Inaccurate directions - nuvi 2557/2597

 

I recently switched from nuvi 885 to 2597. The newer Garmin gives inaccurate readings of my location -- in one case, as I was stopped at a complex intersection, the device told me I was already past the light, on the wrong street and had to make a u-turn.

Garmin thinks this is because of interference from my radio antenna which is an embedded field of black dots at the top center of my front windshield. I have moved the GPS to the far left of my dash, no change. All other intersections, the device is off by up to 200 ft and normally 50 ft, thinking I'm not yet at the turn when I'm already past it. This was not the case with my 885, nor with the 650 that preceded it. Is this a known problem with these newer devices and their (I assume) newer antennae? Any suggestions on solutions?

Thanks.

rmb

Can't

Can't help with your problem other than to say what your seeing is NOT normal for the Nuvi and I have owned or used most of them.

Have you done a hard reset to see if that helps?

--
Nuvi 350, 760, 1695LM, 3790LMT, 2460LMT, 3597LMTHD, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, DriveSmart 61, Garmin Drive 52, Garmin Backup Camera 40 and TomTom XXL540s.

Antennae in windshield

I've not experienced it but a radio antenna built into a windshield is often quoted as being a problem for a GPS to receive a good signal.

On the other hand, your description of a field of black dots sounds more like auto windshields that have a built-in sun screens, very common these days. Do you see any embedded wires going to or from the black dots? If not, I don't think it's an antenna and therefore think it is not going to be a problem for getting a strong GPS signal.

When your 2597 is in a desired location on your dashboard (and after a couple minutes for a good signal and with a clear view of the sky), what does your satellite reception look like? From your main menu screen, hold a finger in the upper left corner where the satellite bars are. After maybe 5-15 seconds, you'll be taken to your satellite screen. Are there several strong signals? What is the stated "xx Foot Accuracy?"

In any event, I have not experienced your findings with any of my nuvi devices, including inside my vehicles that have a black-dot windshield. I have never driven a vehicle with an embedded radio antenna in the windshield, so can't comment on results in these vehicles.

One last thought since your device is new. Have you turned it on with a clear view of the sky, and stayed in that one spot unmoving for 15 minutes or so? That will give a stationary signal and allow the almanac to be loaded to the nuvi. See (and scroll down to almanac):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_signals

In addition to doing this 15-minute almanac download with a new nuvi, it's a useful procedure for a GPS device that's been turned off for several weeks/months; or a GPS turned off, then turned back on in a distant location; e.g., a Denver resident having just arrived in Hawaii on vacation.

.

Have you tried it in a different vehicle to see if the problem persists?

no such problem with my NUVI2555LMT

My NUVI2555LMT is always very close to the actual position. Never any problem like you described.

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DriveSmart 65, NUVI2555LMT, (NUVI350 is Now Retired)

One more thought

I gather that you either called or emailed Garmin Customer Service for advice on this issue with your new GPS.

My thoughts on calling Garmin:

There are times that contacting Garmin is the way to go. The best examples are when Garmin needs to connect remotely to your device, then do a repair; another is when an owner needs a warranty replacement or even an out-of-warranty request when they may still honor a free replacement.

But there are also times when it's best to come here or to some of the other GPS/Garmin forums (fora?) for advice. A great example is getting wav audio alerts on a nuvi (since Garmin doesn't officially accept that nuvi can play wav files). One advantage to coming here rather than speaking with a single Garmin support person is that you will get multiple folks responding with different ideas; another is that many here are experienced users of Garmin devices and we have gathered quite the archive of past experiences of even many more. I'm not sure that all the Garmin tech support personnel, especially the Level 1 support you first speak with, even have owned or used the devices they're supporting.

I Agree

CraigW wrote:

.I'm not sure that all the Garmin tech support personnel, especially the Level 1 support you first speak with, even have owned or used the devices they're supporting.

I think you're dead on, with this comment. I'm not even convinced that engineering uses the product.

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DriveSmart 65, NUVI2555LMT, (NUVI350 is Now Retired)

I get that issue, but it

I get that issue, but it corrects itself in a few moments.

Hard Reset or TEST when not mounted in vehicle.

If it was me, i would try the Hard Reset mentioned above. AND I would TEST it OUTSIDE the vehicle, to see if the accuracy is at least "stable". That is, watch the vehicle icon on the screen and see if it "moves around" - while stationary.

And being a "new" device, it just MIGHT be off. I believe it does happen every now and again. If that is the case, its best to discover it while its NEW, and be able to return it to the dealer for an exchange unit - and let the store worry about it.

Just my 2 cents ....

2597

Correct me if I am wrong. Is the 2597 not the same as the 2598LMT except it does not have the backup camera?

I am seriously considering the 2598LMT to replace my unreliable 3790LMT.

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

I

I see the 2598LMTHD listed on the Garmin US site and it comes with HD traffic support but no backup camera. Although the specs are the same, hopefully there is something different between the 2597 and 2598 since the list price for the 2598 is $120 more than the 2597. IMO HD traffic is not worth a $20 price difference, let alone $120. See:

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/catalog/product/compareResul...

The 2598 with a backup camera appears to be a Garmin Nuvi 2798LMT with Backup Camera which lists for $400 on the Garmin website:

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-road/automotive/2013-...

So I guess the question is, is the backup camera worth $80 and is the whole package worth $200 extra?

The other thing your going to notice is that you will loss the very nice multi-touch, glass, dual-orientation screen that the 3xxx models, like your 3790 have.

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Nuvi 350, 760, 1695LM, 3790LMT, 2460LMT, 3597LMTHD, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, DriveSmart 61, Garmin Drive 52, Garmin Backup Camera 40 and TomTom XXL540s.

Thanks

So helpful, everybody. I double-checked with a Honda dealer and found out I had been misinformed about the antenna location -- it's embedded in the rear windshield not front. I am doing the 15 mins almanac download described in this thread and will report about whether that changes anything. Only other vehicle we have is also Honda Civic, different year but same model design, so not sure whether that will prove anything one way or the other. It was this exact problem that got Garmin to exchange my previous 2557 for this one, as I assumed the 2557 was faulty. I will try for reset also once I see whether the almanac download fixes or doesn't. Will not be in car until later today, so updates probably will be tomorrow. Thanks, rmb

Agreed

I agree with you, rmbel48, and the others who have advised you here. Try a hard reset if the download doesn't fix it. Hard reset is worth a shot.

I doubt, though, that this problem has anything to do with what car you're in, especially since your old GPS worked fine in this same car, I presume. Garmin's blowin' smoke on that one. But if the reset doesn't help, try this GPS in another car just so you can tell Garmin you've covered that base without improvement. Then you could request a warranty exchange as yours is most likely defective. Another GPS of the same model will probably solve this issue for you.

Often, though, with a warranty exchange, you get a refurbished unit. If you bought it recently from somebody like amazon, returning it for a refund and buying another is a different way to go if getting a refurb doesn't appeal. I personally don't have a problem with a refurb that's truly been checked out and certified as like new, but some people don't like them on principle. ("I paid for a new one; I want a new one, not somebody else's returned unit.")

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JMoo On

My Suggestion

You say your Nuvi 855 and the 650 that preceded it were accurate. I assume these two units worked in both the Honda's you own.

You bought a 2557 which had the accuracy issue,it was then replaced by Garmin for a 2597 and the inaccuracy still remains. I think it's safe to assume that it's not the Nuvi's at fault here.

What I would do to troubleshoot is to backup your favotites file to your PC (current.gpx). Then download the latest firmware for the 2597 using Webupdater. Make sure the battery is fully charged before the firmware download.

Edited; Are these inaccuracies appearing in areas that generally get good reception or does it occur in mountainous regions or cities where interference could be a factor?

Perform a hard reset explained in the link below.
https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?...

Once the hard reset is completed take the Nuvi outdoors with a clear view of the sky and let it obtain satellites. Once a strong signal obtained, put the Nuvi in one of the Honda's and test for accuracy.

If the unit is still inaccurate I would next do what others suggested, that being trying in a different vehicle (neighbor,friends).

If it works properly in another vehicle then we can assume both your Honda's are giving some interference. My wife has a 2008 Civic and both my Nuvi 2460 and my old 660 (backup) work accurately in that vehicle

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

I have a 2597 and find it to

I have a 2597 and find it to be inaccurate on addresses to about 200 feet in the city and than that more in the country. Go figure.

Addressing inaccuracies are

Addressing inaccuracies are in the database supplied by Local and state GIS data. Address locations are based on range of addresses on a particular stretch of road and may not appear where they actually are.

Google has this same error in places.

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Frank DriveSmart55 37.322760, -79.511267

uhm no

phranc wrote:

Addressing inaccuracies are in the database supplied by Local and state GIS data. Address locations are based on range of addresses on a particular stretch of road and may not appear where they actually are.

Google has this same error in places.

The error is in the algorithms used to determine the address in the Nuvi or on line mapping software. The addresses provided (usually from what is called the MSAG). The MSAG is the Master Street Address Guide and is what's used by police and fire departments to find a house or business. These locations are determined through surveys. Google, and many others only estimate where an address is on a street by dividing the block into increments representing the difference between the 100s block and the length of the segment.

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Illiterate? Write for free help.

Inaccuracies

Did hard reset. Let the Nuvi sit outside in clear sun plugged into an outlet for 30 mins. Took it out for a spin. Minimum 20ft off at every corner. One one corner, at the turn it was telling me to turn in 30 ft, and once I turned it told me the same turn was now .5 miles ahead and kept on waiting for me to turn as I drove a quarter of a mile along the road it thought I hadn't got to yet. I'll have to figure out who has a car I can try in beside my wife. Let you know then if its the nuvi or the civic. BTW, I have no problem with refurbs on the assumption they've been looked at twice instead of once.

Hard reset

muell9k wrote:

...

Perform a hard reset explained in the link below.
https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?...

...

That does sound very much like a computer help desk solution to everything!

Turn your XM/Sirius

Turn your XM/Sirius Satellite radio off and go back and try the drive again.

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Frank DriveSmart55 37.322760, -79.511267

inaccurate directions

most these gps's are wonky and they are not very accurate to begin with
i use my gps every single day at least for 12 hour a day
in my opinion they should be used knowing their limitations and inaccuracies

2597 with Nissan Quest

I use the 2597 on a gps holder and not stick on window and I place the gpsholder close to my steering wheel and watch the gps without obscuring my driving. After driving for a 1 hour the GPs would lose satellite and the GPS satellite would work and be lost again. I tried moving the gps holder to the dashboard in the middle and works for a while and then loses satellite again. It happened on many occasions during long trip to the USA. The Nissan dioes have its own Navigation but the maps are old and expensive to update. So i also don't know what causes this and is weird.

Inaccuracies

Don't have satellite radio, just normal one. Can't remember if radio was on on recent drive or not. Will check with radio off. rmb

How

phranc wrote:

Turn your XM/Sirius Satellite radio off and go back and try the drive again.

How could a satellite radio possibly affect the GPS? I've owned vehicles for years that have Sirius and now SiriusXM radios in them and never have I seen them affect any of my Nuvi's or TomTom's.

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Nuvi 350, 760, 1695LM, 3790LMT, 2460LMT, 3597LMTHD, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, DriveSmart 61, Garmin Drive 52, Garmin Backup Camera 40 and TomTom XXL540s.

Sorry my bad

t923347 wrote:

Garmin Nuvi 2798LMT with Backup Camera which lists for $400 on the Garmin website:

Yes you are correct its 2798LMT
Well you know.
The difference in men and boys
is the cost of their toys.

My 3790LMT would be a wonderful GPS if it were more reliable. I have to take my now ancient 855LMT on long trips for safety and backup. The 3790 has crapped out on me several times. Better screen????

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

.

biggpsuser wrote:

most these gps's are wonky and they are not very accurate to begin with

Odd that you say that, as I find them quite accurate. Both my 775T, and my 3790 have been great.

Melaqueman wrote:

My 3790LMT would be a wonderful GPS if it were more reliable.

In 30,000 miles of use, mine has never let me down as of yet. Sorry to hear your's has. How has it been unreliable?

--
nüvi 3790T | Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable ~ JFK

Never had anything like that

Never had anything like that with my Nuvi 1690. It sounds like your Nuvi is not getting strong GPS reception from the satellites. I would check your satellite signal strength the next time it happens (pres and hold upper left corner). This will show you the number of satellites it is tracking and the strength of the signal.

I'm Stumped

rmbel48 wrote:

Did hard reset. Let the Nuvi sit outside in clear sun plugged into an outlet for 30 mins. Took it out for a spin. Minimum 20ft off at every corner. One one corner, at the turn it was telling me to turn in 30 ft, and once I turned it told me the same turn was now .5 miles ahead and kept on waiting for me to turn as I drove a quarter of a mile along the road it thought I hadn't got to yet. I'll have to figure out who has a car I can try in beside my wife. Let you know then if its the nuvi or the civic. BTW, I have no problem with refurbs on the assumption they've been looked at twice instead of once.

You didn’t mention if you updated the firmware using Webupdater.

This is quite puzzling, being off at least 20 feet at every corner makes the GPS unusable. I’ve owned many Garmins and not one were ever inaccurate on the turn by turn directions. Possibly the area you are testing in is having some sort of satellite interference giving the Nuvi an inaccurate satellite fix. I realize your 885 or 650 had no such problem but possibly the 25XX series receiving antenna is not as good. Have you tried other areas to rule out poor satellite reception?

I hope you are able to test it again in another vehicle besides the two Honda Civics so we can rule out the vehicles being at fault.

P.S. Regarding refurbs, should you buy one get it from a reputable source that either states Garmin refurbished or factory refurbished. Those unit come with the same warranty as a new one and arrive in perfect condition just like a new one. In the future, I would only buy a refurbished one for a substantial savings.

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Call your dealer

Another possible thing is your window tinting. All cars have *some* window tinting. Some cars actually use a metallized film instead of just tinting the glass. We had one like that once and it interfered with our iPASS. Completely non-functional inside the car. The windows in that car did not look any different than any other car. You might Google or call your car dealer to ask about this.

Checking the satellite signal strength and number of satellites connected would reveal a reception issue vs some other problem.

3790LMT

Melaqueman wrote:

Correct me if I am wrong. Is the 2597 not the same as the 2598LMT except it does not have the backup camera?

I am seriously considering the 2598LMT to replace my unreliable 3790LMT.

I use my 3790LMT in Ontario, Canada and Florida, USA and all points between, never had an issue since I've had it, which was when they first came out.

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Nüvi 3790

.

biggpsuser wrote:

most these gps's are wonky and they are not very accurate to begin with

Not even close to being true.

Quote:

i use my gps every single day at least for 12 hour a day
in my opinion they should be used knowing their limitations and inaccuracies

As is the case with any device.

Many times I've had the

Many times I've had the satellite antenna placed close to my GPS and gotten interference on one or the other. It's the interference caused by the Intermediate frequencies in both units being pretty close together. Internal circuits.

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Frank DriveSmart55 37.322760, -79.511267

Inaccuracies

1. Problems persist no matter where I am -- big cities, suburbs or where I live semi-rural. 2. Not sure about tinting -- as I think I mentioned before, there's a patch of black dots about 12"x3" at the center top of the windshield, and a single band of similar black dots framing the entire windshield. 3. Just webupdated traffic error codes and receiver firmware. 4. Never checked sats before -- but I pressed the sat icon on main screen, and if the little icons with numbers inside floating around the target image = sats -- I have 9 or 10 and accuracy of 15 ft after the device is on for a few minutes. Let me know if I should be looking at something else or doing something different, thanks. I will use it going out later today and report if any improvement.

On Sat. will have guests and can take GPS out for spin in different vehicle. Thanks to all.

Keep Us Updated

rmbel48 wrote:

1. Problems persist no matter where I am -- big cities, suburbs or where I live semi-rural. 2. Not sure about tinting -- as I think I mentioned before, there's a patch of black dots about 12"x3" at the center top of the windshield, and a single band of similar black dots framing the entire windshield. 3. Just webupdated traffic error codes and receiver firmware. 4. Never checked sats before -- but I pressed the sat icon on main screen, and if the little icons with numbers inside floating around the target image = sats -- I have 9 or 10 and accuracy of 15 ft after the device is on for a few minutes. Let me know if I should be looking at something else or doing something different, thanks. I will use it going out later today and report if any improvement.

On Sat. will have guests and can take GPS out for spin in different vehicle. Thanks to all.

Let us know if after doing firmware update if any improvement on your test today.

That will be good that you can test it in another vehicle on Saturday, if no improvement we can rule out the problem being the two Honda Civics.

You may also trying to clear your Nuvi's trip log.
Touch Settings.
Touch Device.
Touch Clear Travel History.
Touch Yes to confirm.
The trip log is now deleted.

Copied & Pasted from this link:
https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?...

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Inaccuracies

Tested 2597 and 885 in another car yesterday. 2597 was just as inaccurate as in my Civic. The 885 was better -- though on some of the intersections was off at the turn by 20-30 ft, but only about a quarter of the time, vs. the newer device's 100% failure rate. At the one squirrely turn I mentioned in a previous post, both devices lost track of position after the turn and both thought vehicle was .25 miles back before the turn. So I sent that into Garmin as a mapping error in case that is the problem with that.

So - since I can't find legal smaller map for the 885, I'm left with the decision about whether to keep the 2597 or just give up and pop for a smart phone and use Google Maps. Before I do that, I'm going to try my wife's iPhone in the neighborhood and see how that goes. rmb

??

rmbel48 wrote:

Tested 2597 and 885 in another car yesterday. 2597 was just as inaccurate as in my Civic. The 885 was better -- though on some of the intersections was off at the turn by 20-30 ft, but only about a quarter of the time, vs. the newer device's 100% failure rate. At the one squirrely turn I mentioned in a previous post, both devices lost track of position after the turn and both thought vehicle was .25 miles back before the turn. So I sent that into Garmin as a mapping error in case that is the problem with that.
...

@rmbel48, I have been following this thread and have been wondering exactly what you are expecting in terms of accuracy. You sound like you think that a consumer GPS should be able to locate you to less than 30 feet.

I am interested in what you find when you press and hold the "satellite" icon on your device. If you do this, you will get a diagnostic screen that will give the accuracy which the device thinks it can achieve. I am sitting here looking at my 2595 and the best it has given me is 24 Foot Accuracy when it had a lock on 10 satellites after 10 minutes of looking. Mostly it oscillating between 25 and 30 foot accuracy with 9 satellites.

I think the accuracy you are bemoaning is what we all expect.

Me, too

jgermann wrote:
rmbel48 wrote:

Tested 2597 and 885 in another car yesterday. 2597 was just as inaccurate as in my Civic. The 885 was better -- though on some of the intersections was off at the turn by 20-30 ft, but only about a quarter of the time, vs. the newer device's 100% failure rate. At the one squirrely turn I mentioned in a previous post, both devices lost track of position after the turn and both thought vehicle was .25 miles back before the turn. So I sent that into Garmin as a mapping error in case that is the problem with that.
...

@rmbel48, I have been following this thread and have been wondering exactly what you are expecting in terms of accuracy. You sound like you think that a consumer GPS should be able to locate you to less than 30 feet.

I am interested in what you find when you press and hold the "satellite" icon on your device. If you do this, you will get a diagnostic screen that will give the accuracy which the device thinks it can achieve. I am sitting here looking at my 2595 and the best it has given me is 24 Foot Accuracy when it had a lock on 10 satellites after 10 minutes of looking. Mostly it oscillating between 25 and 30 foot accuracy with 9 satellites.

I think the accuracy you are bemoaning is what we all expect.

I also have been thinking about this. It seems to me that a mapping error or a GPS-location error (GPS- or windshield/electronic-caused) would result in turn-alerts coming too soon as well as too late, if either/both were the cause.

What seems more likely is that an always-too-late-turn-alert is due to the interaction between the vehicle speed and GPS processor/task speed.

One way to test this is to go to one of the turns where turn announcements are occurring too late. Intentionally approach this turn from at least 100 yards away at a speed of 10-25 mph. Does a slower speed cause the turn announcement to magically work properly?

Since you probably can't adjust your corner approach speed all the time (unless you're a really fast aggressive driver which may need to be addressed elsewhere wink ), the solution may be from the GPS by reducing the number of tasks required of its processor. To lessen a GPS processor speed issue, can your turn off features like myTrends, eco-whatever, custom POIs with alerts, especially TourGuides, delete your tracklog, etc? A hard reset might be a last resort. If tried, do any of these improve your advance upcoming turn announcements?

Lastly, did we ever ask how much free nuvi storage is on the slow-to-announce devices? If there's really a tiny amount of free space, what happens if extra space is created by deleting unneeded voices, etc?

Thanks For Updating Us

rmbel48 wrote:

Tested 2597 and 885 in another car yesterday. 2597 was just as inaccurate as in my Civic. The 885 was better -- though on some of the intersections was off at the turn by 20-30 ft, but only about a quarter of the time, vs. the newer device's 100% failure rate. At the one squirrely turn I mentioned in a previous post, both devices lost track of position after the turn and both thought vehicle was .25 miles back before the turn. So I sent that into Garmin as a mapping error in case that is the problem with that.

So - since I can't find legal smaller map for the 885, I'm left with the decision about whether to keep the 2597 or just give up and pop for a smart phone and use Google Maps. Before I do that, I'm going to try my wife's iPhone in the neighborhood and see how that goes. rmb

Now that we can rule out the Civics causing the problem I'm at a loss of ideas.

Although not very likely. I'm wondering if has soemthing to do with the map. Are you using the latest map version (2015.20) on both the 885 and 2597?

What area do you live at that may be causing poor satellite reception. Maybe another member living in your area can confirm no issues with reception.

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Good point

muell9k wrote:

What area do you live at that may be causing poor satellite reception. Maybe another member living in your area can confirm no issues with reception.

Good point. Given that rmbel states that all devices lose their position after a turn, there may be some local interference or something causing these results.

Hmm, a good test would be to do a 1000-mile road trip wink far far away—while avoiding Area 51!

.

Military bases are known to have GPS jamming. Is the OP near one?

We had a thread on this a few years back, IIRC.

--
nüvi 3790T | Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable ~ JFK

There was another thread a

There was another thread a while back on a sluggish GPS similar to this and I can't recall the circumstances. But it seems to me that the cure was turning off one of the features, but for the life of me, I can't remember what.

The reason I remember is that I was slightly affected by this myself.

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Frank DriveSmart55 37.322760, -79.511267

Good Suggestiom

Juggernaut wrote:

Military bases are known to have GPS jamming. Is the OP near one?

We had a thread on this a few years back, IIRC.

Good point, since he stated the 855 worked properly before, but now also experiencing some issues like the 2597, although not as bad.

Perhaps there is some jamming or other signal interference involved that has manifested itself recently. I suppose another test would be is if somebody else (friend\family) in his area had a Nuvi to see if it suffered the same issues.
jgermann’s suggestion of lack of free space is a good point but the 2597 has 8GB memory so I don’t think that’s the source of the problem.

Also as jgermann mentioned to disable ecoRoute and My Trends is another process of elimination but the 855 doesn’t have those features and also experiences issues sometimes. However, it's worth a try.

If possible as CraigW suggested, maybe a long drive out of your area would be a good test.

It’s a long shot but another thing you can try is to change the voice you selected and make sure the text language is set to English.
Maybe the processor is having a problem reading the voice file fast enough, thus a lag.

Lastly if all this fails I would CALL Garmin support if it’s still under warranty and explain all the steps you’ve taken and maybe they’ll replace the 2597. If the replacement behaves the same I would say it is definitely the area you are in causing the issue.

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Not seen any issues

Have not encountered anything like you described. The good news is that you're able to easily duplicate the issue - what about trying in a different vehicle. I hope Garmin is able to correct the issue for you.

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Garmin Drive Smart 61 NA LMT-S

He Already Tried A Different Vehicle - Didn't Work

Garmin Gal wrote:

Have not encountered anything like you described. The good news is that you're able to easily duplicate the issue - what about trying in a different vehicle. I hope Garmin is able to correct the issue for you.

rmbel48 wrote:

Tested 2597 and 885 in another car yesterday. 2597 was just as inaccurate as in my Civic. The 885 was better -- though on some of the intersections was off at the turn by 20-30 ft, but only about a quarter of the time, vs. the newer device's 100% failure rate.

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Inaccuracies

My issue began a month or so ago in the heart of Boston's Kenmore Sq. I was using my 2597 at a 4-way intersection -- one street leading into a choice of three. I knew which one of the forks I should go on, but as I waited at the red light, right on the stop line, the GPS assumed I had already passed through the intersection, gone on the wrong street and was telling me to make a u-turn. If I were in a strange city, I'd be completely confused and trying to stare at my nuvi screen while driving, a pretty unsafe result. My older 885 is much more accurate and I rarely if ever was confused. So the issue became one of my constantly second guessing the new nuvi.

.

Several times my 2595LMT has taken me on wrong routes but most of the time, spot on!

Interference or Map Issue

rmbel48 wrote:

My issue began a month or so ago in the heart of Boston's Kenmore Sq. I was using my 2597 at a 4-way intersection -- one street leading into a choice of three. I knew which one of the forks I should go on, but as I waited at the red light, right on the stop line, the GPS assumed I had already passed through the intersection, gone on the wrong street and was telling me to make a u-turn. If I were in a strange city, I'd be completely confused and trying to stare at my nuvi screen while driving, a pretty unsafe result. My older 885 is much more accurate and I rarely if ever was confused. So the issue became one of my constantly second guessing the new nuvi.

It’s quite possible an interference issue in the heart of Boston’s Kenmore Square, but it also may be a mapping error.
You stated earlier "Problems persist no matter where I am -- big cities, suburbs or where I live semi-rural."
That is the confusing part.

Since you say the issue began about 1 month ago (2015.20 released 8/13) maybe the map is causing issues.
I would return the 2597 to Garmin and get a replacement. The replacement will likely have an older map version.
The first thing to do is make a complete backup of the unit to you hard drive. Your 2597 is one of the units that uses Mass Storage Mode so some files are hidden, You will need to unhide them to back them up.

Start NUVI by itself and go to Volume Screen.
Press the upper right hand corner of screen for 10 seconds.
The Developers Screen will pop up
Scroll down to MTP SETTINGS
Change from AUTO DETECT to MASS STORAGE

With the Nuvi on, go into your map info screen and see what map version is installed, write it down.
Now take the Nuvi for a ride and see if the problem still exists, avoid the city if possible. If corrected then try a map update to V 2015.20.
If the problem reappears it would seem it’s the map. Your safety net is the files you backed up that you can copy back.

I’ve exhausted all suggestions so I’m unable to offer any further advice.

--
Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Wow - Thanks

Am blown away by all the thoughtful responses as I work through this issue. Some new thoughts and info:

1.I used my wife's iPhone's google maps to drive the local intersection where my Garmin forgets I made the turn and tells me it's .4 miles away after I turn. No issue on google maps. As I said earlier, I reported this mapping issue to Garmin.

2. RE speed as I approach the turns. Yes -- I do see this as a factor and have watched the distance reduce from say 50 ft to 30 or 20 ft as I turn. And I do think it takes a bit of time to tick down the numbers. What concerns me is that even when I am at a dead stop at a light, the 2597 sometimes shows me 30-50 ft away -- something I was never aware of on the 885. Don't have the 8597 at hand, so I will check how much data fills the main drive, and if I remove much of what I don't need, see if anything changes.

3. Last time I checked sats, I had 8 or 9 and it wavered between 24-35 foot accuracy. One time I got 12 foot accuracy -- this in my driveway under mostly sunny skies.

4. All maps on both 885 and 2597 are latest updates. On 885, through great help on another thread on this forum, I cloned 2015.20 map to SD card to free space on 885 main drive, but still have problems. Somebody smart said that the Linux-based OS on the 885 doesn't have the oomph to handle the newer large maps, so it often is sluggish or frozen as I type on the keyboard -- hence my purchase of the newer Nuvi.

5. 8597 is my 4th Nuvi after 650, 885 and 8557. I am used to routing problems on all of them, sometimes giving wrong directions, etc. or not knowing which street I'm on in an area with multiple streets/ramps/tunnels or whatever in parallel. But after the experience I described in Boston, I started mistrusting the 8597, shortly thereafter, for example, taking the wrong one of 2 close-together right turns at a highly confusing intersection where there were no street signs -- this is Boston, after all - in part because the distance to turn wasn't trustable. And so I became highly focused on these (perhaps normal) inaccuracies.

6. BTW - no military installations close to the local turn where the mapping's off.

7. Still unsure of what I want to do. I did massive effort with garmin this Spring when the 885 went blooey because I updated to a too-big map, so I am loathe to get into another effort on the 2597, which after all is a replacement for the 2557, which was making the same mistakes. I've already used up a ton of good will here, much appreciated, and my own time troubleshooting this issue.

Best, rmb

Inaccurate directions - nuvi 2557/2597

rmbel48 wrote:

Am blown away by all the thoughtful responses as I work through this issue. Some new thoughts and info:

1.I used my wife's iPhone's google maps to drive the local intersection where my Garmin forgets I made the turn and tells me it's .4 miles away after I turn. No issue on google maps. As I said earlier, I reported this mapping issue to Garmin.

2. RE speed as I approach the turns. Yes -- I do see this as a factor and have watched the distance reduce from say 50 ft to 30 or 20 ft as I turn. And I do think it takes a bit of time to tick down the numbers. What concerns me is that even when I am at a dead stop at a light, the 2597 sometimes shows me 30-50 ft away -- something I was never aware of on the 885. Don't have the 8597 at hand, so I will check how much data fills the main drive, and if I remove much of what I don't need, see if anything changes.

3. Last time I checked sats, I had 8 or 9 and it wavered between 24-35 foot accuracy. One time I got 12 foot accuracy -- this in my driveway under mostly sunny skies.

4. All maps on both 885 and 2597 are latest updates. On 885, through great help on another thread on this forum, I cloned 2015.20 map to SD card to free space on 885 main drive, but still have problems. Somebody smart said that the Linux-based OS on the 885 doesn't have the oomph to handle the newer large maps, so it often is sluggish or frozen as I type on the keyboard -- hence my purchase of the newer Nuvi.

5. 8597 is my 4th Nuvi after 650, 885 and 8557. I am used to routing problems on all of them, sometimes giving wrong directions, etc. or not knowing which street I'm on in an area with multiple streets/ramps/tunnels or whatever in parallel. But after the experience I described in Boston, I started mistrusting the 8597, shortly thereafter, for example, taking the wrong one of 2 close-together right turns at a highly confusing intersection where there were no street signs -- this is Boston, after all - in part because the distance to turn wasn't trustable. And so I became highly focused on these (perhaps normal) inaccuracies.

6. BTW - no military installations close to the local turn where the mapping's off.

7. Still unsure of what I want to do. I did massive effort with garmin this Spring when the 885 went blooey because I updated to a too-big map, so I am loathe to get into another effort on the 2597, which after all is a replacement for the 2557, which was making the same mistakes. I've already used up a ton of good will here, much appreciated, and my own time troubleshooting this issue.

Best, rmb

Are you using the cord that came with the unit? when I got mine I used the cord I had already in the vehicle for my 1490; and it did the same thing your describing. I think the traffic antenna built into the cord for the 1490 and the built in traffic antenna in the 2597 were clashing. As soon as I used the cord that went with new unit my GPS went from 35ft to a reading of 12 to 15ft and now doesn't show me moving when stopped.

What?

Juggernaut wrote:

Military bases are known to have GPS jamming. Is the OP near one?

We had a thread on this a few years back, IIRC.

What bases do this? I've used my GPS on several US military bases with the only issues being outdated maps.