Setting up speed camera database on Tom Tom

lordrobs

lordrobs

lordrobs

Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2003
Posts
16,683
Location
Norwich
Ok so my paranoia about getting done for speeding has hit new levels and I've just downloaded the latest speed camera database.

What distance (in yards please) should I put as the warning distance in order to give me ample time to check my speed and adjust accordingly.

I'm just talking about slight lapse in concentration adjustments ie up to a max of 10 mph over the limit, not speeding for speedings sake.

TIA.
 
If you've got the speed zoned files, I set the low speed warnings to a short(ish) distance, and the higher speed warnings to a much longer distance, so I've got time to react.

Best thing to do is set it, then go for a drive and adjust it.
 
Well 60mph is about 30 yards a second, I reckon you'd need at least 5-10 seconds to think about it and or slow down, say 300 yards. Thinking about it, that's over 250 meters so maybe a bit of an over-zealous safety margin there! :D Better late than never, maybe :D

That kinda make sense?

30 mph = 15 yards per second
40 mph = 20 yards per second
60 mph = 30 yards per second
70 mph = 34 yards per second
80 mph = 39 yards per second

and so on :)

And I agree with above! Slowing from 37 to 30 is much easier and possibly less dangerous than slowing from 80 to 60 rapidly - although saying that, it's all rather circumstancial!
 
Last edited:
lordrobs said:
What distance (in yards please) should I put as the warning distance in order to give me ample time to check my speed and adjust accordingly.
Click to expand...

How long is a piece of string?

The warning distance is going to vary according to your speed, your reaction time and your state of mind. I have mine set at the default value (whatever that is) that TomTom puts in.
 
Thanks for the input. Yeah I know its only going to be a guess but I remember before when the POI's on there I ended up turning the warnings off as they would go off when I wasn't even on that road :o

I think the default is 270 yards so I might try knocking it down a touch.
 
Are you using a PDA with tomtom or a standalone unit? If a PDA, try checkPOInt (www.oabsoftware.nl) free software that works with tomtom and allows you to choose how far away the camera is in terms of time rather than distance, speed-sensitive if you like.

I have it set to warn me 30 seconds before, then read out what the speed limit is, then warn me 10 seconds before. It reads out the camera type etc etc too.

So basically, driving along i'll hear (as example):

Mobile Speed Camera in 30 seconds
Speed limit is 30 miles per hour
Mobile Speed Camera in 10 seconds

I have different notification for red light cameras, average speed check zones, red light & speed camera combination units etc etc.
But you can configure it to do more/less as you wish, I just find this is ideal for me!

The software also has a great synchronise function which allows you to simply click one button and it updates all of your databases when your PDA is docked with the computer.
 
L33 said:
Are you using a PDA with tomtom or a standalone unit? If a PDA, try checkPOInt (www.oabsoftware.nl) free software that works with tomtom and allows you to choose how far away the camera is in terms of time rather than distance, speed-sensitive if you like.

I have it set to warn me 30 seconds before, then read out what the speed limit is, then warn me 10 seconds before. It reads out the camera type etc etc too.

So basically, driving along i'll hear (as example):

Mobile Speed Camera in 30 seconds
Speed limit is 30 miles per hour
Mobile Speed Camera in 10 seconds

I have different notification for red light cameras, average speed check zones, red light & speed camera combination units etc etc.
But you can configure it to do more/less as you wish, I just find this is ideal for me!

The software also has a great synchronise function which allows you to simply click one button and it updates all of your databases when your PDA is docked with the computer.
Click to expand...
I'm using a PDA. That souns pretty good. What I'd REALLY like is a system where if I was doing the speed limit or withing say 2mph of it I didn't get any warning at all and only got informed if I was speeding.
 
lordrobs said:
I'm using a PDA. That souns pretty good. What I'd REALLY like is a system where if I was doing the speed limit or withing say 2mph of it I didn't get any warning at all and only got informed if I was speeding.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it can do this.
I know for a fact it can be set to only warn you if you are over the limit, not so sure if you can set ranges of how far inside/outside the limit you are though
 
L33 said:
I'm sure it can do this.
I know for a fact it can be set to only warn you if you are over the limit, not so sure if you can set ranges of how far inside/outside the limit you are though
Click to expand...
I know TomTom Go 910 will show the speed limit in red if you're exceeding it, dunno about voice warnings though.

TomTom Navigator 5.21 doesn't warn you if you're over the speed limit and there's no way to make it do it as far as I can see.
 
I use the individual camera files from pocketgps on my TT510.
I've set the distances at 10x the speed limit, i.e. 700 yards for a 70mph camera.
I've also added a second copy of each file, adding a "1" to the end of each name, i.e. file1.ov2. This allows me to set a second warning for each camera. So, for a 70mph camera I have a warning at 700 yards, and a repeat warning at 350 yards.

Set a longer distance for mobile cameras, as the hand-helds can zap you from a long distance in light traffic!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom