Garmin DriveSmart 65 updated, now some speed limits are wrong

[BigRich]

I am a bit late posting this and that's because it's a nuisance issue rather than a hard problem.

I update my GPS's quarterly and since the last time I did, I noticed the speed limits on some roads are way off. I go back and forth to Fayetteville, NC from the Dunn area several times a month and there are a few roads where the posted speed limit is 55 mph and as I enter those areas, my GPS now thinks the limit is 35 mph. The roads are out of any city limits and there are no schools or houses.

The biggest concern is how the speed limits got changed? Did some prankster contact Garmin and tell them the speed limits had changed or what?

I am also a little concerned if other GPS devices are equally wrong. The reason I mention that is there are numerous car insurance companies that offer safe driver discounts if they can monitor your driving habits and I'm sure they go by GPS input for their devices. Imagine paying higher insurance rates when you're driving the legal limit but the GPS device is reporting that you're driving 20 mph over the limit? This is just an aside and I really would like to know why my GPS is so far off on some roads?

 

[Scout]

I am a bit late posting this and that's because it's a nuisance issue rather than a hard problem.

I update my GPS's quarterly and since the last time I did, I noticed the speed limits on some roads are way off. I go back and forth to Fayetteville, NC from the Dunn area several times a month and there are a few roads where the posted speed limit is 55 mph and as I enter those areas, my GPS now thinks the limit is 35 mph. The roads are out of any city limits and there are no schools or houses.

The biggest concern is how the speed limits got changed? Did some prankster contact Garmin and tell them the speed limits had changed or what?

I am also a little concerned if other GPS devices are equally wrong. The reason I mention that is there are numerous car insurance companies that offer saf
[...]

There's an existing discussion about speed limit issues on Garmin devices that might provide some helpful context.

• UK Speed Limits

This is an automated reply from the GPS Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings

 

[BigRich]

There's an existing discussion about speed limit issues on Garmin devices that might provide some helpful context.

• UK Speed Limits

This is an automated reply from the GPS Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings

Thank you for the reply/pointer "Scout" but that "UK Speed Limits" post has no real information about why the speed limit displayed in my GPS is incorrect when it used to be correct.

 

[Scout]

Thank you for the reply/pointer "Scout" but that "UK Speed Limits" post has no real information about why the speed limit displayed in my GPS is incorrect when it used to be correct.

That's a fair point, and sorry the link didn't really answer your question. Let me try to be a bit more useful.

When a Garmin device shows correct speed limits and then starts showing wrong ones after an update, there are usually a couple of things going on. Garmin's speed limit data comes from map providers, and sometimes an update introduces errors into the map data itself - roads get reclassified incorrectly, or a local speed limit change gets recorded wrongly. It's genuinely frustrating when something that worked fine suddenly doesn't.

A few things worth checking or trying: first, make sure your maps are fully up to date via Garmin Express, since occasionally a follow-up map update fixes errors introduced by a previous one. Second, it's worth reporting the specific road to Garmin through their Map Reporter tool - that's at garmin.com and lets you flag incorrect speed limit data directly. They do act on these reports, though it can take a few map update cycles before the fix reaches your device.

If you can share which roads or areas are affected, other members here may have noticed the same thing and might know whether it's a widespread issue with this update or something more localised. That kind of detail also helps if you decide to post a report to Garmin.

I should be honest that I don't have specific knowledge about what changed in this particular update, so if anyone here has looked into it more closely, their input would be much more reliable than mine.

This is an automated reply from the GPS Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings

 

[BigRich]

I see now that "Scout" is a bot, I didn't notice that before.

If a human has some understanding of my question, please let me know.

Because "Scout" mentioned it, here is a screenshot of one of the roads affected. It's in an area known as the sand pits and that is why there are no buildings near it and the speed limit is 55 mph as it should be.

 

[Andy1]

I'm mostly a lurker here. But I've used Garmin products for years. I have a Drivesmart 7 and 71, I love the 7 inch screen (I'm 69 yo!) I use one for my car and the other for my Harley. I also have an older Nuvi 2360 that may be 15+ years old? Garmin still allows 4 updates a year on it! To me that's impressive customer support.

With my old Nuvi I am able to update the speed limits myself! I am not able to do this with my 2 newer units. A little annoying. Love this web site!

 

[BigRich]

I'm mostly a lurker here. But I've used Garmin products for years. I have a Drivesmart 7 and 71, I love the 7 inch screen (I'm 69 yo!) I use one for my car and the other for my Harley. I also have an older Nuvi 2360 that may be 15+ years old? Garmin still allows 4 updates a year on it! To me that's impressive customer support.

With my old Nuvi I am able to update the speed limits myself! I am not able to do this with my 2 newer units. A little annoying. Love this web site!

Welcome to the forum Andy1

For what it's worth young man (I'm 76 yo!) and for the record, I just updated my GPS's for this quarter and when I drove down the road that displayed the wrong speed limit, it was correct going south but still wrong on the return trip. Curiouser and curiouser???

 

[Sam]

Long time lurker myself. Us old people prefer forums over reddit any day but unfortunately many are just mean or bad people now. Forums and reddit always had them but now it's worse on any platform where downvoting is used as a way of disliking a person or disagreeing with their comment rather than it being wrong.

I received an email notification for this site and new content available but it's referring to content more than 20 years ago. Many of us originals no longer drive much and have effectively retired our trusted GPS units we've had for decades. So we're not much help.

I'm glad this forum exists but it costs money to run. There really isn't much interest unfortunately in street GPS units. And many especially people in radio (which is dying fast) incorrectly refer to Waze, TomTom, and Google Maps as GPS.

 

[Andy1]

There really isn't much interest unfortunately in street GPS units. And many especially people in radio (which is dying fast) incorrectly refer to Waze, TomTom, and Google Maps as GPS.

I know I'm old fashioned but I prefer separate, stand alone GPS for my navigation. I do use my Pixel phone when I need to use Android Auto (Waze, Google Maps). Your second sentence: TomTom is a GPS brand (like Garmin) so not sure what your saying. Waze and G Maps are Android Apps that turn your phone into a GPS.

 

[Scout]

I know I'm old fashioned but I prefer separate, stand alone GPS for my navigation. I do use my Pixel phone when I need to use Android Auto (Waze, Google Maps). Your second sentence: TomTom is a GPS brand (like Garmin) so not sure what your saying. Waze and G Maps are Android Apps that turn your phone into a GPS.

Andy1 makes a good point about the distinction there. TomTom does actually make both standalone GPS devices (similar to Garmin) and also provides map data that powers a lot of other navigation products, so Sam might have been thinking of it in that context rather than as a dedicated unit.

On the standalone vs phone debate, you're definitely not alone in preferring a dedicated device. The screen brightness on a proper GPS unit tends to handle direct sunlight much better than a phone, and you don't have to worry about it draining your battery or losing signal when a call comes in. For motorcycle use especially, a dedicated unit makes a lot of sense.

Coming back to BigRich's original issue though, the directional difference is genuinely interesting. Correct southbound but wrong northbound on the same road suggests it might be stored as two separate road segments in the map data with different attributes, which is actually fairly common in how mapping databases are structured. Worth logging it with Garmin's map error reporting tool if you haven't already - they do act on those reports and it gets fed back into future map updates.

This is an automated reply from the GPS Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings

 

[BigRich]

Andy1 makes a good point about the distinction there. TomTom does actually make both standalone GPS devices (similar to Garmin) and also provides map data that powers a lot of other navigation products, so Sam might have been thinking of it in that context rather than as a dedicated unit.

On the standalone vs phone debate, you're definitely not alone in preferring a dedicated device. The screen brightness on a proper GPS unit tends to handle direct sunlight much better than a phone, and you don't have to worry about it draining your battery or losing signal when a call comes in. For motorcycle use especially, a dedicated unit makes a lot of sense.

Coming back to BigRich's original issue though, the directional difference is genuinely interesting. Correct southbound but wrong northbound on the same road suggests it might be stored as two separate road segments in the map data with different attributes, which is actually fairly common in how mapping databases are structured. Worth logging it with Garmin's map error reporting tool if you haven't already - they do act on those reports and it gets fed back into future map updates.

This is an automated reply from the GPS Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings

Scout :​

I have not reported this to Garmin yet, but I will. I was hoping someone else in this forum had the same type of problem and I could see how they dealt with it. It's such a small, nuisance issue.

On one of the few thing I know about fairly modern GPS stuff. I use the standalone GPS in my truck because it is too old to have "Android Auto" but when I'm in my wife's car, I can use Google Maps on my phone and cast it to the center console screen with Android Auto and the screen is plenty bright enough to see since it's designed not to be in direct sunlight. I have not driven any long distances with it but so far I have not had a GPS disconnect while using Android Auto.

Android Auto won't even work unless it's connected using a USB "c" cable so the battery won't die.

There is one other thing I should try. I have a second Garmin DriveSmart 65 because my wife refuses to use the Google Maps and cast to her center screen. I will take her DriveSmart and see if it has the same issue on the same road.

Unfortunately this is on the back burner since I don't have another trip down that way for a while. So it's "to be continued".

Thanks so far everyone.

 

[Scout]

Scout :​

I have not reported this to Garmin yet, but I will. I was hoping someone else in this forum had the same type of problem and I could see how they dealt with it. It's such a small, nuisance issue.

On one of the few thing I know about fairly modern GPS stuff. I use the standalone GPS in my truck because it is too old to have "Android Auto" but when I'm in my wife's car, I can use Google Maps on my phone and cast it to the center console screen with Android Auto and the screen is plenty bright enough to see since it's designed not to be in direct sunlight. I have not driven any long distances with it but so far I have not had a GPS disconnect while using Android Auto.

Android Auto won't even work unless it's connected using a USB "c" cable s
[...]

That's a really good point about Android Auto - it does solve a lot of the screen brightness and usability issues that come with just propping your phone up. Having the map displayed on the car's own screen makes a big difference, and you get the best of both worlds in a sense: the convenience of Google Maps with a proper mounted display. Makes total sense to use the dedicated unit in the older truck though.

On the Garmin report, I'd encourage you to go ahead and submit it even if it feels like a small thing. You're probably right that it's a nuisance rather than a serious problem, but these directional inconsistencies are exactly the kind of thing that's worth flagging. Garmin's map error reporting is pretty straightforward and the more specific you can be - the road name, direction of travel, and what the posted limit actually is - the more useful it'll be for them. If others in the same area have reported the same stretch, it may well get picked up in the next map update.

It would also be worth mentioning here which road it is, if you're comfortable doing that. Someone local might recognise it and be able to confirm whether they're seeing the same thing, which is exactly the kind of collective knowledge that makes a forum like this useful.

This is an automated reply from the GPS Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings

 

[BigRich]

That's a really good point about Android Auto - it does solve a lot of the screen brightness and usability issues that come with just propping your phone up. Having the map displayed on the car's own screen makes a big difference, and you get the best of both worlds in a sense: the convenience of Google Maps with a proper mounted display. Makes total sense to use the dedicated unit in the older truck though.

On the Garmin report, I'd encourage you to go ahead and submit it even if it feels like a small thing. You're probably right that it's a nuisance rather than a serious problem, but these directional inconsistencies are exactly the kind of thing that's worth flagging. Garmin's map error reporting is pretty straightforward and the more specific you can be - the road name, direction of travel, and what the posted limit actually is - the more useful it'll be for them. If others in the same area have reported the same stretch, it may well get picked up in the next map update.

It would also be worth mentioning here which road it is, if you're comfortable doing that. Someone local might recognise it and be able to confirm whether they're seeing the same thing, which is exactly the kind of collective knowledge that makes a forum like this useful.

This is an automated reply from the GPS Forums AI assistant. AI can make mistakes, so please double-check anything important.

Prefer no AI replies to your own posts? Manage your AI reply settings

I did report the road here with a satellite picture in a previous post in this thread. It's North Carolina route 217 (NC-217) in Erwin, NC. The posted speed limit is 55 mph, the Garmin thinks the speed limit is 35 mph in one direction. I guess AI bots like Scout don't compile thread information like humans do.

I'll be sure to provide as much information as possible when informing Garmin. Some sites don't allow posting pictures so I may not be able to submit the Google Earth satellite picture, we'll see.

For what it's worth, the name of the road says TransAmerica Trail. I've never seen the sign that says that but that's what it says on the map.