Navigation Time Estimate

arrival times are based on traveling speed. there is an option for streets, expressways, and highways... i think the standard is 25, 40, and 65.. i set mine to 70highway.. it's more accurate.

 

There's a Daylight Saving Time on/off selection in the Nav setup somewhere. It took me about 5 seconds to find it Sunday morning. Sorry I can't be more specific off the top of my head.

 

This applies to my '07 Camry Hybrid, so YMMV:

Go to MENU / SETUP / TIME ZONE /

At Daylight Savings Time: Turn it to OFF.

 

The system estimates based on these fixed speed values, though other nav systems use the GPS speed calculations.

This isn't a big problem, however. I originally thought it was.

For example, you're 60 miles from your destination on the freeway. You've preset 60 for the highway speed---but you actually drive at 75.

The nav calculates 60.0 minutes to your destination, as expected, because it doesn't use your actual speed, only what's been preset.

After 15 minutes, you are 41.25 miles from destination, not 45 as the nav assumed you would be. So it recalculates 41.25 minutes to go. (This still is pessimistic, because you're still going 75mph, but it's better.)

Naturally, this update happens quite often, probably every minute or so. It doesn't jump ahead. I only used the 15-minute mark for illustration.

 

so my wife and i are on a road trip. we drive about 5-6 hours a day to our new destination. it is quite annoying for the navigation to be off by as much as 2.5 hours sometimes. is this normal? is there anything I can do to get a more accurate estimate on the time it will take? it really effects planning for meeting up with family and friends...

 

Have you set up the 'Users' for the proper speeds for each type of road? The only time it can be very accurate is if you drive on the Interstate, at your User's set speed, use CC AND have no slowdowns and you don't stop to pee. Since that is not likely on a 5-6 hour trip, you'll have to guess how much time delays and stops will take. I would suggest you set your user's Interstate speed 5 MPH (at least) below what you set the CC for on those long trips. I have set User 1 to 55, User 2 to 60 and User 3 to 65. Then I select the one that best suits my trip, the longer the trip, the slower the average speed. Do the same for the lower speed roads. For example, if you drive on a 35 MPH road, how often do you actually AVERAGE 35 MPH? Depending on the time of day, it is likely 25 - 30 MPH.

It should never be off by 2.5 hours presuming you are averaging about what you have your User's speed set for.

 

Adjust the user profile for the types of roads that you travel and the speeds that you normally drive. I use ~55 mph on the freeway even though I drive ~70. The 50 takes in account stopping to walk the dog etc. We tend to drive 2-3000 miles at a shot so the average is more realistic. If you routinely drive ~150 mile and don't stop very often,, use a higher speed.

I use ~45 mph for 2 lane rural roads which accounts for small towns, slowing for curves etc. (This is across the Dakotas and Montana,, probably different in West VA for example!)

Point is you have to configure it for your own driving habits/styles

Icarus

 

As Bruce and Icarus suggested, review your travel speeds to make sure they are appropriate for your driving style, but if your ETA is really off by as much as 2.5 hours on a 5 hour trip, then there is something else seriously wrong, presuming you are following a route similar to what is suggested to you.

You may want to check the timezone & daylight savings to make sure they are set correctly, that may account for the large discrepancy.

Alternately, if you press the "destination" button on the left side of your screen (the one showing remaining distance and ETA), it will expand to show you this information for each stop. If you press the "Time to Destination" (I think?) button at the far right, will change the ETA to a measurement of hours and minutes until arrival. This may be more accurate, if the problem is indeed timezone or DST related.

Hope that helps...

 

I have a similar problem on my 2009 Prius. The estimated time (arrival or travel time) are way off on long trips. They seem to be fine within the city -- but if I'm heading somewhere, all highway driving, about 240km away -- it shows a 3.5 or 4 hour trip. And I have adjusted the speeds for highway, etc, AND checked the DST ... and no luck.

I'm really curious whether anyone else is having this issue or has found a solution.

Thanks,
Kevin.