trafficmaster oracle.. worth the money?

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dabaldie

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I have a 2002 C5 which has TrafficMaster Oracle fitted as standard. The problem is that i bought the car second hand after the 12 month license for oracle had expired.
I'm contemplating paying the £30 to renew it as i drive 130 miles a day through trunk roads that can have delays.
I have a blaupunkt sat nav system installed too (which is free.. but without dynamic updates)
anyone out there had any good or bad experiences with it?
 
i had a traffic master thingy (two actually) lost one, batteries went and corroed the other)

neither could speak, both had configurations of leds, i thought they were good but i never bothered looking for a new one, since you knew there was a jam ahead, but didnt know which way to go, but as you have a sat nav it may be usefull, but a mate had the speaking one, said it drove him potty (the speach)
 
I tried sat nav a year or so ago, drove me mad, especially when it tells you to turn just after you've passed the turn off and then keeps telling you to turn for the next mile even though there isn't anywhere to turn off. :?
 
the sat nav is great. accurate to about 10m and warns you in plenty of time according to how fast you are travelling. (its a fully integrated thing). very quick to calculate alternate routes too..
but my question is is TrafficMaster useful and how much warning does it give you to traffic ahead?.. enough to reprogramme the sat nav.?
 
The traffic master oracle system is Ok at best. It is bloody annoying though, witters on endlessly about roads you couldn't care less about.

That said, my gripe with the thing was always that it never suggested an alternative way, but if you have sat nav it might we worth it.

If you go for it, post your findings, I haven't renewed my licence for the past 4 years, so would be interested to hear if it has improved.

Merv
 
absolute load of rubbish.
despite trafficmaster network map showing the a30 and A38 being covered only one radiomast actually ever talks to my car.
and its miles away from any blackspots.
plus at the weekend when the main road from plymouth to penzance was closed, it told me the road was 'flowing freely' despite the bloody great ROAD CLOSED sign!
complete waste of money in devon andcornwall.. apparently it works when you travel past exeter!
 
dabaldie said:
plus at the weekend when the main road from plymouth to penzance was closed, it told me the road was 'flowing freely' despite the b****y great ROAD CLOSED sign!
Click to expand...

That's great :lol: and it has just confirmed what I thought all along - I remember a TM rep once suggesting their blue posts noted and tracked car number plates, and that there facilities could, in the future be used as speed cameras! - I always thought they were nothing more than a radar and now I know 8)

I had the celtic cross with lights, waist of time only ever told you about the jam you were already in! although there was no sub to pay but it still got shelved!
 
I find that the RAC traffic information service on 0906 470 1740 (which I think uses Trafficmaster data) works a treat for planning journeys, and for getting updates whilst driving. Most mobile phones can be programmed to dial the number and then issue the keystrokes with pauses to get to a particular report - I've got M1, M25, M3, M4, M40, M42, M5, M6, A40, A406 etc stored in mine.

It's only ever let me down once, when it promised "M42 westbound - no delays reported", which was technically true, if talking about the westbound carriageway, but not at all true if talking about the westbound traffic in the 5 miles of contraflow on the eastbound carriageway...
 
dabaldie said:
absolute load of rubbish.

plus at the weekend when the main road from plymouth to penzance was closed, it told me the road was 'flowing freely' despite the b****y great ROAD CLOSED sign!
complete waste of money in devon andcornwall.. apparently it works when you travel past exeter!
Click to expand...

i think that may be because it uses an infra red beam to count cars, and so average traffic speed. the problem in this case is road closed, no traffic, so road must be empty, so road must be running freely.

a similar thing happend on the M1, the first "detectors" were placed above lane 3, trouble was when they did road works, guess which lane they closed? yes lane 3, so new "detectors" were installed above lane 2
 
They only talk when there's a hold-up. Otherwise, they just beep as you pass a transmitter.

And if they annoy you with roads that don't concern you, press the button once and hey presto, she shuts up...

I find it worth it, although I sometimes get the report "You are near M60 Junction 8. M60 Anti-clockwise slow traffic for 2 miles. 5 minutes delay" when there is no delay, and even "traffic flowing freely" when it is chocka......but generally it has helped more than it has hindered.

PS If you buy two years licence at a time, the price drops from 30 pa to 27.50.
 
securespark said:
And if they annoy you with roads that don't concern you, press the button once and hey presto, she shuts up...
Click to expand...
Can I get one of those buttons for my wife?
 
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