Garmin NUVI 25x5LMT Traffic Issues-Does Your Traffic Icon Always Stay Green?

This is definitely a step backward.

On the 1370 and 2360, the icon turns green only when it receives traffic signal and turns grey when the signal is lost.

It used to be different on the 765 and other units from that time frame.

The icon color functions were:
Green - connected to power and *receiving traffic data*
Gray - traffic receiver is currently *not* receiving data and/or has old/stale traffic data.

As it is now with my 3490 & 3790, the traffic icon is green only when the GPS is connected to the traffic cable.

I don't believe I've ever seen the traffic icon on these units turn grey...there is NO color change to signify that the unit is not receiving data or that the data is old.

I really cannot recall if they've changed the 765 to do the same thing (always stay green) as newer models since I have not used it in years.

Thanks DorkusNimrod:

When you touch the Icon and it goes to the next screen, do you see any message similar to the one that I get?

I get the following message if I touch the Traffic Icon: "The traffic receiver is not receiving a traffic signal. The traffic signal may be weak, or traffic data may not be available for your location."

It's telling me that it's not receiving a signal.

My problem is that Toronto is the closest city for me with coverage and it's an hour drive away. I rarely go there.

I don't want have to wait until my next trip to Myrtle Beach or Florida to find out that I don't have traffic.

Yes, similar message if/when the traffic receiver is not getting data, for whatever reason. If the unit is getting data, the message states that traffic is updated/current with the ability to display the traffic map, etc.

I believe after firmware v7.30 (or so) on the 3490, traffic reception has been mediocre at best. Previous firmware pretty much always had a good strong lock. Now perhaps maybe 50% of the time, I get the "scanning for traffic service" message despite numerous known good stations are available and have been previously used and locked onto (known by monitoring the traffic section in diagnostics. This constant scanning (seemingly every minute or two) for service throws a big wrench into things when it didn't used to before.

I was hoping that the latest GTM firmware update (v3.10 I believe) would correct this but it didn't apply to many GTM units, mine was no exception.

I somehow don't think that it's GTM related since it used to be able to lock onto stations for longer than a minute or so. The GPS unit's firmware however if rolled back to the known good v7.20 has zero issues holding a station lock.

Check out this Garmin web site. It lists all the areas covered by Garmin 3D Traffic: http://www.navteq.com/rdstraffic/

Their treatment of the three traffic services available can be viewed here: http://www8.garmin.com/traffic/

A grey icon for no traffic data would be a nice, simple, and obvious feature.

I own two different 3790 LMT units. As I live in a place with no traffic service, it took me months to discover that one of the two arrived with a faulty GTM unit which I recently got replaced on warranty but have not yet been able to test with a trip to a location with service.

However I did testing on trip to the San Francisco Bay area a couple of months ago and was able to play mix-and-match between the two GTM traffic cords and the two GPS units. Something I learned was that the traffic icon would stay green when plugged in without having received any new data for slightly over 24 hours, and would then simply disappear (never turning gray in my observation).

It was even green for a few hours after I returned to Albuquerque--so apparently did not know that the increasingly stale data it had was not for the current location.

I only got the new traffic cord firmware update after these tests, and have not yet taken a new trip to a served area, so can't comment on whether that changed the behavior. However I did plug three different cords into the GPS unit stocked with the update, and it updated each of them--so it seems a GPS unit will not only update the first older firmware cord plugged in, but will do so for other cords, as well.

Yes, it previously worked that way before. Now it only shows green, even if the traffic data is old and hasn't been updated (due to inability to lock onto/receive the traffic data). Heck, it even used to show the number of minutes that the traffic data was old.

I really don't know what Garmin is doing with these "features". They come and go with each new unit they release. It's like they're sitting in a room with a "features" dart board, throwing a dart and picking the "feature" that the dart lands on.

Garmin just sent me the following. Personally, I'm skeptical that this will help, but I will do it. I may have to try an earlier version of the firmware.

1. Connect the device to power using the GTM traffic receiver cable
2. Touch Volume
3. Touch and hold the upper-right corner of the volume screen
4. Touch Developer Info when the screen changes
5. Touch GTM FM Table or Traffic Receiver Providers
6. Touch the menu button (3 horizontal lines) in the upper left corner
7. Touch Reset
8. Touch Yes to confirm

I also got the following comment:"The gray traffic icon indicates different thing for different models. For your unit it would not appear meaning weak signal."

To me that suggests that Garmin Support isn't totally sure what the gray Icon means, in a particular unit.

If this doesn't work, I was given a link to escalate this and I'll do so, but at this point, I don't expect much. Good thing we all have POI Factory and the real experts here that have learned from real experience.

I've had great help in the past, on other subjects, but I send special thanks to DorkusNimrod on this particular subject.

[snip of instructions to reset the traffic providers]

All this does is clear out the list of traffic providers (station frequency & other info) that the unit has acquired by driving around. This info is stored in a list (which can be seen in the traffic providers page in the diagnostic menu) which the unit then polls/uses in normal use. Clearing out this info can help since some stations may have been added or removed. The unit will then rescan the airwaves for fresh data and will rebuild the traffic providers list.

It may help, it may not...all you can do is try.

It will not change how the traffic icon operates nor how Garmin thinks the traffic icon should operate.

It would be nice if Garmin saw it in their (as well as the end-user's) best interest to keep basic features stable from unit-to-unit and not add/remove/change them at will. It only adds confusion to the end-user as well as to Garmin tech support having to deal with all these unnecessary differences from unit to unit. Many users who are used to a certain feature may no longer be able to use that feature when "upgrading" their GPS unit. This has happened to me countless times...and it will probably never end.

Amen to that! Instead of concentrating on producing "new" units that perform more poorly than their predecessors Garmin should make existing units work as advertised.

When I bought a 3590 to replace a 1490, I found that the 3590 does have some advantages over the 1490, but some things have been broken since introduction - such as poor functionality for traffic reporting (or, should I say the lack ability to perform this function?).

Its a pain to revert to an older version of the firmware because all preferences have to be reset, but I'll give it a try and reinstall v7.20 (I don't think that v7.30 was ever released, or if it was it was retracted shortly after being posted.)

Does anyone know the difference between a 3590 and a 3597 other than a slight alteration of screen dimensions? If they have fixed the traffic reporting issues, they should surely incorporate those fixes into last year's "top of the line" device. My suspicion is that they have probably broken something else and or reduced functionality.

By the way, does anyone know how to contact someone within the Garmin organization who is in a position to make something positive happen? I kind of feel sorry for the customer service people.

I had about 6 back and forth emails with Customer Service and they still could not answer my question. I doubt that they even knew about the change to the Traffic Icon and that's not their fault. That's Garmin management's fault.

There are many within the POI Factory community, that have fantastic user knowledge. They may not be privy to the program and hardware changes that Garmin makes, but these people do have technical knowledge about their own Garmin's to be invaluable resources to Garmin, if they chose to use this knowledge.

If Garmin was willing to recognize that we are a potential resource, they could provide a liaison for us. POI Factory moderators could then choose a primary issue, such as this, once or twice a month and feed it to through to the Garmin Liaison person.

It might require that one or two people in the community be assigned to do the back and forth directly with Garmin. Just think how much better it would be, if Garmin could contact DorkusNimrod and one or two others and get this first hand.

The only difficulty, is that Garmin would also have to commit to actually try to fix the problem, or at least reduce it's impact.

I have a 2595 with the latest FW update.

I can confirm three things:
1. a re-set as suggested by Garmin makes no difference. It does not correct the issue with the icon always remaining green. Been there, done that, doesn't work.
2. The icon always stays green whether I have a current signal, lost signal or no signal. NOTE: My icon STAYS green AFTER I disconnect the receiver. I haven't timed for how long or if it ever returns to gray.
3. Previously the icon would return to gray if the signal was lost or the data was old. Some FW update in the past changed this. I'm convinced you could be driving around Antarctica in your Humvee and you'd have a green traffic signal as long as you have the receiver connected.

This is a giant step-backwards in functionality by Garmin. If you don't manually check the status you have no idea that the data is out of date: possibly HOURS out of date at that.

If anyone from Garmin is listening out there, please check into this (and the Bluetooth volume issue). Love your product, but this stuff makes me crazy!

On the 4590 it works as the OP described - stays green forever.

My 1490 didn't act this way, and would turn grey when there was no signal.

It is annoying having to touch it to see if I actually have a signal.

I can't even figure if I'm getting a signal. I was in an area, this morning, that should get a signal.

I went into the diagnostics and got the following under Traffic Rcvr Status. there was a variety other things, including Pay Table Does Not Exist..
Please note the upper right hand corner of this picture, which shows:

Source: 2-Receiver
OTA: Yes
RcvrMode: 12-Error
State: 99

Under Traffic Provider Subscriptions it had Count 0, Valid 0

I have gone back the lady at Garmin that I have been dealing with and asked her for an answer and to also send my info to software. I hope she can clarify what Error 12 is.

My 3790 defiantly changes color but take quite a while for the icon to show up sometimes. My 3590 must be plugged into the lighter prior to placing the unit in its cradle or I won't get an Icon at all, unlike the 3790. 3590 never changes color, I must tap the icon to see if i'm either connected and or if there's traffic along the way. I can trust the 3790 from past history. So far have doubts with my 3590.

If/when you find out what the problem is, please return here and post the solution, if any. It would help others who may have the same issue as yours.

I sent a photo of my Developer Info Screen to the lady at Garmin, that I was dealing with and I got a reply from another person (Number 3) and was asked if the developer screen includes the phrase "Pay Table Does Not Exist"..

Mine does say that and the photo showed that. Supposedly, that means I have the wrong cable. I had previously sent the model # and S/N of the cable and was told that I had a TA cable. I could not get a clear answer if the TA cable would work, because I assumed I had GTM coverage, but I couldn't be sure.

I went back this evening to the new product support guy and told him that I do have that phrase and I'm waiting for their response, before I almost definitively say, I have found the problem. (That's like almost for sure maybe at this point).

Nothing is certain, until I get the cable and actually get a chance to test it.

I also told him how this all started regarding the always green icon and the communications with POI Factory. I asked if he had the ability to move this up to the software people etc. and if so, I would give him the links to the threads.

If he is willing to move this up, I will include the POI Factory threads. If he's not willing, I will call Garmin on their toll free line and ask for a contact, or a supervisor.

I can be incredibly anal at times.

Thank you again DorkusNimrod, Williston, BobHy and a whole bunch more people that helped at POI Factory.

I have the 2455LMT and the icon is gray when not plugged in to the OEM power cord. When I plug it in it goes to green - if there is an issue with traffic in the local receiving area will change from green to yellow or even red. Traffic data has yet to prove something accurate. I can be in the middle of a construction zone and not moving and have a green icon. I should also say that I have antenna bars on the screen showing the signal strength.

If I am in a non coverage area I still see the green icon - but switch to the traffic screen it will show via the bars that there is no signal and the text will show that it is in a weak area or the receiver is searching for a signal.

Did a long drive today and noticed:
I pushed the traffic icon and in the other screen watched the top left corner.
It first said "searching for Service"
took a long time.
Then it "found Service" and all bars went green.
split second later it said "Service update" and all green bars went away and I was left with one red bar.
A while later it said "Service is Up to date"
Went on like this all the time....probably an hours worth. If I unplug the receiver from the power source, it does tell me "no receiver found" I really have no way at this time of knowing if this actually works. Wonder if I connected my 3790 cable to it if it would behave as my 3790 does. I know the traffic works great with it. Icon changes color all the time and is fairly accurate.

This happens to me as well. Seems the 34xx/35xx along with the GTM60 has trouble staying locked onto a transmitting station. The majority of the time, it's scanning & searching for service despite the fact that there are numerous, readily available (already in the Traffic Providers table) stations that have previously gotten a solid lock.

Something is definitely screwy with the 34xx/35xx & GTM60 since as you've mentioned, the 37xx and it's GTM have no issues holding a solid lock onto a transmitting traffic channel. I have the 37xx as well so I can personally validate what you're seeing.

You try using the GMT35 on the 3490?

Just as a clarification: The traffic icon on my 2595 -will- change color from green to yellow or red as appropriate when the -traffic conditions- change.

The problem is that it will never turn from green to gray when a signal is lost or the data is old. Previously it definitely did change color. If everyone here that has this problem reports it to Garmin, maybe they will finally correct it. I have at least twice and received responses that were basically "NTF" (no trouble found) or "Normal Operation".

Doesn't always stays green, changes with the traffic

Sadly, no. I have not had the chance to experiment further. I have no access to the GTM35 at my current location. Besides that, I'm in the middle of replacing a laptop hard drive and reinstalling Windows XP (yup) on it.

Does anyone have a unit with an icon that STAYS green and doesn't change color to alert traffic problems?

That is not the problem. The problem is the icon that stays green with NO traffic signal.

Yes indeed...and noted.

Got me thinking here. If i put the unit in its cradle before i plug the cradle into the lighter, it stays gray. I need to shut the unit down remove it from the cradle and then put it back. Having said that, if i have a green icon and unlug the cable in the traffic screen, it says no receiver plugged in...put cable back and it searches again. Besides the fact that my 3790 doesn't care which way i power up, why is it the 3590 cares how it starts up but after that you can unplug and replug? I'm starting to think it don't work period...its all for show

The old 255 would go "ding" "traffic ahead", the icon would change color. When the signal went south the icon went gray. No signal bars, no searching, no messages. The 2595 followed this standard pretty close, but added the signal bars, searching messages, out of date messages etc etc; a little more fancy maybe, but all the same functionality.

Driving for miles with a green icon when you have no signal and ancient data is a big unacceptable boo-boo introduced with an unidentified (so far) firmware update. What's worse is the bug has wormed its way into other models. I guess it's a good thing after all that they added all the signal, searching and bars, etc. At least it's a way to check the traffic data status: -manually-.

y

Dorkusnimrod mentioned that firmware v7.20 would hold a traffic signal better than more current versions. Well, I reverted from 7.80 to 7.20 and experienced more extended coverage, but still wholly unacceptable.

My test drive was on I-93 south from New Hampshire into Boston. With v7.80, I didn't receive data until reaching I-95 (Mass. Rt128). On the way back home, I lost reception at about the same location.

After reverting to v7.20, I picked up a signal in the area of the I-495 crossing with a similar loss in signal at the same point on the return home. I-495 is >15 miles further out from Boston. The installed firmware was on different days, so the version in use may be unrelated.

Garmin's coverage map shows strong reception from Boston well into New Hampshire and after purchasing the 3590 a year ago, I did get coverage in my driveway in southern New Hampshire, but get nothing now with either version. The initial firmware provided with the unit was v6.30. At the time I didn't really observe the icon color issue, perhaps because I was getting an adequate signal in most areas.

In any event Garmin needs to address both problems, namely icon color and signal strength or receiver sensitivity. But, I don't understand how software can affect sensitivity.

My suspicion is that the icon color issue is a deliberate ploy as most users would probably never notice the difference. I'm sure its a software issue and easily correctable. Surely the software engineers know about this malfunction.

What needs to happen is for purchasers within the return for refund period to make that return because they do not perform as stated in the user manual.

Interesting. My 2595 came also with V6.30. Same as BoBHy, I did not really pay much attention to see if the traffic icon ever turned grey after having not received traffic for sometime. In the SF Bay area, the signal is excellent at the locations where I do my daily life, so the traffic icon color would not turn grey in any case, even it is functioning properly.

I updated the map and the firmware was updated automatically to V7.20. And I started to notice that the icon stayed green during my out of town excursions to areas that do not have traffic coverage. I assumed that it is the new improved Garmin. I just back dated to V6.3. I will see how it goes when I make an out of town excursion and report back.

On a side note, on my previous model (2360), the traffic icon dose turn grey after the signal is bad for 10-15 minutes, a very useful feature.

On my 1490 the traffic icon does not show up not untill I have the GTM cable plug it. and the traffic icon was green,when I try to unplug and the gps ask me If I wanted to stay on or turn it off the traffic icon still was green but on the top right a question mark symbol was on ? I click on the ? was telling me the message that my traffic cable was not connected.I Do not remember even see the traffic icon turning gray. but when I click on the traffic icon and I select SHOW TRAFFIC the all screen turn gray,when I click back on SHOW NORMAL SCREEN the screen is in color again is this normal?

I was always of the opinion that they don't have it change to grey any more to hide how lacking their actual traffic coverage really is on the newer units. With the HD signals they don't get as wide a coverage as just plain FM. I see this all the time with my HD car radio slipping between HD and standard FM. They may be able to get more information faster with HD but not better coverage.

At some point, intentional or otherwise, the function of the traffic icon and the information it provided changed. It went from providing traffic events AND signal status to traffic events ONLY plus indicating you had the receiver connected... (DUH, I think I know that, the massive cord is plugged into the back ) If it was intentional to mask spotty coverage, this is a poor step backwards. IMO it is unacceptable to take away features that were there when I purchased the unit. If it was an unintentional bug, then all we can do is keep bugging them to look at it and fix it. I do this frequently hoping a sharp tech will pick it up and fix it.

I don't like that my new unit has a green icon regardless of signal. Hoping the grey icon is restored.

Like I wrote before I never notice the traffic Icon turning gray maybe I never pay attention to be honest.I know when they is traffic the icon change RED. A few days ago garming give me some update on the traffic, it only show a new version but I wish they would give more info details about it.

I don't use my Garmin as much as I'd like - which means I don't travel that much - but my 2595 traffic works very well - would suggest you are in an area not covered by traffic alerts or have an issue with your unit. I know that's likely not a huge help, but I'm not nearly as tech save as many on this site. Good luck.

>>FMI improvements<<

Hmmmm....this is intriguing. Can the smarter folks here tell us of this means "traffic"? Could it be that the traffic reception issues have been investigated and fixed and perhaps the "always-green-traffic-icon" issue has been fixed as well? I'll let you know!

>>Improved software stability<<

Always loved this one too and I have to admit it's the hook that always gets me to take the FW update.

Pillowcase,

Have you tested your rollback to v6.30?

I installed 7.90 yesterday. No mention was made of icon changes.

Pillowcase,

Have you tested your rollback to v6.30?

I installed 7.90 yesterday. No mention was made of icon changes.

I'm well within a strong coverage area and the icon always remains green. When touching the Traffic icon, "The traffic receiver is not receiving a traffic signal. The traffic signal may be weak, or traffic data may not be available for your location" message comes up just the same. I've driven around for about 5 hours total since I had the GPS and it's never found the traffic signal. It always shows "Searching for provider".

I contacted Garmin yesterday and they recommended updating to 7.90. My previous version was 7.80. It didn't help. Today's contact they asked for the Traffic Receiver Status screen info and specifically wanted to know if "Pay Table does not exist" was shown. It was. Support acknowledged they were getting other reports so hopefully they're looking into it.

Some other data they clarified was my adapter P/N 320-00239-70 is in fact a TA20 cable and my unit serial number prefix 2LQ means the traffic receiver is internal. So the TA20 is the proper cable for the 2LQ S/Ns. I initially thought they shipped me the wrong cable for the unit. That wasn't the case.

BobHy,

In the SF Bay area that I roam around regularly, I get pretty good signal always, thus I cannot tell how it behaves if/when I lose the traffic signal.

This weekend or next I might venture out of the traffic coverage area. I will report back on what I observe.

After all my complaining and 7 emails later, I also was asked about the Pay Table Does Not Exist. I actually had to discover this for them. I had been told I had a TA cable, but I was new to this. It took the 7 emails for someone at Garmin to tell me for sure it was wrong. Unfortunately, it cost me $17 to return it to the Canadian Warranty Rep.

Mine was a refurb. I'm curious to know if chip-r had new or refurb.

I started my 2555LMT today and put in my destination and the traffic icon turned red, I pressed the icon and it gave a traffic problem from the day previous, but then within seconds it turned back to green and said that there were no traffic issues at present. After that it stayed green on my whole trip to work.
On returning home this evening, as soon as the unit started up the icon went from green to yellow showing a slowdown in the traffic on my route home.
I can’t say that I have ever seen a gray traffic icon. If I plug in the power lead from my Nuvi 260 ( no traffic ), the icon does not appear and I get a warning that the power lead does not have traffic capability.

That's interesting. The 2555 comes with the same traffic receiver we are all talking about in here, and yours seems to work. What you did not say is what version you are on. I do not see you mention that you updated to v7.90 either. The reason your power cable from the 260 gives you an error on the 2555 is because the 260 doesn't do Traffic hens the cable from the 260 is only a power cable, which you already know and it makes sense for the 2555 to respond the way it did.

Refurb from TigerDirect.

About the cable ... I very pointedly asked Garmin if the P/N 320-00239-70 was a TA20 cable and they confirmed. I was a bit annoyed as their FAQs for traffic problems said look for the TA on the tag. The cable doesn't list TA at all so I understand your frustration.

I'm beginning to wonder if their refurb facility is pairing units with somewhat incompatible antenna cables. Complete speculation on my part but usually when a factory tests units, they use a bench fixture. Not the actual accessories shipped with your unit. Those are tossed in at the last minute.

After reporting the "Pay Table does not exist" message, Garmin responded with "At this time we will need to exchange your device. You can either exchange it at the place of purchase or we will gladly exchange it for you."

I'll need to sort out the best way to return to minimize shipping cost. It's a shame as this refurb also had a rebate. My "rebate savings" are getting eaten up by this process. Oh bother. But you get what you pay for.

I'm glad I didn't cut the UPC yet

Wow you serious? I got my refurb 2555LMT from TigerDirect last week and similar to getting the no Pay Table exists error. Can't Garmin just send you the needed cable? The deal was amazing at $69.99 after rebate however as you stated you start losing that deal having to pay for shipping...