+ / - Buttons On Screen

But they do come in handy if you want to see a larger picture.

Yes, there are times where I want to zoom in or out more than is being displayed.

I use the + / - buttons occasionally but normally use the two finger Multi-touch feature to either zoom in or zoom out or to switch from aerial view to birds-eye on the map on my 3790LMT.

This is a video link from Garmin that shows using multi-touch to zoom in and out and change view type.

"Multi-Touch Display on Garmin nüvi 3790"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRbJigFtMlw&feature=related

Is there a way to disable the automatic zoom in and out function? I would prefer to do the zooming manually.

Thanks guys!

Depends on the unit and where it was bought. In the US, the majority of nüvis manufactured in the last three or four years do not allow the user to disable the autozoom. Meanwhile, European 22xx and 23xx nüvis allow the end user to disable the autozoom.

Zümo users can correct me on this, but if I'm not mistaken, all units, regardless of the country of origin, have the ability to shut off the autozoom.

The dēzl units? Don't know.

Where I live the law prohibits the driver to tinker with any electronic handheld devices in the car, that includes GPS even if in the mount. If caught a hefty fine!

I appreciate the auto zoom on my 3790LMT.

But it's OK for the exact same device if more permanently mounted, huh? Like the Garmin GOS in a Suzuki SX4. Or is changing the radio station prohibited to? What if it one of those radios that can be removed to help prevent theft?

Way toooo many stupid laws. You must live in France, or Kalifornia?

With many of the newer Nuvi models it is possible to disable autozoom on North American models. It requires that you do a hard reset of the device and when it first reboots after the reset, you must set the default locale/country to some place other than the US or Canada.

I have my 3790 set with a default locale of Australia which then provides a setting under Tools - Settings - Navigation - Automobile - Auto Zoom, where I can set the it off or on.

There are a few of the default settings that may also need to be changed if you do this. The Nuvi will default to an Australian voice so if you want something else you'll need to change it. It will also default to KM so you may need to change that setting to Miles. It will also show the speed limit of highways in a round red circle and not the rectangle box used in North America.

One thing to remember if you do make this change is that when ever the Nuvi starts up, the map will default to a preset zoom level which can not be changed. If you don't like the default level you will need to set the desired zoom level each time you boot up the device.

Actually it's normally written into Distracted Driver laws which people think only cover the use of cell phones or texting while driving, but in fact often also restrict use of devices like GPS units.

These laws are common in Canada and in many US states.

Here in BC, it's a 'one touch' law. Meaning, what you want to do while driving, should require only one touch to do it.

I'm still prefer +/- buttons on the screen over two finger.

I've been using those buttons to zoom out so I can see the entire route just to make sure it matches my google maps directions. Am I the only person that does that?

Yes, I do use it, when checking a route.

For that purpose, on my 3790 LMT, I generally tap finger on the routing instruction at the top of the screen, which gets me a list of the turns, then tap on the menu bars and select the "show map" item.

I have noticed that on at least some Garmin models (pretty sure on my 855, and possibly on my 3790) that adjusting the screen zoom using the plus minus buttons can change the default amount of zoom used subsequently in the same situation while actually driving along. That can be a feature if the changes are to your liking, but a problem if you are already liking the auto zoom behavior. So it can be a reason to avoid using the buttons.

A quick way to do this on most Garmins is once you have your destination set, touch the green bar on the top of the screen to get the turn-by-turn directions pulled up, then touch the 'Show Map' button on the bottom. That will show the complete route, and autoscale it depending on how long the trip is. Like you, I do this all the time to make sure the Garmin's route makes sense.

....aaaaaaand if I had actually read this thread I would have noticed that archae just typed the same thing right above me. Whoops, sorry about that.

I totally forgot about this when I replied to him. I had thought about doing this, not to shut off the auto zoom, but simply to provide a different look. Blue for some reason seems to stand out a bit more for the banner bar.

me too

With the MyGig in my Dodge, there are no visible POI icons(food,gas, etc....)the only way you can see them is too zoom in. Kind of defeats the purpose when you have to sit there and press the + button repeatedly to try and find out what is around at the moment you might want it...ooopppsss already past that exit, let's try to hurry and see whats at the next one....might as well just look at the info signs on the side of the freeway.

I use them to cause the display to Zoom in or out more for the auto zoom feature. When you drive on the freeway or anywhere on a specific speed, the GPSr will zoom to a certain magnification. If you hit the + or - icons, the display will zoom to the new magnification then and in future conditions of a similar speed.

Hope I was clear on this, I have a tendency to be vague.

I use both the +- and pinch/zoom.

I hate the auto-zoom though. I wish it would just stay where I leave it.

That's the one thing I don't get with setting the Nuvi to a locale of Australia. The banner bar stays green.
I suspect it would turn blue if you selected the UK or some other European country as the default locale, but have never tried it.

I never mess with my GPS while driving. Much too busy texting, reading email, talking on the phone, eating, and putting on makeup

The reason the banner bar stays green when selecting Australia is because that country's highway signage is green. If a European country is selected, like the UK, the banner bar changes to blue since the signage is blue.

Shortly after I modded my firmware I accidentally selected the UK and got the blue banner bar. At the time I did a hard reset to select the US, but I think I might like blue better. I guess because it's different.

ON a Garmin Nuvi, this is essential to see custom POI icons. On the voice recognition units, I don't know why they can't make all features on the device voice activated like zooming as well.