Garmin RV 760LMT arrival time to destination way off

Just replaced my NUVI 850 with a newer model 20 something or other and free updates and lane info etc. My arrival time was off 2 minutes. RATS should send it back (not). LOL

Finetuning the assumed driving speeds for the various types of roads specified in the mapping is important. Our Garmin is usually very accurate when projecting arrival times BUT I had to enter speeds more appropriate for Yukon highway driving.

What's confusing about the OP's post was that he says the arrival time was off by half an hour. Does he mean that the initially posted arrival time was wrong or that the Garmin was wrong even at the end of the trip? I'm going to assume that he means that the originally posted arrival time was way off.

I have seen this happen with our Garmins (one of which is a 760LMT) when the original starting point isn't on a road, such as in a mall parking lot or in an RV park. Occasionally the GPS will act as if it's computing an "as the crow flies" time to the destination which will be way off from any real time. But this situation is quickly corrected as soon as the device finds itself on a road it recognizes and the arrival time is updated.

Other than that we, also find the arrival time to be very accurate and it is continually updated as we drive. However, as was already noted, if you don't update the device's assumed driving speed data the initial arrival time may still be a bit off. If you are driving on highways with speeds >75 mph the difference between your real arrival time and the initially assumed one can be large if you don't change the speeds at which it assumes you are driving.

In all the GPS (worth ####) and the navigator computer packages, there is a place to set your expected road speeds. The default setting for all of these is an impatient passcar drivers. Find that place and then reset those to realistic numbers for you. Then, as said above, check that the loaded routes did do some backtrack. The backtrack often happens when you include a stop but get the order wrong and not all the systems will alert you to this fact.

Matt - many years the navigator.

Is the same issue present with the Rand McNally? I am wondering now which unit allows you to correct for your driving habits the best. I have both on my Amazon Wish List waiting for my kids to act for me. Long wait I suppose.

rhingst wrote:
We just got our RV 760 Tuesday and used it yesterday for a 102 mile trip and the arrival time was off by over a half hour. I downloaded the latest firmware this evening but it made no difference. I'm open to suggestions.

I take it that you must be new to using a GPS.

The arrival time when starting a trip will be based on either an average speed for a trip (i.e. 50 mph), or a current estimate of you actual speed at the time you checked it. Sit in stalled traffic and watch the estimate of your 2 hour trip rise to 10+ hour estimate.

In other words; you might have been averaging 60 mph early on and then ran into traffic and go slowed way down. The total trip took longer since you only averaged 45 mph because of stops, or slow traffic.

Easy to see in the winter months. A 1 hour commute across city takes 4 hours because of ice or snow and gridlock.

It's the very reason many people are always late for work. They never check conditions ahead of time and plan on the extra time needed for the trip.

The GPS is working fine. You just need time to learn the functions and what the readouts actually mean.

Make sure you don't have any "avoidances" set. Like "no dirt roads," no "low overheads," no "bridges." We were in Dawson City last summer ready to take the ferry across the Yukon to Chicken. GPS kept telling us it was 1500 miles when it is under 100. Found out it kept wanting me to turn around because I had "no dirt roads" and "no ferries" set. Changed that and off we went!

Dale

Same here on ours, ETA adjusts to speed, stops and is usually quite close to what is one the screen.

I have a Garmin RV 760. My ETA meter works fine. It does adjust while in route

IMHO the arrival time is a joke and I never pay any attention to it myself. doesn't take into account gas stops, lunch breaks, rest breaks, etc. I figure on averaging about 50 mph and find it fairly easy to divide the miles by 50 to come up with a guess.
bumpy