Hey guys! I have a 2009 G37xS with navi that gets traffic updates. Do I need to keep XM sat to keep getting the updates? Or is traffic updates based on something else? I really never use my XM sat radio, but I really do like the traffic updates it gives me during atlanta traffic...

 

Traffic updates need an XM subscription; you can subscribe to Traffic without Music/Talk channels for like $5-6/Month.

 

XM is providing you the traffic updates. XM offers 3 services...Radio, Traffic and Weather. The services can be brought individually or in packages. Here's the pricing they have posted on their site.



You can get better pricing if you mention someone you know has it for X amount. I pay $75 annually for radio only.

 

Thanks guys! How long of a trial do we get when we purchase our cars? 3 months? 6 months?

 

I think it was 3 months.

 

thanks! car is about 1 month old now, should be getting a renewal letter in the mail soon, I hope!

 

Does the NavTraffic work well?

 

I don't think it was that great; I would see green lines on the nav but there was some traffic -- so should have been yellow or orange.

XM has been a pain in the neck lately; they keep calling me on a daily basis for two weeks now to solicit a renewal.
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I bought both. When I paid I paid for 3 years and the monhly amount averaged $16 per month. Given the price of just the other I felt I got a god deal. There is a thread here that outlines how to a very discounted subscription. I like both, although the traffic updates are sometimes slow. Need to into the habbit of checking them.

 

I did not renew the xm traffic. Thought it was a waste; just made the nav screen prettier with more colors. Think it was correct about 30% of the time

 

Agreed

I drove from DC to NYC last weekend so I went through a LOT of traffic, and the XM was kind of hit or miss, I'd give it closer to 50-60% though.
It told me the lincoln tunnel would have traffic at 9:30 on saturday night, go figure

I think most of the time you know whether or not there is traffic in certain places.
Traffic updates only really help if there is a pileup on the highway and traffic is nearly stopped, then it might be worth it to get off and go around.

 

traffic is pretty much useless 2/3 of the time cause of the slow updates. unless it's red, it not really sure what the traffic is...

of course tho when It's red, it's accurate at least. bypassed a lot of road trips back in my days. But yeah system in general just isn't very well established. the xm channel updates what every 15-20 minutes?

It's pretty much hit or miss, like if you're in a 5 lane highway. unless all lanes are stopped it's going to show green

 

Perhaps you’re not using it correctly. If the road lines are red you should go to the info, nearby traffic screen and touch the specific problem that will be described. It will show you what the problem is, including its direction, start and end points and a more detailed graphic. I find it very helpful in deciding whether to find an alternate route, or at least having some knowledge of how long I’ll be stuck.

Furthermore, in addition to the red and green lines, there’s a yellow line that shows the parameters for traffic congestion. Specifics for this condition are also shown on info screen.

 

it works well but the problem in New York is there are only a few roads to choose from to take. So I'm sitting in traffic regardless!

 

It's even worse in Toronto. There are only two roads that they provide traffic flow for and a couple of major routes where they provide construction updates. On top of that it's only "live" from 3am - 7pm. After that they don't provide incident updates.