Garmin 50LM "hidden function" ???

Did you happen to turn on the Unpaved Road avoidance? That would keep the Nuvi from routing you onto the dirt road.

Also it maybe that, like other Nuvi models, the device learns the type of road, speed you travel, etc. and that has caused it to route you a way that more closely matches your normal behavior.

Can my Garmin Learn my driving behavior?

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/42523

I didn't realize the nuvi could track driving habits and change routing accordingly. The quote from Garmin references "your device" and is from 2014. Is this ability common to all Nuvi models, or only the newer ones?

It must be only some models. I have never had a route changed on my 775T based on my driving habits. Would love to see it though.

This was a hot topic of discussion in the forums 4 or 5 years ago when this "feature" of the nuvi was discovered by forum users and confirmed by Garmin. One of the questions that was discussed is if this learned behavior was calculated into the routing algorithm so it could actually have an effect on the roads that were selected for a route. The consensus back then was that the learned behavior affected SIMULATED speeds and ETA, but had no effect on calculated routes. In other words, the routing algorithm ignored the learned behavior. This was back in the days of the 7xx and 8xx nuvi models, so maybe Garmin has changed the algorithm on the newer models to use the learned information.

I may have read a bit too much into what they said. I initially took the quote below (along with the previous bit about learning speeds) to mean that the Nuvi would route based on known quicker roads once it had learned speeds and such. Reading closer it may just do an ordinary recalculation as you drive, but that isn't something they'd need to tell us about...

After reading a number of posts, this device was set up with none of the avoidances checked.

The original to Home/from Home directions wanted to take me on a dirt road with 30 degree slope and washed out ruts that would be a challenge for 4 wheel drive vehicles. Certainly NOT a thru street !!!

I simply took what I knew to be the correct route, and after a number of days it "learned" to avoid the original route. Really slick if this is what it does.
Did not expect something like this from an entry level unit.

Just today, my Nuvi made another change to the directions it has been giving to get me to Tucson.
I have routinely ignored a half mile set of directions for a shorter and quicker route of my own.

Today, it began issuing directions based on my route.

we really appreciate the updates. All too often we get left hanging.

Looks like what Garmin said is really true.

Veeery interesting.

Decided to pull the trigger yesterday and download latest MAP update. I was concerned that the new maps and/or the update process might erase the "learned" routes ( would adaptive routing be the correct term for this learning behavior ? ).

No need to have been worried. The adaptive routing was maintained after the update was completed.

I have a 250W and it would always route me down 400 highway to 401 highway,then after awhile it started to use 407 of which i preferred,also it would route me to Windsor border crossing now it uses Sarnia crossing which is my preference. So it seems it can learn to use what i prefer even if it is slightly longer.

I assume that on some models you have to have certain settings turned on, or am I wrong is it a default thing?

My experience with all of this is limited to the 750. From it I have observed the following:

It does adapt to user's actual driving speeds vs those posted for the routes one follows. For example if you consistently drive 65 on routes posted for 75, route calculations will be based on your accumulated average for that type of route. This becomes more accurate with time and use, but only if one driver is involved. 2 or more drivers may alter the overall average it accumulates for each type of road.

Updates have not purged what it has learned, but a hard reset will. After a hard reset, it seems to take about 200 miles of use before that degree of accuracy returns for me.

It would be interesting to learn if newer models do in fact adapt to alternate routes. While mine has an avoidance for unpaved roads set, Jack insists on taking me down a gravel road vs a paved road to a particular location. Jill has the same mindset.

It may be that it adapts to speed vs distance and in this particular case the calculations favor the gravel road...

There is no option for the "Learn" function of the routing machine. Some of the newer models have a Trends function that may influence routing. But I'm not so sure if it's really working.

I suspect the learning behavior is default. This is only an educated guess based on experience.

When first sent to the washed out dirt road, I had specified dirt roads as an avoidance. Since then, I have turned off all avoidances and selected fastest route.