Nuvi 650 and POIs

Welcome to the site!

Be sure to read through the 'getting started' and 'faqs' sections linked at the top of each page. Those sections will provide you with TONS of information.

Here's the basic procedure to load Custom POIs onto your GPS unit.

Download and install Garmin's POI Loader onto your computer in order to LOAD Custom POI files onto your GPS unit.

http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/

Then create a folder on your computer for your Custom POI files. Be sure you aren't putting the Custom POI data files onto your GPS unit. They need to be loaded with POI Loader from your computer.

Download and/or create whatever Custom POI files you want to load onto your GPS unit and place ALL of them in that folder and keep them there.

Attach your GPS unit to your computer with a USB cable. (Alternately, if you have a unit that will read the Custom POIs from the SD card, attach or insert the SD card to the computer.)

Run the POI Loader program that you installed to your computer and follow the prompts.

Select your GPS unit (or SD card if applicable) as the destination for the Custom POIs in the POI Loader screen. Use the drop down arrow if necessary.

When it asks for the location of the data, Select 'Browse ...' and navigate to the appropriate folder.

Select Manual or Express Mode using the drop down list. (Express Mode will set alerts based upon the data in the files. Manual Mode will allow you to set the alert information manually, if desired.)

If you select Manual instead of Express, you can set Proximity and Speed alerts for your POIs.

Follow the prompts.

Express Mode will load you files and present you with a Finish screen indicating how many POIs were loaded.

Manual Mode will present you with each POI file you have in your folder giving you the opportunity to skip loading that file, and to set or change the speed or proximity alert information. At the end Manual Mode will also present you with a Finish screen indicating how many POIs were loaded.

POI Loader will create a file in the destination you chose named POI.GPI with all your Custom POIs.

The Custom POIs will be found on your GPS unit under Where to? > Extras > Custom POIs

I appreciate your time typing all that, but I've done all that. My issue is getting the POIs to appear on my GPS as I approach them. What I want is for my GPS to notify me when a POI is approaching. Right now it is not doing it. How close to a POI do you need to be in order to get a warning? Thanks!

If you are looking for "POIs to appear" physically on the map you have to install a bmp icon file that has the same name as the POI location file.

The proximity alert is in feet. You should select a distance that is based on how soon you want to be alerted. I use 3000 feet for Interstate POIs, and 1000 feet for places in town.

[The proximity alert is in feet. You should select a distance that is based on how soon you want to be alerted. I use 3000 feet for Interstate POIs, and 1000 feet for places in town.]

How do you set these alerts?

You set proximity alerts by loading your POIs with Garmin's POI Loader in the manual mode !

Made those adjustments...time to go driving!! Thanks!!