I have both a standalone on my dash along with my cell phone.
If you are looking for live traffic similar to google maps, you won't find it in a garmin standalone (not sure if any standalone has something similar). The traffic (at least in Canada) is limited to major routes and on mine I've only seen it on Deerfoot and Glenmore. It's also very delayed and not as accurate.
I basically just leave it in map mode now as I like the display. I use my phone for navigation and real time traffic using the Waze app. Very cool too as others notify you of traffic issues ahead and you can notify others as well. There has been times I've been on deerfoot, then 2 minutes after an accident occurs, another waze user comes across it, notifies others, and meanwhile the app has detected a slowdown and already directed me to a quicker alternate route.
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