Problems with Nuvi 270 Proximity Alerts

Have you 'turned on' proximity alerts on your unit. It should be in 'tools>settings'.

Also, you have to use mp3's for your audio alerts. wav's won't work.

Your unit does not support mp3 files so you do need wav files for voice. Did you atleast get a beep warning for the alerts. If not check your mute. Also check to make sure you loaded sox files needed to convert wav files to the needed format through Garmin's POI Loader.

sox can be found at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=10706&...

Yes...
1. all my alerts have been transferred from mp3 to wav format and all work on my computer
2. the unit shows that the alerts have been enabled
3. even with the above, the unit shows that there are Garmin alerts with the included database that so far have not been heard from
4. no beep warning at all... nothing.... no change of screen colors
5. unit is not on mute.... directional voice is heard

Census1940

Also... I thought I put the sox file in the right files on my computer. Initially I put it within my POI folder on my computer but think I got an error message when using the POI loader about the *.wav files, so I placed the sox file with the loader files... and the error disappeared. But since I have no alerts at all... can't test whether the file is in the right place or not.

Census 1940

Hi neighbor,
I'd say the odds are 10,000 to 1 that the unit is NOT defective. We'll get you working.

Some questions first:
1.) Are we safe in assuming that you downloaded all the POI files from this location, and that "no alerts" means no custom audio, no default sounds, AND no visual banner?
2.) At the conclusion of running POI Loader, did it announce that you had successfully loaded xxx number of POIs?
3.) If you go to Extras/Custom-POIs (or wherever POIs show up on the 270), do you see the POIs you loaded?
4.) If the answer is "Yes" to #3, what happens if you choose "Show Map" when you select a specific redlight POI? If it shows you the location, is that the intersection you drove through? Does the custom icon show up if you zoom all the way in at this point?
5.) Did you make the wav files mono?
6.) There are 2 different SOX files; did you get the correct one? Placement in the folder with POI Loader was correct.

Thanks 660....

1. nothing ever happened with an alert... no sound, visual... nada
2. it does tell me it downloaded XXX POIs after I'm through with the POI loader
3. I can see the POIs loaded in the nuvi 270. I can see on the POI list a specific POI in the Redlight folder (file downloaded from another source than the present website)
4. If I show map for the closes redlight POI, and zoom in, it does **not** show my custom bmp redlight icon... hmmmm... just a small round red dot
5. I made all the wavs mono when I converted.
6. I read about problems with different sox files... and went to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=10706 and from what I see on my hard drive I eventually got sox-14.1.0.zip file that I used.

3. Can't imagine why you wouldn't use the redlight file from here. I personally verified all the cameras around you (San Juan and El Toro) and they are dead on. If the coordinates are too far from the intersection, that would explain your lack of alerts. What are the names of the 3 files you are using?
4. Is the red dot right in the intersection?
6. I hope you don't take this as insulting to your computer expertise, but you did unzip the Sox file and place the exe in the folder with POI Loader (not in with the POI files themselves) -- right?

bentbiker (not 660 )

660...
No offense taken. I agree that if everything else is working, it's probably me and not the machine. Yes, the sox file was unzipped and the *.exe put in the folder.

Looking at the icons from the POIs on the map. I brought over a number of POI folders. Checking each POI group, and looking at the nearest one in each, and looking at the map.... the bmp icon only appears on the first 4 (in alphabetical order) of the POI types. It does not appear on any of the others. However, on my recent trip, I was able to find a spot (Wendy's Restaurant) and make that my destination from the spot I was in.

As to using the Redlight folder on this site... I don't qualify yet for free access.

Don't call me Shirley . . . errr 660.

You missed a couple of my questions. What are the names of the three redlight camera files (better to copy and paste)? And . . . on the redlight POI where you saw the red dot when you zoomed in, was the dot in the intersection, not just somewhere near it?

If some of your custom icons are showing and some are not, I believe the only explanations would be either the names don't match exactly, or you have double extensions.

As for a lack of proximity alerts on the files for POIs other than the redlight cameras, did you set the alerts in manual mode with POI Loader?

bentbiker

Just so you know I'm not ignoring you...but I'm going back and testing each part of the system. I reset the nuvi and that had no effect. I did a screen/on erase of data and that had no effect on the stored information so I had to use the POI loader to remove the custom POIs (checking within tools to see if the custom POIs were still there). I just entered then the Redlight files (csv, bmp, wav)..... and making progress.... with simulation mode and the nearest light about 2.5 miles away, could see the redlight icon I put in, heard the audio warning... but the wav file I put in was ignored. So making progress.... will look at wav parameters and relook at the sox file situation.

Ok... things are looking up.
1. reread the threads on the sox.exe problem. Went to the source site, and by clicking on 14.1.0 was able to see previous versions. Downloaded the 14.0.1 version and replaced the newer one, and now can hear the wav file (at least the one I tested)on the nuvi
2. I think there may have been some corrupted file in the POI folder.... as scrubbing it clean on the nuvi, then uploading the bmp files again, cleared up 90% of the problem...with the others problems with typos (two dashes vs one dash, etc.)so now I see more than 4 custom icons on the maps
3. The wav file appeared to be saved with 32 bits rather than 16....so resaved all of those.

So..in simulation mode, things are looking better. Will have to see how it works in the "real world"... thanks for the discussion.