Garmin Traffic question

Rob

Rob

0
Joined
Aug 15, 2011
Messages
562
Location
Portsmouth, NH
Bike
2010 Silver NT700V
So I bought a new gps - the nuvi 2597LMT. My old nuvi 550 was waterproof (bought it used for $150 a few years ago) but it has a pretty small screen, the maps are now three years old, and it does not have bluetooth.

So I wanted a biger screen, bluetooth to get directions to my headset, and lifetime maps. This new one was $165 on amazon and provided all of these things. It also comes with lifetime traffic.

Now, I usually plug my gps into a usb port on the bike, or i could hardwire to the fuzeblock. But I guess the traffic receiver is built in to the car power cord with a cigarette plug. So my question is, is the traffic all that useful? Is it worth using?

If it is, then I'll need to put a cig adapter back on the bike, which is easy enough. Or has anyone dared to cut one of these apparently very expensive cables with the traffic receiver in them and hardwired them to a relay/fuzeblock/battery? If anyone has, I'm looking for pointers. I've cut one of the car cords to a garmin before and it is stranded wire, wrapped in a white tube, wrapped in more stranded wire, which is then wrapped in the black casing. I assume one is + and one is - but I don't know which.
 
Rob my wife's car has a Garmin with traffic and it will reroute you based on traffic or give you a delay time based on your set route. It can be useful.
 
The traffic feature is only functional in urban/suburban areas. Since I spend very little time riding in those areas I haven't found the feature terribly useful for me. If you find yourself commuting through these areas however, I think it would/could be very useful.

Mike
 
I find the traffic alert feature to be hit and miss. As mentioned, it is only useful in suburban/urban areas and often times only on the main roadways. I travel on a relatively major road in NoVA yet it is not included on the traffic network.

Unless you are doing a lot of inner city riding, I wouldn't think the additional effort to accommodate the large 12v cigar plug and the bike is worth it. If you haven't missed the feature at this point, I doubt you will going forward.
 
I agree with all the comments above. I have also found that at times it wanted to reroute me due to traffic congestion or an accident and I decide to contiue on the original route and I never did see any congestion. I think sometimes due to timing and where you are at it might not be that accurate. This is with my Garmin in my car. My Zumo 550 does not have that feature and since I ride mostly on side streets and back roads I don't think for me it would be that helpful on my NT.
 
I have found Traffic to be useful, but not "perfect"... The Traffic data supplied is Near Real Time and can show old events that have cleared and not show new issues that have happened in the last thirty minutes or so. None the less I like having it enough I pay for it through XM/Sirius with Ford's SYNC in my cages. A quick phone call to 511 in most states will also get you traffic info for the major roads....
 
I have no internal sense of direction like many people do - I am definitely one of the idiots that would follow a gps' instructions into a river. Well, ok maybe not quite that - but I definitely rely on the technology on long trips in unfamiliar areas.

Where I live is not covered ny garmin's traffic service - I'm just north of what they have shaded for the boston metro. Which means day to do and most weekend riding wouldn't be covered - it would probably only be those times on long trips when I'm going through or around other big metros.

I think I'll just skip the traffic but will be sure to have the cable with me to try it out if I'll be in a metro.
 
karl said:
. . . http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/man-drives-truck-into-river-blames-gps/vCb5cs/ . . .
Click to expand...

Yep - had that happen to me in Louisiana during a long ride back from a military reunion in Columbus, GA.

But, I didn't ride my bike into the river!!

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I had just ridden through a small town, and the GPS pointed me towards the route across the Mississippi. I was a bit startled when I came up to the river! Some of it was my fault as I hadn't updated my maps. I soon found the new bridge that replaced the ferry and was on my way. Added a bit of adventure to the ride.
 
You can get Garmin traffic only in certain metropolitan areas. Not all cities will have the traffic services available. But when I drive to New Orleans it does come in handy giving me an indication of what to expect up ahead.
My motorcycle Garmin does not have traffic available on it. I don't really miss it.
 
I use my Gamin in my truck and on the bike. When on the bike Iam usually not traveling through cities so use a std usb cord to connect it to power. When going through a city Ido like to have the traffice info so I plug in the other line to the cig lighter. I consider it a ncie to have but not very useful. 511 is much more useful for planning purposes, and, with voice dial I can access it through my headset if Ineed to.
 
I did not do my homework. The selection of Garmin devices is just staggering.

Apparently, the "motorcycle-specific" zumo line are the only ones that will pair to a headset. All the others only pair to phones. Clever. It would be easy for them to include this in other units, but it does make for a good differentiator for the zumo line. Waterproofing can easily be taken care of with a $30 case mount you put the gps in - but headset connectivity you can't do much about. That alone isn't worth a $600+ price difference to me though.

Had to start looking into this when I could not get the device to pair to my helmet's Midland BT2 headset and I made the discovery.

So I paid an extra $30 or so for lifetime traffic, and bluetooth - neither of which it appears I need. Oh well. This unit did have some other updated interface features some others I was looking at did not.
 
Traffic alerts haven't seemed very useful to me. In this particular part of the country, even if there's an accident or whatever, there is almost never a viable alternative. Geography plus general traffic density dictates this.

I had an alert pop up (different technology, BTW) a few weeks ago to alert me to an accident and congestion ahead. It was on the I-205 bridge we were about to cross over the Columbia River from Vancouver to Portland - right after I had passed the last exit on this (WA) side. Swell. Thanks a lot.
 
I have never had a problem seeing the screen on my Zumo 550 in the sun. There are times however if its angled just right I can get a bad reflection of my hi viz jacket on the screen so I have to move it slightly to eliminate it. There are shade hoods that you can buy for some models of GPS to make them easier to see in the sun.
 
Why I like to mount mine with a RAM ball mount. If the sun glares on it, then tilt it a little. Like Warren, the most trouble Ihave is with reflections from a bright jacket or helmet.

I can see my phone and the GPS just fine in almost any sunlight by tilting it a little.

I did have some trouble with a magellan because it had a fixed color scheme that did not have much contrast. I built a 'box' for it on the top of the dash with a large hood. Looked like one of those old radar screens :) The biggest problem was light reflected from my jacket.

Th?s is also why I like mounting it on the handlebar mount too. The body provides shade when the sun is directly behind.
 
Coming home from NH a while back I ran into a backup on the Mass Pike. Right before the I 84 interchange it was backed up for miles due to volume and everybody trying to get in first. It would have been simple to take Rt 20 and go around. Could have saved an hour and a half not to mention miles of walking the bike in stopped traffic. The only saving grace was the overcast that cooled things off.
 
My experience traveling cross-country, both on my Honda and in my car, is that having my GPS route me around construction, traffic, road closures, sig alerts etc. improves the quality of my life. Having had that technology, I can't imagine doing without it. But I would never judge; I guess traffic, or getting lost, is part of the adventure for some.

Ken
 
If you search for "gps visors" on amazon, there are a few options. they're not perfect, but they do help a little.

I used the first one on my old gps, and have the second one on order for my new one:

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