TT Go 720 - having doubts

[Mike_wcfl]

After only 2-days with my 720, I am having serious doubts about its navigation capabilities.

Today, we decided to take a Sunday drive (it's Sunday). First stop was an errand for my wife. No problem, I'll feed the address into my 720. Off we go. Luckily, my wife knew where the place was, so when TT turned us onto a dirt road, red flags went up. Suddenly, we're off-roading on some back road - large pot-holes, driving in the grass shoulder (to avoid the largest holes). I was in my car and could probably have turned around. After a few more turns, we were back on the SAME ROAD we turned off of...only a little further down!

Here's the doubt: I bought this to use when driving a truck and, had I been using this in the truck and this happened, my TT would be a flat object normally served in stacks on a breakfast plate (think IHOP).

But, we made it. Now it's time to eat and I select a restaurant we knew of quite a distance away. TT kept trying to route us through the "woods" again but I continued on the main road. "Turn Left!" "NO!" "Turn Left!" "NO NO!"

A few miles down, again, another gravel/bumpy road. A few turns later, and we arrived at our destination.

During the routing process, yes I was told it would take me off a paved roadway. I requested an alternate (paved) route and TT could not find any alternatives. So I *had* to take the off-road routing.

Is this a glitch? I read elsewhere that TT uses TeleAtlas for their US maps and other companies use NavTech which is more accurate for the U.S. Should I stay with TT and hope the company does something about this or bail out while I still have the 7-day return?

I like the layout and overall features of the TT 720, but I can't afford to turn around in a vehicle that doesn't turn on a dime.

 

[bilybob]

Sorry to hear that you are having so many problems with routing. I personally have found the routing to be fairly decent, and the maps are more up to date even with v7.05 in my area. It has a few quirks in it but it hasn't routed me to some off beat path ever.

Check on google and see what route does it take for your destination to see if you will get any better results with garmin. All navteq/teleatlas devices use different routing logic, so each device will choose a similar route with subtle differences, it just depends on which route you think is the best.

 

[46jimbo]

Sounds to me that you have chosen 'Shortest route'. If this is the case, try using 'Fastest route'. The Shortest route option tries to route you in a straight line, often taking you down small lanes. Amusing, but not practical.

 

[Mike_wcfl]

Thanks 46jimbo, I will check that and try a route again to that address.

Bilybob, I did a route through Google and it gave the better (paved road) route. What got me about the 720 was that it could not find an alternate route when one definitely existed (ie: instead of turning off the main road, I could have continued straight ahead and made a right turn, then left and arrived at my destination).

Unfortunately, I am looking at a Magellan now. The Garmins are expensive and lack features. I hate to give up the Tomtom because it is nice and has frequent updates and good features. But I need accuracy and route options - when I use this for work, I don't want to see a dirt road ahead when I'm unable to turn around.

 

[Mike_wcfl]

UPDATE:

I just routed again to the address. I used fastest route (used that option before also). Again, the 720 displayed "The current route involves unpaved roads. Do you want to avoid the unpaved roads?" (YES!) then it blanks out and says "no route found". It then routes me across the unpaved road.

I then went to "Find alternative" and selected "Avoid part of route". I chose the street that is basically grass and dirt. The unpaved road screen popped up again and again I selected YES. "No route found". A few seconds later, it routed me onto a road which, I believe, is paved.

The route, this time, matches the route used by Google - even the distances are the same.

So, while it appears to be "possible", I'm still frustrated. Had this been in an unknown area and had I not known what was paved or not, I would still be axle-deep in mud or dirt.