Go 5100 planning route to use main roads

[JDA]

I have selected 'fastest route', however this takes me down minor B roads that are not actually the fastest because I often cannot drive safely at the maximum speeds (due to bends, narrowness etc). These routes are often not the most 'relaxing' routes to drive either, especially in the dark. Is there any way I can select to not use B roads/ only use A roads and above? One of my old TomTom's allowed a sliding scale of road preference, this appeared to have been removed on later models.

Thank you

 

[Arno]

I am afraid the only options at Menu >> Settings (gear wheel) >> Route Planning are
Fastest route
Shortest route
Most eco-friendly route
Avoid Motorways
Walking route
Bicycle route

If you know the route, you could experiment with making waypoints to keep you on A roads.

 

[JDA]

Thanks.
Might try most eco-friendly route and see what that gets me. I'm concerned that once the weather starts to get bad it will have me going up country lanes. It certainly works out different routes to my previous TomTom, even though the old one has traffic and updated maps so they should be working with the same data.

 

[canderson]

Normally, 'country lanes' don't have recorded speed data that is nearly as fast as larger roads -- unless the larger roads are infamous for traffic pile ups that keep their average speeds even lower.

Some of us have just been discussing 'snow routing' elsewhere and what kind of logic might be best to make that work given where Live traffic data is monitored and where it's not. Sometimes it's better to be in really slow traffic on a plowed road than it is to be stuck in the snow somewhere that's only a good alternative when it's not piled deep.

 

[Nippa]

I've just returned to a TomTom 5100 after many years with Garmin kit and I'm also disappointed at the ignorant routings in the UK leading through minor C Roads at unexpected times.
As there are no meaningful options in the menu set up , it would appear that TomTom mapping does not contain as much road data as their competitors ( in this regard my Snooper Sat nav is king ).
I guess that we're stuck.

 

[dhn]

Did you select 'fastest' for routing?

 

[Nippa]

I've tried all modes but normally fastest and the identical eco friendly modes.
Tomtom cannot recognise that a road barely wide enough for two cars does not provide a faster connection than two A class roads.
Utter madness...I don't remember such problems with my original TomTom Go 500

 

[dhn]

Do you have the current (960) map?

 

[Nippa]

Completely up to date and yet speed limit data is at least a year out of date for my local area which convinces me that official road data for the UK falls below that of the competition.
It will be interesting to see how well it works in the US and France next time I'm there.

 

[JDA]

I'm in complete agreement with the last 2 messages from Nippa. Utter madness. I bought this latest one because my previous one was having problems with the traffic live and since I had had it for a few years I thought a new one would be an improvement..... bad move. I was told to replace the battery, which I had done at a local shop and bingo! it works fine. I was advised to keep the battery topped up by charging in the house - this I have done and I have now reverted to the old one and the new one is sat on the table unused.
Do the people that 'design' these actually drive?? To me it seems they are just justifying their jobs by making changes! I also take issue with the statement 'intuitive ' to use... I don't have a smart phone so someone had to tell me to swipe the screen to get more options. I know I'm a dinosaur but there you go!

 

[Nippa]

Over the last few years I've used SatNavs ( mainly Garmin ) all over the world. I bought the TomTom from Amazon for its lifetime US coverage.
In cities and US Interstates my SatNavs have proved their value especially for lane changing advice so I'm quite familiar with gps foibles and I remember days past trying to drive around Houston without guidance.

This TomTom 5100's methodology using a simplistic map ( perhaps ) is scaring me.
If the only/main parameter in calculating journey time is the speed limit of a road then TomTom would give equal priority to narrow C roads - this is what it appears to do in the UK.
My guess is that until some of the trucking data is incorporated into our UK Mapping giving priority to main roads it cannot make routing decisions for us.