cable not compatible?

Powering your GPS really just means it is delivering 5V (or thereabouts) to the appropriate pin, and ground to the other appropriate pin on the GPS end of the connection. To do traffic, it has to have a radio receiver that works, to do decoding of the signal, and format and transmit data to the GPS (down another pair of wires) that the GPS accepts.

Way different. Maybe your cable failed. Maybe your GPS failed. Maybe the connection is bad.

It is possible your power / traffic cable has failed. Usually, it's a bad USB cable plug or the port on the unit itself.

The 2689 and 2699 GPSr's have a built in traffic receiver. They use Garmin's TA20 power cable which has an antenna built in. Replacement cables are available in many locations including this one on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Authentic-Genuine-Garmin-Vehicle-TA-20-TA20-Traffic-antenna-charger-power-cable/261562698636?hash=item3ce65a0b8c:g:TZwAAOSwstxU~0Jv:sc:USPSFirstClass!18431!US!-1

Spending $23 or so on a cable is a risk without knowing for sure what the problem is. Perhaps you have a friend with a similar cable that you could try.

Here is a thread from last year discussing the issue with a Nuvi 2699 which is similar to the 2689.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/47416

A link to someone with a similar problem:

https://www.justanswer.com/gps/9z41f-own-garmin-nuvi-2689-sa...

And

https://www.justanswer.com/gps/a1vz3-keeps-popping-using-gar...

According to Garmin, the GTM36 and GTM60 power/traffic cables are compatible with the 2689. This is strange because these have the traffic receiver built into the cable. If you know someone with either of these cables, it might be worth a try.

thanks for the info, I don't know anyone with a similar GPS. It's very odd it works for a couple years then all of a sudden from one day to the next, not working.

I was unaware of this, so the response I gave was largely off target. Sorry about that

My 1450 started giving the same message and then failed to charge entirely. A new cable didn't help, it turned out the female connector on the back of the unit had failed. A local PC repair shop replaced the connector for $10 and all is well.

This may or may not be the source of the problem with your 2689 but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Several years ago, my 1490 started giving that traffic message intermittently. I could get it to work by manipulating the USB plug where it plugs into the GPS. It turned out to be a bad USB port on the unit.

The 1490 was too old to spend any real money to fix. As a long shot, I picked up a short 6" USB pigtail cable on eBay for $4. (It must be a cable with all 5 pins connected through) I plugged the male end into the GPS and connected the female end to the power/traffic cable. It worked! I hot glued the pigtail cable to the back of the GPS to act as a strain relief and it's been working fine ever since.

The USB ports on many Garmin GPSr's are a known weak point in the design. They seem to wear out prematurely from constant connecting and disconnecting. I now use short pigtail strain relief cables on all my GPSr's as a precaution.

I looked at the female end on the GPS and it's a port within a oval shape, some kind of holder, and the oval shape is not flush. Can't say it ever was for sure before the problem i never gave it much notice.

I do plug/unplug it every weekday at work.

There's no guarantee that this will help at all, but a potential test for a failed USB port on the GPS would be to connect the cable to the GPS and see if the error message appears when running the test four times, once with gentle upwards pressure on the cable's plug, then repeating with downward, left and right pressure. If any of the tests remove the error, then almost certainly the problem is either the device's USB socket or the cable's USB plug, or as you may hope for, a dirty connection that a bit of electronics cleaner could resolve.

I had this problem on my 2595. After two or so years of use I did not get the screen pop up you did but the traffic reporting did fail as evidenced by a grayed-out traffic symbol on the screen and no traffic signal on the actual traffic screen. On my unit, it was the connection on the unit which went bad. One of the pins was bent in there which in turn also caused an issue with the traffic cable connection end. I called Garmin and they sent me a refurbished unit for a minimal charge and replaced the traffic receiver cable no-charge. My theory is the frequent connecting and disconnecting of the cable from the unit caused it to fail.

Hence the reason this FAQ is important to many here:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/45200

Would you give me a price range for the "minimal charge" please? $23 bucks to try a new cable might be the first attempt to fix the problem.

I started having an unrelated problem with a Zumo 550 a few years ago and Garmin replaced it for $100, of course new it was an $800 GPS. (they wanted the old one in exchange)

I remember when I first got my 2689 thinking (and posting here on POI Factory) that the USB looked like it was going to be a weak spot. I always liked the mount type power source better.

Thanks all for the suggestions, tried the wiggle suggestion, nope.

Sharcnet repairs GPS devices at reasonable prices. They have a login id here at POI Factory but I haven't seen them active lately.

You can try their website or give them a call:

http://www.sharc.net/gps_repair.htm

Well, tried a new cable, a Garmin T20, identical to the one that came with it in every way except one number on ends in C whereas the original ends in B.

Must be a problem with the GPS itself and that really stinks.

Thanks for the suggestions.

sharcnet posted yesterday:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/48524

Thanks for that. However my power button works fine, also the cable works fine powering the GPS, only thing not working is the traffic cable feature. Tells me I have an incompatible cable for traffic and to plug in the correct cable, when the unit is powered up. The traffic icon on the GPS is NOT grayed out but when pressed will also bring the incompatible message.

I have a DriveSmart 70LMT and I've started to get an error on mine about the traffic receiver being an incompatible power supply and the battery won't charge. It's annoying because it's worked fine for this long and after checking for an update on my computer, it stopped working now. I called Garmin and they said it's rarely the cable, it's often the USB port on the Garmin itself. I'm not sure that I fully agree but we'll see when I get my replacement gps unit in the mail from Garmin support...

The flag of surrender has been thrown.

I started a Garmin support ticket, one thing they suggest is to hook the GPS up to garmin Express, I did, two software updates, new Samantha Voice and a Time Zone thing, and the infamous map update 2019.11. Took all three, tried the cable again, nope, nada, no luck.

So next will be sending it back I guess.

Well that didn't go well.

I bought the Nuvi 2689LMT back in November of 2015 from Amazon. A month or so later they discontinued the Nuvi line in favor of the Drive line. Had I known that then I would have waited, but I didn't so ...

Well Garmin doesn't do repairs on the 2689, they only offer a "Trade In" I'm quoting the "chat" rep, "We would send you out a brand new current device at full price and then once we get your device we would give you 20% off the new device"

So my two and a half year old device no longer has one of the features that I bought it for and they are basically telling me too bad buy a new one?

So I'd have to pay another $200, I paid $211 for the 2689, because the Garmin DriveSmart™ 61 LMT-S is most like what I have in features and size, then I'd have ship them my 2689, on my dime, (so the 20% gets even smaller) so they can fix it and sell it as refurbished.

Not good Garmin, not good.

I've had Garmins for a very long time, Streetpilot 330c , Zumo 450, Zumo 550, two Nuvi 2460 LMT, the 2689 and my Jeep even has a Garmin based GPS through Uconnect.

It may be time to rethink my loyalty to Garmin products.

.

Afraid that's the society we live in, most electronic devices of that age are simply throw away not just Garmin. You may have some luck with a specialist repair shop like sharcnet. ... http://www.poi-factory.com/user/99265

I sent him a message, thanks for the info.

Some folks may be able to throw away $200 every couple years, I'm not one of them. It was brand new in November of 2015. I have an over 10 year old Zumo 450, and a Zumo 550 that still work. Even this 2689 still works, just won't give me traffic reports, I drive all day for a living so that was an important feature, but the GPS still works fine otherwise, not wanting to throw it away just yet.

Before you give up on your 2689, Garmin's Smartphone Link app is free and works with your unit. If you have a smart phone with data plan, this could be an option. Even with everyday use, the data usage is minimal. For a one time fee, you can add options like weather, access to highway traffic cameras, etc.

I switched to Live Traffic via the Smartphone link app several years ago and for me anyway, it offers better and more consistent traffic coverage.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/111441#overview

Yea, I got that when you had to pay for it, less than half a year later they made it free, yet another sore spot, plus whenever I didn't have the GPS on I kept getting a can't connect to the GPS popup on my phone couldn't figure out how to turn that notification off, and now I get a can't establish a two way connection notice if I open the app. I gave up on it.

Maybe I'll try again but I have to tell you my Garmin loyalty is wearing thin. I'm an extremely loyal shopper, I like familiarity, but I'm sensing a change when the 2689 does't work at all anymore. For now the only thing not working is the traffic.

Thanks for the idea though.

I gave the smartphone link another try finally got it to work again and now have traffic (and weather paid for both a few years ago) I just hope it doesn't drain my phone battery looking for the GPS when the GPS is not in use like it has in the past.

The ports don't "wear out". The issue is they are poorly mounted and soldered. They move because of the poor mount, then the solder connections break loose. I have resoldered a few of them including on my 60CSx.

Also, I tried powering my 3597 via a traffic cable from my 1490 but got the same message. It worked on the 1490. I attributed it to the fact the 3597 was not on its mount but did not pursue it. I do not think any Nuvi has the traffic rcvr built into the unit. That bulge on the cable is it in its entirety. The data is sent via the USB data lines to the unit.

Therefore, if your unit was working then stopped it is either a defective budge or a bad cable connection. What I do not know is if the bulge is powered with 5V or 12V. If it is 12V, then the problem connection could be on the power side of the bulge. If it is 5V, then I would assume it is the same 5v that powers the Nuvi so it is probably at the USB end of the cable - or a broken solder on the Nuvi. Try plugging into your computer and see if it recognizes it. You may have to wiggle the connector if the connection is intermittent.

Best troubleshooting would be substitution. Try someone else's Nuvi on your cable or their cable on your Nuvi.

Many of the later ones do, from 2013 onwards ... my 2508 has the receiver built in.

My Nuvi 2689 cable does not have the bulge/filter/whatever on the cable and worked for traffic for a few years. I do believe the port on the GPS went bad, broke, whatever. I did try a different cable, brand new identical Garmin cable to no avail.

.

...to open Smartlink first before you connect the GPS to power in the vehicle. My 3590 will even connect to Smartlink automatically about 75% of the time. The other 25% is hit and miss.

My 3597 had a Hit or Miss problem with my Galaxy S7. Uninstalled the the Smartphone app, reinstalled it and all was well (mostly). A couple of times it wouldn't connect so I just disconnected the wireless connection (on the S7) and then reconnected it. been working flawlessly for quite awhile now, even when not on the cable.

Yes this is one of the annoying things with the app, sometimes it connects, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it connects but later drops the connection, etc etc. Experienced the drop today, had to restart the GPS and reopen the app.

.

During my "chat" last week with the Garmin rep I suggested they forward our conversation to a supervisor, basically concerning my disappointment with the age of my device going bad and my loyalty having bought numerous Garmin products.

We a couple days ago the rep got back to me, had shown the conversation to her supervisor and they decided to send me, free, a brand new Garmin DriveSmart™ 61 LMT-S (as a one time customer appreciation kind of thing) once they get my 2689 back
in return. So in the end I'll have a new working GPS for the $17 it cost to return the old one.

Thanks Garmin.

Garmin are pretty good if you're polite and don't want the earth, glad you got a good result.

Is it possible something corrupted your drivers and you need to reload them?

I am glad Garmin came through for you, but ...

You do realize that the DriveSmart 61 does not come with a traffic receiver? From your original post it sounded like the traffic service is what failed on your 2689 that upset you in the first place. These new Drive x1 models are intended to be used with Smartphone Link for traffic.

If you have a compatible GTM style power adapter/traffic receiver from an old device (or are willing to buy one) you should be able to get the conventional Garmin traffic service to work on the DriveSmart.

Not sure where you'd load drivers, the cable was working in the cigarette lighter type outlet in my truck to power the GPS, but was no longer "compatible' to pick up traffic.

It's too late now as it's on it's way back to Garmin, but did you mean load drivers to the GPS itself?

I have the smartphone link, I'd rather not have to rely on it as it seems to drop every now and then.

The product name is confusing with the T in LMT, but reading the description, yes I did notice that it was in concert with the app. They were offering the DriveSmart 51 originally but I told them I had the 6 inch version of the 2689 and didn't want to go back to something smaller, my old eyes are needing things bigger so they agreed to the 61. It appears the 61 is the only "large" GPS Garmin has at the moment. I'll have to deal with it I guess.

Until they made the offer for a free swap I was ready to keep the 2689 and use the app anyway.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Soberbyker, Just last week June 4, my cable started giving me the "this cable not compatible with your device." after a couple of years. One day working now not. I had called Garmin, they just said that maybe trying updating software. No other suggestion. Said maybe need new device. I did but still get the message every minute. Did you have any luck correcting you cable problem? I don't seem to be able to shut off the alert/message I have the traffic turned off, but still get the message. Dang!

UPDATE: Just tried everything. Finally it dawned on me that I had an older 1390 Nuvi I gave to my husband. Got his cable. Connected in my car - bam it updated the traffic receiver on my device and works perfectly now. This cable is a GTM 26. It has a connector thingy (technical term) that might be for traffic. Yay, I'm back knowing where I'm going

glad to see you figured it out but to answer the question, no I did not.

I've had a similar issue with mine, a 2699, while it's giving me traffic updates. It's the cable that came with the unit. Supposedly, the traffic reciver is built into the unit so I can't understand why the cable would matter anyway.

The cable provides the antenna ...

Had to replace my cable once because the antennae was not functioning

The cable on my 2460 isn't very good at the traffic game:

https://s15.postimg.cc/uak881zcb/20180613_102932.jpg

It stayed green the entire time I was on the 5 mph 3 lane highway.

Hence all the effort to have you switch to the Smartphone Link app

Yup appears that will be the case, my DriveSmart 61 has shipped from garmin, hope to be using it soon, with the app since the cable from 2460 really isn't much help at all.

I'm just wondering, if one is using the smartphone link app, why not just use google maps or waze in the first place?

Being crowdsourced, I'd imagine google maps/waze traffic to be about as real time/accurate as it gets. How well does the smartlink app mirror google maps traffic reports?

Apples and Oranges. Smart Link uses Here data, which can/is different from Google's data.

^^Thanks for clarifying. Which would you say is more accurate? I'd guess google maps.

Both use the same model. Google and Here both get feedback from users, their Google Map, and Waze app, and Here from Here app users. All three apps call home and report traffic conditions as the movements of the phone.

they also receive reports from DOT monitors, and various other devices along the highways, etc.

As far as a comparison of accuracy, at any given time one app will have repeats the others don't and vice versa. I would say that Waze will be more timely, since its user fed, but Google and Here will eventually pick it up.

Garmin Traffic is probably the least timely, least accurate because it has to go through the DOT filters and then be fed to the FM stations that rebroadcast it.

Note, DOT represents both Federal and state Traffic reporting devices and Traffic Information systems.

Personally, I find the Traffic reports from Smart Link more informative, since it will report traffic conditions 50-60 miles in advance. Google, Here, and Waze only show problems on the map in close, almost too close proximity, to the incident. Leaving it up to you to detour around. Smart Link will have considered all the alternatives, when it reports.

My Kia Optima has Android Auto which can use Google navigation from your smart phone. I also use my nuvi 3597 Smartphone Link. I was surprised when I discovered I could use both simultaneously. Android Auto connects to the smart phone through USB while Smartphone Link connects via Bluetooth, so they can both be active at the same time.

I have seen cases both ways where a traffic incident is shown on one system but not the other. I have also seen false incidents on both systems, where the congestion has cleared, but is still shown on the device.

In general, I prefer the way Garmin Smartphone Link displays information over Google, but both are acceptable IMO. I suppose the accuracy at any given time depends on the number of active users on the given system at that specific place and time.

I'm confused, are you using a Garmin with the smartphone link or your phone with Google maps with the smartphone link?

My new DS 61 says it's connected to the smartphone link but I don't look at the phone at all, just the GPS, I'm guessing the info from the link is being fed to the GPS via the bluetooth?