[330XDave]

Having purchased my 3 year old F31 a couple of months ago I thought I'd give the RTTI 1 month trial for a £1 a go. I had a trip down to my Father's in Plymouth (520 mile round trip) coming up plus some meetings at my workplaces regional office (100 mile round trip).

So I went down to my Dad's on Wednesday, no traffic problems, green roads all the way. Coming back today was a different story...

We didn't leave Plymouth until 10:30am and with it being the 6 weeks holidays and change over day for holidays I knew we were likely to hit problems. All was good until got past Exeter where the A38 and A30 met and became the M5. We had a few orange sections with a bit of slow moving traffic but nothing major. Then up towards Taunton we came to a near standstill. The Nav was showing +71mins so it was obvious there was a fair bit of traffic. It then rerouted us and went down to +41mins so it appeared we'd save 30mins. It wanted to take us off the M5 at the next junction then along an A road and back on the M5 at the next junction. Fine I thought, let's trust the technology. However as I slowly approached the junction the stretch of M5 that I was being diverted around went green but the Nav continued to divert me. My gut told me to stay on the M5 but I wanted to try the RTTI. Wish I bloody didnt now!

An hour and a half later I rejoined the M5 at the next junction

Basically the road it diverted me on to was at a complete standstill after a couple of miles. There was even one section where I could see the M5 running freely! What I can't understand that is despite me sitting on the A road for over an hour, the Nav never showed the traffic status on it (coloured line). What's the point of having RTTI if it has no idea of the traffic status on the road it is diverting you on to? Also why didn't the Nav cancel the reroute when it new the traffic situation had changed? Not a good first impression for me, I would have got home at least an hour earlier today if I hadn't have used RTTI

[dangerous_al]

I have noticed that RTTI has not been performing too well lately. Was never as good as Google maps but not far off, but lately it has seemed very slow to update and reporting hold ups where there are none and showing green when the traffic is at a standstill. Not sure why, but seems to have gone backwards with regards to performance

[Jeff123]

I have had a couple of similar situations recently around J23-25 of the M1 whilst approaching from the M42.

First time I (stupidly) diverted from the M42 and it took me through all types of minor country road until I rejoined the M1 at J26. Gruelling, particularly when I could see the motorway from the country roads and it was OK by then. The biggest problem was a "B" road that went across a river where the bridge only took cars one side at a time and I was queuing for 15 minutes just to cross it.

Similar situation again this week when I tried to outsmart it by staying on the M42 for another junction and then heading North by gut feeling and some local knowledge. By the time I reached the M1 the traffic had been flowing freely for some time and I had obviously made the wrong choice.

I had another episode recently travelling from Fulham area to the North. It was constantly changing the route in central London - maybe 5-6 times in 10 minutes.

I think that the RTTI information that it is working on is maybe a pessimistic scenario and in most cases you are better off staying on the original route; particularly if it means that you are staying on the motorway network.

I also think that most of the cars in the UK now have similar "sophisticated" RTTI-type systems installed, or people use their smartphones. What seems like a short cut or better route off the motorway can soon become congested - and ironically, the more people who take this route, must actually free-up the motorway.

[muffking]

Well Dave, thanks for the post. You've just saved me £1 as I was going to give it a try too

[330XDave]

Originally Posted by Jeff123

I have had a couple of similar situations recently around J23-25 of the M1 whilst approaching from the M42.

First time I (stupidly) diverted from the M42 and it took me through all types of minor country road until I rejoined the M1 at J26. Gruelling, particularly when I could see the motorway from the country roads and it was OK by then. The biggest problem was a "B" road that went across a river where the bridge only took cars one side at a time and I was queuing for 15 minutes just to cross it.

Similar situation again this week when I tried to outsmart it by staying on the M42 for another junction and then heading North by gut feeling and some local knowledge. By the time I reached the M1 the traffic had been flowing freely for some time and I had obviously made the wrong choice.

I had another episode recently travelling from Fulham area to the North. It was constantly changing the route in central London - maybe 5-6 times in 10 minutes.

I think that the RTTI information that it is working on is maybe a pessimistic scenario and in most cases you are better off staying on the original route; particularly if it means that you are staying on the motorway network.

I also think that most of the cars in the UK now have similar "sophisticated" RTTI-type systems installed, or people use their smartphones. What seems like a short cut or better route off the motorway can soon become congested - and ironically, the more people who take this route, must actually free-up the motorway.

Definitely agree with that last statement. Loads of cars came off the motorway to try and bypass the congestion, not just new cars either which makes me think Google maps was also diverting people off.

The problems you had Jeff are in my neck of the woods, it's not that simple to go between junctions off the motorway so you're better off sitting in it unless it's at a complete standstill. I'm not sure where the bridge over the river is that you're referring to though!

[SkyJawa]

Rtti is and always has been pretty much shit.

Waze, Google or TomTom only ones worth using.

Bmw needs to bin whatever shit feed it gets rtti from and plug into google.

[Sullym6]

The bmw RTTI only covers major routes so it always thinks the back roads are free. I just fire up waze when there is standstill traffic

[Wills2]

RTTI is a crock of shit.....

[willjames]

I echo that. You may as well rip off your Nav Screen and shove a turd in its place...it'll be as useful as RTTI.

[pdk42]

RTTI is a waste of time. I tried using it a few times but quickly realised it's basically brain dead. Really - just use Waze. That actually works!

In fact, the Sat Nav on BMWs (and pretty well every other manufacturer) is awful compared to Waze or Google Maps. For my next car I just want either an Android-based HU where I can install my own software or else the ability to mirror the screen from my phone. Manufacturer software is lame compared to the open source community or tech giants like Google.

[evdok]

My 2003 E class sat nav was far better than the shit we/bmw use.