Garmin Issue - Favorites Displayed as Numbers

What did you update – firmware, poi file or what? Is the 123 just place holding sample sequence of numbers or are you in a west coast state?

If you are at the west coast sounds to me like some of your favorites have no name so your Garmin is using the longitude as a name.

I have seen Poi Loader use the latitude as a name for pois with no name but those would show up in my garmins as Extras rather than Favorites and there would not be three digits to the left of the decimal point.

I updated the map with Garmin webupdater and I live in the Southeast US. Some of the favorites have their original names, but others are shown in numeric form as xxx.x.

If you don't have to many of them edit the name and change as needed from the gps.Also open favorites in Extra Poi Editor and edit as needed then send back to unit.

Were those Faves entered as coordinates?

The map cannot be updated using webupdater program, it only updates firmware, voices, vehicles, etc. but not the maps.

Did you update the firmware or the maps prior to the problem with your favorites?

I believe those numbered favorites "happen" when using the finger to slide the map screen to find a location and saving the new location without a name.

Also, I might be driving past something I want to return to, tap the screen and press save. In both these cases the saved locations show up as numbers similar to as you mention. The fact that a recent web update had been performed when you first noticed the numbers is strictly coincidental.

On my Garmins the resulting number from doing that would be three digits without a decimal. Such as 005 006 etc.

Panama showed the number with a decimal point (123.1)

I experienced the same thing only to be told by Garmin Tech Support ( if one can call it that) that they have no record as a "known issue". Below is a cut and paste of Garmin's response:

Dear Carl English,

Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

Thank you for providing this additional detail on your issue. Are you able to change the name of these scrambled Favorites, or do they appear to be permanently stored as these names? Please use the steps below to rename the effected Favorites:

Select the Favorite
On the map, touch "Press for More"
Touch "Edit"
Touch "Change Name"
Enter a new name and touch "Done"

This is the first of this problem that I have heard of, and we don't have any records of it being a known issue in our knowledge database. I do apologize for the ongoing problems you've been experiencing with your nuvi 1490T.

Please advise.

With Best Regards,
Nick Mo.
Product Support Specialist
2nd Shift Automotive Team
Garmin International
913-397-8200
800-800-1020
913-440-8280 (fax) Att: Nick Mo., Associate #6035
www.garmin.com

All I did to fix the problem is....

The numbers you see simply represent a newly created "Favorite" category in addition to all the other categories you may already have. It has also taken the liberty of adding all of your existing addresses to this newly created category. So, when you open the "edit category" option, you'll see all of the existing boxes checked including the numbered one that you had nothing to do with creating. Simply uncheck the box next to the phantom number and backout of the program to the next address, etc.

Hope this helps

PS I have given up on ever learning from Garmin about what causes a problem

I did nothing as far as updating or anything and got this exact same problem. For me, it showed up immediately after reporting a POI as being closed. After doing that, all my Favorites were messed up like this.

Amplify on what actions were involved with reporting a POI as being closed, please.

I have the same problem on my Garmin nuvi 1390. My guess is that while updating/backing up, a new favorite folder was creating holding one or more saved locations. To fix this, I manually went into each saved location, "edit", "change categories", and deselected the numbered folder it was located in. The numbered folder was deleted on its own after all saved location was removed. Hope this helps.

I have not had this issue on any of my Garmin GPS's. I don't quite understand how that would happen.

Can you help me with this? I just started having this problem on my Nuvi 1490!

I tried ceemme's comment about going to the favorite on the Garmin itself (I have a 1490) and unchecking the categories which works beautifully. However, it takes forever because I have so many favorites and having to uncheck all those boxes for each favorite is agonizing.

I tried the Extra POI Editor. I can load the Current.gpx file by choosing Open Garmin Favorites. I then see all the POIs. I can't get the changes to save! The funny thing is I look at the attributes and the time stamp has changed to reflect me saving.

I've tried unchecking the boxes in the categories section. I've tried deleting categories in the categories section. I've tried the save option, the save as option, and the Save to Garmin Favorites option. Nothing works. I load the Garmin back up and it's the same as before I used Extra POI Editor.

You need to connect the gps to the computer.Go to the Garmin drive.Click on the GPX folder.Look for any other gpx file besides the current.gpx file.Any time you use Google or like programs it adds a gpx file in the folder.Once you boot back up that file is included with the current.gpx file.The bad part that gpx remains there with the current.gpx file.So if you delete that favorite manually from the gps and the copy is still there it just reloads again to the current.gpx file.So any other gpx files located there next to current.gpx delete them first.Then delete them manually from the gps by selecting the ones to delete.Make a copy and save any thing you delete just in case you delete something you shouldn't.

Another way if you have Mapsource you can select under transfer.Receive from device.Delete ones not needed and again under transfer select send to device.Basecamp I believe has the same set up.

Charlie, have never done this so I wanted to ask some questions that may inform others at the same time. When either Mapsource or Basecamp reads from the device, I assume it is reading current.gpx only (as opposed to all .gpx files that may reside in the same folder). When they write back to the device, what are they creating? Do they change the internal memory where favorites are kept?

Can't answer for BaseCamp.Has been a long time since I use MapSource but in the past any changes sent back worked on MapSource.It reads the current.gpx and once sent back it stay as current.gpx.Now if you have any other gpx files there sent by Google etc they still reload.On my 2597 when I do routes on MapQuest they are also saved along side the current.gpx.Once I boot the gps up I can delete them.

@charlie,
that is pretty much what I thought.

If I were using EPE and wanted to make changes to my Favorites, what I might do would be to attach the device to my computer and then have EPE read [nuvi]:/Garmin/GPX/current.gpx.

Next, I would rename current.gpx on the nuvi to current.gpy - in essence making a backup on the nuvi itself.

Next, I would make any changes to Favorites in EPE that were needed and save the altered file back to the nuvi as current1.gpx. Then, I would change the name of the file current1.gpx to current1.gpy.

Then I would safely disconnect the nuvi, fire it up and delete Favorites by Tools > [down arrow] > My Data > Delete Favorites > Select All > Delete > Yes.

Next, I would attach the nuvi to the computer again and change the name of current1.gpy to current1.gpx and safely disconnect again.

Now my Favorites are like I want them to be.

I realize this sounds convoluted, but the nuvi still has a backup of the original Favorites if I wanted them again. And, because the device will not again use the now named current1.gpx again because the file date is earlier that the file date of the last written current.gpx file, I also have a backup of that new set of Favorites. AND, everything is there on my nuvi - not in some folder on my PC whose name I might not remember if I wanted to undo what I just had done.

When you use MapSource the option is there also to save as under file. You can rename it and put it where you want to. I keep my back on the computer in a folder named favorites with the date on it. I also keep a thumb drive with all my backups on it.

Keeping a copy on the the GPS to me not a good idea. On my 265 in route to FL it done a reboot on its on and lost all my favorites. On my next stop pulled out the computer and re.loaded them using temp.gpx trick.Has not happen since and not sure what the problem was.

When this happened to me I had to reset the Nuvi to clear everything out of memory (which got corrupted somehow) and reload the favorites from Mapsource. If I remember correctly that Nuvi didn't last much longer.

The same thing happened to me. With my nuvi 1450, I get to my Favorites/Saved Places as follows:
At the first screen, touch WHERE TO
Touch SAVED
Touch "All Saved Places"

Hopefully you will see all your favorites. Well at least I can. I didn't save my favorites into separate categories, so all my Favorites/Saved Places are in closer to farther away order.

Thank you Shadowless. Fixed the problem.