Dadof5 Posted July 8, 2018 Report Share Posted July 8, 2018 Drove our new Journey to Florida. I know the route like the back of my hand but since it has nav we tried it out, On the first day I put in the address of the hotel for the night. On the second day, our Florida address. I came to the conclusion it can't be trusted. After crossing the border at Buffalo and getting on the 190, it said to take the first exit off, presumably into downtown Buffalo. I knew that was wrong so I ignored it. In Cincinnati, it said once "take I75 north". I didn't. I even checked the dashcam later and it did indeed say north. On I75 going through Atlanta, it said to exit into downtown Atlanta, and go to state road 41. I think it confused FL Hwy 41, which is near our destination. A couple of times it gave directions that weren't wrong, but not the shortest or most logical route. I also got confused at times when we were getting back on the highway after a gas stop. The nav system is by Garmin, which is an industry leader, but you would think the bugs would have been worked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summer Solstice Posted July 8, 2018 Report Share Posted July 8, 2018 Dadof5, I will confirm that I have the exact same impression. I have a 2016 RT. I have had the maps updated while having the vehicle in for unrelated service. I have tried the nav out on multiple occasions alongside Google Maps on my smart phone. On almost every occasion, there is at least one error or illogical route suggestion. I have had the Garmin application send me on a route to take a freeway that was no longer there as it was under long-term construction and had been entirely removed. On just my daily route, the Garmin wants me to go miles out of the way when I am already on the shortest, most direct route from work to home. It will continue to want me to back track miles in reverse until I am within 1 mile of home. These are just a few of many examples that I have run across. I like the map option but I would not recommend someone put out the extra cash just for navigation. I find Google Maps much more reliable. I have a 2000 mile trip coming up later this summer. I know the route well but am planning to place a mount for the smart phone and run it alongside the built-in system just as a test for curiosity. I do know that if I had relied on just the Garmin feature, I would have become lost or wasted time on numerous occasions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramfrank Posted July 8, 2018 Report Share Posted July 8, 2018 Check your navigation preferences and your avoidance settings. Fastest route is the best option. Note that if you have traffic service (which is free for 5 years in the US) it must be enabled and depending on what the traffic and construction is like you might see what you believe to be 'nonsense' directions; but they *may* be trying to route you around an issue. If you choose 'shortest distance' you will see stupidity like being told to get off the freeway and go through town . . because it IS shorter. As you wrote, Garmin is the big player and usually the issues you experience can be attributed to unreasonable expectations for the settings you've selected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadof5 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 It doesn't help that I discovered the night before we left the owner's manual has nothing on the nav system (doesn't even appear in the index). Turns out there is a separate manual on the nav system but we didn't get it. I downloaded a copy but that's no use when you are driving. I was set on fastest route but we don't have traffic service. Tried to set it up but it said not authorized or available or something. Looking at the map afterwards, the detours it tried to send me on were longer distance, and no way could they be faster (e.g. 6 am on a Saturday). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramfrank Posted July 10, 2018 Report Share Posted July 10, 2018 As a Canadian, if you want the traffic service you'll need to subscribe to it. Call SiriusXM and have your credit card and radio serial number handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinbill Posted July 11, 2018 Report Share Posted July 11, 2018 Dadof5, I can sympathize with your experience on Garmin's instructions. On our '13 R/T with NAV, SIriusXm, etc., the map data was reasonably accurate until about mid-2016. We started getting nag messages about map updates and finally updated them to 2016 FCA Group - North American Map for Uconnect 8.4N (RB5 MY 13-15) in March, 2017. It was a convoluted process to get the update and no one was more surprised than me to learn that it was actually shipped on a USB in a large, wasteful clamshell box, at a cost of almost $250 CAD. So the update on our system went without problems but we noticed that entire sections of our city (Winnipeg, Manitoba) were missing from the maps. Further, Highway 17 in Northwestern Ontario was labelled as an 'unimproved road.' There were also missing roads, streets and subdivisions of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where we travelled earlier this year, and highway speeds were woefully out-of-date (i.e. the red speed warning on the NAV screen). Obviously, something was wrong. I contacted Garmin which was not much help; they just blamed Here, a map fulfillment company, for the problem and the high cost of the 2016 map upgrade. FCA Chrysler was completely useless. Garmin did, at least , offer to pass the erroneous map data information to Here. Wow. So, we decided to once again check for updates and this time we ordered the 2018 update for our Journey. So, more cost and delay to get what we hope will be a proper map update. My spouse is a Marriage Commissioner and I issue Marriage Licences so we are frequently on the move to wedding venues, residences of licence applicants, jewellery stores, florists, etc.; we are finding that the NAV system is very helpful when it works, however the aforementioned problems with the 2016 so-called update, have left us resorting to Google Maps or Waze to locate our destinations. We plan to sell/trade in our Journey in 2020 and we are really looking at just not getting a NAV system unless we can find a factory system made by another manufacturer. The other alternative would be to buy a Magellan or Tom Tom standalone unit which we understand come with lifetime map updates. $400 USD over 18 months is ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhareFred Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 I have a portable Garmin Nuvi that I get free updates 4x a year as well as Lifetime traffic updates. Think I paid about $150 5-6 years ago. Nav is spot on, maps are 99% accurate, so it’s not a Garmin problem, it’s a UConnect/FCA/3rd party vendor problem. Your most current update you received is generally 18 months behind, which makes NO SENSE because Garmin updates their maps quarterly. Go figure.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadof5 Posted July 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 5 hours ago, OhareFred said: I have a portable Garmin Nuvi that I get free updates 4x a year as well as Lifetime traffic updates. Think I paid about $150 5-6 years ago. Nav is spot on, maps are 99% accurate, so it’s not a Garmin problem, it’s a UConnect/FCA/3rd party vendor problem. Your most current update you received is generally 18 months behind, which makes NO SENSE because Garmin updates their maps quarterly. Go figure.... I don't know how it could be a map update or Uconnect problem. The highways in question have been there for decades. Uconnect is just the interface with the Garmin nav. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armando G Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 Remember the good ole days? This is up to date, and as long as you have a co-pilot that can read road signs, you're all good. 2late4u and jkeaton 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2late4u Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 20 hours ago, OhareFred said: I have a portable Garmin Nuvi that I get free updates 4x a year as well as Lifetime traffic updates. Think I paid about $150 5-6 years ago. Nav is spot on, maps are 99% accurate, so it’s not a Garmin problem, it’s a UConnect/FCA/3rd party vendor problem. Your most current update you received is generally 18 months behind, which makes NO SENSE because Garmin updates their maps quarterly. Go figure.... i have a NewGarmin portable also that has been updated and i have learned not to always trust it 100 % as it has tried to take me the long way to go somewhere that i already knew the way to and has at times had me going around in circles, so its not the journey fault. even my old Garmin had tried to give me a runaround at times also,,, at least the new one doesn't say recalculating all the time when i dont listen to her..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmoore1436 Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 On 7/8/2018 at 9:13 AM, Dadof5 said: Drove our new Journey to Florida. I know the route like the back of my hand but since it has nav we tried it out, On the first day I put in the address of the hotel for the night. On the second day, our Florida address. I came to the conclusion it can't be trusted. After crossing the border at Buffalo and getting on the 190, it said to take the first exit off, presumably into downtown Buffalo. I knew that was wrong so I ignored it. In Cincinnati, it said once "take I75 north". I didn't. I even checked the dashcam later and it did indeed say north. On I75 going through Atlanta, it said to exit into downtown Atlanta, and go to state road 41. I think it confused FL Hwy 41, which is near our destination. A couple of times it gave directions that weren't wrong, but not the shortest or most logical route. I also got confused at times when we were getting back on the highway after a gas stop. The nav system is by Garmin, which is an industry leader, but you would think the bugs would have been worked out. Yeah, do you have the sirius traffic? I find that if I should be on a highway and there is some traffic it will send me down roads that don't have traffic, but have quite a few traffic lights that slow me down. Other than those instances I haven't had any issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadof5 Posted July 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2018 On 7/13/2018 at 1:43 PM, lmoore1436 said: Yeah, do you have the sirius traffic? I find that if I should be on a highway and there is some traffic it will send me down roads that don't have traffic, but have quite a few traffic lights that slow me down. Other than those instances I haven't had any issues. No, I don't have Sirius traffic. Even so, the times it tried to send me off the highway were early morning on a weekend, and there was no traffic on the highway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadof5 Posted July 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2018 On 7/12/2018 at 9:31 PM, Armando G said: Remember the good ole days? This is up to date, and as long as you have a co-pilot that can read road signs, you're all good. LOL, we had an old AAA Trip-tik with us that was maybe more useful than the nav. Armando G and 2late4u 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summer Solstice Posted September 15, 2018 Report Share Posted September 15, 2018 (edited) On 7/8/2018 at 11:40 AM, Summer Solstice said: Dadof5, I have a 2000 mile trip coming up later this summer. I know the route well but am planning to place a mount for the smart phone and run it alongside the built-in system just as a test for curiosity. The trip is done and over. I drove 650 miles from Detroit to Western Tennessee, a few hundred miles around the area, and then back to Detroit. Most of the trip was well established major freeway. The Nav did a pretty good job on direction there and back. Only once, in each direction, did it steer me wrong. On the way down, it directed me to the right rather to the left. Though I thought it wrong, I did it anyway. 8 miles down the freeway, I was directed to off-ramp, overpass, and on-ramp. Retrace the 8 miles and then back on track. Oops! That one may be on me; I am not 100% positive. However, on the way back north, the Nav was clearly wrong at the right or left direction. I ignored it this time and all was well in a few minutes. In the local area, it did pretty good getting me around the countryside. While traveling some obscure, un-named roads, the Nav placed me as still being in a different location on a main road. Google Maps, on the other hand, showed the road I was on with the label "un-named road. At least I would have found my way home this way. The failure point was in the posted speed limits shown on the screen. These were off enough times by 10 or more MPH to be a concern and unreliable. A nice feature, but enough to get you a ticket if that was your sole source of information. The lack of accurate speed information was enough that I would give the overall system a B or B-. Nice feature but needs improvement. It still directs me wrong in the home town. Quote Edited September 15, 2018 by Summer Solstice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
14WhiteRTRallye Posted September 16, 2018 Report Share Posted September 16, 2018 Summer Solstice and jkeaton 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.