TomTom - Poor Routing

[nheather]

I recently had need to get a second SatNav for the family. As the heaviest driver I decided to get a new one and let my wife have my Garmin Nuvi.

There are a few things that I don't like about the Garmin so I decided to go back to TomTom and bougt an XL IQ Routes.

I've had it for a few days and must say that I'm very disappointed about the routing - in fact more than that, I think it is rubbish and not fit for purpose.

So far I've only been driving on routes I know - like my commute to work.

It's a 30 mile drive, normally takes 60 minutes. To start off, the TomTom directs me to take a 55 mile route, using the motorway, based on the fact that it thinks it can do it in 59 minutes at rush hour using the M25. I have tried that journey and it is more like 2 hours. So much for IQ routes.

So to start it is recommending a route that is 25 miles longer and will take the best part of an hour more.

So I ignore the route and it begins to adapt to the route that I am forcing upon it. In the space of the journey it recommends 3 more routes which are completely bad.

I have tried setting it to shortest route but then it takes the mickey trying to take me down single track roads.

Now my Garmin has never done this, whenever driving on a route I know well the Garmin has always picked the route I think is best from years of experience.

Okay it hasn't cost me at all yet because I have been driving on routes I know and basically ignorring what the TomTom is suggesting. But this means that I have no faith in it when it comes to routes I don't know - I can imagine it costing me a lot of diesel and time.

So a few questions

(i) Do you think I am doing anything wrong. It is set up as default with fastest route and IQ Routes enabled.

(ii) How does IQ Routes work. Does it have an database or does it work by learning. Why does it think you can do 70mph round the M25 at rush hour?

(iii) Assuming I've done nothing wrong, what are my rights. I bought it from Halfords and I think they take the "its softare and non-returnable" approach, but at the moment I'm feeling like it's a worthless piece of technology that I can't trust to use.

Cheers,

Nigel

[mikealder]

[nheather]

Clock is correct.

The optimum journey is 30 miles and takes 1 hour.

The route that the TomTom is suggesting is 55 miles and would take almost 2 hours.

My route is pretty direct where the TomTom route takes a large detour north and then back south.

Even when I drive away from the route, TomTom still suggests some very odd detours, not trying to get to the M25, just odd.

Another example, is that I cut a corner to bypass Guildford. But TomTom suggests that I should drive through Guildford centre at rush hour. Again my option is both shorter and faster.

Basically all my journies so far have involved ignorring the TomTom suggested routes.

I'd really like the TomTom to work because there are areas where it beats the Garmin hands down but with routing apparently this bad I don't think I can trust it.

Cheers,

Nigel

[technik]

If you know a faster route then use it.

Also, you can set TomTom to avoid part of route, such as M25.

I guess you are not using any kind of Traffic Subscription?
as my routes are always dependent on avoiding traffic jams, and having traffic information brings the TomTom to life in terms of choosing the best route.
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GO 620, Tomtom Android EU,
Garmin 2548LMT-D; 2599LMT-D

[JoolsTwo]

sounds like standard TT calculation to me rather than IQ. My TT tries to take me 8 miles out of my way on my commute to save about 45secs. I have a favourite set along my preferred route that I set to travel via, otherwise it will try to take me another way once I start off on my preferred route.
TT seems to prefer trunk roads & motorways, rather than good fast A or B roads and it will usually pick the most unsuitable of several parallel B roads in my experience.
_________________
TomTom ONE Series 30 (v8) & TMC traffic
App 8.010, UK & ROI Map v860.3126, TT Home 2.7.6.2056

[nheather]

[AliOnHols]

nheather, without giving away any of your personal details, can you give us some start and end points so that we may try to recreate the poor routing and compare the results.
_________________
Garmin Nuvi 2599
Android with CamerAlert, OsmAnd+, Waze & TT Europe.
TomTom GO 730, GO 930, GO 940 & Rider2.
SatMap Active 10 & 20.

[Antoeknee]

As AOH as suggested it might be worth getting someone else with same/similar device to try the route. It might be you have a duff device.

[matthewj]

A black twilight zone doesn't sound good! That may indeed be the cause.

Two suggestions on the main question though:
1. After calculating the first route, choose the option to calculate an alternative route. One journey I do has three routes that are about a minute different in calculated time. It can find the alternative if you ask.

2. Actually try its route, so be sure it is wrong. Maybe it isn't as bad as you think!

But sort out that twilight region first. Browse the map and see if it is visible there. Maybe the data is duff.

[Stampy72]

[MrT]

If your device is suggesting a 55 mile route on the M25 takes 59 minutes (forget about the bits off the M25) then that would seem reasonable. You can normally average over 60 on the M25 unless there are roadworks or heavy traffic. If there is consistent congestion on the M25 at a certain time that should be reflected in IQ routes.

TT Traffic would report delays above IQ routes on the M25 and these would be taken into account in calculating the route. If you don't have TT Traffic in any form then the TT could suggest you drive on a congested motorway. You only have to look at TT routes online to see that there are nearly always traffic incidents on the M25.

If you do not have HD Traffic then the TT Traffic you have will only know about delays on major routes but not the minor routes which it could try and route you done, even if they are blocked.

Try the TT online route planner and see if that gives you the same routes and you can turn the traffic part on and off when planning the route.
_________________
Drivelux

[nheather]

Thanks for the replies. I have only seen the black twilight zone once (this morning).

The TomTom wouldn't route into it so was trying to send me around it.

On the main map, it is quite big - I have some pictures which show my sat nav car driving from a bright part of the map into the dark forbidden zone.

When I looked at the route overview (by touching the bottom part of the screen) it showed the twilight zone as a trapezium shape about 5 to 10 miles wide and high.

Once I had been driving into the twilight zone for a little while the TomTom seemed to sort itself out and the map came back and normal routing resumed.

Typical journey - RH12 5PL to GU16 7EX

I understand the problem - by M25 it is 55 miles, my journey is just over 30 miles. The TomTom thinks the M25 route is a minute or two quicker so uses that route. But I have travelled on that part of the M25 at that time of the day and believe me it would be very rare to acheive anything like that time.

As for putting in alternative routes, or instructions to ignore motorways - that is all well and good for this example (that I don't need the sat nav for anyway), my concern is when I'm in an area I don't know, how would I know to make all these subtle route adjustments manually.

My Garmin does not have these problems at all - it seems to use a sensible logic - if it finds a route that is 25 miles shorter but just a minute longer then it selects that.

Cheers,

Nigel

[MrT]

Sometimes just asking the TT to calculate an alternative without any conditions it will come up with a very different route that you may prefer to take after comparing it with the original.

With HD traffic being much more accurate than it used to be, I now tend to follow the TT's advice unless I konw there is an incident it has missed. On a recent trip which would have gone M4-M25-A41, it took me off the M4 at Slough, round the A412 through Iver and Denham and back on to the M25 at Maple Cross (in the roadworks) which was the best route to avoid a traffic jam.
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Drivelux

[JoolsTwo]

I see what you mean. My TT also advises a route via the M23 & M25, 55mls 58 mins. Asking for an alternative suggests via the A281 & A31 36mls 1:08hrs. A 3rd try comes back with A25, A25, A322 34mls & 1:18hrs
Shortest route throws up various unclassified & B roads, as you would expect, at 31mls 1:30hr.

Knowing the first route I would say you would need a completely clear route to do it in under an hour. Even 1:08 through Guildford during rush seems optimistic.

Even the TT website suggests the first route is 57mins irrelevant of time of day
_________________
TomTom ONE Series 30 (v8) & TMC traffic
App 8.010, UK & ROI Map v860.3126, TT Home 2.7.6.2056

[Anita]

Google maps also gives directions via the M25.

I've never experienced routing problems with my 720, which gives Google's third option, via A281 and A31, for both midnight tonight and 7:30 tomorrow morning, although there's about 7 minutes difference in time for the 36.2 mile journey.
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Anita
TomTom VIA 135 - App 12.075
UK map 1125.12264
Samsung Galaxy S21

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