Customer Reviews

Navigon Traffic Activation Service

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

A useful addition to the Navigon GPS line of products.

This chip contains a key code, which once registered with the Navigon website, allows you to receive continuous traffic updates with your Navigon GPS units (including the 2100, 2120, 5100 and 7100 series).

Having had a chance to assess this Traffic Service on a trip south and back, I'll comment on a few things I liked and didn't like...

The good:

1.)Once you've purchased this chip, the traffic service is a lifetime feature; no further monthly or yearly subscription fees or purchase updates required, ever!

2.)The traffic information is monitored continuously around most major highways and cities.

3.)You can set your unit up to give traffic info just on the route your driving, or you can get info within a radius of where you are at the moment.

4.)If a traffic problem does occur ahead of you the unit will tell you several things;

a.]it gives you the distance to the 'obstruction', giving you time to make detour planning.

b.]the unit (on your GPS map) tells you which you which side the the 'obstruction' is on (e.i. your side of the highway or the other); this is actually a very useful feature.

c.]the unit can automatically (if you set it up to do so) make a route around the 'obstruction' ahead.

A couple concerns:

1.)The charger cord from the cigarette lighter acts as an antenna for the traffic program. So if you don't have your unit plugged in (and you are running on unit battery only), you may not get good traffic info service.

2.)There is little or no information on side roads, byways or small towns/cities. There were even a couple of sections of more 'remote' Interstate Highways that had no coverage.

3.)There may be some delay in getting information to your unit (obviously a accident or delay must be reported before it can be relayed to your unit). However once it reaches your unit, I found that there was ample time and distance to try to detour around what ever was causing the problem.

Conclusion:
The traffic monitoring chip offers a great benefit by providing useful information to those traveling on the major highways and larger centers; it is, however, less useful in a more 'rural' or smaller settings. You should use your cigarette charger cord for reliable traffic reports, as the cord acts as an antenna for this service. 4 1/2 to 5 Stars

Real Time Traffic has helped me a number of times, re-routing me in a way that I thought might be crazy but worked out beautifully. Amazon has the best price on it. I got it on sale for less than the typical $99, and it's a lifetime subscription!

I bought a Navigon 5100 when it first came out -- great little GPS, with the lane view feature. Sprung for the traffic card so I could get the updates, and now Navigon has abandoned the U.S. market, running back to Germany and leaving all of us with soon-to-be-obsolete devices. I contacted their "customer service" with a problem and was basically told to pound sand. Thanks, Navigon. Don't come back.

I live in Dallas and use this service a lot. Several times it has prevented me from getting stuck in traffic by telling of the traffic alert and giving me the option of ignore or reroute around it. I usually choose reroute and as I get to the exit on the freeway it wants me to use as a bypass I will asset the road ahead visually and may choose to not take the exit and it will recalculate the route. There has been a few times I was wrong and should have taken its advice to reroute, so I pay the price by getting stuck in traffic and saying to myself I will believe it the next time for sure. I have a 5100 which included this Traffic service but I bought this service for my daughter's Model 2100. Their website is easy to use and activate this service. On my daughter's 2100 she needs to have the power cord plugged in for it to work but on my model 5100 it works fine without any external antennae. Navigon includes an antennae that plugs in the speaker jack but I use the speaker jack to go to a cassette adapter where the sounds come out my car speakers so I can hear it much better.

I purchased a new Navigon lifetime traffic card on sale on amazon.com for only $58 dollars (normal price is $99). I use it with the basic Navigon GPS which I will say does a great job. I've only had the product for a month or so and already I've avoided a few jams on the NJ Turnpike by following the traffic warning and taking an alternate spur of the Turnpike. Also when I was about to jump on Rt 46 going towards NYC, it directed me to take local roads towards the GWB, which I wouldn't have gone otherwise. So far so good.

Look, if you already have a Navigon GPS which I recommend (even the basic model which I have, purchased from Staples on sale for only #119), or are considering purchasing one, it's a no brainer for a one time fee of $99 dollars...versus having a monthly bill for a subscription with another carrier which most likely uses the same technology. All of the tecnhology for now is pretty much the same apart from one new concept that I saw on Nightline that to my understanding uses live streaming of satelite images to determine and project volume of traffic flow, and thus predict tie-ups.

The traffic updates are consistent also with contruction updates, which in the NY/NJ Metro area can really slow you down even in non-peak hours. Frankly, I should have purchased the used card in retrospect for $10 less. It doesn't really matter if you get it new or used, because it's only a code on the card that you intitally enter one time into your GPS.

Bottom line, it's a lot of bang for the buck all things considered with technology, price, and productivity. Navigon is the only GPS that I know of where the traffic fee is a one time lifetime deal. Most if not all the other GPS brands have a monthly or annual fee. Also it doesn't matter which of the tree Navigon GPS devices you have, the traffic card works with all of them. It's a great addition to your Navigon GPS. Buy it!

A great addition to any Navigon that doesn't already have Traffic Service. The only complaint I have is that sometimes with the traffic alerts it gives, it is difficult to tell the severity of the traffic alert. Sometimes I ignore it and I am just fine and sometimes I ignore it and wish I would have listened.

We use the traffic service primarily in Michigan and Ohio. It seems to catch most of the traffic back ups (especially in Ohio) and allows us to route around or ignore the trouble spots. Our only complaint is that we occasionally get some rather strange warnings. We have had several "avalanche warnings" in Toledo, a "bicycle race" warning on I-90 and a "Boxing Tournament" warning on US-2. All in all we are very happy with the service and have had a few chuckles from it's occasional mix ups.

This is a great upgrade to your Navigon 2100 GPS. Easy to activate, and use. The only caution is...if you don't live in or near a large city, this upgrade my not have as much benefit for you.

I found the traffic add on very useful while travelling to avoid traffic jams. Review the lists of available cities carefully before buying as the range outside of metropolitan areas is limited. I am on Long Island and NYC coverage reaches about half-way through Nassau County. I hope that this will be extended soon.

Use it every day, whether I think I need it or not. I have it on and it alerts me to traffic not even being reported on the radio yet! Timely info for the Mpls/St Paul area. Displays a lot of info to make my own decision, if the re-route not to my liking.