Messages (nuvi says it found a better way to go)

My nuvi, Google Maps and Yahoo maps can't find a place named Harkinson. And do you know the name of the casino?

More information is needed to help with your problem.

I think it is probably Hankinson, not Harkinson.

Here is an explanation I found posted on another website:

The modern automotive units from Garmin includes this feature. In order to quickly give the user a working route, they don't evaluate the route too much in detail, before presenting a working route to the user. But the unit does not give in, just because it found some working route. It will continue to search for routes, that better fulfill the routing request (according to the settings) the user has made.
Hence, the "better route" is often one that uses a lot more smaller roads, since they tend to pass many crossings, and thus lead to the need for traversing much more complex graphs, in order to evaluate them. But in many cases it may be that even if a route, which follows some windling narrow roads, computes to be possible to drive in a few seconds shorter time, you may experience it as slower, or perhaps even drive it slower than the GPS expects you to do.

The fact that it much more frequently presents alternate routes when you are driving slowly, is of course because then, the long time required to evaluate these complex routes isn't that likely to imply that you've already passed the beginning of the alternative route, before you can be given the alternative to take.
A pre-view of the alternate route would be very smart, indeed.

If it's Hankinson, both my nuvi and Mapsource create the following route from Fargo using 2010.10 maps:

1. I-29 S 0 ft
2. Get on I-29 S and drive south 0 ft
3. Keep left onto I-29 S 2.5 mi
4. Take exit 8 to the right onto Nd-11 towards Hankinson/Fairmount 58.0 mi
5. Turn right onto Hwy 11 58.3 mi
6. Hankinson 61.7 mi

It doesn't get much simpler than that... what were the messages on your nuvi 350? Where was it suggesting you go?

I have never observed my 755T operating in the way your post describes t923347. I have had routes altered "on the fly" by the traffic receiver, or by recalculating when I venture off route, but I can't think of any other circumstances where it would alter the route as long as you have a good signal, are on the route and are correctly "snapped" to the road you are traveling on.

I have only had it happen once myself but the key to the original posters question was that he has an older Nuvi 350. It was a fairly common occurrence with those older models. I've never seen it happen on the newer models other than, as you say, on the fly traffic changes or doing a recalculate

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't realize the older nuvi's had that feature. It must be one more thing that Garmin has removed on newer models.

Yea, it seems like a pretty simple route from Fargo. Not that it really matters but if the OP was going to the Casino it's at exit 1 and on the other side of I-29 from the town of Hankinson.

The quote I posted was from a discussion about the 350 and is fairly old. It may well be that the newer models simply calculate the original routes faster and more accurately than the older ones did. I never considered it a feature as it showed up so infrequently.

I got on I-29 from 13th ave. The GPS tells me to stay left on I-29 and then stay left for 63 mi.
It tells me to get off on exit 1. There is no other road that I know of that is more direct than that.
The casino is right next to I-29.
My NUVI 350 tells me about it's new route a few times even if I hit (ok) for the new route.
It tells me to go the same way it told me to go right from the start.

My NUVI 350 has done the same thing several times. I just figured that maybe there was a short cut.

What version of maps are you using? I know some of the older maps would think that "bends" in the road were intersections or cross-roads. It would calculate based on that info. I mainly had that problem with my old c330.

Daniel

Strange. I used a 350 for over 2 years and never had this problem.

trip but not locally.

The GPS does not want you to go to the casino because your gonna loose your shirt!!!