garmin nuvi speed limit & review

ebsprintin · Aug 11, 2010

garmin nuvi 755t & review

First run with my garmin nuvi 755t. Trying to decide whether to keep it.

Does anyone know if there are any nuvis that let the user set their own typical max speed? The 755t seems a little too smart for my use. Sort of like a Steve Jobs dictate. Since the unit knows all the speed limits, it calculates estimated time of arrive based on not deviating from the speed limit. I don't drive that fast, so on my run to El Paso there was about four hours difference between my driving time and the 755's estimate. My old nuvi 200 estimated the trip based on a max of 55-60 mph. It gave an almost dead-on estimate of drive time. If I don't have the option to cap my speed, then I may opt for one of the dumber models like my old 200.

Another wonky feature. I like keeping all my times based on eastern time, since that is how the company operates. In the time function, I can deactive the time zones, so my actual time always stays in the eastern time zone. Problem is that the "arrival time at destination" still switches to the destination's local time. My old 200 let me deal with all times in one time zone.

The 755t is thinking about so much information it takes a long time to calculate and recalculate routes. It takes roughly five times longer to calculate a route (using one-mississippi, two-mississippi method). Miss a turn, and you may miss several detours before it has a chance to recalculate a suitable route.

Looks like maybe I'll just stock up on old nuvi 200's from ebay.

eb

Dakota · Aug 11, 2010

Your welcome to come back to the 200 club anytime

Dakota · Aug 11, 2010

I'm not sure of the lifespan of a GPS but it seems my screen is not as bright as it once was. Still readable but alot dimmer than when it was new. Considering I have used it every day for about 10 hours a day since 2007 I guess I gotten good use out of it.

ebsprintin · Aug 14, 2010

Looks like this unit isn't going back after all. 1.5 hours of downloading and installing software update, and 6 hours of downloading and installing new maps, and the unit works like it should. The "arrive at destination" time zone thingy, the unrealistic "time to destination", and excessive amount of time to calculate route are no longer issues. So why couldn't it arrive ready to go? I think I already know the answer to that question.

One thing I still would like to see in this unit is a compass or heading indicator in the 3-D mode. I figure 3-D is the way most people use this gps, so why not have a compass where more people could use it? There is a compass in the flat map mode. There is a direction indicator in 3-D mode, but you have to chose between seeing the direction or eta. I want to see both at the same time.

The screen has a frosty, faded look in any kind of lighting. At night it's not so bad. Sitting next to my old nuvi 200, you would think that the new 755t is the 10 years older brother.

The 755t does make better routing decisions. I don't know if I could improve the old 200's routing by finding updated software. That is another project for another day.

The "announce streets by street name" is a great improvement over the first attempts at street name announcements. The old way was something like, "turn right at Interstate Six Hundred Thirty-Five." Now it sounds more natural like, "turn right at Interstate Six Thirty-Five". I didn't have much use for the wordiness of the older version, but now it's useable.

The FM traffic alerts is functional. The 755t did have to update the eta a couple times during urban construction congestion, but it was ahead of the game compared to the 200, who was oblivious to the traffic, and could only slowly tick up the eta as I couldn't keep up the speed. At another point when passing DFW airport, it recognized that the short (normally faster) way around the airport was also the slow direction because of contruction congestion. It routed me the longer, but faster way around the airport. I don't expect it to be perfect, but I have seen first hand that it can recognize and bypass problems.

eb

ebsprintin · Aug 18, 2010

After a little more use. It does calculate routes slowly. I'll do a more scientific, side-by-side comparison one of these days.

eb

ebsprintin · Aug 31, 2010

There is definitely a glitch in the software. I set the time zone to manual, so I can stay on Eastern Time. The problem is that the estimated time of arrival display continues to calculate a difference between time zones as if I'm in automatic time zone mode. This means the time of arrival isn't correct until I cross into the destination time zone. I sent Garmin a write-up of the malfunction and hope that someday it makes it into a software update.

eb

dotcommark · Aug 31, 2010

Has anyone had any luck with the avoid traffic option? I enabled it while I was coming south towards Chicago and approaching rush hour. It still directed me right down 75! I've only came through there during the day a few times now and it's always been a pain in the butt. Is taking the loop around the city the best route?

Turtle · Aug 31, 2010

dotcommark said:
Has anyone had any luck with the avoid traffic option?

The "avoid traffic" will have the Garmin reroute you around reported traffic tie-ups, like accidents or accumulating traffic. It does not mean that it will be able to avoid all traffic. If a traffic delay icon pops up to indicate an unusual traffic situation, the Garmin will calculate alternative routes, and if any of those are better than staying put and dealing with the traffic ahead, it will re-route you. If an alternative route will take longer, it will leave everything alone.

I enabled it while I was coming south towards Chicago and approaching rush hour. It still directed me right down 75!

I-75? The one in Ohio? That's one heckuva re-route.

I've only came through there during the day a few times now and it's always been a pain in the butt. Is taking the loop around the city the best route?

Perfect example. Sometimes it's faster to go around the city, other times it's best to suck it up and go through. The Garmin calculates it both ways, and will direct you the fastest route, whichever one that is. I've had it take through downtown many times, and it's sent me around just as many. It all depends on the reported traffic delays at the time.

dotcommark · Aug 31, 2010

Well farts, I didn't mean 75. Lately I've been up and down that highway so much its burned into my brain. 94 is what I meant. The loop is freaking huge so I don't think it would do much better going that way. They need an expediter highway that cuts through the suburbs.

highway star · Aug 31, 2010

ebsprintin said:
There is definitely a glitch in the software. I set the time zone to manual, so I can stay on Eastern Time. The problem is that the estimated time of arrival display continues to calculate a difference between time zones as if I'm in automatic time zone mode. This means the time of arrival isn't correct until I cross into the destination time zone. I sent Garmin a write-up of the malfunction and hope that someday it makes it into a software update.

eb

The time deal isn't a malfunction, that's the way they made it. I included that in an e-mail I sent Garmin with my review of the 465. They said, too bad, that's the way it is. Majorly dumb!!

ebsprintin · Aug 31, 2010

highway star said:
The time deal isn't a malfunction, that's the way they made it. I included that in an e-mail I sent Garmin with my review of the 465. They said, too bad, that's the way it is. Majorly dumb!!

I don't think we're talking about the same thing. When I cross a time zone line my arrival time jumps or falls one hour instantly depending on the direction I'm going. It doesn't stay on one time zone. I thought the 465 automatically changes your time according to the time zone you are currently in like a cell phone and doesn't give you the option to stay on one time zone (which is very untrucker-friendly). I set my time to manual, so it will supposedly stay on Eastern Time. If I'm going from Florida to El Paso, I first get an eta in Mountain Time. Cross into Central Time Zone, and my eta switches to Central Time eta. Cross into Mountain Time Zone, and eta switches to Eastern Time eta. Majorly Dumber?

eb

highway star · Sep 1, 2010

Yep, that's different. Mine will show arrival time in whatever time zone I'm delivering in. I tried the manual setting to keep it in Eastern time, but it didn't work.

Turtle · Sep 1, 2010

I've still got an older Street Pilot c550. Must be 6 or 7 year old by now. There isn't even an "auto" setting. You go in and tell it 12 or 24 hour clock, then select a Time Zone, and then you can select Auto-On-Off for Daylight Saving Time, but that's it. Apparently, the automatic Time Zone thing is a feature. You know, a feature.

ebsprintin · Sep 1, 2010

Yep, my nuvi 200 works perfectly well in the one time zone I have it set to. The auto time zone seems to be something they are proud of, so who would want to mess with it. Sort of like a Steve Jobs mandate.

eb

Turtle · Sep 1, 2010

The auto Time Zone "feature" is the primary factor as to why I haven't upgraded mine for one with more bells and whistles. Mine still works fine, and I update the maps pretty regular (although not from "official" sources, if you know what I mean).

ebsprintin · Sep 2, 2010

I was surprised to hear from a real customer support rep. Below is the note they sent me and my response.

Dear eb,

Thank you for contacting Garmin International. Would you please go into a bit more detail as to how the device is miscalculating the time of arrival? One thing that can cause the device to miscalculate the time of arrival is if the device is ever confused on your average driving speeds. The device keeps track of your average speeds for the differing classifications of roads (highways, major roads, and residential roads)

If the device's data ever becomes corrupt, this could cause miscalculations in the time of arrival. If you wish to reset this data, you can perform a master reset.

To perform a Master Reset on the nuvi 200, 205, 465, 500, 600, 700, 705, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400 or 1600 series device:

Note: A master reset will erase all waypoints or favorites and will restore your unit to the default factory settings. If you would like to back up your favorites you can find instructions to do so here.

Start with the unit OFF and unplugged from power
Touch and hold the lower right corner of the screen with an index finger or the eraser end of a pencil
Continue touching and holding the lower right hand corner of the screen then power the unit ON
Release the power button when the device powers ON
You will see a new message: Do you really want to erase all user data?
Remove your finger from the touchscreen when this message displays
Touch Yes
The device will automatically reset. Follow the on screen prompts then place your device in an area with a clear view of the sky until it acquires satellites.

With Best Regards,

Adam R
Product Support Specialist
Automotive Team
Garmin International
**************************
And my response:

This problem is related to time zones. In my settings under "Set Current Time" I have automatic unchecked, so my time stays on my company's time zone (eastern) (this is a standard practice in the transportation business; like zulu time for the airline industry).

The following is my nuvi 755T's calculations for a route from St Louis, MO to Los Angeles, CA:

Time of Day: 14:32
Estimated Time to Destination (ETD): 29:36
Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA): 18:09

There is a two hour deviation between the displayed ETA and the eta I should get if I used the ETD. Here comes the good part. I begin traveling towards Los Angeles. When I cross the time zone going into Mountain Time, the ETA changes to 19:09. At the line to Pacific Time the ETA changes to 20:09. 20:09 is the ETA that should have been displayed from the beginning.

The same happens going east. Actual calculated route from St Louis, MO to Indianapolis, IN:

Time of Day: 14:26
Estimated Time to Destination (ETD): 04:05
Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA): 19:31

The ETA is one hour off in the opposite direction and corrects itself when it hits the time zone line to Eastern Time.

Having an accurate home port ETA is the most important feature of any gps for my needs. Knowing my ETA for the duration of an entire route is a critical part of my work. I bought this unit because it supposedly has the ability to NOT automatically change time zones. Other express freight drivers are not buying the 465 truck model for this very reason. I will have to go back to my nuvi 200 if this problem can't be fixed in future software updates.

Thank you for personally looking into this issue. In my community Garmin has a reputation of zero customer service, so it is good to see a human actually responding to this request for assistance. And there are future Garmin customers waiting to see you fix this manual time zone issue across the entire nuvi line of products.

Thank you for your time.

eb

greg334 · Sep 2, 2010

Some companies actually have real people working for them ...

ebsprintin · Sep 2, 2010

And the real person responded with a possible workaround. I am separated from my data cable, so I have not tried the suggestion yet.

This is the response:

Dear eb,

Thank you for contacting Garmin International. Thank you for going into that much detail, that really helped put things into perspective. I have reported the issue, yet I do not know if or when a fix would be implemented. On that, one idea I have, would be to delete the timezone map from the device itself. If we need to keep it in Eastern, then without a map to make the time change it should stay in the Eastern time-zone.

Please plug your device into a computer and follow the instructions below:

open Mycomputer/Computer
double-click on the Garmin drive
double-click on the Garmin folder
Delete any files that have the letters gmaptz in them
Please do not delete any other files, because that could make the device unusable.

With Best Regards,

Adam R
Product Support Specialist
Automotive Team
Garmin International