Frustrating/annoying

[RogerA]

Hello all, first timer here, needing a bit of a vent.
Over the last 10 days I have driven, Ford Kuga with caravan, from Norfolk to Inverness and back, stopping at Gretna overnight on both journeys. The wife insisted.
Now to my beef, my Go Premium is selected to fastest route, expecting that it would keep me on major/duel carriageways/motorways. We used a17, A1, A69, A73, A74, M9 and a couple of others. Having lived near Inverness some years ago I was pretty sure of the route to use but used TomTom in case of accidents or hold ups on the route.
My frustration was the number of 'side' roads it kept trying to send us on, which on a number of occasions, when TomTom reset, the number of miles actually dropped by up to 5, meaning the route was longer than the one we were already on. I had a look on Google Earth and all the major roads showed were the ones I used, no others highlighted. On the return journey I tried selecting shortest as well, hoping it would stop most of these sideways selections but alas it didn't.
Is the specialist HGV/camper/caravan TomTom any better at keeping you on major roads, is there a selection I can make that would help, are these thing getting too clever at route finding and taking you off piste. By driving the route I knew from Inverness to Gretna services, I chopped nearly an hour off the target time and some 25 miles off the distance. If I had not been towing caravan My curiosity may have taken we along one of the routes just to check it.
Having driven the route a number of times in the past, without a caravan, before a number of the by-passes were built, I always drove the route I did last week as was the fastest then and it is even better now (apart from roadworks A9 and A69).
Am I doing some thing wrong

 

[Willy875]

Hi

The first issue is that GO Premium lacks a specific option for cars with caravans—let alone for heavy goods vehicles—so the installed map is designed solely for cars.

Choosing the "short" option is a compromise between a fast route and a short distance.

 

[RogerA]

While I realise that it does not have the caravan/camper options, but why is it trying to route me through 'side' roads that make the distance longer and slower when I have selected fastest.

 

[Willy875]

For long journeys, if you wish to avoid secondary roads:

I recommend planning your trip using the online planning tool.

 

[S-i-g-g-i]

There could have been problems on the original fastest route that hadn't yet been shown on the display! In that case, the “fastest route” is often one you don't understand (at that moment).
I’ve seen this happen often enough in my time as a trucker! But of course, you also have to use the right navigation device and the correct settings for your vehicle’s configuration. I didn’t always do that either, but I was also careful not to rely blindly on the device!

 

[Malcolm queen]

Hello all, first timer here, needing a bit of a vent.
Over the last 10 days I have driven, Ford Kuga with caravan, from Norfolk to Inverness and back, stopping at Gretna overnight on both journeys. The wife insisted.
Now to my beef, my Go Premium is selected to fastest route, expecting that it would keep me on major/duel carriageways/motorways. We used a17, A1, A69, A73, A74, M9 and a couple of others. Having lived near Inverness some years ago I was pretty sure of the route to use but used TomTom in case of accidents or hold ups on the route.
My frustration was the number of 'side' roads it kept trying to send us on, which on a number of occasions, when TomTom reset, the number of miles actually dropped by up to 5, meaning the route was longer than the one we were already on. I had a look on Google Earth and all the major roads showed were the ones I used, no others highlighted. On the return journey I tried selecting shortest as well, hoping it would stop most of these sideways selections but alas it didn't.
Is the specialist HGV/camper/caravan TomTom any better at keeping you on major roads, is there a selection I can make that would help, are these thing getting too clever at route finding and taking you off piste. By driving the route I knew from Inverness to Gretna services, I chopped nearly an hour off the target time and some 25 miles off the distance. If I had not been towing caravan My curiosity may have taken we along one of the routes just to check it.
Having driven the route a number of times in the past, without a caravan, before a number of the by-passes were built, I always drove the route I did last week as was the fastest then and it is even better now (apart from roadworks A9 and A69).
Am I doing some thing wrong

Don’t forget it might have rerouted you and sent you other way because of road closures and traffic

 

[sherra]

I've experienced this myself and complained about it on other platforms it appears to take me off a major route onto a very minor route and then back onto the major route because it saves 45 seconds. no accidents or holdups confirmed by others travelling in the same party/group using other sat navs. Its very frustrating when you don't know the area. We shouldn't have to micro plan on another platform, we bought devices to eliminate time consuming "map detailing" operations. I fully accept that it will take us to our destination.

 

[teaandcakes]

If this helps, keep the preferred route type to Fast but go into Settings then Rerouting and select Manual. It will show you the upcoming alternative route as a green line if it knows it will be faster and show how many minutes it will save. You can then choose to take it or ignore it, if you want, and carry on with the original route.
I have a Go Superior, I assume this would be the same on the Premium but can't say 100%

 

[S-i-g-g-i]

Unfortunately, nobody has time these days. Even a few minutes' delay causes panic!!

With these devices, it's actually really easy in a situation like that! It only takes two clicks!! (“1. the three dots (menu) - 2. Find alternative”) And just like that, two alternatives are calculated.

 

[teaandcakes]

Hi. Yes that is a good way, which you can do whilst driving. My way above is something you can set permanently and therefore no fiddling with the screen is needed whilst driving, it just shows you the alternative route in green. Mostly its just 1 or 2 minutes, which I often ignore and just stay on the main road. I've also had alternatives come up that show 30 or 40 minutes due to traffic conditions up ahead, which I then definitely take. It's a really good setting as it reduces the stress and I'm in control of how much time I want to save, or if I want to bother for a few minutes. Also worth mentioning is, it doesn't tend to show masses of alternative green routes at you constantly. I think the balance is right. I once tried Waze and the Re routing is so aggressive, it was treating me like a black cab driver getting me to constantly turn off the main road, down all these rat runs! I think Tom Tom gets the balance right

 

[S-i-g-g-i]

Well, you don’t really have to fiddle around much on the screen when you’re just tapping twice. With today’s modern cars and their large screens, you end up fiddling with them more often!

Your reference to the green line only applies to the app, if I understand correctly. I stopped using the app for navigation years ago, except when I’m biking. SM

That aside, TT has never been particularly accurate when it comes to roadblocks and traffic jams—I’ve noticed this over several years with different devices. It’s especially bad in truck navigation. There, you’re shown alternatives that often aren’t compatible with your selected profile!

All in all, TT still has a lot of work to do.