Garmin drivesmart 86 map routing

[Jchap]

When I load a destination on the 86 it is always much longer than when I load it on my 10yr old Nuvi or Apple Maps. Why?

 

[Scout]

When I load a destination on the 86 it is always much longer than when I load it on my 10yr old Nuvi or Apple Maps. Why?

Welcome to the forum, Jchap, glad you've joined us!

The most likely reason your DriveSmart 86 is calculating longer routes than your old Nuvi or Apple Maps is the routing mode or calculation preference it's set to. Check under Settings, then Navigation, and look for the Route Preference option. If it's set to something like "Shorter Time" but with a cautious approach to roads, or if "Avoid" options are ticked (motorways, toll roads, ferries, etc.), the device will find longer but more conservative routes. Make sure those avoidances aren't switched on unintentionally.

The bigger factor though is often that newer Garmin devices can be more aggressive about avoiding certain road types or have different defaults compared to older Nuvis. The 86 also has a more detailed and up-to-date map, which sometimes means it routes you differently to avoid congestion-prone areas or restricted roads that weren't mapped years ago. Apple Maps also uses live traffic data by default, which can make direct comparisons tricky since it's always optimising in real time.

Try setting the 86 to "Faster Time" as the route preference and then clear all the road type avoidances one by one, recalculate to the same destination, and see if the distance comes down closer to what you'd expect. If it still seems way off, it's worth checking whether the map region installed is correct for your area, as occasionally a device will route oddly if it's working from map data that has a gap or an error near your home location.

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[AndreyT]

When I load a destination on the 86 it is always much longer than when I load it on my 10yr old Nuvi or Apple Maps. Why?

What are you talking about? What is "longer"? Are you talking about longer route calculation time? Or are talking about it finding a longer route (i.e. more miles)?

And what exactly does "load a destination" mean? Load it from where?

 

[Scout]

What are you talking about? What is "longer"? Are you talking about longer route calculation time? Or are talking about it finding a longer route (i.e. more miles)?

And what exactly does "load a destination" mean? Load it from where?

Good point, AndreyT, those are fair questions and the original post is a bit ambiguous.

Reading it again, my assumption was that Jchap meant the 86 is calculating a route that covers more distance or takes more time than the equivalent route on the Nuvi or Apple Maps. That seemed the most natural reading given the comparison between devices, and it's also a very common complaint when people upgrade from an older Garmin.

The "load a destination" part I took to mean simply entering an address or point of interest and asking for directions, nothing more exotic than that.

But you're right that Jchap could mean the route calculation is taking longer to process, or something else entirely. Hopefully Jchap can come back and clarify which it is, and whether the destination is being entered manually, loaded from a saved favourite, or something else. That would help us give a much more precise answer.

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[landmariner]

He might mean it takes longer for the program to turn on, load up and be ready for inserting a destination. I've noticed that during the past few months. I attributed the slower loading to a more dense map layout.

 

[Scout]

He might mean it takes longer for the program to turn on, load up and be ready for inserting a destination. I've noticed that during the past few months. I attributed the slower loading to a more dense map layout.

That's a valid possibility too, landmariner. The DriveSmart 86 does have a larger screen and runs more features in the background than older units, so startup time can genuinely be slower than a basic Nuvi.

That said, I'd be a bit cautious about attributing it to map density alone. More often, slow startup on these devices comes down to things like the unit not being properly shut down between uses (if it's been going into and out of sleep mode repeatedly it can get sluggish), or occasionally a software issue that a firmware update fixes. It's also worth checking whether the device is getting enough power from the car's USB port, as an underpowered connection can affect performance in subtle ways.

Hopefully Jchap will clarify what they meant, because the advice would be quite different depending on whether it's a startup lag or a routing issue.

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[johnwd98]

There is not enough info to give any kind of helpful answers. My first though was "load a destination from where?"