Garmin Nuvi 255 Directions

 

Bought the 255W in Las Vegas when my C330 crashed. It can be confusing using it at home in Utah where our streets are designated as North, East, South and West. Here is the confusing part- It says turn right onto South 40th West, turning right heads you North. Why would the GPS refer to 40th West, which runs North and South, as South 40th West.

When I approach a street that runs East and West such as 90th South it will say turn left onto West 90th South, the left turn is heading East. I sent this info to Garmin and they said to download latest software, which I had already done.

It only does this on streets with N,E,S & W designations. On streets with names it will say turn right onto Lucy Street, not West Lucy Street.

Any thoughts? Garmin was of no help at all, I even offered to return it at a reduced price since I tossed out the box it came in.

I Think...

Salt Lake City (SLC)is indeed confusing. This is how I think it works and why the GPS says what it says.

Using your first example...

40th West is a north-south street.
It is called 40th West because it is "40 blocks" West of a parallel north-south center-line street, Maybe called Main, or State, or even Center Street. I don't remember, it's been a long time since I drove in SLC.

But 40th West also crosses an east-west running center-line street. So in reality, there are two 40th West Streets, with street numbering increasing in both directions as you drive away from the center-line street. You need to know if you are on the South half of 40th West or the North half of 40th West.

If you are south of the e-w center-line, then regardless of your direction of travel, you are turning onto the southern part of 40th West, aka South 40th West.

Lucy Street must not cross the center line, so there is no East Lucy nor West Lucy. Just Lucy.

Check out your center line streets. Whatever the actual name, I'll bet the north-south street, has a North Center Street designation and a South Center Street designation.

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The Wizard of Ahhhhhhhs - Earned my Windmill 4/12/2010

Garmin Nuvi 255 Directions

Try changing voice. Change it from the TTS American English voice (Samantha)to
non-TTS voice, it should help and it will not be confusing as it will give you directions only without reading street names. I hope it helps. Regards.

SLC streets

Ozme52 wrote:

Salt Lake City (SLC)is indeed confusing. This is how I think it works and why the GPS says what it says.

Using your first example...

40th West is a north-south street.
It is called 40th West because it is "40 blocks" West of a parallel north-south center-line street, Maybe called Main, or State, or even Center Street. I don't remember, it's been a long time since I drove in SLC.

But 40th West also crosses an east-west running center-line street. So in reality, there are two 40th West Streets, with street numbering increasing in both directions as you drive away from the center-line street. You need to know if you are on the South half of 40th West or the North half of 40th West.

If you are south of the e-w center-line, then regardless of your direction of travel, you are turning onto the southern part of 40th West, aka South 40th West.

Lucy Street must not cross the center line, so there is no East Lucy nor West Lucy. Just Lucy.

Check out your center line streets. Whatever the actual name, I'll bet the north-south street, has a North Center Street designation and a South Center Street designation.

Don't they sing that at square dances. laugh out loud

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All the worlds indeed a stage and we are merely players. Rush

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laugh out loud

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The Wizard of Ahhhhhhhs - Earned my Windmill 4/12/2010

Ozme52, thanks for the

Ozme52, thanks for the explanation. You are correct about the center of the numbering system, the center,so I've been told is the SLC LDS Temple. It makes sense how the GPS is calling it, but we don't refer to our streets as that. In the case I used South 40th West is South of the center point and 40 blocks West of the divide for East and West. To prove this I'll drive past State street and see what the machine says. Still a PITA until I get used to it. Thanks for the info. BTW, even most of our streets with a name still have the N,E,S,W numbers on the street name. Just really odd that Garmin choose to do it that way, the old C330 didn't do that.

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The Wizard of Ahhhhhhhs - Earned my Windmill 4/12/2010