LOST on route

[Pockets]

Hi. Sorry guys need your help again, decided to create a round route from my home address back to my home, put in all the locations and checking them on the screen, satnav then showed me the route, the mileage the time it would take, perfect, so i thought. The route took me from my home down the street and should turn left, but no, the satnav wants to turn right (what), so decided to ignore it and continue on the route, from then on it never gave me another instruction all day. I stuck to the correct route all day, I even stopped and looked at the route on the screen and I was on the correct route on the screen, within 100yds it was telling me to take a totally different route to the one I should be on. It was a complete waste of time, continuously telling me to do u turns, left turns, right turns that were taking me in totally the wrong direction. I’ve lost all faith in this unit, please convince me its worth keeping before it goes in the bin!!

[Pockets]

OK, So now I’ve had a look a my problem, and to me it appears if I don’t stick exactly to the pre planned route it try’s to go back to the start? because I decided to turn in opposite direction to the route (my first turn in my street) the satnav could not just reroute and catch up, it totally lost it and tried to go back to the start(crazy) if this is the case how in future can I get round the difference of opinion and get the satnav back on course.

[yorky]

I may be totally wrong here, and I'm sure someone with far more knowledge will jump in if I am, but I would hazard a guess that the problem lies within the fact that you started and ended at the same location. Basically the route is finished as soon as it starts.
Try seperating your start / finish point. Doesn't need to be much, try setting your finish point half a mile before you get home.
I trust you won't get lost that close to home

[Pockets]

Ya know Yorky you may be onto something there, I never thought of that one, you do realise I may have to go out again tomorrow just to try out your theory, do you think thats a good enough excuse?

[sussamb]

I may be totally wrong here, and I'm sure someone with far more knowledge will jump in if I am, but I would hazard a guess that the problem lies within the fact that you started and ended at the same location. Basically the route is finished as soon as it starts.
Try seperating your start / finish point. Doesn't need to be much, try setting your finish point half a mile before you get home.
I trust you won't get lost that close to home

100%

[Fallguy67]

Yes, I would try making the end point just a little bit away from your home and see if that works.

[Pockets]

OK, Thanks for the replies, I shall be trying it out sometime this week, it does sound a logical answer to the problem I will report back and let you all know..

[MSTOCK27370]

Pockets - When I leave my neighborhood to ride, I have to either turn North or South depending on what particular ride (route) I am taking. What I have done for my 450/550 is set my starting points at a spot on one road, one start to the north, one spot to the south. Again, depending on which route the start point just begins the route a quarter of mile in the direction that I would have to take at the beginning of the ride anyway. If I choose to, I can even start the ride and let the 450 give me directions to the starting point of the route. Don't have the start and end points at the same place. My end point on most of my routes is a gas stop and convenience store a mile from home, where we often stop to get coffee or chat anyway at the end of a ride. I can find my way to the house without more directions.

[Pockets]

OK Everyone one more question, if I’m on “MY” route and everything is going to plan but for what ever reason I deviate from the route will the 550 automatically re-route me back onto my route further down the road (not returning to were I left the route) I’ve got the feeling if I wonder off the pre-planed route the 550 would get confused and not be able to continue with the route.

[MSTOCK27370]

That simple question is really very complicated. First, one issue is whether or not you have auto recalculation turned on or off. Then the big issue is what kind of points did you use to create your route and do you have enough of them.

If you leave the planned route and DO NOT recalculate the route, then just ride back to the route magenta line - the 550 will see that you have rejoined the route and it will pick it up from where you are and it will keep going. HOWEVER, if you have a Waypoint in the route and you missed it, the 550 will try to navigate to the missed Waypoint.

You need to know the difference between Via points and Shaping points. You also have to understand that the 450/550 are much older tech and that newer devices handle these things better. When you plan a route for your 550, if you place routing points directly AT an intersection, the 550 will treat these as Shaping points. They will be used to guide the original route, they will not be displayed or announced by the GPS and IF you recalculate the route, they will disappear and be ignored. The route will completely change shape and the roads selected will change.

If you place routing points ON the road (I usually put them just after a turn), not at an intersection, the point will be treated as a Via Point. This point will be displayed on the GPS and it will be announced by the GPS. If you recalculate the route, all of the Via points will be included in the recalc.

Consider this example. You plan a route in the shape of a big U. The route goes South, then East, and then North. If the route was planned with JUST shaping points - remember that the Start and the End are always Via Points (or they could be Way Points), when you recalculate this route the 550 will change this to a route that goes directly EAST from the start to the end, ignoring all the shaping points that made the U.
If the route was made of Via Points, and you used enough of them, when you recalculate the route, it will maintain the entire U shape route. I used to have my routes built entirely with shaping points, and I had Recalculation turned OFF. I have since, changed my routes to be planned with VIA Points, just after the corners, and I have recalculation set to Prompted.

Sorry for the LONG RESPONSE. So, if you left YOUR route and you had recalc turned on or prompted, then whenever the route was recalculated, the 550 would give you directions to whatever VIA Point was the next Via Point when you left the route. You could hit the detour option and the GPS will start skipping roads, and maybe via points - I'm not certain about that. EDIT: I rode a route today with my 450 and purposely took an alternate street. I traveled a couple of miles before I pressed the YES button to recalculate the route. It directed me back to the planned route at the closest point, not back to where I skipped my planned turn.