Traffic info and your daily commute

there should be a menu for real time traffic updates

in conjunction with the traffic data, how do you handle the traffic avoidance option?

do you have it checked or unchecked?

does having it checked, mean the nuvi will take you off your route as it sees fit, to attempt to avoid the traffic?

and does unchecked mean it will stick to the route, and simply alert you on screen to the existence of traffic in the area, letting you ignore the advice, or tap the avoid button?

sorry, but as a new user, I am still a little confused by what approach I should use...and it doesn't help me make up my mind when the info received is sometime erratic at best.

any experience/feedback on this feature and how you have decided to use it would be great.

I have a 30 mile commute that mostly covers two roads the traffic network monitors. If there is traffic ahead on the first main road I get a warning and know to take a detour. I also press the traffic icon and look a the map to see if there is any red on my route.

Just the other day I did not check the map and as I turned onto the second major road the warning sounded. I was in a brief delay but the best thing was the map showed me that the road closure was for several miles along my way. I quickly moved to a detour around that closure. I did not need routing info because I knew my way.

The other option is to enter your work as a destination each day. If there is a traffic alert at any point along the route you will be warned and/or detoured.

That's my question. I never considered using the GPS as such and letting it route me around traffic. For the past year I've only used the 'traffic display' when in familiar territory and never set a destination in the GPS. Just recently I set distinations and let the GPS do the routing and it sent me ways that I never would have chosen and I knew there were better ways to go. I'm not sure if the GPS lacked good traffic data or my 40 years experience was just better than the GPS's routing algorithms.

As far as your question, I assume the 'avoid traffic' option means the GPS will alter the route to avoid traffic.

Pittsburgh is one town where a GPS is essential; due to the hills it is so easy to get lost. They should be standard issue there.

and those hills present some problems for the nuvi, especially with all of the tunnels...while driving in evening rush hour downtown, the nuvi can sometimes get a little confused when it comes to surface streets and freeways that run parallel but at different elevations...but "Jill" always gets me through...might be a little disconcerting for a non-native for a few minutes however.

I would never follow the traffic avoidence, it is just a pain in the ass, one example is on the LIE if your traveling 60 miles it will have you taking the service road the whole way. Mind you the lights and traffic their too.

The thing is it only gets traffic for the Main roads, Highways, Not for the service road. It also never takes into account of lights, it just goes by the average speed of 30. the same for anywhere with traffic lights

...and will just monitor the information provided, using the traffic map, traffic along the route and traffic search screens.

Commuting to/from Chicago each day, I always have my 760 route me to and from work in order to get traffic warnings "on your route". I have "avoid traffic" set to OFF in the menu.

So to answer the concerns of the OP: I don't recommend auto avoidance because normal rush hour traffic will ALWAYS present a delay warning. And the traffic will be just as bad on the secondary roads and side streets. I experimented a lot when I first got the 760 and I allowed it to avoid the normal slow rush hour traffic. Never got me there any faster than if I had just stayed on the espressway and crept along as normal.

So every day on the way home, my Nuvi will ALWAYS give me a traffic alert of a 10-15 minute delay. I ignore this, because that's just normal rush hour traffic. When it warns me that there is a 30-60 minute delay, I know something is wrong like an accident and I will tap the avoid button to have it send me around the problem. It works pretty well in this manner.

Sorta like having blind faith in a GPS in general, you're bound to be disappointed. By adding some thought and just relying on it as a guide or suggestion, it's a useful function.

that is EXACTLY the explanation and advice from an experienced owner that I was looking for.

I don't have the gps guide me with the traffic, I just use it to warn me of traffic and then i make the routing decision