Text To Speech On Garmin Nuvi 3597

 

I am just wondering how many people here use the Text To Speech functionality on their Garmin Nuvi 3597 or other navigator or devices. I spend some time with my wife's cousin recently and he is a big fan of using text to speech on his Android phone. I really had not been all that impressed in the past with Text To Speech, but it appears as if it has improved significantly since I last used it. So, let's hear it, is it a viable option now?

On occasion.

I prefer to use the touch screen interface whenever possible. But on occasion, when it is not possible to pull over and stop, I will use the voice commands. One example is if I am driving down the interstate and need to find an exit that has a gas station or restaurant. it works fairly well, but I do find it almost as distracting as using the touch screen, so I only try to do simple things with it.

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Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

Text To Speech On Garmin

I use it when I am driving when I need to look for a specific location or fast food places. My wife doesn't like me to use the touch screen..

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3790LMT; 2595LMT; 3590LMT, 60LMTHD

Voice command

Jim, I think you mean Voice Command rather than TTS. At least that's what we're all answering for you. cool

Like the others, I find the 3795's voice command to be very good much of the time. One issue is the wakeup command being weak causing false wakeups, but that can be changed with a more robust wakeup command. I use Hey Karen which results in some false wakeups but it seem the right command to me given the navigational voice I use. I don't want my Karen to become paranoid and lead me astray.

I heartily recommend trying the 3597's voice command for a month or so. You should try it for more than 2-3 days before deciding it's not for you. I find that I've come to learn that some searches are best done with the keypad while others work perfectly with voice command.

Voice Command on 3597

CraigW wrote:

Jim, I think you mean Voice Command rather than TTS. At least that's what we're all answering for you. cool

Like the others, I find the 3795's voice command to be very good much of the time. One issue is the wakeup command being weak causing false wakeups, but that can be changed with a more robust wakeup command. I use Hey Karen which results in some false wakeups but it seem the right command to me given the navigational voice I use. I don't want my Karen to become paranoid and lead me astray.

I heartily recommend trying the 3597's voice command for a month or so. You should try it for more than 2-3 days before deciding it's not for you. I find that I've come to learn that some searches are best done with the keypad while others work perfectly with voice command.

Craig, I'm curious to know if the Voice Command on the 3597 can activate Extras (POI's), my 2460 CANNOT and I wish it could rather than having to use the menu. It works OK for Favorites(Saved Places) but not for Extras.

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Nope

muell9k wrote:

Craig, I'm curious to know if the Voice Command on the 3597 can activate Extras (POI's), my 2460 CANNOT and I wish it could rather than having to use the menu. It works OK for Favorites(Saved Places) but not for Extras.

Oh boy, it'd be great if Extras could be commanded but they can't. I agree that it can call up Saved Places which I find quite pleasing.

YES for custom pois

There was a discussion on this in the past not sure if 3597 was the topic. When you use a voice command for pois it will search both the internal and custom all at one time.Not a separate search for each.Works for the 2597 and would bet the 3597 is the same. Maybe the OP Of that thread will sound off.

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Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

Thanks Craig For Advising

Sorry to hear the 3597 can't activate Extras, sure as heck would be a nice feature.

@charlesd45
Actually I would not want to do a search for POI's by name since this will show results from both Garmin's installed map POI's as well as my custom. I'd prefer to use my custom only since I feel they are far more accurate than Garmin's. Garmin's sometimes shows businesses that have been closed for a very long time.
The only time I would use Garmin's POI's is if I knew I didn't have that store or venue in my own custom POI's,

There is a Costco near me that's been open for a few years now, Garmin does not show it but the Factory's POI does so I trust it more.

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Search custom pois.

Finally found the thread http://www.poi-factory.com/node/40104

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Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

Charles,Thanks for your effort

charlesd45 wrote:

Finally found the thread http://www.poi-factory.com/node/40104

Charles,
I read that post but it does not cover Voice Command like Craig and I were referring to. I can do a search using the MENU, but it does not distinguish my Custom POI's from Garmin's. It will show duplicate entries for the same location.

What I was hoping for is when using the Voice Command it would also display Extras, just like it displays Favorites.

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Will give it try.

I believe it will. Have not tried it for a while. Do remember making voice searches to test it. The trick was always to say the command for exactly how the text read. Some will be impossible because of all the data inluded in the 3rd column on some custom pois.

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Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

Tests

charlesd45 wrote:

I believe it will. Have not tried it for a while. Do remember making voice searches to test it. The trick was always to say the command for exactly how the text read. Some will be impossible because of all the data inluded in the 3rd column on some custom pois.

I've just tested my 3597's Search for a couple of Fire Lookouts since they're nearby, easy to pronounce and would be only listed as a custom POI which I have loaded from The Factory's POI files. I looked for Woody Mountain Lookout and Elden Lookout, spoken or spelled exactly as they are listed in the Custom POI. I find that both the voice command search and the typed Find Place search do not find either. Based on the other thread, I also tried a text and voice search for RLC, the start of all of The Factory's redlight camera locations. Again, no success unless I manually tap the Extras, and then a voice search won't work and a non-voice search, as far as I can tell requires a tap of the Extras, then another tap for the specific custom POI list to search by typing.

I'm not sure how others have reported success with general searches for custom POIs, but I'm not having success with my 3597.

Serach all pois

CraigW wrote:
charlesd45 wrote:

I believe it will. Have not tried it for a while. Do remember making voice searches to test it. The trick was always to say the command for exactly how the text read. Some will be impossible because of all the data inluded in the 3rd column on some custom pois.

I've just tested my 3597's Search for a couple of Fire Lookouts since they're nearby, easy to pronounce and would be only listed as a custom POI which I have loaded from The Factory's POI files. I looked for Woody Mountain Lookout and Elden Lookout, spoken or spelled exactly as they are listed in the Custom POI. I find that both the voice command search and the typed Find Place search do not find either. Based on the other thread, I also tried a text and voice search for RLC, the start of all of The Factory's redlight camera locations. Again, no success unless I manually tap the Extras, and then a voice search won't work and a non-voice search, as far as I can tell requires a tap of the Extras, then another tap for the specific custom POI list to search by typing.

I'm not sure how others have reported success with general searches for custom POIs, but I'm not having success with my 3597.

Have not tried the voice command yet but will later on. To test manually. Touch Where To?,at top left put just Cracker Barrel in where it says Enter Search.Now touch the spy glass on keyboard to search.Now when all the Cracker Barrels come up.Scroll down toward the bottom until you see Cracker Barrel with a state in front of it. They are the custom pois.

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Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

My Findings

I agree with Craig's findings that Voice Command works poorly searching for Custom POI's. Using the search feature in voice command, I tried to search for Costco, there are only two in my area. Each time I spoke"costco" very clearly it would respond with "did you say" and gave choices that were not even closely sounding as costco, in fact many didn't even start with a C. Finally after 8 tries Costco appeared.

Some of the Voice Command features on the Nuvi's need major improvements to work properly. It seems that whatever locations are in the categories choices of voice command do work decently, but for Custom POI's it's a failure.

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Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Search

It never was a documented feature for searching for custom pois.Just something someone came accross and shared with the group to play around with.

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Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

Voice Commands - Strange Behavior

Has anyone else noticed that voice commands seem to work better when there is some ambient noise? I've found that if I am dead stopped in the car with the engine off voice commands are inconsistently processed. If the car is underway and there is some road noise then the commands work more reliably / accurately.

Agreed

muell9k wrote:

I agree with Craig's findings that Voice Command works poorly searching for Custom POI's. Using the search feature in voice command, I tried to search for Costco, there are only two in my area. Each time I spoke"costco" very clearly it would respond with "did you say" and gave choices that were not even closely sounding as costco, in fact many didn't even start with a C. Finally after 8 tries Costco appeared.

Some of the Voice Command features on the Nuvi's need major improvements to work properly. It seems that whatever locations are in the categories choices of voice command do work decently, but for Custom POI's it's a failure.

I also found in my Custom POI search tests that when using voice recognition for a search, the nuvi wasn't sure what I said and suggested other searches more in keeping with the unit's built in POIs; e.g., suggesting motel when I said mountain. That's when I tried searching for places nearby with a typed entry for a Custom POI. The nearby Custom POI spelled exactly in the search as it is in the Custom POI yielded nothing.

I realize this is not at all what charlesd found with his Cracker Barrel search. The only difference I see is that his Custom POIs are shown as a search result in a search where the nuvi already found some built-in POIs while my search requests, voice or typed, were searching for POIs that could only be found in my Custom POIs.

Further search:

I tried to duplicate charlesd's Cracker Barrel test by doing a search for Culver's (great burgers and frozen custard) which are both built into the City Navigator map as well as being a Custom POI in my nuvi 3597. I found that with a voice search (HeyKaren/FindPlace/Culver's), my 3597 only offered built-in locations, but when I typed in the search term of Culver's, I was given what charlesd described; namely a list of built-in Culver's ordered by location, then at the bottom of the list, my Custom POIs nearest Culver's. So as far as I can tell with voice searches, my nuvi 3597 never searches or displays my Custom POIs, at least for the tests I've performed.

Socket?

LeapFroggie wrote:

Has anyone else noticed that voice commands seem to work better when there is some ambient noise? I've found that if I am dead stopped in the car with the engine off voice commands are inconsistently processed. If the car is underway and there is some road noise then the commands work more reliably / accurately.

Is your vehicle's power socket powered or non-powered when the engine is off?

I wonder if voice recognition may be worse when on nuvi-power and better with external power.

If your socket is non-powered with the engine off when it's worse at understanding you, then it'd be worth setting your key to Accessory or Run (socket powered but engine not running) to see if the nuvi now understands you better.

Voice commands

CraigW wrote:
muell9k wrote:

I agree with Craig's findings that Voice Command works poorly searching for Custom POI's. Using the search feature in voice command, I tried to search for Costco, there are only two in my area. Each time I spoke"costco" very clearly it would respond with "did you say" and gave choices that were not even closely sounding as costco, in fact many didn't even start with a C. Finally after 8 tries Costco appeared.

Some of the Voice Command features on the Nuvi's need major improvements to work properly. It seems that whatever locations are in the categories choices of voice command do work decently, but for Custom POI's it's a failure.

I also found in my Custom POI search tests that when using voice recognition for a search, the nuvi wasn't sure what I said and suggested other searches more in keeping with the unit's built in POIs; e.g., suggesting motel when I said mountain. That's when I tried searching for places nearby with a typed entry for a Custom POI. The nearby Custom POI spelled exactly in the search as it is in the Custom POI yielded nothing.

I realize this is not at all what charlesd found with his Cracker Barrel search. The only difference I see is that his Custom POIs are shown as a search result in a search where the nuvi already found some built-in POIs while my search requests, voice or typed, were searching for POIs that could only be found in my Custom POIs.

Further search:

I tried to duplicate charlesd's Cracker Barrel test by doing a search for Culver's (great burgers and frozen custard) which are both built into the City Navigator map as well as being a Custom POI in my nuvi 3597. I found that with a voice search (HeyKaren/FindPlace/Culver's), my 3597 only offered built-in locations, but when I typed in the search term of Culver's, I was given what charlesd described; namely a list of built-in Culver's ordered by location, then at the bottom of the list, my Custom POIs nearest Culver's. So as far as I can tell with voice searches, my nuvi 3597 never searches or displays my Custom POIs, at least for the tests I've performed.

Manually Arbys will produce the same results. Not sure if duplicates will appear if the name is exactly the same.In the past when the post first came up I could use Voice command search and say Cracker Barrel VA and it came right up. Not getting the same results now. Not sure if doing something different or the updates changed something.Saying Cracker Barrel now anything may come up.Doesn't seem to recognize Cracker Barrel at that point until search is refined. W

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Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

voice command results

This is an interesting thread.

I've played with my 3597 and voice command extensively ever since I bought the 3597.

I've found the placement of the 3597 in my car as well as a few other things has a fairly significant impact on voice commands behaviour.

I can say for my crown victoria, my 3597 seems to understand me best when it's mounted in the lower left corner of the wind screen. Sometimes speaking towards the drivers window provides some better understanding.

Initially, the top of the dash was just the plastic material that originally came with the car. I suspected the audio being received by the Mic on the 3597 might have been hearing voice commands a little deviated, so now I have a soft wash cloth under the 3597 to absorb any sound that might have bounced causing what might be thought of as a stutter to the Mic.

I tried moving the 3597 to the center of the wind screen with a wash cloth to see if that produced better results of it understanding and in my case the best position continues to be the lower left corner of the wind screen with the wash cloth under the GPS.

I never but never need to touch the screen. Because my power ports are always powered, the unit will not auto start when I start the car. I could and might fix that but it's very easy to just manually start the GPS.

Hope this helps someone

--
Never argue with a pig. It makes you look foolish and it anoys the hell out of the pig!

voice command results

This is an interesting thread.

I've played with my 3597 and voice command extensively ever since I bought the 3597.

I've found the placement of the 3597 in my car as well as a few other things has a fairly significant impact on voice commands behaviour.

I can say for my crown victoria, my 3597 seems to understand me best when it's mounted in the lower left corner of the wind screen. Sometimes speaking towards the drivers window provides some better understanding.

Initially, the top of the dash was just the plastic material that originally came with the car. I suspected the audio being received by the Mic on the 3597 might have been hearing voice commands a little deviated, so now I have a soft wash cloth under the 3597 to absorb any sound that might have bounced causing what might be thought of as a stutter to the Mic.

I tried moving the 3597 to the center of the wind screen with a wash cloth to see if that produced better results of it understanding and in my case the best position continues to be the lower left corner of the wind screen with the wash cloth under the GPS.

I never but never need to touch the screen. Because my power ports are always powered, the unit will not auto start when I start the car. I could and might fix that but it's very easy to just manually start the GPS.

Hope this helps someone

--
Never argue with a pig. It makes you look foolish and it anoys the hell out of the pig!

2797 Voice commands

I am finding that the voice command function in my 2797 is almost useless. It never comes up with the item searched for such as the city I live in and even if I go to "Intersection" it fails.
There are no newer updates on Garmin's website.

I have to say my OLD 855 is much better at it.

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

Wind screen?!

BarneyBadass wrote:

This is an interesting thread.

I can say for my crown victoria, my 3597 seems to understand me best when it's mounted in the lower left corner of the wind screen.

Wind screen? Are we learning something about you? Were you raised across The Pond? If so, are you still there?

text to speech

I have not used it yet b/c not sure how it works. I have to check the manual to get directions. if it works well, it could be a real plus. No need to touch screen for commands.

LOL !

CraigW wrote:
BarneyBadass wrote:

This is an interesting thread.
I can say for my crown victoria, my 3597 seems to understand me best when it's mounted in the lower left corner of the wind screen.

Wind screen? Are we learning something about you? Were you raised across The Pond? If so, are you still there?

Yup, the windscreen is right behind the bonnet !

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

i think it would be fun to

i think it would be fun to try

I do exactly the same

I do exactly the same

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NickJr Nuvi 3597LMT

I have noticed that Voice

I have noticed that Voice Command is superior on Nuvicam than 3597. I have both units and found Nuvicam lot more responsive and accurate.

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Iphone XR, Drivesmart 61,Nuvicam, Nuvi3597

and in front

Melaqueman wrote:
CraigW wrote:
BarneyBadass wrote:

This is an interesting thread.
I can say for my crown victoria, my 3597 seems to understand me best when it's mounted in the lower left corner of the wind screen.

Wind screen? Are we learning something about you? Were you raised across The Pond? If so, are you still there?

Yup, the windscreen is right behind the bonnet !

Of the boot

--
Never argue with a pig. It makes you look foolish and it anoys the hell out of the pig!