I can't believe the leader in GPS devices (Garmin) can't get the ROUTE OPTIMAZATION feature correct. I just purchased a nuvi 750 to replace my Magellan 4050 and am very disappointed. I am a REALTOR and use the optimazation feature weekly and dont understand why I need to select a start point for this to work, why it wont tell me the time to my first destination. Lets say I have two appointments during the day. My first appointment is at one location and my second appointment is showing 5 homes.
At home I load all my showings into the computer then optimize them in order so I am not criss crossing all over town. In order to optimize it needs a start point but I dont know the location I will be at when I decide to start my route so I cant optimize until I get to a location and hit "where am I" then save it then recall it as my start point then when I get home I have to delete that start point. CRAZY!!! The Magellan gets it right I only hope the programmers at Garmin send out a fix soon.
Confusion. . . Why wouldn't you just either start from your home or office?
Or if you wish, just use the first stop of the day as your start. You don't need to optimize this on your computer. Smarter still is add your available home showings as favorites, call them up as you need them and optimize on the spot. Perhaps I'm just not understanding the problem. The Magellan doesn't have a starting point? Also not sure Magellan is truly optimizing rather than sorting. I'm sure one of the Magellan guys can chime in.
Neither does the TomTom... it simply asks for the destinations and when you load the Itinerary into the route it creates a route from wherever you are to the first destination/waypoint.
Let me try to explain better. My major complaint is setting a start point when I am away from home or office. My Magellan will calulate/optimize any route from my current location (wherever my location), and give me a time to each destination. With my 750, If I am finishing up an appointment and want to add a route I need to hit "where am I" save that location, pull up that location, then use that as my start point. When I arrive home or the office I then need to delete that last "where am I" location or I will have numerous "where am I" locations in my favorites.
The 750 can calculate my way "HOME" from any location in the United States without a start point. I don't understand why Garmin makes me pick a start point for a trip rather than use my current location.
I am also a little confused with the term optimize or sort. I believe the two terms are the same. Don't they BOTH put your destinations in the closest order to your start point so your not "criss crossing" all over town when you have set up a route?
No. Sorting simply organizes your stops (usually) in order from closest to farthest away. It kinda does half the job. Optimizing goes a step farther and computes drive times and miles between points in several different combinations, ordering and reordering them until the most efficient route is computed, whether by shortest drive time or shortest total miles. I'm not sure that any of the Magellans optimize, tho they may call it that.
I also understand your issue now. I've never had to create and optimize a route from anywhere but my office or home, so I hadn't paid attention that I don't have the initial choice of "where I am now". Browse map may help in setting a new start point, but other than that, I can see where not having the option of starting from current location is causing you some extra steps. If anyone has some "inside contact" with Garmin, that option would be an excellent addition to an otherwise very good optimization feature.
also it would be a great feature during the route to show me the time to my destination then once i reach that destination recalulate the time to my next destination like the Magellan. Also would it be so hard to give me a compass direction on the screen when i am in a route. Alot of times people will say "when you get to the building meet me on the south side of the building". When I am in a route i dont see a compass direction.. I need to be in the map view screen to get a compass direction.
I imagine every courier/delivery professional, REALTOR would find the time to next destination and a compass feature very helpful
I just went thru some options. If you set up your route for only the stops you plan, with the first stop (home to show) being your "start", then begin navigation from somewhere other than what you indicated, the 760 will ask if you want to navigate to the beginning of the route. It doesn't matter where you are. It will take you to the first stop, then begin your route from there. I would think that would solve that part of the problem, would it not?
The compass is quickly accessed by tapping the arrival time display.
Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Here, there, and everywhere
Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:12 pm
So that's what "navigate to the beginning of route" means! I've only seen it come up once or twice, and I've always tapped "No" because I thought it was asking if I wanted to reverse the route. To the best of my ability to search for it, the phrase isn't documented anywhere.
There's a lot that's missing from the documentation, in fact, but that's for another thread.
here is how my Magellan 4050 works..1. turn unit on 2. scroll to trip planner 3. select new route 4. name route 5. add addresses 6. push optimize or calculate route and your off and running, no start points or end points required no looking at the useless map with the flags on it that tells me nothing. I believe Garmin to be the leader in Automotive GPS but they really have taken a nap when it came to rolling out the route optimazation. With Garmin being one of the last GPS units to include that feature one would think they would of came out with something spectacular instead of this half hearted attempt. Oh, by the way my Magellan tells me the time to each destination on the screen. When I reach one destination it asks to proceed to next destination, I hit yes and it will show the time to that next destination in the lower left of the screen....VERY USEFUL and more logical than showing me the time to my last destination
Garmin's optimization works exactly the same way. Enter all your stops, hit optimize and let the nuvi tell how to get to the first one from wherever you are. Your Magellan tells you how to get to the first one from anywhere, correct? BTW, have you compared the estimated travel time on the nuvi optimized route to the Magellan one to see if there is any difference?
Your comment about Garmin being one of the last to offer optimization really threw me. They are, in fact, one of the few that actually does optimize the route. Several sort (as I believe the Magellan does), few truly optimize. I may be corrected by someone as to whether your Magellan is doing this, but I haven't ever seen it mentioned.
Gator...on the Garmin you NEED to add a start route first or it has no way to optimize/sort. I think maybe your drinking a little of the Garmin Kool-Aid, no matter what you call it optimize or sort, you want it to bring you to the closest destination to your current position, then the next closest and so on and so forth. Call it what you like the end game is still the same, do you want it to take you to the destinations the way you entered them or optimize/sort from your current position.
Magellan and TomTom had this feature over a year ago and this is relatively new to Garmin. Both Magellan and TomTom you do not need to enter a start point, it will optimize/sort from wherever you are in the United States
you want it to bring you to the closest destination to your current position, then the next closest and so on and so forth.
Actually, no, I don't want it to do that at all. I have six places I need to visit today. None of them are timed appointments, I just need to get there sometime today. I do not want to go in order of closest to furthest because that isn't always going to be the most efficient order to visit them. I want it to figure out which order creates the fastest route.
Masonic Man wrote:
Both Magellan and TomTom you do not need to enter a start point, it will optimize/sort from wherever you are in the United States
TomTom will not sort nor optimize the route for you-- you must do it yourself manually.
Masonic Man, If I'm correct, you're talking about this scenario (kinda).
You have an appointment with a client tomorrow to show 6 different homes. You don't know what time they'll be available yet, but you know what homes you want to show. They call you tomorrow while you're having coffee downtown and you tell them just to come there and meet you. Take out your nuvi, "Where to">route and pick the one you setup for them. Now Edit>add/remove points>browse map and touch your vehicle icon>Select. Now you have your starting point. then Next>Save>Go. You now have an efficient optimized route, likely better and saving you time and gas over what your Magellan can produce. Really takes no longer than your Magellan method, yet gives you better results as a rule. With the time you save, grab another client and tour him around.
Gator...you have it almost....let me explain..my client calls me at my office or home...gives me 5 address I need to show him tomorrow. I need the address optimized from closest to me to end at the fathest from me. I need to SEE that order because I have to call the listing company for all these homes to set a time to view each of these homes in chronological order.
I have to set a specific amount of time to arrive and view each property. So the order is very important. The setting the start point is kind of a hassle because if Iam not at home or office I need to save that location then start my route then when I arrive home I have to delete that location.
I don't understand why I need a start point as opposed to calculating from my current location. I can be anywhere in the USA and tap the "MY HOME" button and it will navigate me home....WITH NO START POINT other than my current location, why cant it make a route like that?????
If you use the method I posted, the browsed map "start" point is not saved anywhere but within the route. It's not a favorite or poi or anything else, thus nothing to delete but the route point when you set it up again, tho I suspect you just dump the entire route since it's probably unique to that customer. Using the nuvi, you can keep the order the same as well. It will just be a quicker computed trip than the Magellan used. Let it optimize, then call your homeowners, since the nuvi will give you the travel time from point to point, making it fairly simple to figure how much time to allow at each home and still stay on schedule. I don't think it's any more of a problem than doing this on your Magellan, with the added benefit of saving gas and time with a shorter and/or quicker trip. The nuvi does allow you to start from where you are, just like your Magellan. Either "navigate to beginning of route", which then won't include that portion in the optimized order, or tapping your car icon, making it the start of the route, and including that portion in the optimized order. Whichever suits you best. You just need to try it.
I thought I'd post some clarifications for at least what I was talking about. If done so with a map and a pop quiz here:
Route Optimization vs Route Sorting
(And no, this doesn't have much to do with the "starting location" vs "first destination" debate.)
Ok then does that leave me three options on the 750? Will it MANUALLY REORDER POINTS and OPTIMALLY REORDER POINTS and also take me to the routes in the order I input them and is that the default route method?
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
I've only seen it come up once or twice, and I've always tapped "No" because I thought it was asking if I wanted to reverse the route. To the best of my ability to search for it, the phrase isn't documented anywhere.
