Garmin 3790T

Replaced a Magellan unit that kept failing me with the 3970 a few nights ago. Put about 300 miles on it the past few days and love this thing.

I was on the fence with the the wide range of reviews (from great to horrible), but am so glad I gave it a try! Worse comes to worse I would have returned it in a couple weeks, but looks to be a keeper as of now. No GPS is ever going to be perfect, but this is pretty up there for me.

My favorite feature is the voice commands. I usually have to input my address on the go... its so nice to not ever have to touch the GPS. Traffic is better then my old unit (much more accurate). Also like the speed limit display feature.

Only negative so far is it seems a bit slower calculating a route then my old gps units, but not a deal breaker.

I think this has lifetime traffic, right? What about map update, does it have lifetime maps?

The price has remained fairly high on this. I haven't found a place that sells it for a significant discount from the suggested retail price.

Yep, it has lifetime traffic (ad supported.... an ad pops up at the top of the screen ever so often). I have seen people say that there is also a 3790LMT (lifetime maps and traffic) but I haven't seen them anywhere for sale. From what I understand the lifetime maps isn't all that necessary as it take a few years for new roads to be updated (all hearsay, but I can see it being true). By the time I am ready to upgrade maps, I'll probably be ready for a new GPS.

Yeah, the price is still up there. Mine was $450. I jumped on it because I returned $225 Magellan unit and had some store credit at Best Buy so it ended up costing me $150 out of pocket.

I put another 150 miles on it today.... lost signal for about 20-30 seconds on the expressway. Otherwise it has been perfect so far.

Yeah, if you want the lifetime maps make sure you get the LMT, it will save you some money from buying the lifetime maps separately.

xcentrk, I love all the things you love too, but also the lane assist. That's the main thing I upgraded for. Do you by chance use Jill for the voice? Does she sound annoyed to you when you pull up favorites? I think she's upset that her name isn't in that list.

haha.. I am still cycling through the voices right now trying to pick my favorite. I'll have to choose Jill and pull up a favorite tomorrow morning now to have her get annoyed at me.

The lane assist is a great feature. My old GPS used to pop up a huge lane assist thing in the middle of the map. I like how this one is a bit more subdued in the corner. Always a nice feature when there are 5 lanes of traffic to choose from.

Or when you have a 3-way split. If you are staying in the middle of the 3-way the voice will still say to keep to the left or right.

Just arrived a couple of days ago. Several issues have delveloped:

1. Takes a LONG time to boot up. More than one minute. By comparison, my old 765T takes 15 seconds. After updating firmware, it has improved. It is now about 30 to 40 seconds.

2. Unable to transfer favorites to 3790T. I used MapSource to retrieve favorites (waypoints) from the 765T, then uploaded to 3790T. I get transfer successful message from MapSource. But when I open the favorites folder on 3790T, they are not there. I tried it several times, but no lunck so far.

3. My unit came with 2011.10 maps. I used the "one free upgrade within 60 days option" to upgrade to 2011.30. I went to Garmin website, registered my unit, then followed the directions there to for the upgrade. I accepted default choices. When it is done, I get a update successful message. When when I boot up the unit, I get a "Cannot Unlock Maps" error message. I ran the installation process a second time, still get the error message.

4. Voice command. Seem to work fine, except "Find Address, Find City, Find by Name" options are locked out. I get a "This feature is not available in US" error message. Is this the way it is supposed to be?

I had high hopes when ordering this model. But I must say so far I am underwhelmed. I would love to hear any suggestions from you guys.

Also, this unit seem to have a completely different file structure from all previous units of Nuvi I have owned. I cannot even find where map images are stored.

I can only answer for #1 and #4 of your questions/issues. I don't have any experience with the others.

#1. What do you mean by boot up? Turning on or acquiring signal? Mine is pretty much instant on and 10-15 seconds maybe to acquire a signal. Never really times it, but by the time I get situated and seatbelt and stuff on it usually has a signal and route ready for me.

#4. Those are not locked out on mine at all. Actually that is one of my favorite features since I don't have to touch the GPS at all. Are you driving when you try this? I do have "Safe Mode" disabled (>tools, >settings, >system, >safe mode). Not sure if that matters tho.

Sound to me you may have rec'd a dud tho? Might be worth exchanging it and trying a different one.

Good luck!
Brandon

For your #3 problem, there is a known issue in the 37xx series with Windows 7 write caching when disconnecting the unit. In order to make the updates take properly, you have to just pull the USB plug instead of doing a graceful "safely remove/eject" function. I know this is counter intuitive, but it has been reported multiple times in several forums. So you will need to redownload and re-install the map update. When it is finished, just pull the USB plug.

Since the 1xxx models, Garmin has placed the map files in a folder on the Nuvi called .system (DOT system) which is seen by Windows as a hidden systems folder. If you haven't set Windows up to display all hidden files and folders and to show hidden system files and folders you will not see the .system folder.

After I turn on the unit, it would say "loading maps" for one full minute before safety warning shows up.

With regard to voice command, I do have Safe Mode disabled.

There are quite a few map img files. But only two big ones. Do you know what is the gmapdem for?

It is the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) map file which gives you the terrain modeling on the map screen. This allow you to see mountains and valleys instead of just a flat map view.

The other large file is gmapprom.img which is the normal City Navigator map file with road and POI data.

The smaller ones are:

gmap3D - 3d buildings - mostly in major cities.

gmapbmap - base maps that give you major roads and cities in area outside the coverage of City Navigator.

gmaptz - time zone data so that the Nuvi will automatically change the clock time when you cross into a new time zone. It also allows for time zone changes to be part of the ETA calculation.

DxxxxxxxA.jvc - in the JVC folder. File that contains the junction views seen on the map screen.

That was very illuminating.

Just got one but havn't tried it yet

I think it is a good decision. I purchased a 3760LMT from Sam's. It has life time updates with the traffic and maps. So far so good except one problem with the power button but this will most like be taken care of. The lifetime maps will be great.

The 37xx series firmware was updated yesterday. The Ecoroute HD module is now supported!

Changes made from version 2.50 to 3.60:

* Added support for the ecoRoute HD accessory.
* Added Garmin Language Guide support.
* Improved Language Translations.
* Improved reliability of sleep/wake operations.
* Improved myTrends route calculations to incorporate driving history and road preferences.
* Added Loc8 Postal Code functionality for Ireland.
* Added support for Arabic text to speech voice guidance.
* Added support for Trams, Ferries, and Trolleys in Pedestrian Navigation.
* Various bug fixes and improvements.

Use MyGarmin or WebUpdater to load.
Source: http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=5063

I installed this but I have lost my traffic reporting. The unit says it is enabled but I don't see the icon. Restarting did not help. I would like to hear if others have this issue.

Here are the instructions from Garmin on how to turn traffic back on a 37xx device on if it is lost after an update. It worked for me:

You may need to clear out the saved FM information that is stored on the device, known as the FM Tables. This can be done by following these steps:

Power your device on by connecting it to the GTM traffic cable
Touch View Map
Touch Speed (If you are currently in a route this may be changed to Arrival)
Touch and hold the middle of the MPH Speedometer
Touch Developer Info
Touch the Down Arrow
Touch GTM FM Table
Touch the menu button (3 horizontal lines) in the upper left corner [Note: This step only applies to the 2200, 2300, and 3700 series units.]
Touch Reset
Touch Yes
Touch and hold the Back button to return to the main menu
After this is complete, repeat the steps to plug the Traffic Receiver/Vehicle power cable into the vehicle and then into the GPS device or cradle. Allow the device to receive GPS signal along with the FM signal. This process may take up to 20 minutes.

Note: Devices that come with lifetime traffic provide the option to enable or disable the advertisement feature and the traffic services as well. To check to see if your traffic is enabled or disabled:

Select Tools
Select Settings
Select Traffic
Select the box next to Enable Traffic to make it appear.
This will enable the advertising messages and traffic services.

Last modified on: 11/09/2010

Source: http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us/support/searchsuppo...

Updated and traffic seems normal. I have a Mac and the unit would not update using webupdater. Had to use the my dashboard on the garmin site for it to update.

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I used MS Paint and pulled each image up and saved it as 256 Color Bitmap (.bmp)
My sizes are primarily 22 x 22 but I do have some 24 x 22, 17x24, etc. Majority are 22 x 22. The images initially appear smaller but as you approach them they appear larger. I have read others that you should make them bigger I haven't tested them yet as I can see them with no problems.
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Okay... I'm a little confused.. Where do I find these POI images? I've searched high and low on the device and can not find them.

We are referring to Custom POIs that you have to add to your Nuvi using Garmin's POIloader software. The POIs that are preinstalled on the 3790 are part of the map data and they are not visible.

If your not familiar with Custom POIs here is a good place to start:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/1631