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iGo PowerXtender - Anyone used it for pedestrian use battery charging?

 
Tue, 03/31/2009 - 4:28pm

I want to use the 760 on holiday this summer, and a lot of that will be pedestrian use on city walks etc. Battery life is a concern as if we're out all day I can't see it lasting, even if I turn it off when possible. iGo have an interesting product called the PowerXtender which it says is compatible with the 760 and will recharge from 2 AA batteries. So in theory if I stick 2 or 4 AA's in my pack then I could be good to go all day. With a couple of spare tips it could also charge a cell phone, camera, iPod etc.

The product page is here:

http://www.igo.com/detail/IGO+PS00264-0001#

I'm wondering if anyone has used this and can say if it works. Also I don't know if the 760 could be used while plugged in or just go into USB mode. I saw mention on another post that someone hooked up a Garmin (a 265 I think) to a charger and it initially went into USB mode but after 30 seconds reverted to being usable, presumably because it did not find a PC USB connection.

It seems like the perfect answer but I'd love to know if anyone else has used this and what the results were.

Thanks.

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Tue, 03/31/2009 - 6:00pm

External battery extender

See the following link on a prior thread here about
Gomadic Power Accessories for ALL !!

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/11578

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"Those that stop and smell the roses, must realize that once in awhile you may get a whiff of fertilizer."..copyright:HDHannah1986 -Mercedes GPS - UCONNECT 430N Chrysler T&C - Nuvi 2598- Nuni2555 - Nuvi855 - Nuvi295W - Nuvi 750 - Ique 3600
Tue, 03/31/2009 - 7:23pm

Thanks

H Hannah wrote:

See the following link on a prior thread here about
Gomadic Power Accessories for ALL !!

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/11578

Thanks for the reference. I followed all the interlinked threads and some interesting reading, but I'm not much with a soldering iron so I think I'll stick with the commercial alternatives wink

It sounds as though the Gomadic works for you and does what I would want it to do, which is good on general principle. I was looking at the iGo in particular because I already have a phone car charger from them so I was trying to stay with one set of tips and associated hardware. I guess if the Gomadic works then the iGo should too, but it would be nice to know if the iGo tip allows navigational use while charging as the Gomadic seems to do.

Just checked the pricing on the Gomadic site and the unit is 4 cell versus the iGo 2 cell and their tips do appear to be cheaper although they're not available in my local BestBuy, which the iGo tips are. Have to do a bit of looking I guess.

Tue, 03/31/2009 - 7:35pm

iGo products

The iGo products are good, but using them with your 760 may be a bit of a problem as the tips are not truly Garmin compatible. The tips are meant to bring power to the unit but the Garmin connector is not standard. Garmin uses some of the unused pins to keep the unit from going into "storage" mode and those connections are not part of the standard miniusb configuration. My experience is if the unit is turned on and active when you hookup the external power source, the unit will run and charge the internal battery but will not allow you to navigate if the connector is in the unit and it is off.

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ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet
Thu, 04/02/2009 - 6:53pm

Thanks.

a_user wrote:

The iGo products are good, but using them with your 760 may be a bit of a problem as the tips are not truly Garmin compatible.

Thanks. Whether the unit could be used while charging was one of my concerns.

Thu, 04/02/2009 - 6:55pm

Kensington Model

I purchased a Kensington power extenter. It charges from any USB port or USB adapter. It has a regular USB port and can provide power to GPS, cell phone, iPod, etc.
Jen

Thu, 04/02/2009 - 7:52pm

The tip is standard mini usb.

Quote:

Thanks. Whether the unit could be used while charging was one of my concerns.

I have my doubts, whenever I connect my 760 to the PC with a USB cable it goes into charge mode. Since the Power Extender uses a USB connection I can't see how it would be different. If you get the iGo and find out differently, please post back. It would be good information to have.

Thu, 04/02/2009 - 10:10pm

The trick is

justaguy wrote:
Quote:

Thanks. Whether the unit could be used while charging was one of my concerns.

I have my doubts, whenever I connect my 760 to the PC with a USB cable it goes into charge mode. Since the Power Extender uses a USB connection I can't see how it would be different. If you get the iGo and find out differently, please post back. It would be good information to have.

The "trick" is to have the Garmin running on battery when you connect the power source. It will charge and continue to display the position information. There are other ways, but this is the easiest.

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ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet
Fri, 04/03/2009 - 8:49am

In the Gomadic thread

In the Gomadic thread referenced above it says the Gomadic tip has the proper resistor to put the unit in navigation mode. What I was trying to find out is whether the iGo tip has the resistor as well, or just a plain old USB tip. Sounds like it might be plain USB.

Fri, 04/03/2009 - 10:32am

It doesn't say....

gpsaccount wrote:

In the Gomadic thread referenced above it says the Gomadic tip has the proper resistor to put the unit in navigation mode. What I was trying to find out is whether the iGo tip has the resistor as well, or just a plain old USB tip. Sounds like it might be plain USB.

The iGo page doesn't state it has the resistor.

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ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet