable into the cars trim, vertically down the screen to the bottom, then
across the screen horizontally and into the tom tom. Switched the unit on,
and after selecting "Traffic" from the menu and enabling things, a vertical
bar appeared on the right hand side of the tom tom screen. There was also a
round dot on top of the bar, which was black in colour.
When you receive a signal, the
dot changes to green, the tom tom also
tells you when the unit is connected, or disconnected. There was no
information with the unit about this.
Having drove around for weeks, watching the dot
go on and off, other than this nothing else happened. You need a traffic
report for your route, AND you need to be in the location of the problem,
else nothing happens. Well after a month I was thinking of taking it back,
as it did nothing. However a trip to Wales finally activated the report,
there was a bad accident (North bound) on the M4, and I was travelling
South, so it never did anything. However on my return home, the unit
suddenly burst into life and the tom tom started to bleep and show a
flashing Traffic Icon on the screen
AT LAST :) I went into the settings, and the
previously greyed out icons were now functional, it showed the name of the
radio station, the location of the accident, and the delay time. I had
already set it up to automatically re -route me, but since the accident had
now cleared, the tom tom displayed "Zero minuets delay" and so never
re-routed me :)-
So I conclude, it will be a useful unit, but bad
accidents, road closure have to be on your route before it does anything and
you must be in the location, that said if it works once in a lifetime it
will be worth it.
£69.99 most places, bought mine at Argos. Tomtom
promised an update that will make the unit easier to use ?.
Note: When you install the unit, as long as the cable is fully
stretched out (No coil) then it should not matter how you fit it, just don't
have any coiled up, as this will cause a problem with the signal
Update, this system does NOT work in many parts
of the country
Tom Tom
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