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NealC · 05-02-2019, 05:29 PM

I've been using a Garmin 770 nearly two years and it's paired with my smartphone via Bluetooth to get live traffic data. I recently learned on this forum that there is a special cable you can use in place of the power cable that has an antenna in it and it picks up HD/FM traffic data for real time traffic info. It's called HERE traffic. I'm not sure if a subscription is required but I believe it's free.

I ordered the cable from Amazon called a GTM 60 HD Digital Traffic Receiver. It supports multiple devices and it's around $60. I plugged mine in today and it looks great as it shows the signal strength and the traffic data configuration.

Very cool!

Product on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2H0nkdJ

Produce Page on Garmin showing compatible devices etc. - https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/104181#overview

Traffic Info from Garmin: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?fa...Ja11t7iwvYnz18

lass · 05-02-2019, 06:28 PM

Im surprised that Garmin doesn’t include the GTM 60 with the newer models. It was standard when I bought my 760.

Good to know for folks with the latest model.

Finance · 05-02-2019, 06:45 PM

Interesting, I have a Garmin Nuvi for the car that accesses that broadcast stream with no additional parts. From my observations the traffic data is less comprehensive than Google, I don't know where they source the traffic data from. But it has data for metropolitan areas and that's mostly where traffic is an issue. I like it, mine will automatically reroute to avoid congestion if you allow the option.

Pretty impressive for a several year old device working with just the onboard resources and broadcast radio.

Finance · 05-02-2019, 06:46 PM

Interesting, I have a Garmin Nuvi for the car that accesses that broadcast stream with no additional parts. From my observations the traffic data is less comprehensive than Google, I don't know where they source the traffic data from. But it has data for metropolitan areas and that's mostly where traffic is an issue. I like it, mine will automatically reroute to avoid congestion if you allow the option.

Pretty impressive for a several year old device working with just the onboard resources and broadcast radio.

nytmare · 05-03-2019, 06:55 AM

I have a 770 LMT-S as well and purchased the FM antenna cable (GMT 60) so that I wouldn't necessarily have to use my phone to get traffic info. My experience with the FM cable wasn't good. It works in fewer locations and seems to require a very strong signal to receive updated data. A phone also requires a decent signal, but I've found that's much more reliable and quicker to update than the cable. I don't use it anymore and will probably put it up on eBay, here, or other RV forums.

YMMV

NealC · 05-03-2019, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nytmare

I have a 770 LMT-S as well and purchased the FM antenna cable (GMT 60) so that I wouldn't necessarily have to use my phone to get traffic info. My experience with the FM cable wasn't good. It works in fewer locations and seems to require a very strong signal to receive updated data. A phone also requires a decent signal, but I've found that's much more reliable and quicker to update than the cable. I don't use it anymore and will probably put it up on eBay, here, or other RV forums.

YMMV

I'll see how it works out as I have it setup now. With my bluetooth connection for live traffic from the phone I never felt the Garmin was getting live traffic unless I opened the Garmin app and went to live traffic to pull down traffic info. I don't know if this is required and I may not remember to do that so this FM/HD cable may help provide traffic all the time when signal is available instead of me having to initiate it. Traffic is only going to be a problem (typically) in metro areas and those areas should have a good signal, or one would think. So again, where there is typically traffic I'm hoping would also be a good signal. Rural areas shouldn't matter. I guess the other case would be you're in a rural area where signal is weak (and so may be cellular/data) but in a few hours going to be in an area such as DC as I was in Wednesday and it needs to reroute well before you get to the traffic.

I'll see how it works. Hoping for the best.

nytmare · 05-03-2019, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NealC

I'll see how it works out as I have it setup now. With my bluetooth connection for live traffic from the phone I never felt the Garmin was getting live traffic unless I opened the Garmin app and went to live traffic to pull down traffic info. I don't know if this is required and I may not remember to do that so this FM/HD cable may help provide traffic all the time when signal is available instead of me having to initiate it. Traffic is only going to be a problem (typically) in metro areas and those areas should have a good signal, or one would think. So again, where there is typically traffic I'm hoping would also be a good signal. Rural areas shouldn't matter. I guess the other case would be you're in a rural area where signal is weak (and so may be cellular/data) but in a few hours going to be in an area such as DC as I was in Wednesday and it needs to reroute well before you get to the traffic.

I'll see how it works. Hoping for the best.

I see you live west of Richmond. I live in the Fredericksburg, VA area, but work on Quantico. So, we both know how DC traffic can be and how far it stretches. When I was testing out the GTM-60, it wan't picking up squat around Quantico, as I was sitting in 15mph traffic on I-95. I swapped over to my Garmin Smartphone Link app and unhooked the GTM-60 (when traffic stopped...which was frequent) and immediately started getting live traffic updates.

The reason I don't like using the Garmin app is because it over rides my bluetooth connection to my car (which I prefer to use for calls and notifications). However, I seem to have successfully handled that by "inactivating" the app's connection (pushing the little red box in the bottom left corner of the app window). This doesn't seem to have interfered with getting traffic updates.

I hope you have better luck than I've had. If you do, please let me know. Maybe I received a bad cable.

vettenuts · 06-19-2019, 09:38 AM

The cable came with my new 780 RV, but after reading this thread sounds like I may be better off with Bluetooth and my phone.

NealC · 06-19-2019, 09:41 AM

Thanks for resurfacing this thread, I actually returned the cable. Your smartphone/BT connection is far better. The coverage for HD/FM is actually quite limited per the coverage map below. Great idea, bad coverage, don't waste your money:

https://coverage.here.com/hd-coverage.html

For the various systems and coverages scroll down to the coverage row and click the links as desired:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?fa...Ja11t7iwvYnz18

I would watch it trying to connect to the traffic provider and it never did. Once I fired up my phone it used that so it can use both. The cable is designed for cities, not areas we travel in RV's.

Spk64 · 06-19-2019, 09:41 AM

Been using it on my 760 for several years. Tends to not be that accurate. 1 out of 10 times the information is accurate and useful.

Dennis_K · 06-20-2019, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NealC

Thanks for resurfacing this thread, I actually returned the cable. Your smartphone/BT connection is far better. The coverage for HD/FM is actually quite limited per the coverage map below. Great idea, bad coverage, don't waste your money:

https://coverage.here.com/hd-coverage.html

For the various systems and coverages scroll down to the coverage row and click the links as desired:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?fa...Ja11t7iwvYnz18

I would watch it trying to connect to the traffic provider and it never did. Once I fired up my phone it used that so it can use both. The cable is designed for cities, not areas we travel in RV's.

My 760 and then 770 both came with the Traffic cable.
I found the same issues when comparing the two services. I haven't used the cable at all since the I got the BT traffic connected.

Spk64 · 06-20-2019, 04:09 PM

Is there a subscription or cost with the BT traffic? I assumed there was so never looked closer at it.

nytmare · 06-21-2019, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spk64

Is there a subscription or cost with the BT traffic? I assumed there was so never looked closer at it.

No subscription cost to use the BT connection. But... it does consume bandwidth. So, if you have a bandwidth limited cellphone plan, you'll probably want to take that into consideration. That said, I've not noticed that receiving traffic info ate up a bunch of data.