Garmin 590lm

I have the Garmin 590 lm that came with the 2015 RTL and I have found that even though I have it set to avoid unpaved roads, it quite often tries to rout me on them. This sometimes causes several miles of back tracking to get to a paved road to ride on. I have the latest software and map updates and per Garmin express, there are no more updates available. Garmin support says everything looks OK to them.
:dontknow:

Does anyone else have this problem with this unit, and if yes, how did you fix the problem? If no one else has the problem, seeing how it is a factory supplied GPS, do I go to a Can Am dealer for help, or straight to Garmin?

Oh, is there a way to update the map yourself when you find a road that is not paved that is listed as paved?

I have the same unit and while I can't say it ever sent me to an unpaved road, perhaps the best answer is to use Basecamp to setup your route prior to starting out. I know it may not always be possible, but when it is you would have a better method than setting it in the unit. You can send the route from basecamp to the unit via usb.

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Originally Posted by BilltheDiver

I have the same unit and while I can't say it ever sent me to an unpaved road, perhaps the best answer is to use Basecamp to setup your route prior to starting out. I know it may not always be possible, but when it is you would have a better method than setting it in the unit. You can send the route from basecamp to the unit via usb.

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Thanks, I do pre-route our trips and import them when on vacation and that works great.

It is the short day trips that we go on that usually some local tells us about. After riding the route they suggest, we punch in the campground we are using as our base-camp, and invariably it will route us on gravel.

Might just be something we will have to live with.:banghead:

Are you using "Most Direct" for your routing preference? If so, try changing it to "Fastest Route". (Without looking, I'm not sure if those are exactly what these menu options are labeled, but those are close.) "Most Direct" will attempt to route you as close to a "straight line" to your destination as possible, often regardless of what the roads are like.

Also, as with any GPS, cartography is never fool-proof. The more remote the area, the more potential anomalies you will find in the mapping software.

:agree: There's nothing wrong with the GPS; it just needs to be given a better idea of what roads to use. :thumbup:

If you are using Basecamp to make your routes and you want to avoid unpaved roads select Edit>Options>Activity Profile>Routing>Road Type Avoidances>Unpaved Roads.

Well thanks for the comments. I always have it set on fastest route with highways, unpaved roads, and toll roads checked for avoidances.
I use the Harley Davidson ride planner and export the route to the gps. It avoids unpaved roads.
I did all the same things with my Garmin Nuvi 765 and didn't have this problem.
Thanks for all of the help and ideas, I will play with it some more.

Thanks, Jay. I checked my options and already have avoidance settings for unpaved, as well as those popular items in Georgia for ferries and cable cars, etc.

Garmin still sends me down unpaved roads to save a tenth of a mile, and I also have the fastest time option set.

Examples include:
1. A rally point in Jeffersonville, GA with a one hour window in February. I was very close to the target (in retrospect - stay on the road for a quarter mile, turn right at the 'T' and drive a few miles). Garmin sent me on the hypotenuse to save a tenth mile or so. It became a muddy track used by dump trucks. I was able to surf the mud without getting stuck, turn around, and get to the rally point in time.

2. On the 2012 Grand Tour of Georgia, one rally point was a fountain in Nashville, GA. I see a road sign that Nashville was ahead (my mistake was ignoring the posted sign). Garmin had me turn left on a paved road, and then right on a road that quickly became very sandy and I'm on 2 wheels.

3. On a 2009 National Parks Tour, I'm going to the Lincoln Boyhood Home National Memorial and Garmin directs me up a driveway into someone's garage.

By the way, Google Maps on my Android Phone also comes up with some crazy routes.

I still love GPS and I'm committed to Garmin, having used their products so many years.

-Bill

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Originally Posted by JayBros

If you are using Basecamp to make your routes and you want to avoid unpaved roads select Edit>Options>Activity Profile>Routing>Road Type Avoidances>Unpaved Roads.

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Originally Posted by GeorgiaBill

Thanks, Jay. I checked my options and already have avoidance settings for unpaved, as well as those popular items in Georgia for ferries and cable cars, etc.

Garmin still sends me down unpaved roads to save a tenth of a mile, and I also have the fastest time option set.

Examples include:
1. A rally point in Jeffersonville, GA with a one hour window in February. I was very close to the target (in retrospect - stay on the road for a quarter mile, turn right at the 'T' and drive a few miles). Garmin sent me on the hypotenuse to save a tenth mile or so. It became a muddy track used by dump trucks. I was able to surf the mud without getting stuck, turn around, and get to the rally point in time.

2. On the 2012 Grand Tour of Georgia, one rally point was a fountain in Nashville, GA. I see a road sign that Nashville was ahead (my mistake was ignoring the posted sign). Garmin had me turn left on a paved road, and then right on a road that quickly became very sandy and I'm on 2 wheels.

3. On a 2009 National Parks Tour, I'm going to the Lincoln Boyhood Home National Memorial and Garmin directs me up a driveway into someone's garage.

By the way, Google Maps on my Android Phone also comes up with some crazy routes.

I still love GPS and I'm committed to Garmin, having used their products so many years.

-Bill

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I am glad to hear I am not the only one with these problems. I was starting to think I was nuts!!:yikes: WELLLL ok that might be true anyway, but everything I have been told to do here has been done, the setting, according to what has been said, are correct, and yet still gravel roads appear.
Even to the point of routing me to the Canadian side of the Blue Water Bridge, and then down and around through Ohio back to Port Huron, MI and then to my home. I did not have the avoidance for international borders checked, we had been in and out of Canada several times on our trip to Nova Scotia. The real weird part was that had programmed in my rout and uploaded it to the GPS, so it tried to honor my route, that is why it routed me back to Port Huron. It just added the trip around the lake because it thought the bridge didn't exist.

The Garmin 660 Zumo does the same thing. Put me on a gravel road in Canada for 13 miles. Sucks when you don't know the area.

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Originally Posted by GeorgiaBill

Thanks, Jay. I checked my options and already have avoidance settings for unpaved, as well as those popular items in Georgia for ferries and cable cars, etc.

Garmin still sends me down unpaved roads to save a tenth of a mile, and I also have the fastest time option set.

Examples include:
1. A rally point in Jeffersonville, GA with a one hour window in February. I was very close to the target (in retrospect - stay on the road for a quarter mile, turn right at the 'T' and drive a few miles). Garmin sent me on the hypotenuse to save a tenth mile or so. It became a muddy track used by dump trucks. I was able to surf the mud without getting stuck, turn around, and get to the rally point in time.

2. On the 2012 Grand Tour of Georgia, one rally point was a fountain in Nashville, GA. I see a road sign that Nashville was ahead (my mistake was ignoring the posted sign). Garmin had me turn left on a paved road, and then right on a road that quickly became very sandy and I'm on 2 wheels.

3. On a 2009 National Parks Tour, I'm going to the Lincoln Boyhood Home National Memorial and Garmin directs me up a driveway into someone's garage.

By the way, Google Maps on my Android Phone also comes up with some crazy routes.

I still love GPS and I'm committed to Garmin, having used their products so many years.

-Bill

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Yep, like I said no GPS cartography is perfect. If you report those dirt roads to Garmin, they will eventually fix future map versions.

I was "back-roading" in Georgia near Unidilla last fall. The GPS in my SUV did the same thing. I cannot believe how many roads in Georgia start out paved and then turn to sand just 1/4 of a mile in. I still can't figure out what's up with that. Why pave only the first quarter mile? Why not just leave it all unpaved???

Well, while riding this weekend, having the GPS set on fastest route, unpaved roads checked as an avoidance, the Garmin 590 told me in its directions to "turn right onto unpaved road"! So I know it is recognizing the unpaved roads, it is just not avoiding them.
I then went to install the last update, and the computer could not find the GPS.
After a call to Garmin, (CSR was a great person to deal with) and a little troubleshooting, I was told to send it in and they would replace it.

I love the GPS, my only complaint was not avoiding the gravel roads, and in fact sometimes routing me out of my way to drive on one.
I hope the new one avoidance software work a little better.

Nice to have a company stand behind their product!!:clap::clap::clap:

The 590 was included with my 2015 STL and the bluetooth works fine with my Sena SMh5's but is anyone using the Spyder stereo speakers with their Zumo's? The internal wiring should allow this, right??

I use the 590 with the stereo speakers and also with a sena sm10 to send the signal to our in helmet speakers. Works fine!

Also a 2015 rtl

Hmm... So, how do you 'find' the Zumo on the radio controls? It does not seem to come thru the "AUX IN".

If you have the oem setup for the zumo, you don't have to "find" it, the voice statements will over ride the music. The volume of the voice is controlled by adjusting the volume in the zumo controls. The original harness with the factory setup links the gps to the stereo.

I am not sure. but you may need to unpair the zumo from you helmet speakers if you want it to come through the radio speakers, or it may do both simultaneously.

Does that mean you have to be listening to music before you can get any nav prompts? Do you think that you could simply get the occasional nav prompt without having the radio blaring?

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Originally Posted by knobby

Does that mean you have to be listening to music before you can get any nav prompts? Do you think that you could simply get the occasional nav prompt without having the radio blaring?

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No, you do not need to be listening to music. If you have the external Syder speakers on, you will hear directions from your GPS - as long as the GPS is not communicating via Bluetooth. If the GPS is communicating to a BT headset you will not hear the voice through the speakers. However you do not have to delete the BT pairing as the previous poster was suggesting might be true. All you have to do is disable the BT communication link within the GPS settings, when you want to send the voice announcements to your Spyder speakers (or directly to the Spyder onboard entertainment system).