Nightmare on Garmin Street

I have had no problems with the speaker on my unit. It was a year old in July. I was having some strange problems with the traffic receiver. It would sometimes put out a msg about checking the traffic receiver, Sometimes it would not get a signal in areas where it had before.So (I assumed the station was down, or weak) When I would go to the traffic page it would put up a msg about not having a subscription. I would hit OK, and it would display my subscription info that was good until November. Anyhow I talked to a Garmin rep and he said that all that was strange, and gave me an rma to send it in. I did, and a week later I got a new one with a 18 month subscription. Everything works fine now, even in an area where I always lost the signal before. The unit was about 1 month out of warranty.

Can't seem to find the cycle count in the Diag. screen on the 750, Does anyone have the 750 who knows how to check this?

This might be or might not be of help. To save money on traffic alerts in or around Chicago, don't subscribe. Let's see, traffic on all expressways will be heavy from 5:30 am to about 10 am. Then it will start clogging up again around 3pm to maybe 8 pm. Avoid all expressways and major arteries during those times. I work in Chicago, but lucky for me I can work my own hours, so I get to work by 5:30am and leave around 2pm. No traffic at all. It's a shame about the 660, mine had worked perfect (except Downtown) till the battery died, and Garmin replace the unit no problems. Also when I went online to register the new one (refurb) I found it qualified for the 2009 maps!! Woo hoo!!

For the most part.. I agree
But hey.. If I paid for the 'option', and the 3 month sub revealed that it didnt work properly, then I'll have it fixed.

I work downtown too. But I take metra. Its soooo much better than driving. Heck, one big advantage is I get to keep a 492HP 12mpg daily driver. If I had to drive to work daily, I'd be driving a METRO (YIKES!!)
Your battery died within warranty I assume?
Ya know..the battery wouldnt be such a big deal if they were 'easily' replaced. I've read about opening these things up, and it looks like a royal pain. Mind you, I'm not adverse to cracking open devices. I do it all the time, but these GPSr's just take it to higher level of difficulty.

As stated, I'm just concerned I'll get a bashed up used unit as a 'refurb'. I keep my toys safe, and would hate to have replacement with a used battery, dead pixels or beat up case.

My nuvi 660 is over 2 years old. I have never had a problem with it or the traffic receiver. The only issues are 1) the many areas without an FM traffic broadcast and 2) the information is only as good as what is being broadcast. Often the tie up is long gone while the unit still shows the traffic problem. The antenna itself has an issue with the tip of the lighter connector. My boss borrowed my 660 for a trip and when he returned it the silver tip was missing. The garmin parts store shows a new one is over $200. A rolled up piece of aluminum foil does the trick for a lot less cash.

Of course you run the risk of the foil shorting the two electrodes and at a minimum blowing a fuse to the lighter. A much safer approach is to replace the missing piece with a suitable machine screw or pop rivet.

I'm assuming that your boss didn't lose the fuse behind that tip . . . ?

you should contact garmin, there is a very well know issue with the tip of the traffic power cord. They sent me a replacement tip, fuse and plastic tip holder.

My nuvi 660 is over two years old,No problems to date
but was wondering about the life expectancy.If the battery should die,wouldn't it still work with the lighter adapter. Does anyone know how to replace the battery?Is there a way of checking the status of the battery.?

Update:
I contacted Garmin today (following the holiday weekend) to let them know about the failed speaker.

I explained the the current situation:
Fail(ing) traffic reciever was sent back.
Was sent back the original.
Confirmed I should have been sent a new one.
Sent back the old one.
This weekend the speaker when t!ts up.

I expressed my concerns about a 'refurb'. I currently have a 'pixel perfect' unit and it would be sad to get a refurb with a few blown pixels or a used battery.
The rep said that refurb is rebuilt to garmin specs. A somewhat acceptable statement, but what are those specs?
Anyway, he said that the power cord is back ordered and he didnt know when they would be available. Yikes!
He then said that because the unit is under 60 days (by only 8 days) that the unit could be considered 'defective out of box' and a full, new unit could be shipped. Neat!
But... I would have to send them all the gear. Ok.
You guys have the traffic reciever.
Would this mean I would have to wait for the back ordered traffic/power cord then ship everything back? That could be weeks.
He continued to work with me and said that he would talk to a supervisor proposing that they hold the traffic/power cord I sent rather than sending a new one. He said they had not received it from me yet.
I pulled the tracking number and let em know that I have it from fedex it was delivered on the 29th and and the name of the person who signed for it. Granted, it may have not been processed yet. No biggie.
He said he would call or email me back regarding the situation. This was about 1pm today. Never heard back. No biggie hopefully I will get some news 2morrow.

Thus far it has been rather frustrating. But I get the impression they are trying to work with me.
Additionally they offered a 15 month sub for the traffic. I responded that if they were going to ship a new 'off the shelf' unit, it would include only a 3 month sub. So..if the 15 month inclusion would inhibit getting a new one out to me..dont worry about it. I can live without it. Or, just include a code. No need to go shipping a package that would would require a swapped traffic receiver from a new package that includes only a 3 month sub.

Hopefully I will have some good news in the coming days.

I just sent my 3 month old 760 back to Garmin because the battery would not hold a charge. I just assumed they would slap a new battery in the unit and send it back. Hope I don't get a refurb. I'd have to replace "recalculating" on all the voices again.

There is no reason why it shouldnt work with a dead battery.
As far as I know, the file system is in NVMemory. So no refresh charge is required.

Yet if it 'does' die, you may still want to put in an effort to replace it. Afterall, it 'is' a portable device. No bat? No port.
I've searched for replacement bats for my 350 in anticipation when it will die. I've found bats for it that include tools (The torx driver) needed to perform the replacement. I expect these 3rd party to grow as units age.

I'm not entirely concerned about this.
The battery 'will die' sooner or later. As long as there exists an option to replace it one's self, it shouldn't be something to worry about.
In theory...

To check the battery..turn it on..hold the upper right corner for a few seconds.
Page thru the diag screens and you'll find the battery screen. This will tell you current capacity (stock is 1250MAh), current draw, cycle count..etc.

You will likely get a different unit back from Garmin.

It's always advisable to backup all your user data before you send the unit to Garmin.

Update:
After not hearing back for a day, I called back.

Seems that an RMA was already issued that was described as a full replacement...A new unit.
I guess the original tech neglected to notify me by email or phone. No biggie. The return info and RMA was already in the system.
So I got the RMA number and will be shipping back my 'silent' unit. (Sending it overnight thru fedex). In perhaps a week I'll get a new 'off the shelf' unit in an OEM box.

Despite a few bumps, it seems like Garmin has come thru, stood by their product, and went to the shiny new shelf to replace a failed 2 month old original purchase.
Hopefully it will arrive sometime late next week or the following week.

Overall? I give this Garmin customer service encounter a 'B' overall.

Once I receive it, all will be well...
'Cept for the new 765T's on the horizon!

Paid $800 in September 2007, and for that kind of cash, wish something more durable. The unit will not charge and will power down within 5 seconds.
Replaced the cord, but still no fix.
So I am just going to box it up and ship it to them as a gift.
Perhaps I will try tom tom, but no more Garmin.
Time for a change.

Hope Garmin will fix unit for you . Or maybe send you a new unit if it cant be fixed. I agree thats a lot of money.

I believe you have to send the unit to Garmin Service to replace the battery.

It will take charge on the USB drive from the computer.
Received two chargers, same problem.

Welp... It looks like this lil adventure has come to a close.
Today I found a shiny new 660 (Not a refurb)on my doorstep waiting for me when I got home.
Confirmed new by turning it on, getting prompted for region, time zone etc. It was homed at Garmin with the outmost zoom, and a big fat ZERO on the battery cycle count.

I suppose I should have had it last week. But I was told by support they were pretty backed up. No doubt this was due to the 7xx 4.0 firmware issue. But when I did call, and confirm they recieved my old unit via a tracking number, they quickly authorized the shipment and up'd it to 2 DAY delivery!

Overall? I'm quite impressed at the end of the day.
There were a couple of flub ups, but throughout the whole thing I always got the sense that garmin was doing the best they could.

I'd like to officially downgrade the title of this thread from "nightmare" to "A slightly disturbed night's sleep from the neighbors barking dog."

Now then. Having said all of the above. I hope the new 660 remains trouble free.
(Its currently charging and I expect to upgrade the firmware and maps later this evening)

Dood,
Are you out of your MIND? I always wanted to say that, but in this case I think it makes sense. If it works well, why take any chance for zero gain?

Its a 660. (Not a 7xx)
I was running 4.50 just fine before the speaker went silent.
While registering the unit it forced a firmware upgrade from 4.20 to 4.60. From what I have seen 4.60 has been fine.
The only thing I noted with the unit was that it was running 3.0 for the bluetooth software. There was a known issue with blackberries that effected me. I backdated to 2.4 on the previous unit and it worked fine.
My understanding is that 3.1 does fix the blackberry issue. If not? I'll reload 2.4.
(Even after the registration upgrade, I expect to hit the web updater which SHOULD offer additional updates such as voice....as well as the 3.1 BT upgrade)

Zero? That reference was to the battery cycle count.
Zero means it hasnt fallen below 60%(IIRC) and was delivered a recharge. I noted that to confirm it wasnt a refurb.

If there is something I'm missing, PLEASE, school me! Because as far as I know, I'm following an acceptable path for proper bug free operations.

I'm currently updating the maps. Again, I'm gonna fire up the web updater where I expect to find the 3.1 BT upgrade.

Oh..and your not the first one to tell me I'm outta my mind.

You'll note that I said, "If it is working well . . . " Clearly, if it isn't running well and you know a specific update that you know solves the problem, that is a different story. I know 4dotsomething introduced the conflict between mp3 music and mp3 alerts (I doubt Garmin plans to fix it), and EVERY update has the potential for problems -- lost maps, missing unlock codes, lost favorites, and totally dead units . . . But it sounds as if you know exactly what you are doing and why.

Well..it worked well with the previous unit anyway.
I certainly hope with this new one I dont encounter any problems.

Near as I can tell 4.50..and even 4.60 havent had any problems. If you know of any issues..PLEASE..let me know.
I see you have 660 as well. I've only had the 660 for 2 months.(last few weeks being in 'limbo' of course. ) So any info you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

I bought my Nuvi 660 last November, so far no issues except it is slow in picking up satellite signal when I pull out of a parking lot in a strange city. I wish there is a fix to this.

Well.. I did a BT test with the 3.1 BT software.

Not good.

I called the GF, she said it sounded 'scratchy' compared to the previous unit and older BT software.

Then..after a few minutes, she sounded choppy!
I did a switch to the blackberry's audio/external speaker.. Sounded fine. Switched back to the nuvi, and it was again choppy.

Hmmm.. I'll test it a bit more, but if this continues, I'll try to backdate to the 2.4.

Has anybody experienced else any 'choppy' audio from the remote party with BT 3.1?

Turn it ON. Wait until it gets a lock BEFORE you start moving. I usually turn mine on in the motel room about 20 minutes before leaving.