Colorado and Street Routing

[+2scooters]

Searched but didn't find answers.

 

I like to bike(Scooter) and casually cache, road navigation is key for me, before I buy a Colorado hopefully someone can answer a question or two:

 

1. Reviews talk about topo and bluechart maps but not City Navigator. Can this be loaded? (Garmin looks to say it is possible)

2. What do gravel roads display as? My 60C shows them as Dots which is perfect, my Streetpilot shows them as a lighter color which sucks. I hope they show as dots?

3. Are there audible prompts? I imagine just the shrieking like the 60C, is the volume comparable?

 

Any negatives with road navigation on the Colorado you have found?

 

Thanks for all the help!

[Baumer]

1) Yes City Nav NT can be loaded

 

2) In automotive mode, the Colorado display mimics a Nuvi.

 

 

It distinguishes major and minor roads, but not gravel and hard surface to my knowledge

 

3) yes, it beeps

Edited March 8, 2008 by Baumer

[+2scooters]

Thanks for the fast reply!

 

My Streetpilot C530 shows like the Nuvi and shows cravel in a slight discoloration, which isn't a huge deal as long as there is still a routing option to avoid them.

 

Can anyone confirm?

 

Thx!

[Baumer]

Yes, you can avoid u-turns, toll roads, highways, unpaved roads, or car pool lanes

[FGS-D187]

The option "avoid highways" doesn't work at all here on european roads (City Navigator 8). This behaviour is independant from the length of the route. I would appreciate, if someone could double-check this on Garmin US-Streetmaps.

 

Thanks

Stefan

[+g-o-cashers]

Avoid highways seems to be broken with City Nav NT 2008 North America as well. I'll add it to the list but it would be good for you to send this directly to Garmin as well.

 

GO$Rs

[Baumer]

definitely not working, I checked perhaps to see if it was "avoid interstate highways", it's not

[FGS-D187]

Avoid highways seems to be broken with City Nav NT 2008 North America as well. I'll add it to the list but it would be good for you to send this directly to Garmin as well.

 

GO$Rs

definitely not working, I checked perhaps to see if it was "avoid interstate highways", it's not

Ok, thank you for the feedback. Regarding the european, especially the german Motorways/Highways, I sent the following e-mail to: support at garmin dot com. Because my english isn't the best, I hope that they understand what I mean:

 

"Dear ladies and gentlemen,

 

I am owner of a eTrex Vista b/w, a 60CSx and since this week I am using the Colorado 300.

The 60CSx is a good unit, that I use for outdoor and street navigation on a moto-bike with City Navigator 8 Europe.

 

As a moto-biker I try to avoid highways. Instead of straight highways I am looking for winding streets with a lot of curves.

 

The 60CSx has an routing option to avoid highways. On european streets this will result in avoiding highways (Bundesstrassen) and also motorways (Autobahnen) at the same time.

 

Bundesstrassen:

- Speed Limit: about 62 miles/hour

- normally single-lane, sometimes 2 lanes per direction

 

Autobahnen:

- Speed Limit: normally no speed limit at germany, but about 75 miles/hour in most european countries

- minimum 2 lanes, maximum 4 lanes for each direction

 

In areas with a lot of highways and motorways, "avoid highways" will result in chaotic routes on the 60CSx. This means that a tour to a city that is about 10 miles away will result in a route that is about 80 miles long, because the 60CSx avoids all highways and motorways. When the destination city is more than about 160 miles away, the 60CSx uses the motorways anyway.

 

With the last firmware update of the Zumo and BMW Navigator III plus, it is now possible to really avoid only motorways (highways will not be avoided at the same time -> correct). Therefore, I was confident that the new Colorado would have this new routing engine also.

 

What I observed is, that the Colorado doesn't avoid highways and/or motorways even though it is checked in the routing options (Firmware 2.40).

 

My hope is now that with one of the next firmware updates, the Colorado will be able to avoid motorways and/or highways separately and also for routes that are longer than about 160 miles. I would appreciate to receive a short message regarding this issue.

 

Here at Europe, the "avoid highway"-option is a heavy discussed issue.

 

With best regards from Germany

 

Stefan ...."

 

Stefan

[+RRLover]

Avoid highways seems to be broken with City Nav NT 2008 North America as well. I'll add it to the list but it would be good for you to send this directly to Garmin as well.

 

GO$Rs

definitely not working, I checked perhaps to see if it was "avoid interstate highways", it's not

Ok, thank you for the feedback. Regarding the european, especially the german Motorways/Highways, I sent the following e-mail to: support at garmin dot com. Because my english isn't the best, I hope that they understand what I mean:

 

"Dear ladies and gentlemen,

 

I am owner of a eTrex Vista b/w, a 60CSx and since this week I am using the Colorado 300.

The 60CSx is a good unit, that I use for outdoor and street navigation on a moto-bike with City Navigator 8 Europe.

 

As a moto-biker I try to avoid highways. Instead of straight highways I am looking for winding streets with a lot of curves.

 

The 60CSx has an routing option to avoid highways. On european streets this will result in avoiding highways (Bundesstrassen) and also motorways (Autobahnen) at the same time.

 

Bundesstrassen:

- Speed Limit: about 62 miles/hour

- normally single-lane, sometimes 2 lanes per direction

 

Autobahnen:

- Speed Limit: normally no speed limit at germany, but about 75 miles/hour in most european countries

- minimum 2 lanes, maximum 4 lanes for each direction

 

In areas with a lot of highways and motorways, "avoid highways" will result in chaotic routes on the 60CSx. This means that a tour to a city that is about 10 miles away will result in a route that is about 80 miles long, because the 60CSx avoids all highways and motorways. When the destination city is more than about 160 miles away, the 60CSx uses the motorways anyway.

 

With the last firmware update of the Zumo and BMW Navigator III plus, it is now possible to really avoid only motorways (highways will not be avoided at the same time -> correct). Therefore, I was confident that the new Colorado would have this new routing engine also.

 

What I observed is, that the Colorado doesn't avoid highways and/or motorways even though it is checked in the routing options (Firmware 2.40).

 

My hope is now that with one of the next firmware updates, the Colorado will be able to avoid motorways and/or highways separately and also for routes that are longer than about 160 miles. I would appreciate to receive a short message regarding this issue.

 

Here at Europe, the "avoid highway"-option is a heavy discussed issue.

 

With best regards from Germany

 

Stefan ...."

 

Stefan

Nice job, and better punctuation than many people w/english as their primary language.

 

Norm

[+2scooters]

A Quick Note. I just got my Garmin and with North America Maps it does show gravel roads as dots, and very accurately also (at least in Ontario)

[+apersson850]

Garmin are addressing this issue now, but it has not made it into the Colorodo, or any other unit, where road navigation is more like a secondary thing.

As I'm writing I now got a bit uncertain, but I think it is the Zumo that has got two different levels of highways to avoid.

In Sweden, it would be motorvägar/riksvägar separately. In Germany Autobahnen/Bundesstrassen.

[FGS-D187]

Garmin are addressing this issue now, but it has not made it into the Colorodo, or any other unit, where road navigation is more like a secondary thing.

As I'm writing I now got a bit uncertain, but I think it is the Zumo that has got two different levels of highways to avoid.

In Sweden, it would be motorvägar/riksvägar separately. In Germany Autobahnen/Bundesstrassen.

Anders,

 

you are right. It is the Zumo and the very close unit BMW Navigator III+ that has got the possibility to avoid Autobahnen and Bundesstrassen separately. It was a big issue in Europe, especially germany, because the Zumo is made for motobike-usage (see the thread here. It is german, but the amount of postings -441- says it all). Therefore, this unit must have the possibility to avoid Autobahnen. On the other hand side, there is really no need to avoid Bundesstrassen at the same time. These are totally different types of roads here.

Now Garmin knows how to handle Autobahnen and Bundesstrassen and I hope that they implement the avoid Autobahnen feature as soon as possible.

 

Stefan

[FGS-D187]

Maybe a further point for the issue list, if not already posted:

 

The Colorado always does an automatic recalculation of the route when one is off route. There should be an option implemented like:

OFF Route Recalculation -> OFF/Automatic or Prompted

 

Just an idea regarding the fantastic issue list. Maybe it is possible to make further sub categories. For example:

 

- Must fix (P2)

 

- Tracks (Sub1)

...

...

 

- Routing -> Street (Sub2)

...

...

 

- Waypoints (Sub3)

...

...

 

and so on.

 

Thanks

 

Stefan

[+g-o-cashers]

The issue of prompted navigation mode is covered in the list:

 

1/31/08: Under Setup->Routing there should be a Guidance Method called Prompted which prompts the user how they want to get to the destination they've selected (off road, on-road-distance,on-road-time). 60cs supported this feature. Workaround: Setup different profiles, but the number of key presses is very cumbersome for what used to take 2-3 presses (2.4)

 

I agree with your organizational comment -- its very difficult to find what you are looking for in the Issues List although the search function works pretty well. At some point I would like to reorganize the list by function (probably the same categories I have in the FAQ so I can easily cross reference the issues in the FAQ).

 

GO$Rs

[+Red90]

The issue of prompted navigation mode is covered in the list:

 

1/31/08: Under Setup->Routing there should be a Guidance Method called Prompted which prompts the user how they want to get to the destination they've selected (off road, on-road-distance,on-road-time). 60cs supported this feature. Workaround: Setup different profiles, but the number of key presses is very cumbersome for what used to take 2-3 presses (2.4)

 

Actually, he is talking about a different thing. He is talking about what happens when you are off the route. Whether or not it automatically recalculates or not.

[FGS-D187]

The issue of prompted navigation mode is covered in the list:

 

1/31/08: Under Setup->Routing there should be a Guidance Method called Prompted which prompts the user how they want to get to the destination they've selected (off road, on-road-distance,on-road-time). 60cs supported this feature. Workaround: Setup different profiles, but the number of key presses is very cumbersome for what used to take 2-3 presses (2.4)

First of all, thank you for your response. The above mentioned issue is not exactly that what I mean. What I have in mind is the option to avoid the recalculation of the original-route when I leave the route.

 

I agree with your organizational comment -- its very difficult to find what you are looking for in the Issues List although the search function works pretty well.

In particular when someones native language isn't english.

 

At some point I would like to reorganize the list by function (probably the same categories I have in the FAQ so I can easily cross reference the issues in the FAQ).

I absolutely would appreciate this. The FAQ are already nice organized. Thank you for working out this issue list and FAQ. In addition, I hope that you don't get my comment as bad criticism.

 

Stefan