acting up in downtown area

An area like Downtown Chicago is a challenge for GPS units. The tall buildings form man made canyons and it can be difficult to maintain a strong signal. That is a problem for all GPS units, not just your Nuvi. The newer high sensitivity receivers have helped, but not totally solved the problem.

Sounds like multipath error. Very common in the urban canyons.

I had the same trouble around LaSalle and Wabash. Very tall buildings and a narrow street. Not to mention the L tracks overhead when we got to Wabash. Lost signal completely when we went into the parking garage at LaSalle & Monroe. Didn't get it back until we got down to Congress. We were under the L tracks on Wabash all the way to Congress.

Big disappointment, but expected. Dang, that's where I needed it the most! I'm a 'burbs guy.

I had a big problem in downtown Chicago myself a few weeks ago with my C340. I was fine west of the river but between the river and Michigan Avenue was a black hole. If you're going into a skyscraper canyon it pays to look ahead on the GPS for your turns and not rely on the audio because you might lose it at a critical moment.

good point, next time im going to check the turns it gives me before i hit that black hole!!

Too bad they can't use something like HAM repeaters to get the signals down into the canyons. Be a logistical nightmare because of the signal delays, of course.

I haven't run into those problems with my Nuvi but time will tell. Have you guys ever thought about an external antenna? I had one with my c330 that I used all the time. The city buildings along with radio waves can cause havoc. But it got much better when I used a antenna on my C330. I don’t think they have an antenna for the Nuvi 200 series.

i actually live downtown chicago and my 650 will do that sometimes and my girls 200 will do it alot more but luckily we no where were going so it does not effect us there are just to many roads over to many other roads than a lot of 5 ways and a few tall buildings so it just happens but still the best city to live in except for mayor daily

I have heard using an external antenna can minimize some of the problems in a downtown area.