Garmin not calculating best route, can I modify?

harpoonnoodle

Hi, I have a nuvi 1450 and 51lm, both current on maps. For many years, they take me on a confusing route to my destination in Madison. All other online maps show the fastest, most direct route, but Garmin takes me through the city by the university. I don’t have unlimited data on my phone, so I really need the garmin. What I’ve been doing is to put a waypoint at an intersection on the highway, but it doesn’t make for a smooth route - wants me to turn around the intersection because of split lanes. Typically I need to change the destination when I’m near, either after pulling over or on-the-fly. Is there any way to get the garmin to plot the fast route that’s not through the city? I’ve tried recalculating for speed and distance with no luck. Apple and google maps both calculate correctly - taking the highway and one exit, rather than half a dozen city streets. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you. (I can provide the address if that is helpful)

sussamb

Simplest way is for you to take the highway, then your device will recalculate :)

harpoonnoodle

;) I’m not from there and the interstate exchanges mess me up *recalculating* lol

I put a couple via points in for now. (Leaving tomorrow). The street off the highway is a split lane, so I grabbed a residential address for northbound and southbound for the routes to and from. Is that the best way?

*creaks rocking chair* I remember many years agowhen you could download from google maps. And candy was a nickel! LOL

privet01

There always seem to be certain cities the GPS takes me through instead of around. Others cities it will take me around when I would rather go through. Don't know why. Just one of the quirks.

Short of painstakingly setting up via's or waypoints all over the route ahead of time, you either do what you are told or go where you want to, even if you are not sure.

You'll never learn about the area you are driving through if you listen to your GPS all the time.

Ramaprem

I have a 3597, which gives me 1, 2, or 3 choices of routes. For certain types of trips, that suffices. I can see the routes in advance, and make a choice.
There are other types of trips (longish trips for which I want a "meandering" drive) for which I easily create "via"/waypoints. That works great for me - and is not a chore.

sussamb

As do most of the modern Garmin GPS, rarely use that feature though as for long trips I create routes in BaseCamp. On occasions though when creating routes on the device having a choice of 3 routes can be helpful :)

ozarkie

I NEVER rely on Garmin for directions or routes. I always go to Google maps, find out how to get to my destination and then use Garmin for intersections, turns, distances, ETA's, speed, etc.