Garmin Nuvi 500 Time To First Fix Vs. Newer Garmin Nuvis
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    17 years
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I bought my wife a Garmin Nuvi 500. While it works pretty well, she sometimes gets frustrated with it because it can take a minute or two to power up, acquite GPS signal, find a location, from a cold start.
I should also point out that when I started with GPS some years back, I would typically use mine very differently than she uses hers. I would power mine up in the morning for work, keep it on and use it throughout the course of the day because I worked out of my car.
She, on the other hand, does not use it routinely, but keeps it stored out of sight and then expects to be able to turn it on and instantly have it find an address and start navigating immediately.
Now I understand that there is alwasys going to be a bit of a delay, especaially with a cold start. However, are some of the newer Garmin Nuvis a little bit quicker than the venerable Garmin Nuvi 500?
I might even be inclined to get her something from the Garmin Prestige series. I have read that they have "faster response times", but I am wondering how much faster. Do they have faster processors to find stored POIs?
My 3597
I bought my wife a Garmin Nuvi 500. While it works pretty well, she sometimes gets frustrated with it because it can take a minute or two to power up, acquite GPS signal, find a location, from a cold start.
I should also point out that when I started with GPS some years back, I would typically use mine very differently than she uses hers. I would power mine up in the morning for work, keep it on and use it throughout the course of the day because I worked out of my car.
She, on the other hand, does not use it routinely, but keeps it stored out of sight and then expects to be able to turn it on and instantly have it find an address and start navigating immediately.
Now I understand that there is alwasys going to be a bit of a delay, especaially with a cold start. However, are some of the newer Garmin Nuvis a little bit quicker than the venerable Garmin Nuvi 500?
I might even be inclined to get her something from the Garmin Prestige series. I have read that they have "faster response times", but I am wondering how much faster. Do they have faster processors to find stored POIs?
Just wanted to throw my two cents in on this...I have the 3597 and all I can say about it is a big "wow"..I have had both, older nuvi's and also a couple of tomtom's.....this 3597 out performs them all...the start-up is instant once you turn your key on....and the navigation is always ready before i am.....by the time i start my car and get the seat belt hooked up its sitting there waiting on me...
:) I know it might be a little more expensive than some of the other models but if your going to use a GPS very much in my opinion it is well worth it.....
Garmin DriveSmart 65
some hints
I bought my wife a Garmin Nuvi 500. While it works pretty well, she sometimes gets frustrated with it because it can take a minute or two to power up, acquire GPS signal, find a location, from a cold start.
She does not use it routinely, but keeps it stored out of sight and then expects to be able to turn it on and instantly have it find an address and start navigating immediately.
When you say "stored out of sight" what do you mean? Is it kept in the car and then placed into use or is it kept in the house and carried to the car? It can make a world of difference.
I keep my 885 in the house and the car is parked in the open. I turn the unit on when I get ready to leave the house and by the time I get into the car, plug the power cord in and position the unit it often has a lock. The unit often hasn't been on for days, so it does need a cold acquisition of the satellites before it is ready to accept an input. If the unit is kept in the car, then there is no real way to help it get a faster fix.
Illiterate? Write for free help.
Mixed emotions
My 500 has run both ends of the gamut. I run into a 7-Eleven, and when I get back out to start the car it may take minutes to sat lock again. On the other hand, I could leave it off for days...in the car in the driveway with the suction cup on the windshield. When I fire the car up, it locks on in the fast time...that's about 30-45 seconds after the legal crap scrolls by with this model. It did get better after the latest map update and firmware upgrade. My issue with the unit is the multiple reboots...3-4 is normal. May be up to 15 or 20 at times.... That's a subject for another thread...
Striving to make the NYC Metro area project the best.
Why Not Just Be a sport & keep it simple & practical ...
Make sure it has a useable 5" screen.
Plenty of deals on a Nuvi 2555LMT.
http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-2555LMT-Portable-Navigator-Life...
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Both the 3790 and the 775 take from 30-90 seconds to lock depending when I last used them. New tables can take a bit to acquire.
Of course, being an 'instant' society, it's a first-world problem.
If your Nuvi is rebooting a lot, time for a hard reset. Backup first.
nüvi 3790T | Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable ~ JFK
Yeah, I know
When life provides me some time....
Striving to make the NYC Metro area project the best.
ephemeris time
There is a quite fundamental obstacle to your wife's desire for instant service from a cold start. The ephemeris data goes stale within a few hours officially, and becomes rapidly more inadequate beyond that interval. So a unit which is truly starting up cold has first to acquire the signal from at least four suitable satellites, and then to get continuous reception for something like 30 seconds just to get the most basic information required for an accurate fix.
Of course there are ways to cheat. I own but no longer use a Garmin 855. If you leave that unit plugged into your car's power socket, and your car like mine is one of the sort that does not disconnect accessory power when the ignition is off, that the 855 actually continues reception and computation even though the screen is black and you might think it to be off. Your wife might appreciate the behavior it gives in appearing to come to life practically instantly when you touch the button. On the other hand, it is draining the battery of your car to the tune of about 100 mA all the time that it appears to be off. For a car in daily use that probably represents a tiny acceleration in the long-term degradation of your battery but is otherwise not an issue. But if you leave the unit connected when you depart to spend a couple of weeks elsewhere, you can easily come back to find that the car won't start. In my specific case the 855 drain was about four times as large as the car's own off state drain, and only the luck of choosing the other car to go to the airport meant that I discovered this in my own garage, rather than in a dark and cold airport parking lot.
Other than cheating by staying always on, I have the impression that many modern units cheat by using officially stale but not very much out of date ephemeris data to give you a faster start, figuring you will be happier with a faster start and accept the initially slightly less accurate position.
personal GPS user since 1992
Re:Why Not Just Be a sport & keep it simple & practical ...
Greetings
I had a C340 Street Pilot for many years. It took quite a while to get a lock.
About a year ago, it finally failed. I replaced it with a Nuvi 2555LMT. I have been very happy with it. It normally gets a lock before I am able to back out of my driveway.
Plus I really like all of the other updated features, such as a larger screen, lane support, and junction view.
If you do decide to get one, you should also get a 8GB microSD card. Since, as of the 2014.3 map update, the full file will no longer fit on the unit, but it will on the chip.
Regards
SS0700