Bad microphone on c550

I had the same issue with my nuvi 660. I know others have not had that experience. I purchased the external mic and that greatly enhanced the sound quality and I could move the GPS back where it needs to be.

Wife says it sounds fine....Of course I claim she's going deaf anyway. So, maybe it doesn't sound fine. I'll have to have her talk on it and me listen.

I do not have any problems using the Handsfree feature on the C550. In fact just ran a test so I could hear it and it came through loud and clear.

My girlfriend has reported that she can hear a lot of road noise, but my cars are pretty loud. She said that doesn't ever have a problem hearing me though.

But I agree, for piece of mind, I need to do a test with someone else in the car and me on the phone in my house to really be sure.

I've contacted Garmin's tech support and the only thing that they are saying so far is it could be my phone. I have a motorolla e815 which is NOT on their list of compatable phones, yet i can still use voice dialing and it downloads my address book and recent calls to the unit.

Everyone I speak to using c550 with my LG8300 says they can hear perfectly and have no clue I'm on speaker. Better than the Jawbone bluetooth headset I use to use. In fact the speaker phone has been unexpected surprise with this unit. So for me mic is fine.

Now the speakers don't sound that great to me and am thinking of using a cassette adapter

Started having issues with the voice after I did an update for the GPS unit. What I ended up doing was deleting the bluetooth device and then link the two devices back together again and no problems. So fyi..any updates that are performed to your GPS unit..delete the bluetooth device and then relink them and it should correct any voice issues you were having before.

Thanks, i'm definitely going to give that a try

It is working a little but better, does anyone else have any more suggestions?

I just purchased the microphone that Garmin offers for the c550. Im going to route it behind the dash and up the left pillar so it'll be right by my head. Too bad Garmin doesnt have a wireless bluetooth microphone, like you see many phone companies offer (motorola, nokia, etc).

I guess that you can't take a bluetooth headset and pair it with the GPS, right? Are bluetooth headsets really designed for telephones?

You can definitely pair a Bluetooth headset with the Zumo. And with the newest firmware, you can select whether you want everything to come through the Bluetooth or just the phone.

I don't know about the capability on other models.

I just thought about it, why would you want to pair the headset with the gps when you can just pair it to the phone, sorry, what I said earlier doesn't make much sense.

That being said, and what MM just said, can't you just (if you wanted too) pair the motorola mic to the gps? Better yet, why not just pair it with the phone itself and not even worry about the gps...oh I know why, so that the mp3 would stop playing when you get a call, right?

The reasons that you would pair your phone with you GPSr would be so the music (as you stated) and nav prompts would stop when you get a call.

And you will get an alert (visual and audible) on the GPSr that you have an incoming call. Very useful when you have the music turned up a tad loud.

By pairing the headset to the GPSr and the phone to the GPSr at the same time allows the GPSr to handle the calls. This gives you handsfree without having to look at or press buttons on the phone itself. Very useful while driving.

I can see how that would be useful. I have had callers tell me to shut the dang thing off when the nav alerts would go off as I talked with them. I also like the fact taht I don't have to look at my cell to see who is calling.

Dang, now I want bluetooth on my gps......lol

By the way, why do you use "GPSr", what does the r mean?

GPSr refers to Global Positioning System "receiver". This is considered the "more correct" term when referring to a specific unit as opposed the the entire system. I've just gotten in the habit of using it.

After I posted, I sorta figured it meant 'receiver'. But that is a good way of putting it. Because GPS isn't really a receiver.

Hahaha... I have a GPS in my car. The receiver and all the satellites!

People are still having a lot of trouble hearing me over the other sounds inside of my car. Has anyone tried using any old microphone plug and see if it works. I don't have any problem hearing other people over the small speakers, only other people hearing me.

That is normal for all bluetooth that I have experienced, esp. those that use a mic, vs a headset. My boss as an indash unit and I hate it when he calls!!! I can't hear him very well and it makes me sound like I am dumb, but I am not, just can't hear.

You would want to look for a microphone that has (at least some) noise canceling. Short of this, you can try moving your GPSr closer to you in your vehicle.

By far, the JawBone, in Cingular stores ($120) has the best noise cancelling!!!!!!! However, I returned it cause I couldn't hear the caller. But that shouldn't make a difference if you are using it with a GPSr.

has anyone had the same troubles with similar gps's like the nuvi?

one other small note: how easy is it to change the volume on the nuvi, the streetpilot has a nice little wheel on the side, what about the nuvi?

The one that I saw, you have to change the volume through the touchscreen, it wasn't very user friendly in my opinion.

I use that volume wheel all the time on my c550, it really would be a great change to the unit. I just don't know if the unit has enough room inside to fit the circuitry for the wheel.

I have had the same experience. I have had a couple of people tell me that I sounded as if I was far away from the speaker phone.

I like being able to pair my C550 with my Palm 700P but the feedback that I have gotten from callers has me considering connecting an external mic. I have not had any problems using a bluetooth headset with the phone so I am inclined to believe that it is the c550's mic.

David

Can't you pair the headset to the GPSr as well as the Phone? That way you can get the use of the headset, which probably does a better job then the GPSr.

The c550 doesn't support connection to a Bluetooth headset. (At least not yet.)

I think that would be just kind of redundant. If you could do that why wouldn't you just pair the headset to the phone directly? I guess if you did it with all three devices you could use the GPSr to tell you when you have an incoming call then put in your headset to talk.

I'm also wondering what external mic people have used which work. The port looks to be like a 2.5 mm port.

It wouldn't necessarily be redundant because as you have pointed out, the GPSr screen would indicate that you have a call, and then when you answered the call, you could talk on the call using the headset which would likely provide a better sounding call on both sides of the conversation.

In addition, if there were other people in the car with you, by taking the call over a headset, the other people wouldn't hear the entire phone call. But, alas, the c550 doesn't support that feature (yet).

As far as an external mic, I've not ever read anything good about Garmin's mic. Maybe others will pipe in with their experiences.

I believe the problems that some of us are having are due to an "echo." Basically the caller hears the echo of their voice from the speaker back into the mic.

I have been looking for an echo cancelling mic. Alpine had a ton of problems with the Bluetooth adapter with their stereos. They now market their newest release with an echo cancelling mic.

I believe than any 1/4" mic would work. If anyone knows of an echo cancelling mic, let us know!

As MM said, it would not be redundent. I always have my headset on in the car. it would be nice to be able to just glance over at the GPSr and see who is calling and then answer it thru the headset. That way, I don't have to open the phone and see it. The headset would provide better audio at least on the other end. It would also cut the mp3s off and the voice prompts.

I'm using the C550 in a Corvette (not a quiet car). I've never had a problem listening or talking to another. Never a complaint. I always make sure the windows are up and the radio turned down when using the built-in microphone.

I guess good quality is different from person to person. My wife says that my current headset sounds fine, but when I listen to it, it sucks! I don't want to here anything BUT the caller's voice. The JawBone from Cingular did that pretty good, but I couldn't hear on the receiving end.

I agree with many of your responses that being able to use all three at the same time had a lot of advantages.

What other wired mic's have people tried plugging into the received which they have found worked?

I'm reposting hoping someone who knows will be able to answer this question:
What wired mic's other then the garmin ones have people tried in their GPS receivers which work.

I bought the Mic for the C550 because people said I kept cutting out just using the built in Mic in the unit. I called my house to leave a message on my answering machine to see how it sounded. It sounded terrible! I think I should have saved my money and just used the built in Mic. I tried it with the built in Mic, and it sounded 100% better.

I tried an old, generic ear-bud thing with my Nuvi660...of course the ear-bud didn't do anything - the mic worked OK, but the 'victims' of my test calling liked the sound from the Garmin mic better.

Has anyone found anything which you can change the sensitivity of the mic? I was calling someone who said my turn signal was so loud she couldn't hear me at all.

Exactly the same result here. No matter where I put the external mic, close, far, above, below...poor sound. Much better with the built in mic.

I would try a different phone and see if it sounds the same. Often these issues are a function of the phone's Bluetooth version and not a function of the GPSr.

I'll give it a try

So, you are saying, maybe it's the Razor V3 bluetooth version and not the 550/or ext mic?

It'd be interesting to find out the differences in bluetooth versions among the same version of phones or family of phones.
I would have figured (for example) that motorola phones would use the same version of BT, within certain year groups etc.

Yes. And Motorola phones, and in particular some Razr's, are notorious for having extremely weak and poor quality Bluetooth.

I would try a completely different phone and manufacturer if possible, and see if there is a difference.

when I find a willing participant...with other than motorola phone.

Thanx MM

Some people have had success taking their GPSr to the cell phone store and having the reps test different phones.

I have a Sony phone (which is not on the list of compatible phones). When the phone connects to the c550 for the first time, the phone asks if I want to synchronize (it asks everytime I connect a couple of times, then it allows me to tell it to sync everytime so it stops asking everytime). If I do not say yes, the connection is terrible. If I say yes, it works GREAT! In fact, I am told it sounds better than when I use my Motorola Bluetooth, and I have also been told it sounds better than when I talk directly into the phone.

Sony actually has a software on it's website to update my phone very similar to Garmin's Webupdater. You might want to see if there are any updates for your phone.

One other thing, what others said about updates to the c550; everytime I have a Garmin update, I have to delete the phone from the bluetooth list and let them refind/link again with each other. If I don't, nobody can understand anything I say.

This is interesting, i sounds like a common fix people are finding works well is to just delete the phone and then sync it up again.

i cant even get my razr to connect

Razr's are known to have weak Bluetooth. Maybe you can get your Bluetooth version upgraded. This is an issue with the phone not with the GPSr.

Having said that, with my Zumo, I have to let the phone (not a Razr) find the Zumo during the initial pairing, not the other way around or they won't pair.