problems with my StreetPilot 2650

I have some problems with the StreetPilot 2650 that is very annoying
and makes me to consider to sell it to get a different one. If anyone
knows how to fix the problems below, please let me know.
+ The screen is too crowded with street names. How to make it look
simple with the only street names that on the route?
+ When it lost satalite signal, all the directions in 'PAGE'
disappeared. Why?
+ The voice direction sucks, it tells me 500ft to turn but I cannot
measure how long is 500ft. There maybe 2 streets that are close to each
other within 500ft from my car. The problem is how to make it to say
out street name or something like "Turn in the second intersection"
instead of 500ft or 0.1 miles whatever...

You can control via the "map setup" page the size of the labels as well as
at what point they become visible. You can also reduce map detail.


Are you sure you have a 2650 and not a 2610 or 2620? A 2650 should switch
to dead reckoning when it loses satellite reception so that you can maintain
position and navigation.

To answer the question, however, if it is a GPS-only device and it
loses satellite reception, it no longer knows where you are. Hence,
the directions it once gave you are no longer guaranteed to be valid.
It is better to give no directions than bad ones.


The 26x0 series gives you a zoomed-in view of the upcoming turn to help you
with this information.

GPS nav units are an aid to, not a replacement for, your brain. The most
important navigation system in any car sits between your ears.


Cheers,
-+JLS

--
\ carpe cavy!
seagull @ aracnet.com \
http://www.aracnet.com/~seagull/ \ (seize the guinea pig!)

Yah, I have 2610. My bad!
Anyway, I agree with everything above, except for a few. I completely
disagree with this theory "It is better to give no directions than bad
ones". If I know where I am driving, the direction should be the same.
The signal lost when I drive through big building and that is the only
time. I would say "It is better to have something than nothing."

Also, I understand that there is a zoom-in function, but would it be
better to have the GPS to spell out streetname or "Turn in the second
intersection" instead of "distance measurement".

Do you guys know where I can send some feedback to the company? Because
if they get these problems fixed, the product is perfect.

Obviously, Garmin disagrees. If you disable auto-recalculation, then
this behavior /might/ go away, but I haven't tried it.


It /does/ spell out the street name on the screen and the graphical
blow-up of the turn gives you a pretty good picture of what's going on.
They supplement the voice prompts pretty nicely, I think.

I view the approach of trying to audibly describe the road geometry
as a hornet's nest. It takes longer to say and, frankly, I think it's
more distracting. And, what's an intersection? Does the alleyway
on my right count? The unpaved road? How about situations where the map
says a road goes through but it really doesn't? This is likely to create
confusion for the driver. With distances, there is no disagreement over
what constitutes 500 feet, etc.


Cheers,
-+JLS

--
\ carpe cavy!
seagull @ aracnet.com \
http://www.aracnet.com/~seagull/ \ (seize the guinea pig!)

quanghoc wrote:

When you lose satellite reception, push Menu/Use Indoors/Page to get
your turn-by-turn directions back. When you leave the area of tall
buildings, push Menu/Use Outdoors and your route will resume.


If you are using the default wide tabs while in routing mode, the upper
right corner of the screen shows the distance to the turn which steadily
decreases as you approach the turn. Using this measurement makes it
easier to determine when to turn.