So, who trusts their XT's navigation?

[TripleThreat719]

It seems like there should be three choices if you combined the way they seem to work and the way we'd like them to work...

Shortest Distance (Fewest miles traveled between start and end regardless of time)
Shortest Time (Choosing the combination of roads that creates the quickest ETA)
Faster Speeds (Choosing the combinations of roads that results in the highest average speed for the trip, regardless of ETA)

Faster Time seems to operate like Faster Speeds (as described above). Although most would equate faster time to quickest ETA, I would think... Not the roads with the highest speed limits.

[ray6576]

I trust my XT more than my built in one on my Harley.

[colirv]

To answer the original question - "I do". It seems rock solid to me.

I have recalculation set to "off", as any route can be reloaded from the SD card, its track can be made visible, I can zoom in and out when necessary and I can temporarily stop the route to navigate to the next waypoint. So I've never had to recalculate, which it seems has saved me from any XT hassle!

[rbentnail]

I think that the "faster" means, use the fastest roads wherever possible even if it doesn't mean the shortest time to do the route

I think this too. I've seen it several times.

[V-Tom]

I've ridden from Southern Ontario, Canada to Key West USA with several planned stops along the road and Southern Ontario to Alaska with planned stops. Southern Ontario to Vancouver island plus other trips and my daily commute.

My Navigation works just fine.

Very happy with the navigation on my XT!

..Tom

[lkraus]

I trust the XT to follow routes I create in Basecamp.

I have to give routes created (or recalculated) on the XT a lot of scrutiny.

There have been too many times that the XT picked routes that were neither faster nor shorter. Sometimes it has taken me miles out of the way, routing through towns with lots of traffic, low speed limits, and multiple stop signs/lights when there were shorter rural highways available that would bypass the town completely. The traffic info is also suspect, showing roads and intersections as closed when they are not.

The XT will always get me where I want to go, but I may not like the way it does it.

[Oop North John]

So after the weekend's ride when the XT is doing it's usual stupid fastest roads messing about with routes it created, the 590 is now back on the bike, and the XT will be used on car journeys that are mostly motorways. Maybe Garmin will sort this out, but I suspect not as they seem to have thier hands full with the XT2.

Granted the screen won't be as bright, the Smartphone link is a little intermittent, but at least the navigation device will be doing logical routing.

[rbentnail]

I'm kind of in the same frame of mind as yoose guys. The XT is a little quirky, especially with the recalculating. Otherwise, yeah I trust it. But my workaround is not to modify an active route. I'm better off making a stop and doing a quick route creation on the XT.

Now, this is going to come across wrong, I know it is, so please don't take it that way. It's just an observation/opinion and it's worth double what you paid for it------- Over time I've noticed the more "involved" a person is with the device- file names, file order, file placement, exactness of any detail whatsoever, tracks, speed, Bluetooth, etc., etc.- the more likely he/she/it is to be unhappy with it. I'm a basic route person- I make a route, I put it on the card, I import it and I ride it. I delete it, I delete it and D.U.N. done. I barely use Bluetooth at all. No comm system, rarely any audio instructions and alerts. Basically for me it's a lighted map. My nuvi780 was fantastic, my 595 is pretty good. The XT is just ok.

I still believe, I've said it many times- the more a device does, the less it does well. The nuvi had no extra anything, just maps. Worked great, very intuitive. The 595 not so much as the bloat began. The XT is so bloated with (for me) useless BS that it seems sometimes it can't find its way out of my driveway.

I recently took a 1600+ mile trip using my XT exclusively. 2 problems occurred that had nothing to do with routes, I'll describe them in a minute. The XT performed flawlessly- no route fix applied, routes exactly as I planned, no RUT, nothing. All routes planned with Base Camp and some things I've learned here applied, that's all. Prompted recalculation which most often was denied. Took a year but I finally figured out using a track so no need for recalculating. Leaving and rejoining the route was seamless. No closure reroutes. I even used the Taotronics Bluetooth receiver I bought to hear turn instructions. Flawless but thankfully I'm not an audiophile.

The 2 problems- twice the XT rebooted while riding. The route was still active. I'm thinking clean the pins and pickups and a little grease. The other time the audio was stuck. It kept repeating "road" over and over, very fast. I had to stop the route then restart to clear it out. I have no idea what's up with that.

Overall I'd say I've become much more comfortable with the XT's quirks.

[colirv]

Took a year but I finally figured out using a track so no need for recalculating. Leaving and rejoining the route was seamless.

I think this is key. I never have a problem with XT navigation because I never recalculate routes. I work my own way round problems.

[Rofor]

As you said - only a few things to make for a stressless ride:

Set the starting point a few meters in front of your starting position when planning a route + turn off 'traffic information' + turn off 'automatic/prompted recalculation' and if you must take a detour just go 'on sight' back to the pre-planned route = no problems at all!