Garmin quality and suggestions on improvement

It would be nice if Garmin gave its customers more option choices. I have a 755T and being able to change the speed display to another choice would have been nice. These units are not cheap.

I've got a Nuvi 350 that has been rock solid. But my GPS Map 76CX had one of the battery terminals snap in half while I was sleeping one night on a camping trip, so I woke up to a dead unit. I'd always thought the terminals looked chintzy so I knew what to suspect when it wouldn't turn on.

I wrote Garmin a less than polite letter about cheap Asian manufacturing standards, and the crap that is being churned out by the boat load these days that have disappointed me from other companies I've bought from like LL Bean. I think they need to hear from more disgruntled customers, and maybe when there's a big enough back lash against Chinese trash being sold to us, they'll change their manufacturing arrangements.

Otherwise, all that'll result is you buy from some other GPS company that uses China or Taiwan, and you'll end up in the same place in short order.

That's my 2 cents.
GC

Would be to allow you to avoid streets on the non 8xx series models.

Also to allow use of bookmarkable mp3 files, as I have a lot of mp3 audio books.

I'm sure I can think of a ton more if I tried, but that's it for now.

As I posted on another thread I had to send my 350 back for a bad power switch, my 750 had to be sent back twice not to mention the corrupted update that left it not working as it should for more than a month. Now after updating my 765 it is having problems with Webupdater and today I tried to purchase NuMaps but it would not recognise the unit and would not download. After a 20 minute wait to talk to a CSR they transfer me to Software where there is a 30 minute wait, but after 10 minutes I get disconnected. I called CS back waited another 20 minutes only to be told by both a CSR and a Software support agent that I am the first to call in with this problem. I had been out of town for the last week anf after wasting my morning on the phone I was going through my email and found this email from a retailer that came in on Saturday:

Hi, the GARMIN website is having some problems with some units being
recognized with the new numaps lifetime updates. GARMIN is working on the
problem. The told us to tell our customers to try it again in a few days to
see if it works then. When I find out the problem has been resolved I'll send out another message. Thanks.

Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com
http://www.tvnav.com
Voice 785-625-3546/FAX 413-383-8800
AIM: TVNAVGARMIN

Seems I was not the 1st and do not like being lied too. Even as their products have become less reliable the one thing they always had going for them was the CS if they lose that they cannot continue to survive charging top dollar for medicore equipment.

BTW I just got a refund on my NuMaps and will be skipping the program

One huge improvement would be:
Rather than Garmin pumping Nuvi's out a rate faster than I change my underwear then obsoleting others they just rolled out, maybe they should make a basic stock unit and allow users to buy the features they want.

It would allow Garmin project engineers to focus on Basic unit quality, something they seem to have lost with the Nuvi series comapired to the Streetpilot Era. And the Software Engineers to create a Unit that doesn't go obsolete so quickly, Ala Carte Downloads would fit this bill very well.

After all it's being done and working well in other GPSr manufactured models.

Garmin like other companies are into cost cutting measures and they're going to turn off a lot of long time customers with their cheaply built but overpriced Nuvis.

I'm having the same issue that other users are having with my 765 after updating to unit software v3.0. WebUpdater will frequently not see the unit as being a valid GPS unit for updates. I have found that if the unit is plugged into the USB port when it is off, the file x:/Garmin/GarminDevice.xml (which is used by WebUpdater for unit ID purposes and is regenerated on every boot) is sometimes not being generated completely and is cut off/truncated. If I power on the unit and let it boot fully, then plug it into the USB port, the problem seems to be rectified. It seems as though plugging the unit into the USB port is somehow interrupting the creation of GarminDevice.xml

Next time you run across this issue, try to open/edit the file x:/Garmin/GarminDevice.xml with your browser and see if it's a complete file with no errors (scroll to the end). I'll wager that the file is truncated...

Regardless, these firmware updates and now even the map updates (v2009.11) are becoming buggier and buggier.

Hopefully Garmin will get their act together, stop releasing new units by the month, dumping units after 6 months (nuvi 8xx series) and fix outstanding issues with current units rather than breaking things even more.

The maps always seem to be a year or two behind the real world.

my only real problem with them, as my system has been rock solid...

Just thought of one more thing garmin could improve on. The ability to use a generic mini usb to power and use the unit on the road. On the 200w, if you don;t use the garmin cable it assumes you are plugging it into a computer.

I didn't think any Nuvi model allowed you to avoid individual streets. I know I cannot on my 780 and did not see this feature on the 8xx series either.

It would be great if my Nuvi would either speak, or show on the screen the actual physical address of the destination once it arrives there.

Several times I have used it to navagate to a private residence which I haven't been to before and had trouble locating the exact house. If you have the address saved in your favorites as the person's name, like "John Smith" or something, when you get close to your destination, the unit says "now arriving at John Smith". However, if you forgot the actual address or didn't write it down, you don't always know exactly which house it might be as your driving by, especially at night or on a busy street when you can't always slow down all the way.

Even if it showed the address on the screen with a pop-up window as it says the saved name, it would still be a big help.

Hi, kradams.

The 8xx series uses different software and from what I understand, does allow you to avoid specific roads.

From the nuvi 880 owners manual page 45: "Touch Custom Avoids to avoid a specific area or road."

This is a bug with v3.0 on the 7x5 series. Here's what I've found in my research...

At every power cycle, a file is generated automatically by the nuvi that contains info regarding your unit such as firmware version, installed voices, etc. The file is named GarminDevice.xml and is in the x:/Garmin folder. WebUpdater gets your unit info from this file and uses that info to see whether or not updates apply.

With nuvi 7x5 v3.0, this file is getting corrupted or truncated somehow (the exact cause is unknown). If the file is corrupted, WebUpdater cannot read it correctly and will list the GPS as not having the "necessary capabilities". To correct the problem, the file needs to be regenerated from scratch. To do this, connect the nuvi to the USB port and delete the file named GarminDevice.xml from the x:/Garmin folder. Then safely disconnect the nuvi from the USB port and let it boot fully (NOT connected to USB). After booting, the unit can then be connected to the USB port and WebUpdater should see the unit and proceed normally. If for some reason it does not or if it happens again in the future, simply repeat the file deletion/re-creation.

I wish I would have known this before I purchased my 780. We have this feature in our car's nav system and it really comes in handy. I wish Garmin would list this feature on the website. I never thought to download the manual before making my purchase.

I agree. This is a feature that any GPSr really should have. I would have thought Garmin might incorporate this feature on their newer x5 series, but no such luck. It seems that the 8xx series and older Street Pilot series are the only ones that have this feature.