Next turn pop-up and a dashboard on the Active route.

[987]

GPSMAP 66st. Unit software 4.20 and GPS software 2.70.

Hi.
While navigating, the only place one can see both a the next turn and the text to that turn is on the map page (with guidance text on) or in the Active route page.

While on the map. (i have auto zoom off) and navigating, let's assume i see the following as next turn.
1. Image shows a roundabout, and text says "Take roundabout to 2nd exit"
2. While in the roundabout, it will say "2nd exit to E1". (E1 is some road, could be numbers or name)

Since the map is not zooming in on the turns the second information comes at a very late time, perhaps when i cannot change lanes in a good and safe way.

Therefore i suggest that the old feature of a "next turn pop-up" is added.
This next turn pop-up will zoom in on the upcoming turn. This will help a lot to see that in that example roundabout i will have to 2nd exit and continue forward on road E1. Or if there are many streets close to each other, it can help to see that i should turn in 3 streets forward.
This pop-up draws only the streets and roads plus the direction one should go, no other map information.

Another reason for a next turn pop-up is that it shall show from any page except Active route. Currently the unit will not show me the next turn if i am on the trip computer page or altimeter page.

This would be helpful when navigating but not currently displaying the map or the Active route pages.
Of course if i have made some setting that have disabled the pop-up i am happy to stand corrected.


A second suggestion is to be able to add a dashboard to the Active route page (it should be possible to disable it as well).




As a side note, i noticed that the routing sometimes misses to ring the alarm before turns.
The guidance text showed clearly that i should "Turn right ..."
The distance was closing in, but no pre-turn sound was given. All sounds were on.
After the turn was made, the next turn was shown in the guidance text. And the next turn worked just fine.
I have observed this a few times, not many but a few. I was not able to re-produce the issue since it happened in places i do not visit often or was able to re-navigate.
I just want to post it here and ask if anyone else has observed it?

[GPSrChive]

Currently the unit will not show me the next turn if i am on the trip computer page or altimeter page.

Have you tried using the 'Automotive Turn' Data Field in either of those pages?

[GPSrChive]

As a side note, i noticed that the routing sometimes misses to ring the alarm before turns.
The guidance text showed clearly that i should "Turn right ..."
The distance was closing in, but no pre-turn sound was given. All sounds were on.
After the turn was made, the next turn was shown in the guidance text. And the next turn worked just fine.
I have observed this a few times, not many but a few. I was not able to re-produce the issue since it happened in places i do not visit often or was able to re-navigate.
I just want to post it here and ask if anyone else has observed it?

Sometimes we are moving faster than the GPSMAP 66 can process all the data. One should remember that the GPSMAP series is not designed to be a dedicated Automotive Navigation Device. The GPSMAP series are more a jack of all trades.

For a premium automotive navigation experience, one should look to the nuvi or drive series devices, but even they have their own issues....

[GPSrChive]

Since the map is not zooming in on the turns the second information comes at a very late time, perhaps when i cannot change lanes in a good and safe way.

Do you have 'Auto Zoom' disabled in Map Settings?

[GPSrChive]

A second suggestion is to be able to add a dashboard to the Active route page (it should be possible to disable it as well).

With the GPSMAP 66, and other GPSr with similar screen size and resolution,m there simply is not enough screen real-estate to add a dashboard and keep a functional Active Route page.

I find the Active Route page works very well as-is.

[987]

Hi.
Yes i tired adding the automotive turn in fields of trip computer. It shows the image of the next turn. This is helpful, but it does not show the text such as "take 2nd exit" in a roundabout, which means that the detailed information is shown very late. The text actually give a bit more details than the image.
I use the small data fields, but even if i changed to large ones, the Automotive turn does not seem to show the same text as the guidance text on the map page. It also seems not possible to select guidance text into a data field.

I am using auto zoom off, but i can sure try auto zoom on and see if it makes any difference while navigating.

[GPSrChive]

I am using auto zoom off, but i can sure try auto zoom on and see if it makes any difference while navigating.

This would be good to know, if it helps or not.

[asprin624]

As pointed out:

Sometimes we are moving faster than the GPSMAP 66 can process all the data. One should remember that the GPSMAP series is not designed to be a dedicated Automotive Navigation Device. The GPSMAP series are more a jack of all trades.
For a premium automotive navigation experience, one should look to the nuvi or drive series devices, but even they have their own issues....

There are even GPS apps that will give you all popup of information you need. To spend all this effort on using a GPSMAP 66 for driving on a road. This type of GPS is used for off road hiking or biking. Yes you can put other maps on it to use in your car by why?? The screen is way to small for that. Plus you do not get all the info you need to use it on the road. To have Garmin add items in to a GPS that was not ment to be used as auto GPS unit. There are far more important things to is be fixed or add into the 66. As you can see Garmin is very slow to even react on those items.

[987]

I use car routing less than 5 % of my travel time. It makes me feel that i don't need a separate car navigator. I compare with a Etrex vista hcx, it does the routing rather well, though of course the screen is very small. I was hoping that the GPSMAP 66 (10 years newer) would be doing it at least as good and easy.

Anyhow, after reading the posts i understand that i may be asking for too much.
In that case, i will add the following suggested feature.

Make the next (top most) direction from the Active route page selectable to be added as a data field in the other pages.
This text is not identical to the Guidance text on the map page. The text from the Active route is the most informative, and it would be great if this could be added to the Trip computer page and others. Suggested name: Active route next.

Perhaps this is easier to change than some of the other ideas.

[987]

I am using auto zoom off, but i can sure try auto zoom on and see if it makes any difference while navigating.

This would be good to know, if it helps or not.

It helps a great deal, the auto zoom works a lot better than on my earlier unit and a lot better than i first expected.