855 on the way - questions

Nope. The vocabulary is limited to a few commands and what is displayed as options displayed on the screen.

If it's like my 885, then yes. Garmin sells one unit and several others are available. It plugs into the left side of the cradle.

I am running the current version in my unit and have no real issues. The tweaks they put in to address some problems have, as usual caused other things to act strange.

The verbal commands are basically limited to the words that appears on the screens, like tools, etc.
Examples: main menu, tools, volume, music player, go home, ......
There is firmware update that Garmin recommended which made a big improvement in the verbal command capability. If your 855 verbal commands are working-leave it. Mine was bought in early Dec '09, and updated around Jan 1. Firmware version shows here: tools, settings, system, about. Also shows: unit ID, audio version, GPS software version..
I'm sure you will love your 855
/r/ Jon

Thanks for the info guys.

Too bad about the voice scrolling as that would have been cool to have but having an external mic is going to be nice.

So what "quirks" have occured on the last update?

Steve

with the latest software update. I've had it installed immediately after it came out and have used my 855 daily. Nothing odd has happened since installing it for me.

The "quirks" don't affect the normal operation of the unit but have to do with the integration of directions and custom sounds including MP3 files. Earlier versions of the software would cause an MP3 to skip to the next file whenever a direction or alert was played. The skipping problem has been addressed, but the fix was to allow the file to continue with reduced volume while the system message played.

The current version, at least on my 885 will play both audio directions such as "In 400 feet, turn left on Main Street" at the same time a custom alert such as "Caution, approaching a red light camera" is also played at full volume.

I don't use the Audible Books so I don't know if they are affected by this "fix." These are problems I can live with and are not life shattering, but it appears as if it is another case of one fix breaking something that wasn't broken.

a_user, after our last conversation on this subject a few weeks ago, I sent an email to Garmin support on this issue. According to Garmin, the 8xx has always worked this way. I know Garmin is not always correct in the information they give, but FWIW the message and their response is given below.

Message Body: I have both a nuvi 755T and nuvi 855. On the 755T when using the MP3 player, it will automatically pause when giving navigation prompts, then continue playing when the prompt is complete. On the 855, the MP3 player keeps playing at reduced volume so the prompt and mp3 track are playing simultaneously. The 755T method is much better and I was told by another user that the 855 used to work this way and was changed in recent firmware upgrades. Is this true and if so was the change intentional or is it a bug? Will the MP3 player on the 855 be fixed in a future software release? Thanks in advance for your reply.

Date: January 27, 2010
Dear Alan,
Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I would be happy to help you with this! The firmware update for the 800-series fixed loss of audio with Bluetooth and FM transmitter, but I am not aware of it changing the dimming/pausing of the music in order to give prompts. These devices have always dimmed the music and given the prompt while the 755T will stop the music and give the prompt. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Thank you!
With Best Regards,
Bethany L

That's good to hear, I'll try the update again once my second unit arrives. The first one I ordered froze on the Garmin screen after I did the update so hopefully the new one will do better this time. I'll also check first to see what version is currently installed.

Steve

I can see how that would get annoying and it sounds like Garmin's QA department is slacking in their testing. I'll be trying out all the normally used features quickly before my 30 day return policy expires.

Steve

I never used MP3 alerts on my 885 until fairly recently. As my previous unit was a 200 I did all my alerts as WAV files. I continued this with my 885 until a couple of months ago when I converted to MP3's shortly before the update.

I had no problem using WAV alerts, it would PAUSE my music, play either the direction or alert and then resume from that point. After the update, my MP3 volume was reduced and the direction was played over the top of the music rather than pausing. Directions and WAV alerts would mix so that really didn't change except the software hangs stopped when I converted from WAV sounds.

So Garmin telling you the 885 always played the music in the background at reduced volume is not what I experienced.

and it works, Hooray!

The unit came with 4.6 so I updated to 4.7 with no issues this time. Even got to take it out for a spin in the car to try out the voice commands. Overall I'd say its a winner and it probably understood (the first time) > 95% of what I was saying to it. It doesn't however pick up voice commands with others talking nearby (restaurant) but that's more or less expected.

Now its time to get music and some of these POIs uploaded to get a handle on how all this stuff works. Then I can look at adding some POI back to this great site.

Steve