Should I get a new GPS? Which one?

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud I will try and clean the window, but we do clean it regularly.... on our truck, we do have a disk down on the dash, but the GPS does not get as good of reception...

Surprisingly it matters what you clean the window with. A sign painter told me that when painting signs on glass he used only a mixture of ammonia and water to clean the glass. Stuff like Windex has petroleum products in it that will cause paint (and presumably) suction cups to peel off.

[omni550]

Based on reading favorable comments, I went on eBay and 'won' an auction (slid a bid in at the 11th hour in a heated auction) for a Garmin nuvi 1490LMT for $86 plus shipping. (Seemed like a good price, as other used ones are going for $110-150, Manufactuer refurbished are $178). It was listed as being pristine and having everything except the PC computer cord. Seller said had purchased a car with built-in GPS which is the only reason he was selling this unit.

I sent the seller a quick note, asking if he'd be willing to update the maps as the lifetime maps are only for the first owner. He responded, saying that he had had Best Buy update the maps last year and he'd never registered the unit, so he couldn't update them now, however the maps are recent.

Unit arrived last night. Right out of the box, I noticed that it had the wrong window mounting bracket enclosed (from some other Garmin model that won't work with this unit).

The enclosed cord also seemed a bit odd to me, as I was expecting a fancier cord (for Traffic), yet this looked just like the basic charging cord on my 5-year old 'basic' Garmin 255W.

I was driving to a friend's house about 35 miles away, so I thought I'd bring the new GPS along, just to see how it would perform. Plugged it in to the lighter and off we went. Things seemed OK. About 5 minutes into the trip, the screen all of a sudden flipped into PC connection mode. Nothing I tried would get it to change it back to GPS mode. I finally turned it off, unplugged it and set it aside.

On the way home, I turned the unit on, keeping it on battery power only (as I suspected it might have been the incorrect charger cord that was giving the GPS fits.). It seemed to work OK, but I noticed it would drop a battery bar in about 10-15 minutes (4 bars total, so one bar is roughly 25% of the charge).

I played with a bit more when I got home, recharging it from my PC, and seeing the battery still draining surprisingly quickly as soon as it was on battery power.

I was a bit concerned, as there wasn't any refund offered by the seller in the original eBay listing. However, I wrote the seller via eBay, indicating the issues with the wrong window mounting unit and the wrong car charger. (I didn't even bother mentioning the dying battery). Within minutes I got a response from him, stating that if I return the unit within 3 days, I'd be refunded my purchase price and the shipping costs from the seller to me.

So that's what I'm planning to do. I'll be out the $6 bucks to return the unit, but, better that, than being stuck with all these issues.

Lesson learned. Caveat emptor/Buyer beware.

omni

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by omni550 Lesson learned. Caveat emptor/Buyer beware.

You were lucky indeed!

But I just looked on Amazon and they have this model (New) for $179.99 with free shipping. I would just go ahead and buy it and be the original owner for the lifetime updates.

[Corporateburnout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister You were lucky indeed! But I just looked on Amazon and they have this model (New) for $179.99 with free shipping. I would just go ahead and buy it and be the original owner for the lifetime updates.

+1

He will also get the correct power cord for FM traffic information

[JoeWras]

I'm really weird and buy a new Rand McNally map book from Target every year for $7. They even do a pretty good job with construction (long term jobs).

But I also like the challenge of mapping it, and even taking a wrong turn.

I do see a day where I'll jump in for GPS, maybe in the next year or two. I only have a dumb phone so GPS unit does sound appealing, so I'm watching this thread.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras a new Rand McNally map book

I rely very heavily on my GPS, since I do an awful lot of driving in places I don't know well. Typically at least 20,000 miles a year, nearly all of it for recreational purposes. So my Garmin is an absolute essential.

That said, I would never consider going anywhere without a good map book tucked away in the back seat. I find that every 3-4 years is often enough to update my big Rand McNally road atlas, and every 10 years is often enough to update my local road atlas. But you'd better believe that I want them there as a backup if the GPS ever dies suddenly!

[timo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras I'm really weird and buy a new Rand McNally map book from Target every year for $7. They even do a pretty good job with construction (long term jobs). But I also like the challenge of mapping it, and even taking a wrong turn. I do see a day where I'll jump in for GPS, maybe in the next year or two. I only have a dumb phone so GPS unit does sound appealing, so I'm watching this thread.

I actually use both a GPS and a Rand McNally or State paper map. The GPS is good for in-the-weeds directions, and allows me to drive almost directly to a destination like a hotel, whatever, and all of that. But when I or another passenger wants to look at the big picture of where we are going and what is nearby, you can't beat a paper map.

For a long time I did not have a GPS and would often close in on the destination in sort of ever narrowing circles. It drove my DW crazy. Then one time DW and I were going to Portland, Oregon. And we exited the highway on the other side of town from where we needed to be. No big deal, as I would circle over to the correct place. Except that DW says 'this place looks familiar!' Turns out, she had been watching the COPS television show, and this was the part of Portland where the entire show took place. We bought a GPS fairly quickly after that, and it has made DW much happier with my driving.

[Redbugdave]

I have replaced the internal battery on my Garmin units myself.
Utube has instructions. Do a search for your unit. Here's the instructions for one of my units...an older one...

How To Replace Your Garmin Nuvi 650 Battery - YouTube

Also...I get Consumer Reports. The September issue rates them. The best overall is the Nuvi 3590LMT. The best on a budget is Nuvi 1300.

[omni550]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbugdave I have replaced the internal battery on my Garmin units myself. Utube has instructions. Do a search for your unit. Here's the instructions for one of my units...an older one... How To Replace Your Garmin Nuvi 650 Battery - YouTube Also...I get Consumer Reports. The September issue rates them. The best overall is the Nuvi 3590LMT. The best on a budget is Nuvi 1300.

Thanks, Redbugdave. Looks straightforward enough. I'll keep this in mind when my old unit decides to give up the ghost.

I'll do some research as to the features offered on the 2 CR-recommended Nuvis.

omni

[Redbugdave]

About the map updates...I need to update the maps but I do not think the internal memory is enough in the units since mapping is more complex. You guys mentioned using an SD card. How does that work? Do I just plug in the SD card and update maps...or is there a procedure to make the Garmin overflow onto the SD card. I have never done this before.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbugdave About the map updates...I need to update the maps but I do not think the internal memory is enough in the units since mapping is more complex. You guys mentioned using an SD card. How does that work? Do I just plug in the SD card and update maps...or is there a procedure to make the Garmin overflow onto the SD card. I have never done this before.

Garmin doesn't make it terribly intuitive, but here's the procedure I use.

The internal memory is not quite sufficient for recent updates of the North America map set. So you just get an SD card (4GB is plenty -- only a couple of bucks) and plug it in (there's a slot on the unit.

Then when you go to update, you connect it to your computer, select the card instead of the internal memory and go. The device will figure it out and that's all you have to do.

[Corporateburnout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbugdave About the map updates...I need to update the maps but I do not think the internal memory is enough in the units since mapping is more complex. You guys mentioned using an SD card. How does that work? Do I just plug in the SD card and update maps...or is there a procedure to make the Garmin overflow onto the SD card. I have never done this before.

Just insert the micro SD card in the slot and it will be automatically recognized

[KingB]

Check the owner's manual for the maximum memory supported. I made the mistake of getting the largest SD that is available and it will not work with the GPS unit. I ended up getting an 8GB. Mine, BTW, is the micro SD.

[Al in Ohio]

I really love my Garmin Nuvi, but personally I'd buy a new cord on eBay or Amazon. Use YouTube to explain how to handle no cost map upgrading of old GPS devices. It's fairly easy.

[Redbugdave]

Thank you! I was wondering about the procedure. That's what I will do. It's good to have people you can ask.

[Redbugdave]

Another question...if you download the latest North American map to your SD card in an older NUVI...can you use that SD interchangably with another NUVI? Or does the unit only recognize the SD downloaded to that unit only, and will not work in other units?

[sailor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbugdave Another question...if you download the latest North American map to your SD card in an older NUVI...can you use that SD interchangably with another NUVI? Or does the unit only recognize the SD downloaded to that unit only, and will not work in other units?

If you download paid Garmin maps they are locked to a specific device.
Other maps are usually non-device specific.
One surprise for upgrading maps on an older Garmin device is that calculating the route can be 5 times slower than on the original map (we measured it on friends 265WT by timing same routes).

[brett]

We have a Garmin 2370 lt. It has maps for NA and for Europe. It will be due for replacement next year. It has been a life saver in Europe-particularly in London, Italy, and Turkey. Very few of the Garmin products include both sets of maps.

We use it in both places. We would not bother buying map updates. Rather, we will just buy a new unit since it will have the most recent technology, specifically larger, faster memory. I would make the assumption, which may be incorrect, that every time you get a new version of the software, that software program becomes larger and consumes more memory.

We do not even use the one in the car. After 5 years it is useless and the cost of an upgrade is ridiculous...not to mention that the basic hardware technology was probably out of date by the time the car was first delivered.

[omni550]

I've noticed tons of refurbished GPS units for sale.

What's the general feeling about them? Avoid the models which seem to show up most frequently on the refurb lists? Buy a refurb, as you know that whatever bug it had has been fixed?

BTW, I got my replacement original equipment car charging cord (eBay $10), so my 255W is back in business.

I'm also trying out the Waze app on my phone.

omni

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister I rely very heavily on my GPS, since I do an awful lot of driving in places I don't know well. Typically at least 20,000 miles a year, nearly all of it for recreational purposes. So my Garmin is an absolute essential. That said, I would never consider going anywhere without a good map book tucked away in the back seat. I find that every 3-4 years is often enough to update my big Rand McNally road atlas, and every 10 years is often enough to update my local road atlas. But you'd better believe that I want them there as a backup if the GPS ever dies suddenly!

DW complains I'm hard to find a gift for.

I may finally ask for a GPS. It is time. We plan to ramp up our traveling as we near FIRE or do FIRE, so I think we can use it.

I'm especially interested in the "services" stuff. You know, food, hotels, parks, etc. Does that work well?