New Garmin (update, backup, register, etc.)

Too late now, but I like to do an "out-of-box" full backup before doing any updates or changes to a new nuvi.

So far, not as impressed with this as I was with the 660.
Battery is nearly dead, out of the box.
I cannot use AC Adapter from 660 to charge 2689, and they didn't supply an AC charger... Just a USB cable and DC connector (Which I don't have in the house)... DUMB!
So I try charging off PC.. That starts Garmin Express, which, by the way does not allow me to register the unit.... and If I go back to online, it points me back at Garmin Express, that doesn't allow me to register unit.... GRRR!
Am I Blind? I can find no Register in GE.
So I un-plug it from Laptop, seeing it prevents me from doing anything, and try to blindly configure this beast without a manual and not much of a battery.... Damn them for not supplying a manual and supply...
I have everything except Timezone set I hope... It's 2:52PM, and Garmin is displaying 4 AM last time I saw it...
Now I'm connecting it back to PC in hopes of charging the battery...

If I'm having this much fun, and I haven't even begun to think about adding POI's...

So while this POS hopefully charges on the PC USB port, and I'm off to find a manual to print out...

Sucks

alanb I would have loved to do that.... too.

Leave it plugged to the PC for a couple of hours. That should charge it up enough to keep it going for a while.

It is not uncommon to receive a new or refurb with a low battery. You don't know how long it has been sitting on the shelf.

Once you get your new nuvi charged up by leaving it plugged into the computer for a while, boot it up and change it from MTP mode to Mass storage mode. Check the FAQs if you don't know how to do it. Once it is in mass storage mode, plug it back into the computer and you can do a full backup while it continues to charge.

I'm not crazy about charging from a laptop depends on how many mA it takes to charge. the car may be better. I always charge before anything

To late now but you should have ignored Garmin Express and just charged the unit.
And there is a way to register the unit through Garmin Express. I believe it is "add device"

How about a backdoor to registering at the Garmin site?? I was given this when I couldn't register properly a 2460 refurb unit. You will never find this on their web site. It does not exist, nada, no where.

https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/registration/gettingStarted.h...

And yes jgermann, I need to work on the FAQ for that.

Took to car Went for ride...
It works, but can't find the lock on power up 660 had, which forces you to put in password in order to get it to boot...

I forgot to mention the new unit prompted me that it was low in memory, 1.5Gb free, and suggested I add an SD Card... Now has freshly formatted 16Gb Fat32 Mode 10 card.

I think time Zone fixed itself when it found satellites.

Printed out manual, and found POI info, and downloaded an updated POILOADER... But no-where does it say if it takes CSV files as before or others... Haven't got that far yet...

Haven't determined how to save a favorite yet, though did do a verbal route, and noticed what happens when you don't follow directions...
No more ReCalculate!
Not as pissed as before, but the lack of information and direction is astounding!

Oh Yeah check out my post on the dead 660 thread... Power supplies are a crapshoot!

Actually, there is a back door access to the manual serial number registration on my.Garmin.com, but it is hokey. I discovered this some time ago and talked about it in this post: http://www.poi-factory.com/node/42321?page=0#comment-363312. I also made reference to this in the Garmin Software forums, but somehow the moderators over there accidentally deleted my post when they were getting rid of some spam posts from another user

I just got an email from Garmin thanking me for registering our new Garmins 2689!!

Now the crazy thing is I connected the 660 up to the new GE, and it reports as being registered!!

Now if I can only figure out the wiring difference so as to use a the UB40F0 to be used as a power supply......

Anyways the link I have is a little more direct.
I have to do an FAQ on my 2460LMT refurb issue and serial number problem. I might add yours in to it as an alternat.

You aren't the first to be frustrated by the massive changes from a nuvi 660 or similar ancient device to one of the new models. The answer is to take a week or so to work on the various features and not try to learn/test everything at once. (It's not quite the same but it's somewhat like moving from a Ford Model A to a Subaru with CVT transmission—questions like "I can't find the clutch" and "where are the window cranks" become questions that need not be asked. And don't even think about where the full-size spare tire is! )

True, nuvis for quite some time have lost the power-on password. And similarly, nuvis haven't come with cases or AC power adapters for ages now. Ditto for a hard copy owners manual—it now needs to be downloaded as a pdf file.

Wow, low on memory already. That is a bummer. Once you determine the memory your new nuvi has, you should report it to:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/33586

to update the faq.

POI Loader will work as it did for your 660. The only thing to remember is that if your 660 had custom audio alerts that were mp3 files, you'll need to use wav files instead, and if you use POI Loader on a PC, you'll need sox.exe as well.

Favorites should be saved as they were with the 660. Tap the vehicle on the map an save the location.

Of course, the whole MTP thing is new but once you permanently switch to MS mode, all will be well, at least until your next hard reset.

One last suggestion: Your new nuvi may only have two English language voices and only one speaks street names. You can gain a total of seven English language Speaks Street Names voices and a few non-TTS voices by downloading them from Garmin Express or the myGarmin web site. Given your stated memory shortage, you may need to either have the latest map update installed to SD card instead of internal storage or you will need to remove voices in languages you do not speak (after making a full backup of the nuvi) before trying to install these added voices.

Thanks CraigW
Reading your post prevented me from asking about the power on password... Gee, that sure makes it more useable if stolen, doesn't it?

I did spend evening browsing through the manual that was not included, once I found it.. (Couldn't include a mini-CD? How Cheap!)

I manually entered some Favorites last night, after finding there is (Apparently) no way of saving from find address from speech... or is there?
I finally stumbled across how to delete the Garmin POI's by randomly hitting things... It did not appear to be in manual... as are other things...

Regarding POI's (I plan on somehow-eventually getting 660 operational via USB Port Power, and it will become backup, and then give backup 660 to a relative)

Question on SOX and POI's:
I use an older Poiloader for 660, and it points to files for 660.
I did download latest poiloader, and labeled it POILOADER-NEW, and plan on it pointing to a different location for files than 660 did, so I can run old POILoader and have it point to 660 files, and POILoader-NEW and have it point to newer GPS files.
THANK YOU for indicating about WAV files, THAT is not in manual, either!
Never used SOX Before...Where is download for it?
Do I put SOX in same directory as POILOADER, or POI Files for the new GPS?

Does the same rules for TourGuide for 660 apply to new units? There is no reference to that in manual.
(Do you see a re-occuring comment here?)

On Garmin Express... The 660 still shows as registered, and not the new one, but new one comes up in GE even when it's not connected, so it must be a feature in the program.... Expecially since Garmin sent me an email thanking me for registering the New GPS, but didn't send me an email when I connected the 660 to GE.... Go Figure!

Thanks Very Much for your information...

Here is all the information on setting up and using wav files. http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730 .You will not see anything in the manual or if you call Garmin about wav files. That is not a supported option. The idea and use of them came from of our members some time ago.

On the favorites you can transfer them from your old GPS to the new one.See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/36164

I'll check on Size of memory and post later tonight....

I did add a 16Gb mini SD Card last night, and it is seen, not as a separate memory card as in the 660 (Showed up in W7-64 as two drives), but as a subset foldeer of the garmin Drive on new unit... ???

In the manual it says I can add an SD card, (which I did), but no-where in the manual does it say how this card will be used.... Now that I've added it, what's it for -- Automatic Map Extensions when it runs out of ram, or do I fool it to make it thinks its a Garmin and doing map upgrade to SD card (Trick) as in 660 ???
Am I asking enough questions?
I realize there is not MP3 Player any more... That's where I stored my MP3 Music on 660.

When the unit booted up for the first time (after the upgrades), told me I was low on memory (It prompted only 1.5Gb left). I have not loaded any extra voices or vehicles...

Your 660 used mp3 files for voice. The newer units use wav files. For wav files and voice you need sox. And Garmin won't tell you that because they don't support it. The wav files get named the same as mp3 except the extention.

You can also just use 1 poi loader and create your .gpi files. The 660 will use wav files so you only need to have 1 folder for your files.

Sox goes in the poi loader folder.
Look at the FAQ's for sox. http://www.poi-factory.com/faq/index#SOX.EXE

Rules for TourGuide are the same.

You folks should get an instructor's fee from Garmin...

A lot of what you see may be due to the new nuvi being in its default MTP mode. For file browsing or backups, you will want it to be in MS mode which will look a lot more like your 660 when connected to a computer:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/41416

To determine your new nuvi's internal storage, you'll need to be in MS mode as well.

I'm surprised that the device gives you a low memory warning with 1.5GB of free space. I'm thinking your new nuvi is likely a 8GB device and if so, map updates will not need to switch to the SD card for ages. It won't hurt to leave the SD card installed—and if the time comes when a map update won't install internally, you will be given the option (by Garmin Express or GarminMapUpdater) to install a smaller map to the device or the full map to the SD card. Of course, choose the full map to SD option.

My suggestions (beyond continuing to play/learn with the new nuvi) is to switch to MS mode, backup the device, look to the device's voices and delete those in languages you don't speak, then download/install the additional English language voices with Garmin Express or myGarmin:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/42708

Note that in addition to needing to be in MS mode, your new nuvi also will require some potential changes to a PC to be able to see hidden and system files and folders:

http://www.poi-factory.com/garmin/problemsolver#system-folde...

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30393

Just getting around to reading your post, Alan.
Does the 2689 do same thing? (Not listed in FAQ)

Once you get your new nuvi charged up by leaving it plugged into the computer for a while, boot it up and change it from MTP mode to Mass storage mode. Check the FAQs if you don't know how to do it. Once it is in mass storage mode, plug it back into the computer and you can do a full backup while it continues to charge.

AFAIK, all the new nuvi's have MTP mode by default. After you switch it to Mass Storage mode, you will be able to get access to the full folder structure on both the internal memory and the SD card (if you ever use one).

MTP Mode

for the correction pwohlrab... bad assumption on my part. I should have known better. I have never used (or even seen) any of the Essentials series of nuvis.

Charlesd45, I wonder if it'd be worth adding to your faq that some models in the Essential Series do not have a MTP mode. Note that the current 2015 Essential Series does use MTP so maybe it's only the 52 and other earliest Essentials without MTP.

{Edit} I wrote this thinking that all Essential Series nuvis were without MTP. Now that I see that many/most Essentials are MTP, it may be best to ignore this request.

As I look at Charlies list, I don't really see any 2014 or 2015 nuvis that don't have MTP mode. So I guess in my earlier post, it depends on how you define "new nuvis" (imprecise terminology on my part). Or did I miss some models?

I only see non-MTP Essential nuvis in the 2013 model line, plus of course the many earlier nuvis from all series that came out before MTP was first offered.

I also checked charlesd45's list in the faq against the current Garmin faq and they are identical in models with MTP.

The models listed on the FAQ are the latest listed for MTP mode.

alanb I'm now in mass storage mode.... and charging GPS.... Later tonight I'll look at the procedure to backup the GPS... Is it any different than the backup seen in GE???

My new 2689 LMT shows 7.04 Gb with 1.52 Free... So I'm guessing it was an 8Gb device?

Also show 14.4 Gb on the card I added last PM.

A full backup is very very VERY different from a Garmin Express "backup."

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

And although I've not done it this way, here's another:

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

More:

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?81792-Garmin-Expres...