Current Speed in RED is Annoying

Better than beeping constantly.

It could be worse.

It could be alternating between Red/Blue... Red/Blue...
and then you realize it's really the lights in the rear view mirror that's doing it!

Nuvi1300WTGPS

I waited a little while simply so I could look through this thread some more. I'm simply going to combine my responses into a single post, so....

@Frovingslosh: to require total enforcement of the traffic laws would in fact require a camera on every street, simply because there wouldn't be enough warm bodies to be able to do the job. Ergo, to strictly enforce the law would in fact turn this country into a police state since every activity on the roads would be monitored. From there it would spread to cameras monitoring pedestrians for activities the state deems "illegal". Soon, even caffeine would be banned. Oh hell, I just described Mega City One. All we need now are Judges.

Is there a solution to this? I don't know. I really haven't thought about it, but I have three weeks to kill so....

@jonwrong: You said, "If you truly believe that exceeding an arbitrarily set speed limit by a few miles per hour is, in fact, "breaking the law" (in the true sense of the term), then there is something wrong with you."

There must be something wrong with me, because the fact of the matter is that exceeding the posted speed limit is against the law. While police officers do have the option to provide a margin of error of five or ten miles over the limit, they are not required to provide such a margin, except where it's codified in the law.

Your mention of the speed limits being "arbitrary" is merely your opinion and one that can be easily refuted. Unless the town is corrupt, e.g. New Rome, OH, speed limits are set to a formula provided by the federal government based upon various factors. There being "...no evidence to support a conclusion that exceeding the posted limit by a few miles per hour causes any additional accidents or increased damage in an accident." is a slippery slope argument coupled with an appeal to authority. In other words, since a nebulous unnamed authority has found no evidence that speeding causes additional harm, it should be ok to speed?

Then you provide yet another logical fallacy, moral equivalence. In your reply to Motorcycle Mama you mention that following the laws might have resulted in there being no Jews in Germany by the end of the war. The moral equivalence here is that you are equating driving at the speed limit with The Final Solution. In other words, if we follow the law by driving the speed limit we are as evil as those who committed genocide, so we should not follow the law?

Trying to follow your line of thinking makes my brain hurt.

It's fine for me...keeps me aware that I am over the posted limit.

Ya think?

Godwin's Law

My two youngest sisters think like jon.
Of course I will never ride with them.

Thank you Mama. I couldn't remember the name.

That red does not bother me at all. I prefer to know that I am over the legal limit.

I fin it hard to tell when the numbers change to red. As far as I know, I am not color blind -- but I would like the background to change to red, and the numbers to white to make it easier to tell.

Speaking of which -- remember those Chevrolet cars that were made during the 55 MPH nationwide speed limit? Some of them would sound the horn continuously any time the car went faster than 55 MPH!

Not only applies to highway traffic, but the flow of traffic on local streets often exceeds the speed limit.

The only thing about the over-speed indicator that bothers me is that on the units I have, the red color change remains on the existing background color heading field...this makes the numbers themselves pretty difficult to see when the color changes to red.

It doesn't bother me at all. It's still a good reminder that I'm over the speed limit without looking down to look at speedometer. A quick glance at the visual red on top of the dashboard is helpful.

Masterful ploy! Based on Godwin's Rule, we can't discuss the issue any longer.

"The most emotionally intense color, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing."

Some people are more affected by the color red than others. Others just see it as another color, comprehend it's meaning, and move on.

The red was hard to see on the 1490 during daylight. It is much better on the 2597.

because there are so many damn speed cameras, I like this feature.

I wonder how Garmin justifies to the color blind people why they can't change the setting from red to some color they can see?

I agree. It's not a big deal.

My eyes are getting a bit old and I really can't read the speed in red. When it is red, I know that I am going over the speed limit, and I actually like that I can slow down or keep on cruising along knowing I am a bit above the limit.

The speed limit display in my unit is just that, a display of the speed on that particular segment of road at one point in time. Speed limits change, some go up, some go down and the data in the map may or may not agree with the sign on the side of the road. I really don't worry about what the Garmin says is the speed limit, I use the actual speed reported as an indicator of how fast I'm traveling.

That doesn't mean I don't check it, it's often just to see if the signs and the display agree.

It sure bothers my wife if it turns red.. Alway will let me know that I am going over the limit so "Back Down" lol

BTW, isnt there a way to change the dashboard, not to even show the speed limit?

not bother me one bit. I do not constantly watch the GPS!!!

Have no idea of what a color blind person would see. Can someone with the condition enlighten us?

This might be of aid: http://izismile.com/2009/07/23/the_colors_through_the_eyes_a...

or

http://www.beercolor.com/color_challenged_per.htm

Maybe they just don't tell color blind people about the change.

Color blind people can still see the red just fine, they just may not be able to distinguish it from other colors (typically red and green are difficult to distinguish). A color blind person should still see black and non-black.

This is really a non-issue. At some point the world is going to have to stop catering to everyone who whines "I'm special, I have a disability!".

Exactly, a buddy of mine is color blind, he sees stuff, just can't tell you the right color.

I just wear those old school red & blue 3D glasses and the current speed in red is outta sight... outta mind!

I am red-green color blind, I can see the difference between the colors, but I don't know if they are what everybody else sees. I like to see the MPH there just to see the difference between speedo and gps.

I like very much to know the speed limit, as I frequently miss speed limit signs while traveling. When I know the speed limit, I can then adjust my actual speed to my liking relative to the posted speed.

I also like to know the speed limit. The speed limit in the GPS map database isn't always right, but its usually at least a decent guess if you missed the signs.

Back to the OP's original post, I think Garmin is fine as it is and personally I don't think an option to change when the current speed turns red is needed.

I wish I could at least change the color. For me, the red is much harder to read.

Agreed. The red color used in combination with the background field color (especially in the nighttime color scheme) makes it virtually impossible to read what the speed is. This little detail further shows that Garmin likely does virtually no real-world testing with their GPS units...and if they do, their testers must be clueless.

I guess you could look at it as a warning you are going too slow when the color changes from red to green:)

For me, I have just gotten used to seeing the red numbers.

Not the law in Florida. I have no idea where you are getting that from, but it's not correct.

Mine is always red. I thought it was SUPPOSED to be that way.

In GENERAL, the standard of proof required to stop or detain is reasonable suspicion; probable cause is required to arrest or search.

Even IF the police had probable cause to believe a wanted individual was traveling in a particular car, it would only allow them to stop the car and search areas of the vehicle where that peron could be hiding...in the trunk or under a blanket in the back seat, for example. They could not leagally open consoles or glove comparments if they are looking for an individual.

gatorj wrote

There is no way that I can stop them.

Legally you are not required to submit to a search.

Realistically, if they really want to search your car officers will intimidate you into cooperating or manufacture a reason to search your car. After it's all said and done and you've had your rights violated, what can you realistically do without tangible evidence? Even better, how about knowing that even if you did pursue it and won that you would still have to pay the state for the privilege?

Regardless of the terminology or misuse thereof, the end result is the same. You're pulled over with very few options. Choose wisely, because the officer isn't there to help you, but to get you to convict yourself.

...the Red readout. It reminds me to slow down just a shade.

My car speedometer is designed to read high. When I set the cruise, I use the gps for more accuracy and the red readout is more difficult to see, and therefore, more distracting. Telling people to never drive "in the red" just isn't practical.

If there's an android app that posts an audible warning when actual speed exceeds speed limit by a set amount, I'd like to know about it.

I'm a bit surprised by the comments above that Garmin does not give you any control over this. When I was looking at buying a GPS, I compared various makes and concluded that Garmin and TomTom were pretty much equivalent in features for equivalent models, and ended up with TomTom because they offered lifetime maps - which Garmin did not do at that time.

Are you sure that there are not some settings buried in a second-level menu that will control this? On my TomTom I can choose whether or not the speed limit is displayed, which should take care of the color issue. (If it's not even displayed, then it can't be the "Wrong" color.)

There are also an option as to whether or not to provide a selectable audible alert if I exceed the limit by some amount - which I *think* is the greater of 3MPH or 5% - and an additional option to alert if I exceed a specific speed that I have selected. As I said above, I thought that Garmin's feature set was very similar to that of TomTom, so I would expect that you might be able to do the same - although it might be buried in some non-intuitive sub-menu.

- Tom -

No, there is no buried menu setting. Many of us here have been using Garmin GPS units for many, many years and know these units inside and out. If there -was- a buried menu setting somewhere, you can bet that you'd hear about it here and we wouldn't be griping about it (along with the many other bone-headed Garmin decisions) like we do.

Lol

If you are relying on Garmin for legal speed limits, you may be disappointed! It is reliable most of the time, but I've found plenty of specific places where it is not. These are usually near speed limit changes or asymmetric speed limits (one direction is higher than the other direction).

Red speed display doesn't bother me either.

Come to Spotswood NJ one 1/4 mile of a little road they ticket for 26 in a 25 zone. but I must say they have signs that speed limit is strictly enforced.
Never been got pinched but Was told by several people they were.

I have gotten used to the anoying red speed. But it does come in handy cause in Miami area they WILL give you a ticket for doing 2 miles over the limit in a school speed zone.