Speech instructions on Garmin

[perussell]

I used to have a Garmin 310 but parted with it after I nearly had a smash because I had to keep looking at the screen each time a turn came up.

The problem was that the unit would regularly give the FINAL 'Turn Right' or'Turn Left' or whatever instruction often 200 yds before the junction. Having turned down too many early roads I took to having to watch the screen more carefully to see when I needed to turn. Result, I nearly went into somebody's back end one day when they stopped unexpectedly while I was looking to see when to turn.At that point I got rid of it and bought a a unit that actually gave me the final turn instruction when I was within about 20 yds of the junction. I know it was an issue because other users reported the same.

For a number of reasons I am now considering another new satnav and I am wondering whether the newer Garmin units are any better in this respect. Its still the simplest unit I have ever used with one of the clearest displays but I don't want one if things haven't improved in the area of audible instructions!

[philpugh]

All GPS systems will suffer from a degree of lag - the GPS receiver only updates the position every second. Some systems play games to interpolate the position, some expensive in-car systems have wheel sensors to measure distance. The basic GPS position can be 5-10 metres out - that is nearly twice the length of your vehicle - under certain circumstances and whilst an error to the side is corrected by locking to the centre line it doesn't help if it's infront or behind you. On a nuvi it's the centre of the car icon that represents the GPS position as reported. You need to be zoomed well in to use the display to check which road you are to take - on a smaller scale the icon will cover two or three turnings in a city road situation.

I find that running the unit (my nuvi 660) in 2D/direction up I get much less apparent lag than in 3D mode - I also prefer 2D maps - that 's how it looks on paper In my youth I did a lot of orienteering (think of it as high-speed geocaching without any electronic aids) and the way most people did it was to run with the map aligned to your running direction - it made route selection much easier. I haven't done it for years - I hope they haven't allowed GPS assistance now-a-days.

However - that said - satnav is an AID to navigation not the whole answer. If you really can't tell which of the roads it's telling you to take then (if you can) stop at the side of the road and check - or take a turning and wait for it to correct you. You wouldn't think of reading a map whilst trying to drive - I hope.
_________________
Phil

[crazyfingers]

My Nuvi 750 seems to pick when to give the final turn message just about right. On slow town or city streets it's about 2-3 car lengths before the turn. I like that. It doesn't really matter on highways where exits are ususally miles apart.

I also agree with the post above that 2D is easier to judge. I find the constantly changing scale in 3D a bit hard to get used to and I also prefer to see the lay of the land in an undistorted way. 2D also provides more map information

[mhb]

I certainly agree with perussel as to the problem. See my earlier post below.

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:10 am Post subject: Visual-Audio directions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does anyone share my desire to have directions that tell me, for example, to take the numbered (eg 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc) turn right or left from my current location at the time of the audio alert, in the same way that I'm already told to take a roundabout to the numbered exit. I find it only too easy to take the wrong turn when several junctions are very close together.

Anyone know if any satnav system already does this?

[MaFt]

[perussell]

Hmmmmm. Thanks for your various replies which would seem to suggest that the problem still exists.

Consequently as much as I like the Garmin units my money has gone elsewhere. You pays your money and you takes your choice as they say........

I don't understand why Garmin can't fix this. A subsequent Mio that I used used to say 'turn right in 200 yds' or whatever whereas the Gamin would just say 'turn right' and so if there were multiple turnings the Garmin was that much harder to follow.

and when you are using the sat nav in area you really don't know - which is when it is supposed to be most useful - pulling over to check the map is not always an option, certainy not in the middle of London

[philpugh]

Still the same problem. When a unit says turn in 200yds and there are two roads only a few feet apart at this distance then when do you turn? (This is the city centre navigation scenario)

In other situations the GARMIN will give you an unambiguous TURN instruction, followed by the next turn instruction, which picks up staggered junctions OK as far as I have heard. It will give you a distance to turn at varying distances (depending on road type and speed). The last instruction given is the plain TURN LEFT/RIGHT just prior to the junction. And, as you said, if you haven't heard all the turn instructions a simple touch of the lower RHS will show you detail and repeat the spoken direction. TTS will give you the chance to eyeball the actual street name - not something the street planners in the UK are very good at though!
_________________
Phil

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!