10. Traffic

Technically speaking, Traffic is part of the MSN Direct offering, but since real-time traffic data is such an important feature, it warrants its own section in this review.

Access to real-time traffic information and the ability to navigate around traffic jams is a major selling point of the nüvi 885T, and one of the features consumers are most interested in; after all, the thought of avoiding traffic jams and intelligently routing around them is an appealing proposition indeed. The reality isn't quite as perfect, but MSN Direct's coverage and accuracy is continuously improving.

Figure 90: Map Screen - Traffic Event Notification

If a traffic alert is received that will impact the planned route, a traffic alert icon appears on the map screen, and displays how much time the delay has added to the trip.

Tapping the traffic icon on the Map brings up the Traffic page, shown below.

Figure 91: Traffic Page

The Traffic page allows you to view traffic conditions the following ways:

• Show Traffic Map - displays traffic conditions on the map. You can manually scroll around and see all traffic incidents on the map
• Traffic Search - lists all traffic delays that have been received, sorted by distance from your current location
• Traffic on Route - displays the traffic incidents along the current planned route

Figure 92: Traffic On Route

The Traffic on Route screen displays details regarding any traffic along the planned route, and indicates the severity of the problem by color:

• Green = Traffic is flowing normally
• Yellow = Traffic is slightly congested
• Red = Traffic is heavily congested or stopped

Figure 93: Traffic Incident Details

The nüvi 885T automatically attempts to avoid severe traffic when an alert is received. However, you can also manually avoid certain traffic conditions by touching Avoid on the details page for a given incident.

If the nüvi receives a traffic alert and finds a faster route with less traffic, it will automatically prompt the driver with a message asking if you want to route around the traffic (a message saying "A better route is available").

11. Using Voice Recognition

Figure 94: nüvi 885T's Speech Recognition Remote Control

Most nüvi 885T functions can be performed using your voice. Pressing the "Start" button on the wireless remote control tells the nüvi 885T you are about to speak a command. Speech recognition can be used to:

• Speak any text on the screen
• Speak shortcut commands (such as "Find nearest gas station", or "Gas Prices", for example)
• Speak the name of a place
• Speak an address

Here's a short video demonstrating the speech recognition features of the nüvi 885T:

The use of a wireless remote to initiate/cancel a voice command might raise a few eyebrows given that competing GPS systems with voice recognition features don't require remotes, but Garmin manages to succeed where others have failed: a voice recognition system that actually works, and can perform virtually all GPS functions without taking your eyes off the road.

Most other VR (Voice Recognition) enabled GPS devices rely on a "wake-up" command to tell the GPS you're going to issue a voice command. For example, Magellan's VR-enabled Maestro GPS units will listen for the word "Magellan", and will then initiate a speech recognition session upon hearing the designated word. The trouble is that system doesn't work well at all; the interior of a moving vehicle can be a noisy place, especially with music and/or additional passengers talking in the car. When I tested similar VR systems from other GPS manufacturers, voice recognition only worked in a silent, parked car, and even then only supported a limited number of voice controls. Moreover, units that "listen" for a special keyword to "wake-up" can be irritating when the GPS is constantly thinking it has heard the magic word.

Figure 95: Speech Recognition Dialog Icon

Pressing the "Start" button on the remote control tells the nüvi 885T you're ready to issue a voice command. When the nüvi 885T is ready to accept a verbal command, a short audio chime is played and a green dialog box appears in the upper-right corner of the screen, as shown above.

Once the green dialog appears, any text on the screen can be spoken. For example, in the screen above, "Where to", "View map", "Volume", and "Tools" are all valid voice commands. Additionally, a number of shortcut commands are also supported, and can be spoken from any menu.

Additional Shortcut Voice Commands

• Audible Player
• Cancel Route
• Detour
• Find Address
• Find City
• Find Favorite
• Find Place by Category
• Find Place by Name
• Find Recently Found
• Go Home
• Hands Free
• Help
• Main Menu
• Music Player
• Stop Listening
• Tools Menu
• Trip Computer
• View Map
• Volume Down
• Volume Up
• Where Am I?
• Where To?

MSN Direct features can also be invoked via voice recognition. The following MSN Direct commands are supported via speech recognition:

• Gas Prices
• Local Events
• Movie Times
• News
• Stocks
• Traffic
• Weather
• Web Favorites

You can also string commands together to save time. For example, the "Find Nearest" command can be spoken with a specific POI or category, such as:

• Find Nearest Gas Station
• Find Nearest Grocery Store
• Find Nearest Bank
• Find Nearest Movie Theater
• Find Nearest Italian Restaurant

Figure 96: Stop Listening Dialog Icon

A red dialog icon appears in the upper-right corner of the display whenever the nüvi 885T stops listening for voice commands, either because the Stop button has been pressed on the remote control, or because the nüvi is processing the previous voice command and isn't ready for the next one yet.

Figure 97: Speaking a City Name to nüvi 885T

Garmin's nüvi 885T gets Voice Recognition right. The system is elegant and works amazingly well. Even when traveling at highway speeds, the nüvi 885T recognized virtually every command I spoke.

Complete street addresses can be entered using your voice, and house numbers can be spoken in a variety of combinations. Shortcut commands make operating the nüvi 885T even easier. During my testing, I even found some undocumented features that further enhance the VR features: when I said "Find Nearest McDonalds", the nüvi 885T automatically searched for nearby fast food restaurants.

12. Creating and Using Routes

The nüvi 885T supports multi-destination routing with route optimization. Multi-destination routing is the ability to enter several addresses into the GPS and save it as a trip. Optimization mean you can then sort the addresses by distance -- a handy feature for realtors, delivery drivers, and anyone else who needs to make multiple stops and wants to drive to each location in the most efficient order possible.

The nüvi 885T can save up to 10 routes.

Figure 98: Accessing the Routes Feature

Creating, editing, and activating routes are all performed via the Routes menu. To access the Routes feature, tap on Where to? > Scroll down to page 2 > Routes.

Figure 99: First Time Using the Routes Feature

The first time the Routes icon is tapped the nüvi reports that no Routes have been created, and asks if we'd like to create a Route.

Figure 100: Adding Stops to the Route

The first step in creating a Route, or multi-stop trip, is adding a starting point. Tap Add New Start Point.

Adding addresses to a route is identical to the process for entering any other type of destination; you can use street addresses, POIs, recently found addresses, saved favorites, intersections, or coordinates as entries on a Route.

Figure 101: Creating the Route

Tapping on the green plus icon inserts another location to the route, while tapping on the red minus icon removes that location from the route.

Figure 102: Viewing a Saved Route

By default, the nüvi saves Routes using the starting and ending location names. You can rename the Route to something more significant, like "Family Trip To Disney Land", as well as re-order the stops by tapping Edit...

Or, tap the green Go! button to start navigating to the first location in the Route.

Figure 103: Reordering Stops Along A Route

Tapping on Optimally Reorder Points reorders the stops so that you are driving to each location in the most efficient manner. In other words, you're not driving back and forth or in circles, but making the taking the most logical order. This feature is especially helpful for drivers who regularly visit multiple locations in one trip, such as realtors, delivery drivers, and contractors.

You can also manually reorder the locations in a Route by tapping on Manually Reorder Points.

Recalculate allows you to change the route preference to calculate by faster time, shorter distance, or off road.

Tapping Delete erases the Route.