How to select tolls per trip on DriveSmart 76?

Try going to Settings > Navigation > Custom Avoidances > Tolls and Fees.

Select Avoid or Allow.

I've tried it both ways and it does only what you set there... either always allows them or avoids them and routes you accordingly. It never brings up a prompt to select a route to avoid them or not. That prompt to allow the toll or not was really that useful to me and what I'd like to get back in some way.

In the online instructions, the only reference to Always Ask involves environmental zones. Sorry, don't have a DriveSmart, so can't duplicate.

Thanks though for trying to help. I'm thinking of just emailing Garmin Support at this point, I'm relatively sure I haven't missed a setting for it, it just seems to be a non-existent option that they removed. Which makes no sense to someone like me living so close to tollroads.

Suggest you call them instead (888-442-7646) when they open on Monday. I have found them to be a lot more helpful than the email response.

Thanks for that suggestion, I'll do that tomorrow.

This is helpful information.

My DS 65 has a setting under Avoidances, that shows things like Toll Roads & Unpaved, that I can click.

If scroll down from the Avoidance choice, IO show a line called Toll Roads. I can choose Always Ask, Avoid or Allow.

I almost never would run into a toll road, so I don't know what wil happen, if I unclick Avoidances-Toll Roads. I unclicked and I still get the line that says Toll Roads and I still see Always Ask, Avoid or Allow.

I'm curious if Mercifer has the same options on his DS.

Since you have only a few short local toll roads, that you want to bypass, have you tried making a Custom Avoidance? It's a bit tedious, but it definitely works. http://www.poi-factory.com/node/43584

Sorry, it's been an insane week, didn't even get a chance to call Garmin, but I will this coming Monday.

I do have that setting on the DriveSmart 76 under Avoidances. But the problem with that is it's just Avoid or Allow for the 76, there is no more Always Ask as an option. That would work fine if I never used tollways (or always used tollways), but there are MANY times when I'm traveling more than a few miles and I do want to route via tollways. So I'd have to always go into settings and change that option, and that would get annoying fast.

The DS 55 that I was using before doesn't have Tollroads under Avoidances, but it had a separate category under Navigation for it where the 3 choices were Allow, Always Ask, Avoid. And that worked perfectly.

It's like the DS 76 has newer firmware that took out the Always Ask option.

Just drive through the toll and Garmin will recalulate the route. Just like it will if you make an unplanned side trip.

At least the Garmins don't keep saying "Recalculating" everytime you go off the route. That was so annoying.

There was a program once where you could change what it said. I changed recalculating to "Yes Master! You know best!"

That was my one thought about the work around, or if it would still route you off the tollway at that point.

And the downside of that would be that it would only work as long as you're in an area where you're familiar with all the on/off ramps, it wouldn't work too well away from your immediate area though.

So still the option of Always Ask for tollroads is still the best option IMO.

Garmin has a chat option that's available on weekends and I tried it. It seems that option has been intentionally removed from all newer Garmins. He'll add me to a list that wants it brought back in case they change their mind about it.

And his workaround is to enter the address to start a route and it will show routes with or without tollroads and you select what you prefer. For me that would mean every time I use it from my location. I suppose I could keep tollroads on Avoid, and enter info only when I want to use tollroads. But I have all that stored in the Garmin so I don't have to remember addresses, that would still be annoying for me to deal with.

Completely idiotic they would intentionally remove that option.

hello

I remember this as being quite common for Garmin, being a user for a very long time now.

Intentional or not, they would remove a feature on a unit, later introducing it with a "new" model later on.

Like how Garmin removed "Shorter Distance" as a routing option on the DS76? The only routing options now are "Faster Time" and "Straight Line". How in the heck is "Straight Line" a useful option for routing on an automotive GPS?

You would hope that they would simply update the software in the unit to restore that option, but I can believe them doing that to force people to buy a new unit.

Any chance there's a way to add it by one of the more knowledgeable people in the community? There are so many things we can add with POIs, etc., one can only hope this might be possible too?

Honestly I'm not sure I'm keeping this unit at this point. Maybe I'll also give them a call on Monday just to complain and see if they have any encouraging response about adding it.

My 3597 said: "You never listen to me. Now I have to recalculate" It got a big laugh fron the wife & grandaughter when they heard it for the first time. I used Australian English Karen.

I wish there was a common sense choice, one that remembers how you continue to deviate from what Garmin calculates.
From my home, it sends me to major roads but does not seem to realize that if I take a local shortcut (and I always do) I save a full minute and 1km from its calculation when I get back on its original route.

Without needing mere facts I jump to the conclusion that "straight line" is a "new and improved" shortest distance.

I know there is a setting for that on the 86

I set a route and it literally ignored every single road when generating the route. I admit however I haven't tried running a route with it. What I find interesting is that, unless my memory is faulty, the DriveSmart 65 had the option in its firmware.

I suppose I could chat with Garmin and ask them, but at the same time I prefer Faster Time routing anyway.

EDIT: I chatted with Kevin from Garmin. According to him, "It was an engineering decision and we have an active case so that they understand consumers are still asking for this option." I had them add my name to the list of people wanting the feature returned, though I don't use shorter distance much: I also don't expect much from Garmin. The way Kevin here spoke makes me think Garmin thought no one really used shorter distance and thus yanked it.

Then "straight line" ≡ "straight line".

Also,,, thanks for the Zaphod Beeblebrox quote in your sig' line.

From Garmin FAQ . Off Road or Straight Line: Draws a geographical straight line route between two points, or "as the crow flies". This is also known as a bearing. This route will not follow any roads. See https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=kEMklzD88S2bcOHaegbke6...

I don't expect much from Garmin either...they are much too busy with trolling motors and a hundred different watches to feel the need to bother with something like this.
If they do "correct" it, the correction will be made via releasing a new model with the option added & will likely never be patched to correct it on an existing model.

You need to look for one of the older models that offers myTrends:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=hGV4xg8nBE7KuZJ1oHaHX6

Maybe you have a compatible model now and just need to enable myTrends.

I have tried my trends and find it's a mess. It makes assumptions that you are wanting to go home... or, to the last place you went.

I tried the Straight Line setting this morning, luckily to a place I knew well because it's so completely useless. I have no idea who makes these types of decisions at Garmin about changing features, and after noticing what is changed on the DS 76 that I have vs older models, it's either AI or monkeys. Or maybe darts tossed on a board. They can't possibly test or ask about these changes with real humans.

If I'm able to still return this one, the older DS 65 seems to have everything my old one had, including an option to "Always Ask" for tollroads and "Faster Time" for navigation instead of the straight line. And will have the larger screen and for about $50 less. I'm thinking that's a win/win at this point.

Garmin clearly prioritized voice commands in the DS76. The engineers must have run into an issue of the voice command system taking up too many lines of code or something, and in order to make it fit cut out the things asked for in this thread.

They simply could have axed the Alexa integration and returned the missing things found in the DS65, but then Garmin would be missing the money coming in from that licensing deal.

I've been trying to force myself to use the voice commands more thinking it would be easier than going through menus, but honestly they can be so tedious and bring up the wrong info so many times it gets too frustrating. Try to tell it "Pesche's" and it brings up nothing but "Pecci's" so of course never finds the garden center. Tell it something as common as "Jewel" for our grocery stores, and it'll bring up 20 different stores but not the one that's actually the closest to where you are and is even saved.

If they had an option to only find locations in your saved places, it would already improve the voice navigation 1000 times. Instead it probably just uses FourSquare which has even given me locations in North Carolina (from a Chicago suburb).

I'm even wondering if I really need the larger screen at this point and just go back to my old reliable DS 55 that just worked sensibly.

To use voice command on my nuvi 3490, I need to literally yell at it. I drive a 1994 Ford Mustang GT with aftermarket (Flowmaster) mufflers on it and while it's by no means loud, it is quite rumbly. The mic on the nuvi is fine as it operates normally when the car is not running. This is with the windows up and the radio off.

Same here, I have to have windows up, turn the radio off and the blower for the AC/heat fan completely off as well and still need to talk quite loudly. It definitely understands what I'm saying, such as "Jewel" for our grocery stores. But it lists Jewel stores miles away from me but not the one that's closest to me that I want. The results are just useless probably 75% of the time.

I tried calling Garmin today, 45 min wait times. So I'll try again tomorrow or Wednesday just to see if there's any hope for that to change. But I'm really not counting it and I'm returning this one since the DS 65 should still work like the 55 did, but I want to confirm that before ordering another one. If not, I'll just keep the DS 55 then for now.

This trip has tolls. But, I would rather pay them than take I-95's white knuckle driving.

Your comments are helpful.

For the life of me I can't figure out why having Alexa is any help at all with the Garmin. I'll admit I don't use Alexa (or Siri), but the Garmin already has voice commands, what does having it tied to Alexa add to it? Am I missing some important functions that you wouldn't have without Alexa? Or is it just telling Alexa to turn on your home lights as you pull into the driveway or something similar (useless IMO)? Something you'd have already set if you had Alexa anywhere in the house?

Sounds like a gimmick to me...add it to be "in"? I don't use those services either as I prefer to do things myself, without help from some "personal assistant".

What's next, toilet flushing via Alexa?

Don't get me started on this whole AI rubbish...

I like the idea of selecting whether to avoid tolls based on the route. Is this prompt still available b/c I never saw it in the models that I had.

According to Garmin, Alexa integration allows you to issue commands such as playing music from Amazon Music, checking the weather without accessing the built-in weather function, and listening to news. There are apparently more functions that can be added, including turning on your lights. I think it's there because Garmin is trying to keep their devices relevant in a world where vehicles include infotainment systems that, coupled with a smartphone, do anything a Garmin can do, even if it may not be done as well.

The engineers are proven idiots. Why did they axe "Shorter Distance" instead of "Straight Line"? Straight Line is for pedestrian use, and these devices don't have the battery life to support it.

It used to be available on all the Garmins I had up to and including the DriveSmart 55 and that series. It was dropped however in the newest series that includes the DriveSmart 76. I found that setting incredibly useful since I live so close to tollroads. It had its own setting under Navigation > Toll Roads.

Completely agree. The Straight Line setting is absolutely useless for driving.

That's for people with a Flying Car. ????

George Jetson

I finally got through to Garmin by phone. Wait times got down from 45-60 min on Monday to 20 min the rest of the week (which I still didn't want to wait), but Friday seems to be the magic day for anyone who needs to call them. I got through right away Friday morning, no waiting at all.

They took my name for "the list" about adding shorter distance back in for navigation, but he said so far the Always Ask toll road option has no list, so hopefully he started one as he said. Where they're located, the nearest toll road is 1.5 hrs away, so of course it would never dawn on them that the other option needs to be there.

I'm still undecided about keeping the DS76. IF they add the shorter distance routing back in, that would make a big difference for me already, and he seems to think that it will come back in for this model, just not when.

What is a big improvement over the DS55 is the way voice commands work. You can now just say "OK Garmin take me to Jewel in Timbuktu" for instance all at once. On the older model you had to first say "OK Garmin" to wake it, then "Find Places", then finally the "name of the place", and have to wait between each step for it to recognize the speech and bring up the next set of options. No wonder why I never used it other than to answer my phone. So after fully testing out voice commands between them has me thinking about keeping the DS76.

Does the DriveSmart 66 have the newer voice commands?

Yes, it does, it's the same series as the DriveSmart 76. The manual covers DS66-76-86, so all the commands have to be the same.

Should be a setting that say Avoid Tolls

There is that setting, but as said earlier in the thread, I also do travel longer distances where I do want to use the toll roads. So Avoid Tolls doesn't really fix that situation when you live within 1/2 mile of a toll road.

The difference in voice command between the DS65 and DS76 is night and day. Voice command wasn't the reason I bought the DS76 - spontaneous reboots after phone calls on the DS65 were - but it was a nice upgrade.

I'm a bit of a pessimist in that I doubt the Always Ask option will return, but fully expect Shorter Distance to return. Its omission is rather galling when Google Maps gives you routing choices.

I think you're right about that. And all to make room for Alexa nonsense. Everyone now has a phone, why would you route music or other commands through the Garmin instead of your phone which has much more room/power/battery to do it all and has all the Alexa commands on it? It really makes no sense to me at all to add Alexa to the Garmin.

I'd settle if they could just put the setting to change the toll road option in a more convenient spot, because obviously my only solution to keep this one will end up having to constantly change that setting from Always Allow to Always Deny quite often. I could live with that if it was just 1 or 2 steps to change it back and forth. Right now it takes 7 steps to go in and change it and get back out to the home screen. That's unacceptable for something that will have to be changed often for anyone living near toll roads. If they put it in the same place as Mute Navigation is for instance, that would be fine and not the huge annoyance it is now.