Nuvi 2497 LTM strange behaviour.

[Goosebeak]

I purchased one of these units recently, with the intention of using it to assist me in my business (primarily the transportation of golf carts to and from golf courses in Gauteng).

The first thing that concerns me is the "T" part of the nomenclature - to tell the truth it's very much a case of too little too late. I've encountered a (very) few instances (always on the major roadways like the Jhb-Pta freeway) where the unit tells me there is a delay on my route, and even tells me how much of a delay to expect. That gives me a warm fuzzy kind of feeling...
But on several occasions now, returning from Pta , I've been astonished to see that the unit tries to route me through Jhb on the M1 double-decker past the Sandton-area towards Booysens during afternoon rush-hour - 'claiming' that there is no delay on that route. Anybody with even a miniscule amount of experience knows that the double-decker section in that direction after 15h30 and often until even 19h00 is very much a stop-and-go, 5km/h affair thanks to the SOWETO traffic and the taxis... The difference in mileage between the route through town past Sandton, and the route around town, past Germiston and Alberton, is only a few km, but the extra time spent in traffic on the double-decker is insane! You can easily waste an hour on that route. Definitely not worth driving that route to save a few paltry kilometres... But the unit says 'no delay on your route'... There is NO WAY that this is correct...

Then there is the fact that sometimes (daily) the Nuvi cannot/doesn't receive traffic data - the screen just says "searching"....

Also, every now and then, in clear conditions and out in the open, it tells me 'lost satellite reception'...
My Oregon never falters - it shows me that there are plenty of satellites being received, so how come the Nuvi is losing contact? Surely the newer technology should hold a satellite signal better than my Oregon (at least 7 years old now)?

Finally, yesterday on my way home from Vryburg (delivery of a brand-new golf cart to the pharmacist there), the Nuvi decided to take me on a dirt road. I don't have a problem with dirt roads, so I decided to try out the route and see how it worked out. If the Nuvi was imploding, I had a full tank of fuel and the Oregon to fall back on. But every couple of km it would try to direct me onto a farm road - through a locked gate! None of the "roads" it tried to direct me on to were open, well-used or even properly defined, and I suspect they were probably the farmers' private entrances. Eventually, I changed preferences to "avoid unpaved roads" and rejoined the tar (about 35 km later!)
The dirt roads saved me no time OR mileage - so why would this unit navigate onto dirt, and then try to steer me onto "roads" that were more wishful thinking than real? There is something very wrong with this unit's definition of 'unpaved road' - it cannot distinguish between a proper (but official) dirt road, and a private (and unofficial) driveway...

Oh, and when I navigate to my brother's smallholding on Gordon Road in Kibler Park, coming from Southgate towards Kibler Park, as I get onto Gordon Road it tells me to make a U-turn and then turn left to get to my destination - but in fact I just continue straight to my destination.... that's the weirdest routing I've EVER seen.... It happens EVERY time so it's not some one-off glitch.

All the maps and software are up-to-date, and I can't think of anything else that I should (or should not) be doing that would affect this unit adversely.

Anybody have any ideas/suggestions?

[Jan Horn]

Hi Charles. Longtime no see.
I am going to post a link to your post on the Traffic Management Forum for Denise of Altec to see. She visit the Forum to monitor problems we experience regarding the Traffic Management system. I know Frans has given up hope regarding his problems with the system he experiences . He had the unit checked by Garmin but the system still does not function properly.
The classification of roads of the City Navigations Maps are very bad causing endless navigation problems. We miss the short cut through Shorty reporting map errors we had with the Garmap Map set. I have given a link to the section where Frans, Robert and other report map errors with pictures substantiating the error, to the Cardtology section of Garminin in the USA. If they visit the section to take note I am not sure, most likely not.