Low Volume on NUVI 660
 16 years
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OK Group;
I have a Garmin Nuvi 660 with the 380 operating system. The reason for the outdated OS is the volume. When I updated to the next and latest 400 and above (by the way the 400 OS would not permit my traffic receiver to function) operating system the volume on my unit was significantly reduced. When I rolled the OS back to the 380 firmware my unit was loud once again (really loud). To prove to myself that the 380 OS was the key I got one of my friends involved with his Nuvi 660. First off we measured the sound pressure level of both units at five inches and recorded the results. My unit was 2.5db louder with the 380 OS than his was with the 430 OS. We saved his addresses (you loose settings when you go backward with the OS) and rolled the OS in his unit back to 380 and measured again. His unit was now as loud as mine. I have asked Garmin about this and they said that this is the first that they have heard of this. I was hoping that some of you would have some experience with the volume issue.
Pete
Volume Balance Between mp3 and Navigation.
Is it possible that within these updates they added the new setting for audio balancing between mp3 and navigation? I don't remember seeing them on the early firmware, but I could easily be wrong. Perhaps the default on one of these settings is too low. I have both set to 90% to eliminate the chance of overdriving my speaker and causing the "rattle" distortion.
Nuvi 660 -- and not upgrading it or maps until Garmin fixes long-standing bugs/problems, and get maps to where they are much more current, AND corrected on a more timely basis when advised of mistakes.
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I have asked Garmin about this and they said that this is the first that they have heard of this. I was hoping that some of you would have some experience with the volume issue.
Pete,
I have absolutely no problems accepting your measurements at face value. It comes as no surprise that Garmin can't expand on your findings - it's very much par for the course.
The only part of Garmin we have ready-access to, is First Line support. They are a very helpful bunch, but it's very easy to go beyond the bounds of their knowledge. Sadly, they seem to have no-one to fall back on.
There's an interesting little exchange in one of Garmin's own forums... The Garmin Communicator team documented some of the firmware differences they had found "by testing". Note: "by testing" - not by speaking to the team involved, or reading any in-house documentation!
I'm convinced that the firmware teams aren't permanent staff - I'm sure they're just employed 'as and when required'.
On a practical note, the current Nüvi 7xx series firmware has the volume set at its highest practical level. All the normal TTS voice volume tweaks are not applicable, because they just introduce distortion.
Also, in this thread
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/12680
it's noted that the alerts are "vibrating the speaker". I've noticed this myself: .mp3 alert files that play OK, if somewhat quietly on a Nüvi 310 make the case resonate on a Nüvi 760.
Garmin seem to be going for Quantity rather than Quality at the moment. I'm sure there'll be a firmware team along shortly, to introduce this problem to the 6xx series
------------------------ Phil Hornby, Stockport, England ---------------------- http://GeePeeEx.com - Garmin POI Creation made easy »
FYI
I used this voice file hack to increase volume on my Garmin 260 and it works beautifully. But, you don't want to go to 100 ... I hacked mine to 85, instead of the factory set 65, and it is significantly louder with no distortion ... Of course, I do not know if it works for 700 or any other series.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/9702
Nuvi 260 www.dispatch.com