Garmin Express software

After installiing GE, it informed me that there were two updates for my 855;

GPS Chipset Type M (2.90), and
GPS Chipset Type M HotFix Data (2.60)

Both apparently speed up satellite acquisition. My 855 has been really slow acquiring 'birds', sometimes I drive a couple of 'kliks' before acquisition. Time will tell if this is any improvement.

Googled them for details.

Regards,

DougJ

After installiing GE, it informed me that there were two updates for my 855;

GPS Chipset Type M (2.90), and
GPS Chipset Type M HotFix Data (2.60)

Both apparently speed up satellite acquisition. My 855 has been really slow acquiring 'birds', sometimes I drive a couple of 'kliks' before acquisition. Time will tell if this is any improvement.

Googled them for details.

Regards,

DougJ

That's why I'm six hours in and no change. Something's fishy.

Thanks for the news.

I've installed the software and it works.

It's an I5 on a company laptop. The only other program open was MS outlook and the background programs are minimised.
To be fair, I did not reboot the laptop like I usually do after an install even though Garmin express could launch right away.
The crashes were at the point of connection of the nuvi. I don't recall if the nuvi was hooked yet or not. I will test more. I don't use it to the degree that others would so the jerking will be a minor annoyance. I did like it for the fact it pretty much does all.

For those who are not routinely doing backups because of lack of knowledge, please review these FAQs.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30394

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/36398

THEN MAKE A BACKUP

No eureka moment yet; may be a tad quicker, but not enough to write home about.

S/w seems to work well; no probs experienced /w installation, running, updates.

Yep, that covers enough. That's what i wanted for geochapman's question, didn't know we had that. Maybe because it's buried in "All FAQs (alphabetical list of questions)"? Those two links would go nicely in "Getting Started" page.

Of course that leaves Mac users out. While I know what to do, I'm sure I couldn't express it well enuf to help someone.

By the way this software is still hung. I contacted Garmin via email and I may try to get them to look at the Log files.

I just d/led it again 1min 29 sec. 12.9MB. Don't think the problem is on their end. Did the Mac version also, same thing.

It gives me the option to download several voice files. But I can't play them on my c530?

Thanks to all the beta tester reporters. Keep them coming and if it hasn't blown up in a month or so I'll probably try it out.

Same here. Will wait until most of the bugs are out of it.

I would love that if you find the time and I am sure there are others who would appreciate it as well.

go up 5 posts up from this one

Lets put it to rest. Some where in here I said that it seems you do not need to connect your unit to find out if there is an update. I just updated my 3590 to software version 7.60. It told me with out connecting that there is an update. Also if you hit I agree it will ask you to plug it in and as soon as it see's it
it updates.

Express certainly is not descriptive of this software's update speed. Otherwise there are some nice features.

All Garmin Express is doing is pulling the GarminDevice.xml file from each nuvi you associate with it and storing it somewhere on the PC so the device itself does not have to be connected to *check* for updates. I've been doing this myself for years now to do update checks since GarminDevice.xml is polled by WebUpdater when doing an update. Garmin Express merely simplifies the process. Of course to actually perform the update, the actual device needs to be connected to the PC. In a way, this is great for those who like to keep their units up to date.

What would be really nice is a setting to have it download the updates and maps onto the computer at off hours and then when you do plug in the devices the just go straight to the USB 1 speed data transfer.

Isn't that exactly what the Settings - Schedule and Settings - Schedule - Advanced options of Express do?

D'ooh. Wow looks like I need a new pair of glasses.

i'll have give this a try. thanks

Of course, and that works for me just nicely.

GE notified me that all my devices "have updates" available today. I've started checking but all I see are more (beyond the original squirrel) cutesy non-TTS voices and a couple dozen vehicles that I have no intention of installing.

I may give it a while longer but I'm leaning more and more towards uninstalling GE from my computer and sticking with WebUpdater for updates, myGarmin for map updates and Mapsource for storing and copying Favorites.

Thanks for the testing and comments.

Why would you use 2 different programs to do something that one program can do, for that matter the way you put it, you wouldn't get any new vehicles or new voices (even if, as you say you don't want it) using myGarmin for map updates only. Web updater doesn't do new vehicles and it doesn't show new voices so far. I find this program works much better, and.. for the fact that I DO NOT have to have any of my units plugged in anymore to check for updates. It's a "one stop" shopping software...lol and i'll bet its here to stay.

I agree, Garmin Express is looking more and more like a very useful program and not having to have your GPS connected to the computer to use it is a major bonus.

I'm not sure what CraigW's was telling him needed updating but I've never seen Express tell me any kind of updates were required except what would have been listed under Webupdater, which wouldn't have been vehicles but has included a firmware update and, among other things, an updated Jill voice.

I don't know what it was, but I received a Garmin Express computer alert today for available updates for all four of my nuvis. In connecting each nuvi in turn and then going through the Garmin Express pages, the only new downloads I was offered were:

for each nuvi, I now had 3-5 new voices beyond the squirrel that was there from Day 1;

only for the nuvi 2460 (even though it should have appeared for the other three, too) I had 1-2 dozen new vehicles not offered on Day 1;

oh yes, for the 295W, I was again told that my map was out of date and that I could buy an update (also present since Day 1 of using Garmin Express).

There were no other updates offered: no firmware, no Jill voices, etc. I am concluding right now that for Garmin Express to tell me I had updates available for four nuvi models and when the only new dowloads available were cutesy non-TTS voices for all four devices and oodles of vehicles for only one device, that it was the voices and vehicles that caused my GE alert today.

Let's look for what I and others see over the next couple of months to track down what will cause a GE alert on the computer.

Thanks again for the info. DN you are a GPS God!

That might be a dangerous statement you made there.
If it goes to his head we are all in trouble.

Thanks for the info. I will look at it. Sounds like a good one-stop convenience.

Good info to have, I will give it a try soon.

From the GE promo:

Garmin Express is your one-stop shop for keeping your nüvi®, zūmo® or dēzl™ up-to-date.

Can we use GE for a Garmin GPSr other than nüvi®, zūmo® or dēzl™?

If I run GE, it seems to want to work with my Montana and fenix. Can I trust it?

I had to stop it running in the background and keep it from starting at boot up. I had the program opening its own program folder when I booted the laptop. It would open the C:\program files\garmin\express folder.

Just another annoyance I don't need along with it sucking down my CPU.

The software doesn't seem to make a great difference on my 780 or 1490.

I've got a Zumo 550. The current maps don't fit on it so I used MapInstall to put them entirely on an SD card. Garmin Express doesn't see the maps there and reports a map update to the same map version that is on my SD card.

Has anyone tried installing the current maps that don't fit on the device with GE? Does GE automatically install a split set partially on the SD card?

to all the brave test subjects. I await your conclusions.

for me, it gets stuck in a loop looking for the map updates. The program itself doesn't lock up - I can still chose the other menu options. But when I am on the update page it just spins. Oh well.

and wait a while before I download. Thanks for the backup information. That is something that I will definitely do.

Thanks everyone for all your comments. Between GE and its approx 140 comments and Garins 7.6 software update problems where users are reverting back to a former release (beyond my expertise), I think I will just wait for the next releases to fix all the bugs and then load them on my unit.

pwohlrab has run into - and solved - a problem with current software packages: that is, they assume that you want them to run (or be ready to run) all the time. As an example, unless I had taken action, ituneshelper.exe, qttask.exe, the javaupdatescheduler, the realnetworksscheduler and the googletoolbarnotifier would have been part of "startup" and running right now on my computer.

The action I took was to run Autoruns from Sysinternals.com which was purchased a while back by Microsoft. I like the "portable" version which you can download at http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/autoruns-portable.

Save the download in some folder called Autoruns (I have mine in C:\PortableApps\Autoruns). "Run" the downloaded self-extracting zip file "Autoruns....paf.exe" file (assuming you went through portableapps.com) and it will expand itself in your folder (and then you can delete the ...paf.exe file)

As noted, it installs into its own folder (unlike typical installs which put the executables into "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)". If you ever want to get rid of it, just delete the folder.

I have right-clicked on the executable "AutorunsPortable.exe" and used the "Send To > Desktop (create shortcut)" option to keep the program where I can easily run it. I do so whenever I decide to update something or install new software just to make sure nothing runs at startup which I do not want.

There are lots of features in Autoruns, but the one you should look at will be found on the "Logon" Tab of its inspection of your computer.

Look at what "starts" when you boot up.your computer. You can decide if you really need or want various programs. If you do not need or want a program, then simply "uncheck" the box at its left to keep it from running (and if you later decide you do want it, run Autoruns again and check the box to undo what you previously did).

I think Autoruns is a program that everyone should have and periodically run.

Or you could RUN "msconfig" from the Run command box available in the Windows Start button menu and accomplish the same thing.

I was interested in what Microsoft has to say

It's been a while since I ran MSCONFIG but, as I recall, there is a "nag" dialog at the next startup when I disable something.

Also, Autoruns have the ability to search the internet for any entry that one does not recognize.

However, everyone has their favorites and if one prefers MSCONFIG, that is fine.

"It's been a while since I ran MSCONFIG but, as I recall, there is a "nag" dialog at the next startup when I disable something."

There is a check box that you need to check. It says something like "do you want to see this the next time"?

Need to know that

By the way, have you looked at the latest Autoruns and used the "Search online Cntl+M" right-click option to find out what some of the running "Services" are?

I periodically look and last year found (after April 15th had passed) that "IntuitUpdateService" was running. Of course, I had finished with my TurboTax work and no longer wanted it to run - so I unchecked it.

I don't use auturuns, just msconfig and have shut down some services on my home computers and a few on the company laptop. Unfortunately those on the laptop are needed sometimes at startup and I need to leave them be.

I have a VNC Server running and I can't get my IT department to tell me what it is or if I need it.

Just get auto update to version 2.1.0. Visually looks this same, but maybe they fixed some of errors in it.

I don't know why so many programs want to start up with Windows, totally unnecessary and waste of resources not to mention slower boot times. I only have 1 thing active in startup which is my AV software.

I've been using a free simple program for years to control my startup programs. Very easy to use and no reboot required or that stupid nag screen that always appears in msconfig even when you tell it not to.

The feature I like most is you can delete an entry that is checked in Microsoft startup as long as it is checked as active, if you want to have it reappear you just go into the deleted tab and restore it. Keeps things really tidy.

See screenshot and download it here:
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

I am sick of the way Garmin Express is controlling the laptop and the stupid things it is doing.

I disabled it from starting every time I boot the laptop because it opened its own program folder. I don't need to have an install folder open every time I boot up (which is multiple times a day). I also didn't need it running in the background when I would use it very infrequently.

Next issue is I decided to run the program to see if it would tell me what (if any) updates there were.
I clicked on the link in my programs folder and to my surprise it re-installed the program. It also gave me an error box that "we are sorry for the inconveniance, but Garmin Express must close". So now I have another startup line in the system configuration utility (msconfig) for Express Tray.

So, if I don't want it running in the background, and I do want to use it sometime, then I will be re-installing every time. You would think they could build better software.

@grzesja. It is at 2.1.0

Just uninstalled it from my computer. Will install it again when the buttheads get the bugs out.