Garmin Traffic Receiver GTM 25 has ads on my Nuvi 1300

I've had my 1350T for about 2 weeks now. Honestly, I hardly notice the ads. They only show when I'm stopped. And when they do appear it takes a small fraction of the screen real estate. They are certainly less obtrusive than the stuff I see surfing the web. I suggest that you don't glare at it and let it burn a hole in the back of you eyes.

Where did you buy the receiver? Was it from Garmin or a dealer or E-Bay? If from an authorized distributor, call Garmin and have them check it out. If it was E-Bay, bend over and pay for a subscription from your favorite provider.

Why should that matter? The receivers are all the same, you don't have to register them, give your name or anything. Where you bought it can't matter at all.

The gist of my post is the traffic on the Nuvi 1300 and likely all models that use the GTM25 are ad supported and this was not really clear.

Here's the Garmin.com page about it:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=14994
I see no mention of any ads.

Here's the garmin.com lifetime traffic page:
http://www8.garmin.com/traffic/fm/navteq.html
It says:
With the purchase of select Garmin units and traffic receivers, you’ll receive free lifetime traffic¹ updates from NAVTEQ Traffic, a real-time traffic services provider . No monthly fees or maintenance costs! NAVTEQ Traffic delivers accurate, reliable, lifetime traffic data directly to your compatible navigator.

No mention whatsoever about ads. That statement is not true either. Free and with ads are NOT the same. If it were really free there would be no ads.

GTM™ 25 with lifetime traffic
Part Number: 010-00722-13
Suggested Retail Price: $ 119.99 USD

Garmin is selling an ad supported traffic receiver for $120 and hiding the fact that someone is getting ad revenue because you bought it.

I think this stinks to high heaven. Garmin should clearly state that this traffic receiver is receiving ads and it's not free at all. It's ad supported.

There is a difference. It's like the difference between watching ABC on TV and watching HBO. On ABC, there are ads and you can get it with an antenna for free. HBO, no ads, in exchange you have to pay $12.99 a month.

But the big difference is it's known. No one is hiding that if you get an antenna and watch ABC you are gonna be watching ads.

How is "ad supported" not free?

It's free to you. You aren't pay a fee. They are providing the service that they said that they would provide.

It's the same as going to a "free" website that is supported by ads. You aren't paying in order to access the information on website.

You actually think free is the same as ad supported?
Why that's preposterous.

If you are seeing ads you are paying with your eyeballs. In the case of ad supported stuff, like an over the air TV station, there would be no money for you to see it without the ads.

Not free. Ad supported.

Now, if ABC tv sold you a TV sets and advertised they were going to give you "free" programming, then sent you obnoxious ads for which they make hundreds of millions of dollars, that would not be cool. Or legals.

Especially if they hid the fact that you were gonna be bombarded with ads until after you pay your money.

That's essentially what Garmin is doing. Free traffic for life for $119.99, but there are ads. Since there are ads the the receiver should be free.

At a minimum you should be notified in clear no uncertain terms that you are buying an ad supported service. They hid that fact and that stinks to high heaven.

Don't think I'd like the ads...

Here is the URL for the Garmin support page about the ads.

http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/home/support/searchsupport

It appers that the ads are part of the Traffic Channel and if you want Traffic Support you get the ads too. I think this would occurr even if you had a paid (annual) subscrption.

Ads??? I though my garmin loved me and was offering to pay me back for taking him all over the country, you mean you get them to?????

Garmin bundles a traffic receiver with certain units which receive traffic reports that are supported by ads. Garmin also sells the same receiver with a different activation that includes a lifetime subscription to the service. For $119 from Garmin you pay for the service in the cost of the receiver. The bundled receiver has a different activation. The cost of delivering the service is recouped by advertising.

If you purchased the receiver from a 3rd party reseller you may be paying top dollar for a unit which was originally bundled and therefore is shipped with a different activation.

If you have been following the various threads on this, then you will note the same receiver can be used for either TTN or NavTeq. The TTN activation requires a paid subscription. You can also pay a fee for NavTeq and receive service without ads.

So Garmin is not selling an ad supported traffic receiver. Oh, the last time I watched HBO I had to wade through all the ads, even during the shows so your comparison doesn't hold water either. The same can be said for Sirius/XM in that there are channels with and those without ads.

What evidence do you have that the Garmin GTM25 is used with any Garmin GPS model wherein there are no ads? I have found none. It only works with the listed models and they would all have the same service as far as I can tell.

If you know otherwise, post it.

Would Garmin sell a premium subscription to the service?

Do you have any evidence that they do? I haven't found any, and there is no way to enter any activation codes in that unit afaict.

Nope, the GTM 25 is "Free" traffic, but the traffic isn't free at all, it's ad supported.

If it were really "free", there would be no ads.

Garmin and Navteq are hiding that fact. Nowhere on the order or FAQ page for that traffic receiver does it mention ads. You only find out about the ads after you buy.

I get ads on my Garmin unit too. Normally when it first powers up and during routing when I come to a stop. I saw that Lobsterfest is going on just last week. I'm not a huge fan of it. They aren't intrusive but I also paid for the add-on traffic power cord so I feel like I paid for the service.

The receivers are not all the same. The one's that come bundled with a GPS unit come with the ad supported Navteq lifetime traffic and the retail version of the same receiver comes with the non ad supported Clear Channel lifetime traffic.

Sounds to me like you bought it from someone who bought a unit with the bundled model with ads.

Seems to me if there are going to be ads the reciever should be free

rjrsw's --

That sounds exactly like what the situation is here. We would know for sure if Steevo would verify where the receiver was purchased as a_user originally asked.

Looks like I get alerts from Clear Channel about traffic tie-ups and road construction on my 265wt so there are no ads. I don't think I would like ads popping up on the screen.

As the title says. I'm using a 265WT and in Canada the traffic is still "free". (at least for now).

;

I suspect certain units have traffic with ads, some have no ads. My Nuvi 1300 has ads, your 265 does not have ads, even though they both use the same traffic receiver.

On the garmin page about my Nuvi 1300 it does discuss traffic subscriptions, and the lifetime traffic. Presumably the traffic subscriptions don't have ads.

But the garmin site
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=36804
Says to check your subscription go to
Tools > Settings > Traffic > Subscriptions

I have no traffic icon in my settings. So clearly at this time that does not apply to me. I wouldn't know how to put the subscription in.

I bought the GTM25 on eBay.
GTM™ 25 with lifetime traffic 010-00722-13

But since there is only one part number for those in the US I am pretty sure they are all the same. I suspect if I plugged it into a Nuvi 200 series it would not have ads, but only because the 200 series doesn't have ads.

My perception of the nuvi 1300 is that it's something of a primitive unit. Newer, but they defeatured it.

The on screen help discusses bluetooth, but there is no bluetooth selection on the menus, so you can't set it up- though as cheap as hardware is today it seems likely the hardware for bluetooth is there, they just stripped the software out.

The help file discusses several other features but this one doesn't seem to have them.

Primitive.

garmin is awesome

There are three types of lifetime traffic subscriptions:

1. Navteq lifetime free with ads that comes bundled with the GPS unit ( it only displays ads on units that support ads so if you plug it into a unit that doesn't support ads you will not get ads ).

2. Navteq paid lifetime where you will not get any ads ( If you add the Navteq paid lifetime to the same receiver with ads now you will no longer get any ads ).

3. Clear Channel paid lifetime with no ads.

The traffic receiver I have attached to my new Garmin/Kenwood G610 came with free Navteq lifetime and had ads. After I added the paid Navteq lifetime there were no more ads displayed. I also added the paid Clear Channel lifetime and now it decides which of the paid lifetime services is the best service at the moment and will automatically switch to the service that is best at that time.

The traffic receiver must be connected and operating to be able to access the traffic settings and get the installed service information and the "Add" option.

If you bought it on Ebay you more than likely got a unit that was originally bundled and has the Navteq free lifetime with ads. If you purchase the exact same model but the retail receiver version separately it comes with Clear Channel lifetime and has no ads, so if yours has Navteq it was a bundled receiver not a retail.

I just look at the original box my 1300WT came in, ie: package contains..

FM traffic receiver/vehicle power cable (Garmin GTM 25) with LifeTime NavTeq Traffic alerts.

Someone here, a month or so ago, had posted information on how one could de-activate the ads being displayed on the screen. Maybe they'll post it again.

Nuvi1300WTGPS

The only way to disable the ads (at least on the 1xxx series units) is to disable the traffic function on the unit. You can delete the cached ads by deleting a key file on the GPS unit but as soon as the unit receives the Navteq Free traffic signal, those deleted ads will again reappear.

The only way to to fully disable the ads and still use the traffic function is to purchase either a Navteq paid-for traffic subscription ($50) or the Clear Channel traffic subscription ($60).

My first Garmin with Traffic Service had Navteq Traffic and Ads. Living in SW Florida I was in their service area - however I very rarely received traffic updates, but I did receive plenty of ads.
I now have a 1350T with Navteq (still did not receive traffic updates on regular basis), I bought the Clear Channel Lifetime Traffic - receive constant traffic information and NO ads.

I'd love to see that. Can you remember what they said? I searched but didn't see anything.

interesting

I just bought it, and it picks up traffic problems way out in brooklyn, but misses the one's I'm sitting in.

I know there are holes in the coverage with Navtek. How about Clear Channel? Should I pony up the $60 for clearchannel in CT?

Anyone tried it?

Not all GTM 25's are the same. If they were, they wouldn't be individually serial numbered. Look on the back. It has a serial number and can be registered separately from the GPS itself. I had to send mine back to Garmin for replacement but was required to register it first.

Oh, and I have the 1390T that is ad-supported. (means free to me unless I buy something from the ad)

Here is the post but they come back. http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6095 on page 1 lookk for Frank508
close to bottom.

My 265WT HAS ads....

See thread http://www.poi-factory.com/node/28477 concerning the same issue.

I had hacked that by removing the contents of that file leaving the file there empty. It only worked for a few minutes, then I had a shiny new ad file.

I will be looking into this some more.

Let us know if you find a way.Several others have tried with no luck.

the ad don't really bother me much, but it would be nice if such hack exist to remove it.

Same here.So few of them I don't even notice .When traveling the ads for hotels could save you a few dollars.

Hiya there, greetings from France (where we have no ads for traffic info, btw).

I was wondering, if you did locate the file, and cleared it, would you try taking the operation one step further and make that file read-only ?

Just a thought, but then again it "could" be that simple

I have Garmin 1300 with lifetime traffic..... finally got the lifetime traffic subscription to work.. by phone the one guy I talked to did not help, but emails to the tech support fixed everything. I would agree the ads are there sometimes annoying and sometimes pretty good with the small amount of space they take up, and some of the offers are good

Now that is an idea. I wonder if that windows platform supports file attributes of that type? Does anyone know?

I'll have to see about that.

I went to Olive Garden tonight.
There was an Olive Garden coupon on my Garmin screen.
No way to use that coupon at Olive Garden, however.

This is so ODD. Why would that restaurant company advertise on a GPS screen but there is no way to use the offer for anything at all? The people at the restaurant had no idea, but they said I would have to print out any coupons I wanted to use. Maybe the next Garmin will have a printer on the back. Nah..

Anyway, dinner was nice. At least there was that.

Steevo, having the annoyance of pop up ad's is bad enough, but then not honoring the offer presented is very poor customer relations for both Navteq and Olive Garden. I would be tempted to send a complaint to both companies.

Are you sure it was an actual "coupon" and not just an ad? Most of the "coupons" I saw when I was using the free FM Navteq traffic with my nuvi 765 were actually just ads for the business in the form of a "coupon".

OTOH, if the "coupon" said "10% off with coupon" or something similar but gave you nothing else, how on earth would you use it?

I remember reading (likely in the nuvi's built-in help system) that if coupons were offered, they may have some type of coupon code for you to write down (when you were not driving).

If ypou have the "screenshot" capability on your GPS, you should be able to capture the coupon then print it. I just did this with my 1490T.

The owners manual says.When a ad appears on the screen touch the ad to search for the nearest location.If the ads contains a coupon icon,touch the coupon icon on the Go! page to receive a coupon code.Write down the code and present it when you arrive at the location

I did not notice a code on the coupon.
Will have to look

If there's no coupon code, it's simply considered an ad (which is what pays for the free traffic). FWIW, when using the Navteq Free Traffic service, I don't ever remember seeing any coupons with a code. I only saw what would be considered ads (since there were no codes).

I have seen the coupon number for Walgreens a few times.Best Western usually just the ad with no coupon.

They have a dashed line around them and a scissor. But the edge is invariably cut off. If you click it you get the nearest location.

The Olive Garden manager was unfamiliar with the Garmin coupons. She also said to use a coupon at their restaurant you have to print it out. Since my Garmin has no printer that's not going to happen.

She said she would send a message by email to their corporate office and see what they say. I have to wonder why they would advertise on GPS units with no way to use the offers.

It may be that models other than the Nuvi 1300 do indeed have a way to see and use the coupons.

As I mentioned I consider this Nuvi 1300 very primitive. I have had more than 5 or 6 different GPS units, starting with a Garmin aviation unit and then a Roadmate 300. As far as features the low end Roadmate 300 had more and better thought out features than this particular Nuvi. Odd. I suspect the high end Garmins are much better.

Not that the Nuvi 1300 isn't nice, it is.

But the darnedest things they just "forgot". Or left out on purpose.

Like for instance this unit doesn't have bluetooth, but the help file in it discusses bluetooth. Why would a big company like Garmin put a help file in a unit that wasn't written specifically for that unit? Saving electrons? That's just sloppy.

You need the coupon code... but yes, the individual franchise needs to know to accept it.