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How to display speed limit?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Seymour1, Aug 25, 2024 at 12:23 PM.

  1. Seymour1

    Seymour1 Junior Member

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    I have used a Garmin for years in my other car. Most driving is done on familiar streets. I mainly want to know the speed limit. I cannot figure out how to view the speed limit. How can I do this?
    Also, I can update my (low-cost) Garmin for free. Toyota should do the same. I will certainly get a Garmin for my 2010 Prius.
     
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    What's the Garmin model? Ours (a venerable Nuvi 2350) does show the speed limit (to the best of my recollection), and I've never changed any settings on it. Maybe just certain models show speed limits? Or yours used to? Also, ours doesn't always show the speed limit, especially on some short, secondary streets, guess it depends on the map data.

    Google Maps on our phones behaves similarly.

    (Thought I'd look up cost to update map on ours: it can't be updated; primarily because maps have gotten too large for it's capacity.)
     
    fuzzy1 likes this.
  3. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    My Garmins have shown speed limits, but only when available in their database. Mostly on highways, rarely on city streets. Like Mendel's unit, the older one (used in my first Prius which lacked Nav) is now hobbled by too-small memory, so the database must be limited. The newer on, in the household Subaru, is better.

    Currently, most of my driving is in a RAV4 with RSA (Road Sign Assist) and HUD (Head Up Display). The car uses both the RSA to read speed limit signs, and a cloud-based database, to guess the current speed limit, and the HUD prominently displays it up where I notice far more than the Garmins were ever checked. It is convenient to "look back" at posted limits if I've forgotten or missed a sign.

    But it has plenty of anomalies. There are always some local speed limit changes somewhere around here, but the cloud-based database is never fully up to date, always lagging, there are disagreements between the database and current signage. On road segments with outdated info, the car shows the most recent RSA reading for a little while, then flips to the database number, then flips again at the next actual sign. Continual flip-flopping for extended periods. On one section of highway that had reduced speeds for construction for several years, the database still believes the reduced construction speeds are still in effect, despite the work having been suspended almost two years ago and PSL returned to full highway speed.

    The RSA has its own anomalies. Especially when looking into the sun, it has missed some signs that even my cataract-impaired eyes could read. It doesn't know the difference between passenger and Truck speed signs, so in the places where the car PSL is shown first, then the Truck PSL shown a couple seconds down the road, it latches on to the most recent and displays the Truck speed for a long time. Signs for Reduced Speed Ahead, cautionary speeds, and part-time school zones are mistaken for current PSL.

    So I can't help with any random Garmin, but do caution to be on guard for incomplete and outdated data.
     
  4. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    The speed limit is the speed I'm doing usually following one of your town's finest or something.