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Tomtom Go 520 Traffic: RDS-TMC Receiver

part of our review of the Tomtom Go 520 Traffic on Monday 19th May 2008

There are two options when it comes to traffic reports, the free option and the paid-for option. There's a saying that 'the best things in life are free' but that's not the case with traffic reports!

We had high hopes for the RDS-TMC receiver. As you can see from the photograph below, it's more or less a long cable. Infact, in our opinion it's too long for a small car though it's probably more than adequate for use in a large car, van or truck.

Due to the small test route, we couldn't try out the traffic accessory as there wasn't any traffic jams! However, we took it on a longer trip that covered the midlands.

We found it worked very well on motorways (especially the M6) telling us where the jam was and the reason why. The problem we have with it was that we were sat in the jam when it told us! We left Birmingham city centre and just as we got on the M6, the system told us of congestion. It would have been better for the system to re-route us through Birmingham prior to getting on the M6. Okay, the M6 is probably the fastest route and perhaps there were no quick alternatives but there were definitely alternatives.

One jam we were stuck in for 10 minutes failed to appear on the system at all, which also caused some anger! Another jam took equally as long and we ended up making our own directions as the system failed again to re-route. Perhaps it knew the alternative route was just as bad as the original. Perhaps it just didn't recognise we were travelling at snails pace. Perhaps it didn't know there was congestion.

Overall, the RDS-TMC traffic accessory is a must for those who spend most of their lives on the motorway. Further testing may perhaps demonstrate the rerouting capabilities though we have yet to see them. It should be noted that TomTom offer a paid traffic service and we expect that to be significantly better than the free data received via RDS-TMC.

A suggestion for TomTom would perhaps be to build more traffic functionality into the system. If the 520 knows the road speed is 70 mph, why am I going 3 mph and what can it do about it? This would also be good for those long winding 60mph roads where it's difficult to overtake and you've been stuck behind a truck doing 40 mph. Perhaps it could re-route an alternative, smarter route.

Additional Tomtom Go 520 Traffic Review Pages

• Appearance
• Explanation of the Screen
• Packaging Photographs
• Product Photographs
• Quick Summary
• Screen Photographs
• Specifications
• The All Important Test
• Windscreen Mount