Garmin on/off during fuel/rest stops

I usually leave it on, because I'm usually listening to an mp3 book, and always put it on the floor if I leave the vehicle.

When I buy a car the first thing I do is put a Cig Jack in the center console that is wired always on, for just this purpose.
When I leave the car for a short period of time the GPSr goes into the console where the power wire is coming from to start with. Of course I do this before I pull into wherever so no one See's me place into the console.

I usually remove the windshield mount and remove the cigarette lighter plug when I park the car for any length of time to prevent someone from snatching the Garmin from my car. As for battery drain, I don't think leaving it plugged in for a couple of hours will drain much from your car battery.

I'm asking what you do for "short stops" such as:

1. filling up with gas and going into pay
2. Stopping to use a rest stop when nature calls
3. Stopping to eat a meal

If you turn off your GPS ... your running averages on the dash board don't reflect the proper length of time stopped.

Do you leave your GPS on to keep the totals running? Or do you turn it off?

If you are stopping for gas or lunch, and you leave it on, do you take it off the dash or windshield.

Give Chloe a pat for me!

CB,

Simply changing the power source for your accessory jack so it's hot all the time means no more accidental shut offs. All it usually takes is moving the 'acc' wire from one point to another on the fuse box.

This doesn't eliminate the decision whether or not to pull the GPS off your dash and hide it on the floor but that's probably a good thing to do anytime you're traveling anyway.

CB,
Since you are stopping for short time, you can keep the unit on using its internal battery. When you resume your trip, you re-plug the unit back into cig lighter which will recharge the internal battery as you continue your trip.

Regarding theft... I (okay my wife) pulls the unit from its bean-bag cradle. The Nuvi prompts to remain on or shutdown. Press "stay on", then stash it and the bean-bag into the console out of sight. My gas stops during a trip are about 30 - 45 minutes. Between getting gas, snacks, restrooms, and letting the dogs do their business... time flies...

Hope this opinion helps...

I turn mine off in the jeep and put it under the seat when I need to stop and leave the vehicle. the cig plug does dead when the ign is turned off. When in the motor home I just leave it on and sent it on the floor and lock the doors when gassing up or going into the store while traveling.

I leave mine on whenever possible. Don't have to worry about waiting for GPS to receive a good signal.

When I go on trips I leave mine attached to the cradle. I have it mounted just under the rear view mirror. My lighter turn off so I just push stay on. I have tinted windows so no one dares look into the car. That's the best way to deter theft.

but take it with me during the rest stop. That way I know it is secure but I still keep track of total time, etc.

I leave it on.

Mine is still new so I still treasure it. I don't want it to get stolen so I take it with me most of the time or lock it up. Eventually, I'm sure I'll just leave it on the floor or in the cradle. Haven't taken any real long trips yet.

Mine usually stays on for fuel and rest stops. If we're stopping for a meal, I will turn it off, otherwise, the battery keeps it running.

Since I have mine on a beanbag mount, I leave it on most of the time and put in on the floor with something over it.

I let mine run on the battery. I usually take it off the mount and put it out of sight.

for any relatively shory stops, i place the unit in an insulated bag that is on the floor in front of the passenger seat ..... hot wx here in Tucson,AZ compels me to carry the insolated bag with something cool inside i.e. water,pepsi,etc

Its another case of removing functionality.

My Garmin 76csx will give overall average and moving average as well at overall time and moving time.

Bob

This is primarily because it can sometimes take so long to restart. I don't care so much about the averages, but I want it ready to move as soon as I am. Sometimes I remove it from the dash, but if it's just a quick run into a gas station, I'll generally leave it.

I've even done this with the top down on the convertible. However that's usually only for very short stops when the car isn't out of my sight.

Leave it on and let run on the battery. Put it under your seat or hide it so it doesn't get stolen. It only takes a second to put it back on the cradle and you are off again.

Leave in car, switched on: only if I or my wife can take turns keeping an eye on our car during short breaks

Take it with me in my pocket: if it's a long break (lunch/dinner/shopping at an outlet mall)

I don't care much about trip statistics.

I leave mine on from the moment my trip starts until the moment I'm done. I ended up re-wiring mine for "always on" and a separate switch (which I can then turn off if I am going to travel w/o the GPS, or when I take the GPS off at a hotel stop). When stopping for long duration, I will leave the GPS on battery power as long as it lasts (letting it power itself off if I'm stopped too long -- which rarely happens, even for hotel stops).

One detail that hasn't been mentioned here -- which is the primary reason I went to an "always on" connection for my Zumo -- if you switch to battery power, even though your trip stats will be correct, you will lose your XM data (traffic and weather info) until it is refreshed, which can take quite some time. To me, having the most up-to-date tactical info on traffic and weather was important enough to completely re-wire my mounts on all my bikes so have a dedicated connection with separate switch, so I can leave it powered from the bike battery any time it's in the cradle, just to keep the XM data up to date.

I usually has mine stay on and bring it with me.

My vehicle (Ford) has an outlet that stays on. I do place the GPS and radar detector on the floor to keep them out of sight.

I also like the dash board feature on the Garmin. On long trips it is fun to see how long you actually stop and drive. It is amazing how much time is added to a trip by the stops, even if you only stop a few times.

I usually turn the Garmin off when we stop for the night, otherwise it gets covered up on the floor and stays on. The nuvi 350 is my wife's and she didn't know about the average page until I stumbled across it one day. That's when I told her that her top speed had been 79.9 mph! Which she promptly topped by 3 mph! In Ohio, no less.

I currently use a Maylong FD-420 which I bought for the price and the 4.3 screen. Has its good/bad features. One good is a sleep mode which I guess shuts off the screen but otherwise keeps the unit on. I now have a Garmin nuvi 780 on order for free - Mastercard points paid for it all (no, I always pay the bill in full each month so it was free). My daughter gets the FD-420.

Yet another vote to always leave the Garmin on during a trip but we MUST stow it out of sight and remove all traces from the interior of the car which thieves look for, including open cigarette lighter ports and suction-cup rings on the inside of the windshield, which will make our car more of a target for a break-in.

The drain on the car battery is to no effect under normal conditions.

When we stop, it stays ON but out of sight. The bean bag mount allows our 750 to hide very nicely flat against the seat. And seeing that we never travel long distances without snacks the snack bag is a great cover.

i leave it on

I leave mine on most of the time also and just place it on the floor/under the seat when we stop. I also like to know what my exact stats are. My truck has the hot, always on outlet but the car doesn't so I just select the Stay On option since we usually only stop for 15-30 minutes max.

It depends on the stop for me. If it will be a short stop such as fuel (either for the car or me) it normally stays on. If it is a place we are going to spend some time at such as an attraction, then it gets turned off.

We have a 5 year old Durango with the hidden center console, so I usually just pull it off the charging station/mount, choose to keep it on and hide it. then when I get back up the road I put it back.
I even do that for running around town as well.

when I'm making a delivery, but if I'm going to be awhile, then I'll turn it off.

I generally remove mine from the cradle, choose "stay on", and put it in my pocket, no matter how short the stop.

I remove the cradle itself from the disc I have mounted on the drop down door to my CR-V's dash storage pocket, leave the power cord plugged into the outlet, but stow the cradle itself under the folding table that CR-V's have between the front seats.

the whole process, take down and restore, less than 30 seconds.

I only care about driving times and speeds...I wear a watch so total elapsed time can be measured that way.

Regards, Ted

If no one stay in the car, I unplug and remove it from the windshield and put it out of view.

I remove it and carry it with me if I'm gonna be away from the car more than 5 mins.

I leave mine on.
On my Ford with the "always on" outlet I've left it in the cradle overnight while in the garage and it didn't have any trouble starting the next morning.

I leave it on to leave stats undisturbed, and as long as it is a short stop, I don't even bother moving it from its cradle. I lock the car if I leave though.

But if the car is unattended it goes in with me.

I let mine run on the battery and take it off the mount and put it out of sight.

I haven't really used the dashboard feature but on my last trip I did give it some consideration. On my next trip I am going to try to leave the the unit on and see what the average time really is.

As for turning it off, generally if I think the stop will be less than 15 minutes, I leave it on and lock it and put it in my pocket. It sometimes is funny to have it talk to me when in a restroom. On or off, I always put it in my pocket when I am out of the car.

I took the anticipated trip and on the way home, made sure that I never turned it off. When I got home, I looked at the time moving and the time stopped. The problem was on a 12 1/2 hour trip, the two indicated times only added up to 11 3/4 hours. I am really puzzled as to where the other 45 minutes went.

I followed a set routine each time. Mute the volume (ever have Jill talk to you in a men's room?), unplug the unit, tell it to stay on, remove the mount from the window and place on floor, put unit in my pocket and do whatever I need to do. I reverse the procedure when I get back into the car. The missing 45 minutes was about the time we spent at dinner. I had found that location as a primary location (not a via point). So while we were in the restaurant, the unit was really just navigating, it had no goal. I wonder if under those circumstances it doesn't keep track of time. That would seem strange but it is all I can think of.

Anyone have any ideas?

I normally turn the unit off and tuck it out of sight.

My guess is that while you were in the restaurant the unit was busy searching for satellites and thus stopped the trip timer. Just a hunch.

I leave mine on and stick it in my shirt pocket.

For short stops I leave my unit run. I take it off the friction mount and put it under the seat letting it run on the battery and continue to record my stopped time.

I turn it off and take with me. Just to be safe and no regret later.

It depends on the stop.

If I'm getting gas on the way to work I leave it on and sitting on the dash. After all, I'm standing right there by the car.

If I'm on a trip and getting gas I move it to the floor and back against the seat where it's pretty much invisible since I may end up going into the mini mart part of the place or using the restroom. In that case I, of course, also lock the vehicle. I tend to move it down to the floor as I'm approaching so that nobody sees me doing it.

At a rest stop I do as above, moving it to the floor as I approach so I'm not observed doing it.

If I stop to eat I turn it off and put it in the trunk or the console and also move the beanbag mount to the floor against the seat.

I really don't care about the "time stopped" part of the stats. I use the "miles traveled" part quite often when working since I get reimbursed for mileage when I have to travel for work. I've also used the dashboard for the speedometer at times.

I use the nüvi all the time for audio books while commuting to and from work. It makes that hour each way MUCH more palatable.

I leave it on for short stops, like at a fuel, bathroom stop. When I go into a restaurant, my vehicle is out of sight, so the Garmin either goes off and is hidden, or it stays on and I take it in with me to do further route planning. 90% of the time it is off and hidden.

Like some other posts, if the unit is going to be hidden, I do this before I pull into the parking lot. I also have a paper map I leave on the seat to distract anyone from the likelihood that I have a GPSr.

There have been reports in the news recently that thieves have been targeting GPS Units. If you leave it in the car, you're tempting fate.

If you take it with you and leave the Suction or Friction Mount in clear site, you still risk a break-in, because the ne'er do well, figures the GPS might still be in the car. In some cases, the police reported that even the suction cup ring on the windshield was sufficient to result in a break in, for the same reason.

I always take my GPS with me, and leave it ON. The battery's good for 4-8 hours, so unless you drank a huge amount of coffee, your pit stop should not be that long.

I leave the mount in the car, but put it down where it's not readily noticed, especially with the tinted windows. I'm also lucky that my Kia Rondo has a great spot right, on the dash, by the clock that makes it hard to notice the suction cup ring, from outside.

So beware!!

p.s. You're definitely tempting fate, by commenting on how long your wife spent on the rest stop. LOL

Unfortunately, my GPS shuts off when I take the key out of the car. I wish I had the battery option or I would likely leave it on for those stops at IHOP or the rest area.