I'm trying to figure out if it's just my part of the country that has this issue or if it is a flaw in the navigation software. When I enter a destination, the estimated time to arrival is never close to being correct. For example, I had a 41 mile drive tonight, and the speed limit the entire way is 65; yet the nav system said it would take 1:07. I have a handheld Garmin Nuvi for my wife's car that is much more accurate and actually considers the speed limit when determining how long it will take to reach the destination.

Is this what others experience, or is it just my part of the country (midwest)?

--Brendan--

 

what settings? you cna include xm traffic delays. plus other settings.

also, you can set the speed of different type of roads.

 

Traffic only works in certain cities--not anywhere close to our state.

Where is a setting to change the speed for different types of roads?

--Brendan--

 

can't recall... i htink it is in the route menu

 

I believe I came across in the manual there is a menu you can go into that allows you to set the speed limits. For instance, I think it assumes 55 mph on the highways but you can reprogram it to say that whenever you are on an interstate use 65 mph to calculate.

BTW, if someone finds this menu I would really appreciate posting it back here. I found it one day fiddling around with the manuals and now I cant find it for the life of me. Beginning to wonder if this was actually in my wifes FX or not.

 

The nuvi calculates the initial arrival time based on the speeds set in the mapping. During the drive however, it recalculates the arrival time as to how fast or slow you actually drive. If you get stuck in traffic, you can watch the arrival time creep up minute by minute. If you drive 75 on a 55mph roadway, in about 5 mins youll see that you brought the arrival time down by 1 minute. This is constantly being calculated. Im sure that the nav in the car does it the same way. Just start driving and see if the arrival time shown on the nav is what it is when you actually get there.

 

Go to:

Route-->Guidance Settings-->Set Average Speeds

You can select Auto or you can manually set speeds for:

* Freeway
* Main Road
* Town Road
* Residential

 

Yes, exactly. What I'm talking about, though, is the gross miscalculation of the initial estimate, such as my example above. That has nothing to do with traffic or the speed you are going--it should just be estimating it based on the speed limit of the roads. How is it that a handheld can do that so much better than a $2000 device?

--Brendan--

 

Exactly why I wont be getting the nav option. However, make sure that the setting on your nav isnt on "shortest route" vs. "fastest time". That makes a big difference.

 

Okay, I did change the average speeds as mentioned in this thread (thanks!). But that makes no sense--who cares about an average speed? The system should "know" what the speed limit is on the various roads (just as handheld systems can). Oh well--at least maybe it will be more accurate after changing the average speeds.

--Brendan--

 

The Nav system definitely changes and updates times based on actual speed or time you are in traffic. The first calculation it makes is based on the average speeds as set in the system but it definitely updates as you go along. I'm not sure how else it would get better. Even if the system knew every speed limit on every road, the initial estimate would be just that, an estimate. It would be constantly updating to account for actual travel, speed, traffic etc.

I see no difference in how a handheld works and remember, the "$2,000 device" that you think the handheld works better than includes the entire HD base sound system, the voice recognition for the entire car's climate/sound/nav system and navtraffic - not just the Nav option

 

Uh, yeah. That whole system is still there controlling the sound, climate control, and voice recognition without the nav upgrade. So thats where my $500 garmin is superior to the $2k dealer installed option. Oh wait, plus I can put my garmin in any other car I want, and I can bring it with me on vaction to use in rental cars. Can you do that with your $2k option?

 

Again, I don't think my original question is being read. Yes, the system updates. That's not the issue. My question regards the initial estimate--which is wildly inaccurate for my system. If I am traveling from point A to point B, and it is highway the whole way (65 mph speed limit), a 30 mile drive should not be estimated to take 60 minutes. The system should know that the highway in question has a speed limit of 70--that's what "auto" should do. Not all highways or residential streets should be treated the same. And that's what my handheld system would do--sure, it wouldn't be completely accurate since you can get stuck in traffic (although that doesn't happen much around here), but it would be pretty close. So that's why I am asking if people in other parts of the country have better luck with their systems than I seem to be having.

--Brendan--

 

Is this happening every time you put in the same coordinates? Does this happen with all coordinates? Again, see if theres a place in the menu that dictates routes (fastest/shortest). See what the setting is and then change it to the other one. Then retry the coordinates, see if anything changes. There has to be something as to why the nav is putting in additional time.

 

This has been happening for all destinations but is especially noticable on long trips. I'll try changing the fastest/shortest route setting--it's on fastest right now.

--Brendan--