Last year I bought a Tom Tom Live XL and have spent the last year being very accurately informed that the routes I have no option of avoiding are clogged up and there will be a X minute delay in my journey. As the anniversary arrived it deactivated the LIVE service and now I get an estimate of my journey times.

I clicked the renew button and it said 49.50 euros, hummed and harred and clicked submit and it then emails me an invoice for £47.50. I thought it would have been about £38 but £47.50 is a piss take.

I’m now trying to see if I can live without this nifty little feature which I do find useful..

the OH covers around 30K miles pa for work and uses a TomTom; it has never been updated since she bought it 4-5yrs ago – we went to update at the weekend and thought the £47 was not really worth it… most of her driving is in rural areas so if she was in urban areas it might be worth it.

if it plans you a route round traffic then it would be useful if it t drives you into the jam then what exactly are you paying for?
Genuine Q I have never heard of the system

Navigon do a lifetime fresh maps service, and both Navigon and Becker have free premium TMC which will re-route you if issues (the woman on it also sounds better and more polite than tomtom and garmin)

Google maps – free! Not failed me yet…

I just listen to the radio and adjust my route if I feel the need

as for continual map updates? nah, roads don’t change that much that you need an update every few months

if it plans you a route round traffic then it would be useful if it t drives you into the jam then what exactly are you paying for?
Genuine Q I have never heard of the system

Most sat navs use the TMC system which is basically radio and highways agency data, useful but often a bit historic. The LIVE system on Tom Tom (I think) uses data from other Tom Tom users on that route, i.e. average speeds etc and combining that with HA data either informs you fairly quickly of a problem and re-routes or it gives accurate data of the delay.

It has been very handy having it and to be fair I’m probably answering my own question, my shick was the price of it, but they know it’s good and in the main it’ll be used by company car drivers who will put it on their expenses… *coughs 😆

I have google maps and HA app on my phone but they tend to be uselss on saddleworth moor stretch of M62..

Didnt update mine after the first year. Bought another one last week from Amazon as we have got Katie a car to learn to drive in and thought it was a good idea. After 3 1 hour phone calls to them this week it transpires that it dosnt have the facility to switch off motor way routes. It cant be updated to add the facility and they arnt bothered that it continually directs a learner to go on the motorways

Rant over

I had the old Tomtom traffic (pre ‘Live’) and found it to be brilliant for the ten quid it cost me. Fifty sovs is too dear, IMHO.

I’ve got to ask, why on earth is a learner following a sat nav? Seriously, driving a car is pretty difficult (unless you’re me, in which case I’m actually the best driver in the world) and you’re putting something else in the middle of the windscreen? It’s not like she’s allowed to go out by herself and likely to get lost map reading!

I found the Tom Tom live traffic to be less reliable than the free one in my Navara. However, I do miss the Google search of the Tom Tom and for map updates I have to pay for a disc

I have google maps and HA app on my phone but they tend to be uselss on saddleworth moor stretch of M62..

You don’t have too many options if that is snarled up though do you?
I suppose you could lock all the doors and head though Saddleworth and Oldham and hope no one notices you’re a stranger.

Shes not useing it and she cant see it or be distracted by it, I am whilst sat in the passenger seat and I get car sick using a map. She is not doing all her driving locally and we are stuck between the A1M and the M1

I’m sorry Tracey, but you are a pretty useless tutor if you can’t find your way round a set of roads within a reasonable circumference to be able to guide your daughter without a map or indeed a sat nav – or is it just something opportune to moan about?

Piss poor rant!