Setup guide for getting the most out of the TMC:

[westerdaled]

Hi

I haven't been that impressed with the traffic alerts on the TMC. However, I wonder if I haven't spent enough of my time going through the labyrinthine menu structure :shock: to configure the must set options.

Is there a handy guide for getting the most out of the TMC? If there is a list of recommended settings that would prompt to me to actually look up the relevant bits of the manual .

Daniel

 

[maby]

Hi

I haven't been that impressed with the traffic alerts on the TMC. However, I wonder if I haven't spent enough of my time going through the labyrinthine menu structure :shock: to configure the must set options.

Is there a handy guide for getting the most out of the TMC? If there is a list of recommended settings that would prompt to me to actually look up the relevant bits of the manual .

Daniel

Our PHEV is a couple of years older than yours, but I'm not aware of many TMC configuration options that you can play with. It is true that it does not give you a lot of traffic alerts, but I'm not sure that that is indicative of any fault in the system - you really have to think about what it is intended to do and how it does it. TMC only really does anything when you have a route set and are being directed by the GPS. If you don't have a route set, you can view traffic conditions around you by browsing the map, but it is not going to actively alert you to an emerging traffic problem without knowing if it is on your route.

If you do have a route set and the satnav becomes aware of a traffic issue that may slow you down, it will update your estimated arrival time and may suggest an alternative route - but it will only do that if it can reduce the delays that you will suffer. In practice, this is often not possible and it will keep quiet. It suggested diversions twice to us last weekend - travelling on the M25 round London and the M3 heading south from London. In each case, the estimated time saved was less than 15 minutes and I decided to remain on the motorway. It also does not act on incidents that are quite a long way away on the basis that the situation is likely to change before you get to them.

 

[westerdaled]

Hi

I haven't been that impressed with the traffic alerts on the TMC. However, I wonder if I haven't spent enough of my time going through the labyrinthine menu structure :shock: to configure the must set options.

Is there a handy guide for getting the most out of the TMC? If there is a list of recommended settings that would prompt to me to actually look up the relevant bits of the manual .

Daniel

Our PHEV is a couple of years older than yours, but I'm not aware of many TMC configuration options that you can play with. It is true that it does not give you a lot of traffic alerts, but I'm not sure that that is indicative of any fault in the system - you really have to think about what it is intended to do and how it does it. TMC only really does anything when you have a route set and are being directed by the GPS. If you don't have a route set, you can view traffic conditions around you by browsing the map, but it is not going to actively alert you to an emerging traffic problem without knowing if it is on your route.

If you do have a route set and the satnav becomes aware of a traffic issue that may slow you down, it will update your estimated arrival time and may suggest an alternative route - but it will only do that if it can reduce the delays that you will suffer. In practice, this is often not possible and it will keep quiet. It suggested diversions twice to us last weekend - travelling on the M25 round London and the M3 heading south from London. In each case, the estimated time saved was less than 15 minutes and I decided to remain on the motorway. It also does not act on incidents that are quite a long way away on the basis that the situation is likely to change before you get to them.

Hi thanks for that. I think when I was stuck on the M69 when the closed the motorway at J3, I hadn't had the route set. In other cars I have had radio station traffic updates . I wonder if I should stick to something like Waze as this seems a more responsive system.

 

[maby]

Hi

I haven't been that impressed with the traffic alerts on the TMC. However, I wonder if I haven't spent enough of my time going through the labyrinthine menu structure :shock: to configure the must set options.

Is there a handy guide for getting the most out of the TMC? If there is a list of recommended settings that would prompt to me to actually look up the relevant bits of the manual .

Daniel

Our PHEV is a couple of years older than yours, but I'm not aware of many TMC configuration options that you can play with. It is true that it does not give you a lot of traffic alerts, but I'm not sure that that is indicative of any fault in the system - you really have to think about what it is intended to do and how it does it. TMC only really does anything when you have a route set and are being directed by the GPS. If you don't have a route set, you can view traffic conditions around you by browsing the map, but it is not going to actively alert you to an emerging traffic problem without knowing if it is on your route.

If you do have a route set and the satnav becomes aware of a traffic issue that may slow you down, it will update your estimated arrival time and may suggest an alternative route - but it will only do that if it can reduce the delays that you will suffer. In practice, this is often not possible and it will keep quiet. It suggested diversions twice to us last weekend - travelling on the M25 round London and the M3 heading south from London. In each case, the estimated time saved was less than 15 minutes and I decided to remain on the motorway. It also does not act on incidents that are quite a long way away on the basis that the situation is likely to change before you get to them.

Hi thanks for that. I think when I was stuck on the M69 when the closed the motorway at J3, I hadn't had the route set. In other cars I have had radio station traffic updates . I wonder if I should stick to something like Waze as this seems a more responsive system.

Are you talking about TMC, or RDS? TMC is the data service that gives the satnav semi-realtime data to influence its routing choices. RDS is the supplementary signal that is transmitted on voice radio to flip you to another channel when there is a traffic announcement - that sounds more like what you are talking about above. The PHEV has both, but they are separately controllable.

In the situation you describe above, TMC would only come into play if you had a route set that would lead you onto the closed section of motorway and if there was still time to divert you. If the closure was at J3 and occurred after you had passed J2, then TMC would update your estimated arrival time to reflect the delay, but would not talk to you since there would be nothing useful it could say - other than "Sorry!" possibly.

 

[Iandavidbaker]

I have a 2014 Outlander PHEV, having traded in my old 2008 Outlander Diesel on which the TMC was great.
This TMC works totally differently , for one it keeps losing the TMC station(FM reception seems weaker) and as I regularly commute along the M60 the old TMC would vocally suggest an alternative route around congestion or accidents quite often, displaying a distance and time saved page, which was brilliant.
This one has kept quiet under similar situations and when I press TMC on the Nav screen and ask for traffic (map zoomed out as suggested on the forums) it says to press TMC 'touching or something - when it has a station to lock on to that is. like one 'poster' suggests I may get a tom tom with TMC to assist me - certainly map updates would be cheaper Mitsubishi should get wise and understand the world is changing.