XL350 - spoken directions frequently too late, or absent

[FWEhr]

Hello. New owner XL350. First car GPS I have owned, but have had experience with Hertz rental GPS (made by Mage***n?), and with hiking GPS.

After just a few days of use, I am experiencing the following problems at perhaps 10-20% of turns on a computed route:

1. The final "turn now" prompt, while preceded by earlier warning a half-mile or so in advance, comes right at a freeway ramp or an intersection. If I had depended on that prompt alone, I would miss the turn.

2. Some turns on a route, have no spoken prompt at all. And then later on the route, the voice returns.

I would appreciate hearing if anyone else has these problems and whether there is a fix. Spoken directions are a great GPS feature but only if they work reliably.

Thank you.

 

[dash8]

I agree, and I haven't found much of a fix. Magellan has a chime just before each turn or freeway exit, which really helps avoid this type of problem. As I understand, the firmware in the newer Tomtoms doesn't allow third party apps to make use of the audio (just display only). Have my TomTom set to English (not metric) units, and when the display changes the distance countdown from miles to feet in the lower left, I know a turn is coming up (ex. 0.3 mi, 0.2 mi 0.1 mi, 500 ft, 400 ft, etc.). This seems to be more useful than the voice prompts.

 

[Rick F.]

The one thing I can think of that might contribute to the 'late instructions' is if you have too many POIs being displayed. If there's a lot of information to be displayed or drawn on the screen, the processor can get bogged down. I forget the processor speed of the 350, but I noticed on my XL-335TM that it seems slower than on my old 3rd edition. I only have 2 poi groups selected. Worth a try.

 

[paint_zoid]

no voice instructions on motorway turn-offs?

I seem to be having the similar problem of a lack of verbal instruction before leaving a motorway or dual carriageway (turning/sliproad) on my brand new TomTom XL2 iQ? is there anything that can be done? - i feel that when you really need to hear the voice instruction is when your cruising along on the Motorway and keeping you eye on the road! ...any advise?