Bluetooth Capabilities

I can only tell you on my 680, I use the BT all the time and with the mike, it works real well..

I use mine all the time.........Nuvi 680 and it works great......all you do is pair them together one time and then every time you turn on the GPS it will hook up automatically as long as your phone is within 30 feet of your GPS. I don't have the external mic yet but I am planning on buying one soon. Plus on the 680 you can tune it through the stereo speakers..................Dave

Once I got it, I can't live without it!

I love the Bluetooth. I use it all the time. Connect to your address book in the phone; make a call or two, all from the Nuvi display.

I have even called a restaurant on the way there and placed myself on the wait list! Awesome indeed!

Yeah that sounds real cool because I hate wearing earpieces I find them uncomfortable I guess I'll be buying another unit real soon for that feature thanks a lot everyone!!

Just recieved my Nuvi 360 from frys.com. Already used the bluetooth. . .sweet. Worth it!

bluetooth works great. the fm transmitter leaves a little to be desired, but the mic on the nuvi is really good, so making calls on it is a breeze. I ditched the handset.

I bought the Nuvi 360 because of the Bluetooth. While there are no laws here regarding driving and holding a phone in Ontario, the ease of just talking to a speakerphone is worth the money. Safety? I don't buy that canard, because if it's really so bad to be talking and driving, there would be a law against being married!

You actually listen to a phone call.

I just upgraded from a Nuvi350 to a 660, and also got a bluetooth phone - Motorola Razr. Also obtained the Garmin microphone to plug into the jack on the unit's power mount. Awesome technology. I first thought "why do I need this..." and now I think, "why didn't I do this to begin with..."

I see it up so the 660 discovered the phone, and the phonebook transfered flawlessly. The recipients of my test calls preferred used the microphone, and the GPSr sound going through the headphone output via a cord into my vehicle audio system...I left myself a message on my at-home voice mail to test it out, and I was quite surprised at how good it sounded as I drove down the road - I'd compare it to the high-end of a middle of the road hard-wired speaker phone.

Now - I have to remember not to dial & drive...

I have a c550 and use the Bluetooth connection to my phone when I'm driving my personal vehicle. When I'm in my work truck (semi) the ambient noise is just too much to hear it real well. Plus, the unit itself is pretty far away in the semi so the mic doesn't pick up very well. I tried the external mic and mounted it just below the steering wheel and it's still too noisy to use.

You need to make sure you upgrade the firmware on the nuvi to the latest, when i first got mine the volume was so low it was unusable if the car was moving due to the noise. Now they fixed it and the volume is good.

I have a nuvi360 and a Sprint Samsung A900 Auto transfer of phonebook works good too.

Texan Brit,

I too have the A900 with Sprint. How does your phone book display multiple numbers for one contact? My Nuvi 360 only shows one number for each contact.

I have a Nuvi 680 and Motorola Razor phone with the external microphone and the combination works very well in fact, I found out it works too well. I parked at my local bank and went into the bank to conduct some business. While in the bank my cell phone rang and when I tried to answer it there was no one on the line. It happened again a minute later. It was my son calling and he told me that my phone ansered and no one was there.

Then the light bulb came on. My phone was still connected to the Nuvi in my truck out in the parking lot! I tested this theory and that is exactly what was happening. I would guess that I was approximately 100 to 125 feet away from my truck and inside the building. The same thing happened at home with the truck in the driveway and me in the house on the lower level on the cell phone.

I now find that I need to disable the blue tooth when I get out or turn off the Nuvi. I guess the blue tooth has better range than imagined.

Stan

Not saying that didn't happen, but I don't believe that the bluetooth range could go that far, much less through a building. By Bluetooth specs, the range is only 30 ft.

That would be really annoying having to unpair the devices each time I get out of my car. Of course, I always take my GPSr with me unless I go in somewhere really quickly (such as you did in the bank)

I have been using a garmin Zumo with a intercom bluetooth from blueant, it works great. My only problem is that my razor phone disconects due to weak signal as soon as I pick up a call.

Yeah, my razor doesn't stay connected all the time to my headset.

Asianfire:

Yep, I understand your sceptical but so was I so I have done a number of tests. I can leave my truck in my driveway and walk past my house to my neighbor's house and it doesn't lose the connection until I am at the neighbors front door. This is a distance of about 125 feet.

I know the specs say 30' but that is only approximate, as I have shown.

Actually, I find it annoying that it works at such a great distance I wish it were only 30 feet.

Stan

wow! that is amazing! But I agree, 30ft would probably be better.

Question: How well does the phone pair with the GPSr once it unpairs with it? What I mean, if you go out of range, and then go back into the car, do you have to re-pair it again?

I have not had to. Same with turning the GPSr off...as I'm turning it off, I hear a beep from the phone telling me it ended the bluetooth session, and when I fire up the GPSr again, it reconnects 'automagicaly'. the only time(s) I've had to re-pair them is after a reset on the GPSr.

Yeah, this is how mine works too. If I walk away from my bike, the phone will "disconnect" from my Zumo. But as soon as I get in range again, it will automatically re-pair.

It does not support the typical cellphone office/home/cell for a single contact, just one number only, which is a little annoying but not that bad

Sounds odd - perhaps it's a function of your phone, because my phone sends every number it has...and I get 3 entries on the GPSr for people where I have home, work, and cell numbers.

Yeah... I don't know if it is the phone or the Nuvi. Garmin's site does not explicitly list the A900 as compatible.

My wife has the Sanyo Katina, her phone book lists all numbers for all contacts.

I think it might be a little of both Nuvi and A900.

I have nuvi 360. It works great and helps a lot driving a manual car. When all windows are closed, people don't know I am actually on hands free.

Ok, I will have to get a Bluetooth soon.
My cell is not Bleuetooth and I have a Nuvi 360.

Bluetooth option looks good.......What about the the sound when driving.....NOT too noisy ?

Cheers

My 'vicitms' of the test calls I've made have told me the best sound has been with an external microphone plugged into my 660's cradle/suction cup mount and sound going through my vehicle's external line input into the audio system. They said it's no worse than any typical cell phone call.

If you're going to go phone shopping...take your 360 with you to your cell provider's retail location, and make sure any phone you're considering connects to your 360, and the features you want to use will work - like your phone's phone book transferring, etc. before settling on a new phone.

My BT phone works fine with 680 nuvi as far as basic phone features. It does not however support transfer of phonebook to the nuvi. Does anyone know if there is a way to load a phonebook file into the nuvi from the PC via USB cable? That is if the phonebook is stored as a separate file on the nuvi, which i have no idea about. If it is a separate file, I would have to know how to build such a file on the PC, maybe a cvs file like POIs?

If anyone has any information on this topic, I would appreciate hearing from you. I have asked Garmin, but as of yet, have not heard back from them.

Bobby

My phone is LG 8300, which is not listed on the garmin site. However, I use it with nuvi 680 and I exported my phone book to the nuvi. On my phone, I go to the BT settings for the nuvi and one of the options is "send name card" with which I click OK to each phone number I want to transfer to the nuvi. I click "done" and the numbers are transferred. Each phone would have its settings, fiddle with it and you may find it possible to send the numbers to the nuvi. I did not try sending the numbers via USB cable.

And upload it as you would a POI file with PoiLoader...however - you have to do it as a gpx file, created with the appropriate gpx language tags to make your numbers able to be dialed via bluetooth.

And yes, there is a program capable of making such a gpx file...hit the FAQ link up at the top of the page, scroll down to the "Useful Software & Web Tools" section, and click on "GeePeeEx Editor".

If you already have a contact list in some sort of database program, you can easily export it to csv format, geocode it, and then import that file into GeePeeEx Editor, and viola - you have a contact list with dialable phone numbers.

if testing in store don't forget to "Delete" the phone from the GPS afterwards as all your contacts will remain in the Nuvi!

jamie

Are you sure? It doesn't work that way with the Zumo. When the phone is not paired, there is no phonebook list.

can you use it with a sp330

Can you use what with an SP330? Bluetooth? No. The 330 does not have Bluetooth.

KCH:
I have a few questions as I'm mulling over Nuvi 350 vs 360:

1. Does the microphone come with the Nuvi 360?
2. If not, where did you buy it? How much is?
3. After you plug in to the jack on the units power mount, where do you place the microphone for best reception?

hey guys, i know it is very nice feature, i dont have it on my 650, i would like to have it, but on the other hand, you are still taking and looking at the screen for your message while driving

it might make you talk longer than you used to do without the feature.
so in other word still make the call short and do it safetly!

just remember! be safe!!

This has worked like a charm for me for sharing contacts with between my Nokia 9300 & the Nuvi 670.

Hopefully there are similar apps out there for LG, Motorola, etc.

Whenever my mobile phone and Nuvi connect it shares the contacts folder...

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/5072

Hope this helps some people out there...

I got a Garmin mic at a Best Buy for around $13. I clip it to the sun visor above the driver's seat - there's a log cord on the mic so it can be tucked & hidden.

Using a Nuvi 680. Paired with the Samsung M610 & Audiovox PPC6700 (Sprint).
The M610 works much better witht the unit, you can access the entire phone book, calls made, recd etc. With the PPC6700, I can just make and rec phone calls. It is all a function of your phone.
As for clarity, I don't use an external mike but use the Garmin Bean bag and the unit is close enough for the internal microphone to work.

One more nice thing is that even if you dont use the bluetooth to talk, you can dial the associated number for any business you find and then transf the audio to the phone. All you have to do is touch the phone number on the screen of the GPS unit, and it dials it using your phone. Very useful!

Thanks for the info.

Folks-

I've been playing with the bluetooth stuff with my nuvi680. People on the other end of the call can hear me fine. That said, they get bad echo of themselves from the internal speaker. While the sound works for me, I got so many complaints, that I disabled the bluetooth.

Also, if you swap the sound back to your cell phone, this may disable the GPS alert voice. I had to recycle bluetooth between my phone and GPS to fix this.

And yes, I have the newest firmware, etc.

Had the same problem and eliminated it by turning off the power cord and letting system work on internal battery. Also cleared up FM receiver problems....Now all I've got to do is remember to charge the unit BEFORE I go on pedestrian mode!

I simply love this feature and it's well worth the extra cash..bvesides that my kids love talking to grandma through the car..."Dad I can't believe that I am talking to the car".

I too had that same problem with my Nuvi 360. I too had to turn the volume down in the unit. I also added the external mic and cassette adapter with great results.

Good Luck.

I walked into Best Buy expecting to buy the bottom of the line Garmin dashboard GPSr, because it was on sale. I walked out with the C550 because of the Bluetooth. There are at least two other in-car handsfree Bluetooth solution types: some in-dash stereo systems now support Bluetooth, though their displays are very small compared to GPSr devices, and I have read of one handsfree Bluetoth device that provides a large touchscreen and no GPSr. I think handsfree is an important traffic safety issue, I hate today's wired headsets because the wires never last, I dislike bluetooth headsets because the mic boom is never long enough to pick up optimum voice quality, and I like the speakerphone capability when I am carrying passengers. But I also love the address finder capability of the GPSr. I have not heard any complaints about sound quality from those who converse with me through the GPSr/Bluetooth. If I did, then I would add a mic. Mic purchasers might consider the tie clip mic on clearance at RadioShack, catalog item #33-3026. It can be clipped to the sun visor. Years back I worked there, but not now, and I do not own RS stock either.

I use the Bluetooth with my Cingular 8525. If I use the FM transmitter for speakers, my callers say there is an echo, if I use the internal speaker there have been no problems.

The only feature that my phone does not support is text messaging.
.

We plan on getting bluetooth on our next cell phones, so I guess I'll be wanting my next GPS to be bluetooth also! I never dreamed I'd love my GPS this much! It's Great!

Yes I have the nuvi 360 and would never get in my car without the bluetooth again!! The Nuvi shows an onscreen prompt to "answer or ignore" Incoming call. The only complaint I have is with the Nuvi 360 itslef in that the speaker is smaller than the one in my wifes car(my old streetpilot 330) and such it is not as clear. So I solved that by using my aux input (for an ipod) and using that as an external speaker. But I wish Garmin would put a better speaker in the 360.

I think the bluetooth gps units are worth it if you have a bluetooth capable phone. I had bought the nuvi 350 originally because I had an older phone and two weeks later, my phone died and I had to upgrade. So I returned my nuvi 350 unit for the 360, I think it was only about 40 bucks more via amazon. It's well worth it because now all the preprogrammed poi with phone numbers can be called directly without whipping out my cell phone. Call it to see what store hours are, call it to make reservations, it's just real handy!

What's really funny is that I can send and receive text messages from my gps unit via bluetooth to my phone and it gives you the option to listen in audio...haha Just make sure no one else is nearby you if your boyfriend decides to send you an unsuspecting naughty little text message and austrailian karen reads it outloud! *blush*

On my unit, it's easy to disable the bluetooth either on the gps unit or my phone. Once the pairing is disabled, none of the address book or call data is accessible on the gps for your phone. And you can alternatively just turn off either unit to disconnect the bluetooth linking and when both units are on, they connect again automatically...atleast that's how my razr v3xx and nuvi 360 are working for me

Jean

My c530 had much better speakers and sound then my nuvi 350. If it wasn't for the physical size of the nuvi, I would opt for the c550