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Updating driving speeds in the GPS

Former Member
Former Member over 10 years ago
I have a 2797LMT GPS and have connected it to BaseCamp. I can load and save routes and other data.

In BaseCamp you can set the Preferences for the calculation speeds of various definition roads. This affects the ETA of destination ETA times in the BaseCamp software.

In the old days I used MapSource and found I could set these preferences to more accurate speeds for my driving style and for the customary and acceptable speeds for my geographic area. After setting them I found I could also save them into my Garmin GPS and it used the settings also. IIRC I would just save my route and Waypoint data back to the GPS and it was there as I preferred it. Now wit BaseCamp I cannot seem to make this work.

My 2797LMT spouts ETA times that are ridiculously high with averages on a 80kph road set to 70-75kph. This doesn't happen in Canada as our rural highways are signed at 80kph but most people drive just under the "cops will stop you" speed at about 95kph. Also I believe in the old days the ETA calcs may have been based on the average speed travelled on one road, through small towns etc. at 50-60kph. Today the ETA times seem to be set where there is any change (more detail resolution).


My 2797LMT ETA times are always high by about 30 minutes on a 1 hour trip in certain parts of the province. :-(
Does anybody know how to get speed preferences into a GPS from BaseCamp or has this feature been disabled.?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 10 years ago
    I could download the MapSource settings into the GPS and read them back later.


    What model GPS were you using? I didn't think speed settings were transferable.

    I wonder if Mapsource will still run under Win 7 x64?


    Sure does. I do it. MapSource is my primary Garmin software.

    PS My nuvi 1490T does seem to alter ETA based on driving speeds. Perhaps the 2797 doesn't do that.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 10 years ago
    What model GPS were you using? I didn't think speed settings were transferable.



    Sure does. I do it. MapSource is my primary Garmin software.

    PS My nuvi 1490T does seem to alter ETA based on driving speeds. Perhaps the 2797 doesn't do that.


    I am not sure anymore. As I posted I haven't had to attempt to adjust my driving speeds for the last few GPS models so they may have self-corrected as I drove.

    Trying to recall... I had a eTrex, eMap, StreetPilot 2610, Nuvi 265W, Nuvi 50, Nuvi 1250, Nuvi 1450, and now a 2797LMT. There may be a wrong number in there and I am sure there was another one or two. When the touch screen came out they didn't last long before crapping out.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 10 years ago
    What model GPS were you using? I didn't think speed settings were transferable.



    Sure does. I do it. MapSource is my primary Garmin software.

    PS My nuvi 1490T does seem to alter ETA based on driving speeds. Perhaps the 2797 doesn't do that.

    Thanks.
    It is beginning to come back to me, somewhat. Perhaps this never happened with a Nuvi model I owned but rather only the StreetPilot models when I had to select map areas to download into the GPS, depending on my intended geographic trip area. I believe I would change my average speed preferences and THEN download the map area into the StreetPilot and it would use those settings.

    I believe I had two different units as the first StreetPilot I owned only came with one map zone purchased and after you picked it that was the only one you could use without paying for another area. On the second StreetPilot unit I could download any zone in Can/US into the GPS but the memory cartridge I bought (a huge, and expensive 256MB) wasn't big enough to hold more than two zones at any given time.

    I suppose dumping map zones into my 2797lmt isn't going to happen anymore so the process is moot to transfer average speeds into it. The darn thing should auto-adjust though. I can't imagine after 20-30 trips down the same route over the last year it should be smarter than that by now.
  • 0 over 10 years ago
    Maybe try slowing down, then the ETA might match your arrival time :D
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 10 years ago
    Perhaps this never happened with a Nuvi model I owned but rather only the StreetPilot models when I had to select map areas to download into the GPS, depending on my intended geographic trip area. I believe I would change my average speed preferences and THEN download the map area into the StreetPilot and it would use those settings.


    Possibly. Some StreetPilot models did stuff no other models would. They were "high end" with prices to match (e.g. US$1,000).

    Garmin Street Pilot 2610, 2620 and 2650 Review

    Nowadays speed limit data is built-in to City Navigator maps (some nuvi's and other models will display them). My guess it that my 1490T uses an algorithm combining speed limits and actual speed to calculate an ETA. As I (and SUSSAMB) have said that model does adjust it (up and down).
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 10 years ago
    I traveled the same route again and this time broke the routes into smaller sections which I purposely finished each time to insure any update algorithm should accept and work with. I'll be making the same trip again in a week or so and see if any change can be detected. Perhaps updating firmware has reset my experience history but after making so many of the same trip and seeing the same way-out-of-wack ETAs I doubt it. This thing hasn't updated speeds so far.

    Does anybody know of a setting that can inhibit the self-adjusting compensation for expected travel speeds in the GPSes?