We appreciate your feedback! I'm sorry to hear that you had trouble setting up your Drive 53. The Owner's Manual has some suggestions that should be helpful with this: http://ms.spr.ly/6429sxTBf With regard to traffic alerts, if a traffic event is detected during navigation that will cause a delay of 5 minutes or greater, the device will audibly announce the traffic event. If an event is detected while not navigating a route, the device will announce an alert if the event is within 10 miles. Only medium and severe traffic events will trigger an alert on the device. If you have questions, Garmin Support is happy to help and can be reached at 1-800-800-1020 Monday-Friday, 7am-7pm Central (closed weekends and holidays).