Frustrating last hour of ride with XT

[jfheath]

Agreed! My problems with it are associated with recalculation and have only occurred since the last firmware update (6.50). Prior to that I was extremely pleased and was working on how to fully utilize it. Now I just hope that it gets me to my destination without any drama.

If that is really the case, you can roll it back to 6.40. You will lose your settings, but if your routes are on the Sd card .....

Info on how to do that here. app.php/ZXT-P85

Probably not the sort of thing to do while on a tour though.

[Peobody]

Mixed day with the XT today, mostly bad.

The good:

• I only have 3000 miles to go with this thing.

• Having the track displayed on the map came in handy.

The bad:

• Having the track displayed on the map came in handy. Once again an XT recalc insisted on backtracking. I didn't skip a waypoint this time like I did the last time it happened. I had gone 3 miles off-route to find food. While at the restaurant I identified an alternative way to return to the route by following a county road that paralleled the route. When I got back on the bike I pulled out of the restaurant heading down the county road instead of back the way I had come. The XT popped up the Off Route notice and I told it to recalc. The recalc wanted to backtrack me to the route. I went about ten miles with it trying to u-turn me even though I was much closer to the next waypoint by then. I pulled over, stopped the route, reloaded it and selected the upcoming waypoint as the entry point. This time it repeatedly tried to take me to the parallel expressway even though the waypoint was on the secondary road that I was traveling on. I finally gave up, stopped the route, and followed the track until I got close to the destination city. I then started the route again and set the entry point as my final fuel stop. That got me to fuel and then to the hotel.

• It popped up the 'Off Route' notice at least a half dozen times while I was on the route. I'm glad I have recalc set to "Prompt" so that I could answer "No" to the recalc offer and continue on.

Obviously it was a frustrating afternoon. My feeling at this point is that recalculation is worthless, and the faster time algorithm has again demonstrated that it identifies routing over the closest expressway as faster. There doesn't appear to be any logic that identifies how far out of the way is too far or how many u-turns prompts are too many when trying to get you to that expressway.

[jfheath]

That seems to be the state of thing with the XT. It seems to place much more importance on getting you back to the route than getting you to the next route point. As well as preferring main roads rather than calculating the fastest route, and the rather hit and miss behaviour of closest entry point.

I've reported them all, but nothing has changed yet. It needs more of us to speak up, I think.

[Peobody]

I haven't yet mentioned that I heard back from the product support folks that I emailed to. They claim that they don't have any reports of the problems I described. I included the URL to this discussion in a reply. That was 48 hours ago. No response since. It is the weekend so I may not hear back from them until tomorrow.

[Fxwheels]

• It popped up the 'Off Route' notice at least a half dozen times while I was on the route.

I remember this happened to me ones.

[Apox]

I haven't yet mentioned that I heard back from the product support folks that I emailed to. They claim that they don't have any reports of the problems I described. I included the URL to this discussion in a reply. That was 48 hours ago. No response since. It is the weekend so I may not hear back from them until tomorrow.

"Typical response time is around 3-5 business days. We are closed weekends and holidays.
For faster response time, please use our chat or phone options."


Yes something is really badly wrong with routing. At least these are problems with routing.

- Rerouting does not agree at all to calculate a new route but
constantly wants to go back to the old route. It counts but results always a return to the old route.

- At least the fastest routing from location to destination without anything self-made route. Many times the device calculates really weird routes and
doesn’t really the fastest options.

- Many times when the device calculates a new route and tries to return to the old route, a message is displayed that no route can be found at all.
When you accept the notification the entire navigation stops. There have always been routes available in these places and older Garmin devices have
never had a problem with this.

-'Off Route 'notice while on the route

Does anyone know if these routing problems have appeared with any firmware version or if these have been around since the beginning?

[Scottnet]

I have more than 10 ongoing support issues related to routing. If they say they don't have any reports they are either lying or just more useless than expected.

I asked them 2 questions
1. Is anyone doing any ongoing development?
2. Has there been any acknowledgement of routing issues.

Not surprising I have not had a reply. But I suspect there will be no big fixes or changes comming.

[Peobody]

-'Off Route 'notice while on the route

I forgot to mention that I have experienced a lot of 'Off Route' notices while on the route. I don't know whether that is the XT or the map though. I know that a map update is available but it will have to wait until I finish my current trip.

Does anyone know if these routing problems have appeared with any firmware version or if these have been around since the beginning?

I am new to this GPS thing and the XT is my first. I did a 4000 mile trip with it shortly after I got it and did not experience any issues. My first routing problem occurred on the first ride following the 6.50 firmware update. I want to try reverting to 6.40 but it will be weeks before I can take that on.

One thing new that happened to me twice today was an alert that a road in the route was closed up ahead and the automatic calculation of a new route. I had never experienced this. Is it normal? As we know, when it recalcs it doesn't just create a detour around the closed road, it recalculates the entire remainder of the route. Those recalcs were reasonable, although slightly different from the original beyond the detour. Having the track on the map came in handy once again.

[Fxwheels]

One thing new that happened to me twice today was an alert that a road in the route was closed up ahead and the automatic calculation of a new route. I had never experienced this. Is it normal? As we know, when it recalcs it doesn't just create a detour around the closed road, it recalculates the entire remainder of the route. Those recalcs were reasonable, although slightly different from the original beyond the detour. Having the track on the map came in handy once again.

That should be right, however, it still has to stick to your shaping points after the detour. (Providing it's smart enough to know where it ends).
Yes, the track is your friend.

[jfheath]

I have split off the issue relating to track and routes showing on the same screen to here .

viewtopic.php?t=1854

I thought it deserved a separate thread from the original topic of this one.