Galileo satellite network and Garmin GPS devices

 
CraigW's picture

In addition to the US satellite GPS network, a European network of GPS satellites called Galileo has been created. The network has advantages in coverage at higher latitudes, has the potential for increased accuracy when GPS receivers have access to both US and Galileo, and is independent of the US and Russian GPS systems.

The question then becomes "Which Garmin GPS receivers can access these Galileo radio signals." Here's Garmin's FAQ:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=YXd153clB76LEPOaWA2799...

Since links to Garmin FAQs sometimes change or are deleted, here's the text as offered in June 2019:

Galileo Satellite Network for Automotive Devices

What is the Galileo Satellite Network?

On December 15th, 2016 the European Commission announced that the European satellite system Galileo will start offering its initial services. Over the next few years, Galileo will increase the number of satellites from the existing 18 to the full operational capacity of 30 satellites.

Will Garmin devices work with this new network?

We at Garmin have been tracking the development of Galileo for over a decade and will continue to track its development. Many of our products are Galileo capable, and now that the Galileo system has reached its initial operational capability, we will carefully test and validate our Galileo capable products and provide selected updates at a future date. We are committed to delighting our customers with best in class positioning capabilities and look forward to integrating the Galileo service into many of our products.

What models have received a software update so far to support Galileo?

The following devices received a software update to include the ability to connect to the Galileo Satellite Network in addition to the United States GPS constellation.

Camper 770
Camper 780
dezl 580
Garmin DriveAssist 51
Garmin DriveLuxe 51
Garmin DriveSmart 51
Garmin Drive 52 & Traffic
European device only
Garmin DriveSmart 55 & Traffic
Garmin DriveSmart 61
Garmin DriveSmart 65 & Traffic
Garmin DriveSmart 65 with Amazon Alexa
Overlander

Garmin expects all future released products to have the option to connect to Galileo from the GPS settings.

It is especially good to read that Garmin plans to continue to offer Galileo coverage on new GPS devices offered.