As I am newly registered, excuse me if I am repeating covered issues.I bought a GO300 in May 2006, and have been traveling in a Motorhome every day since then. I have updated my software, and installed the latest
USA & Canadian maps. The 300 has been a blessing and a curse. I can not get any answers to these questions.
1. Why does TT not like left turns? 80% of the time it will route me to turn right and then tell me to turn around! 10% of the time it will tell me to pass through the intersection, turn around, and turn right. The other 10% will tell me to turn left! The only benefit of this idiocy is that I can be fairly certain that my destination is on my left when TT tells me to turn around. Is this the map maker's fault, or TT's?
2. I can understand TT's pois for restaurants and businesses being out of date, as things change rapidly, but sometimes it lists places that were demolished years ago, and fails to list places that have been there for years. Parks, campgrounds, tourist attractions, are just a few. How hard is it to include Yellowstone, the Arch at St Louis, or the Grand Canyon? Sure, they're big enough to see from a distance, but detailed turns and routes are why I bought TT.
3. How does TT program its routing? I will have the preferences set to fastest route, or shortest route (it doesn't matter which) and TT will tell me to get off of an interstate, take three side roads, and then direct me back to the interstate just one exit after I left it! (It happened again today on I-270 northbound by St. Louis, Mo.) It also can not tell the difference between a paved highway and a dirt road, apparently, as it will direct you down a dirt road that is so poor and narrow that the bushs scrape your car without any hesitation. Can't TT or Telestrator mark their maps differently for unpaved roads? My nephew's 300 led him down a dirt road right into a lake, one night. Luckily, he was able to stop before the front wheels got too far in! This use of unpaved roads has put us in some moderately dangerous positions. Even my wife has wanted to throw TT out the window after some of its routings. If TT can avoid toll roads in its routing options, it should be able to avoid unpaved ones, also. (It should also have an option for taking the scenic routes, but that's another issue.)
4. In our travels we stop at visitor info centers a lot. TT has a poi for them, but they are all just commercial Travel agencies.
I will stop venting now. If anyone has info on these, especially how to change their operation, it sure would help. After using TT for eighteen months solid, I think I'm familiar enough with it to say "I want another, better GPS!!!" Of course I don't know if the others are any better
I will give TT credit for its major feature. No matter how lost we are, or what wrong turn we make, TT can find an alternate way to get us to our destination. Even if it means driving down a bicycle path or fording a river!
