Maybe not giving up on my nUvi 500...

My 3597 works very well. You can also look at the refurbed Drive Units. Look at gpscity.com and gpsstore,com.

been without a satellite reception other than under very long overpasses or tunnels with my then 350, then 855, 3797 and 2797 and I've been north to Cochrane and Thunder Bay, Ontario. South to Mexico City and from east to west. Never lost a signal in the Rockies either or the Nevada desert.

my Nuvi 350 & 370. They have never failed to give me proper directions.

Fred

Still going strong!!!

Out of curiosity, why are you giving up on your Nuvi 500? IMO, the 500 was a sturdy reliable waterproof unit suitable for indoor / outdoor use. Although It came loaded with topo maps and has a small screen format, it seems to me to be an acceptable companion to a smartphone for backup navigation.

I used one for a time switching between my bike, boat and vehicle. With it's easily replaceable battery, I found it to be flexible and convenient. Most of the time, I used it without vehicle power which saved the hassle of setting up the power cord.

The only real drawback was the relatively small internal memory. Even with a 4GB SD card, I had to load maps by region to save space. It's easily done though with Mapinstall.

Like many of my older units, there came a time when I just wanted something new and I sold my 500 on eBay.

Simple answer. Out of warranty. Do you fix, or get new for a few dollars more?

There comes a point when it's time to make a change, better and newer features and no repairs for some time.

I would say it is time to get a new one. That said, if you want to put some time into research, you may want to try the preboot / Cure3 method to repair your device. If it works, great, If not, since you are giving up on the 500 anyway, you have nothing to lose if you end up bricking the device (which is a risk with the Cure3 process).

See this post for more information: http://www.poi-factory.com/node/45157?page=0#comment-439748

If you use an iPhone, I recommend the Garmin North America app. This app makes the iPhone feel like a Garmin device. I had a Montana and sold it, replaced by the Garmin app on the iPhone.

I'm running the Garmin app on an iPhone 6, and it's great. The app has full onboard mapping and database. It does not need cell service. It can use cell service for weather updates and some searches. Cell service is not needed for normal, pure GPS usage. Integration with the iPhone is fantastic.

I use a case on the iPhone, with a strip of Velcro on the back. I also have a small piece of the mating Velcro on the dashboard, so now I just stick the iPhone to the dash and I'm ready to go. iPhone and Garmin in one physical device. Makes things much simpler.

There is also a Garmin USA version. I think it goes for $50-$59.99.

It's $49.99. Is traffic still $19.99? That's kind of steep, since the Smartphone Link Traffic is no charge, now.

www.satnavrepairservice.com. They quoted me ~$50 plus shipping each way to get the job done. No repair, no cost. I figure since this was a $500+ unit when I bought it and it does so much more than just driving (Boating, hiking and biking), I'll pull the trigger here before I move on. It'll only cost the shipping if the thing is totally bricked.

For the record, years ago I reached out to Sharcnet. They don't support my model.

I'll let you know how things go.

But if it was me, I would probably try to fix it myself using the Cure3 method. Do you have a backup of the 500 (even a very old one would work)?

I backup everything. I probably do have backups. I'll dive into that later tonight, time permitting.

Where can I get my hands on cure3??

I have a copy of it. If you want to send me a PM to give me your email address, I will send it as an attachment. it is a .zip file. Note that Cure3 runs only on Windows, not Mac.

Except for it being difficult getting custom POIs on it, CoPilot on my Android phone have pretty much replaced all of my Nuvi's (295, 765T, and mostly even my RV660).

muell9k wrote
Please let us know how you made out trying to use alanb's cure3
file. Many years ago I used the cure3 file to bring back a bricked Nuvi 660 and was able to get it working again.

Although it was quite confusing to do, I was able to do it.

If the cure3 that Alan sent you works, no need to reply.
If you wish, send me your email address and I'll email you a Word file that I have that explains the steps to restore the GPS.

The tricky part is to know how to get into the "Pre-Boot Mode".

For my unit (and most), hold the top left corner while powering the unit on.

Did you attempt to use the cure3 application did it work for you?

Time did not permit.

See the link for pre-boot mode instructions.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/48270