GJH
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- Aug 20, 2007
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As posted Broken Link Removed and Broken Link Removed I found that Garmin sat navs tended to underestimate journey times.
I contacted Garmin support but did not receive a satisfactory reply (unusual for Garmin support in my experience), just advice to make sure the software was up to date (it was) and do a master reset if all else failed. Garmin didn't seem to want to acknowledge that the problem lay in their software.
As a result I explored on-line support further and found the FAQ "Can I train my Garmin to provide better estimated times of arrival (ETA)?" (http://tinyurl.com/nsqfvth). After reading that I turned on the Travel History feature on both my Nuvi 2569 and Camper 760.
On October 14/16 we did a return trip to the NEC using our car and the Nuvi 2569 and the ETA turned out to be much more accurate, especially so on the return trip.
Yesterday we returned from our trip to Blackpool in the van using the Camper 760. We also had a Noza Tec set up for comparison. Both units had the same vehicle profile entered. The ETA calculated by the Noza Tec was pretty accurate but the Camper 760 was, once again, underestimated. I think, though, that I have worked out why. With 59 miles to go on the return journey today, the Noza Tec ETA gave a remaining journey time of 70 minutes (i.e. an average speed of about 60 mph) whilst the Camper 760 ETA gave a remaining journey time of 50 minutes (i.e. an average speed of about 70 mph). The remaining portion of the journey was on the A1/A168/A19.
This would seem to indicate that the Garmin software uses the maximum speed limit for the roads being travelled, rather than the vehicle being used, to calculate the ETA. That is fair enough for a car alone but is highly likely to be inaccurate when one is driving a motorhome or towing a caravan. Even on a motorway the maximum speed of a car/caravan and heavier motorhomes is 60 mph rather than 70 mph and, as I am sure Garmin is aware, many motorhome drivers restrict their speed to under 60 mph anyway. I would expect, therefore, given that the Camper 760 is supposedly specially designed for use with motorhomes and car/caravan outfits, that it would take that vehicle rather than road limits into account when calculating ETAs.
I contacted Garmin support again telling them of these findings and asking them to bring this to the attention of their software development team so that they might correct the programming.
I've had a reply saying they have forwarded my email to the design team "as they are always interested in customer feedback". They won't guarantee that what I have suggested will be implemented but it does seem they aren't just binning it without thought We shall see what, if anything, transpires
I contacted Garmin support but did not receive a satisfactory reply (unusual for Garmin support in my experience), just advice to make sure the software was up to date (it was) and do a master reset if all else failed. Garmin didn't seem to want to acknowledge that the problem lay in their software.
As a result I explored on-line support further and found the FAQ "Can I train my Garmin to provide better estimated times of arrival (ETA)?" (http://tinyurl.com/nsqfvth). After reading that I turned on the Travel History feature on both my Nuvi 2569 and Camper 760.
On October 14/16 we did a return trip to the NEC using our car and the Nuvi 2569 and the ETA turned out to be much more accurate, especially so on the return trip.
Yesterday we returned from our trip to Blackpool in the van using the Camper 760. We also had a Noza Tec set up for comparison. Both units had the same vehicle profile entered. The ETA calculated by the Noza Tec was pretty accurate but the Camper 760 was, once again, underestimated. I think, though, that I have worked out why. With 59 miles to go on the return journey today, the Noza Tec ETA gave a remaining journey time of 70 minutes (i.e. an average speed of about 60 mph) whilst the Camper 760 ETA gave a remaining journey time of 50 minutes (i.e. an average speed of about 70 mph). The remaining portion of the journey was on the A1/A168/A19.
This would seem to indicate that the Garmin software uses the maximum speed limit for the roads being travelled, rather than the vehicle being used, to calculate the ETA. That is fair enough for a car alone but is highly likely to be inaccurate when one is driving a motorhome or towing a caravan. Even on a motorway the maximum speed of a car/caravan and heavier motorhomes is 60 mph rather than 70 mph and, as I am sure Garmin is aware, many motorhome drivers restrict their speed to under 60 mph anyway. I would expect, therefore, given that the Camper 760 is supposedly specially designed for use with motorhomes and car/caravan outfits, that it would take that vehicle rather than road limits into account when calculating ETAs.
I contacted Garmin support again telling them of these findings and asking them to bring this to the attention of their software development team so that they might correct the programming.
I've had a reply saying they have forwarded my email to the design team "as they are always interested in customer feedback". They won't guarantee that what I have suggested will be implemented but it does seem they aren't just binning it without thought We shall see what, if anything, transpires