drivesmart 61

Navigation with the DriveSmart 61 uses a Smartphone and you need an app. See https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/111441 and

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/drivesmart51-61/EN-U...

realized that
Phoned Garmin, they made me an offer i couldn't refuse. LMT-S
didn't click right away. Should have paid more attention when i bought it. Anyways i got the drivesmart 65 for $20 more. Had to trade in a old gps so i gave them my 2598lmt. I keep it but the lifetime maps are done with in two weeks. No biggy i'll upgrade the maps and sell it for $50.

The DS 61 and 65 can use the same power/traffic cables. If your 65 gets traffic, what happens when you use your 65's power/traffic cable with the 61?

Since I think your 65 gets traffic, you must have the GTM 36 or 60. What model power cord came with the 61?

For the FM traffic receiver to work there must be traffic data available in the area. I doubt that Chilliwack has that. If you drive into Vancouver, traffic data will appear.

And Smartphone Link will be the same.

dobs108

your right but it shouldn't say no compatible traffic cable.

according to Garmin and they are right. The 61 gets shipped with a charge cable only. You can get a 36 or 60 for it and it will work i tried it but its an extra cost.

If its a 2598 LMT, why are the lifetime maps done with in two weeks?

Its part of Garmin's loyalty program. If you upgrade through Garmin you need to give them an exchange. They have a record of all my Garmins he mentioned 5 of them. Not 100% sure how he knew because i didn't register any of them and didn't give him my email or my name. He had that too. So back to the Garmin deal i give him the 2598LMT which is worth? and in turn i get a drivesmart 65 listed on Garmins website for $299.00 and he gives it to me for $258 no shipping fees. They have the serial so they block my updates...that simple

[/quote]Its part of Garmin's loyalty program. If you upgrade through Garmin you need to give them an exchange. They have a record of all my Garmins he mentioned 5 of them. Not 100% sure how he knew because i didn't register any of them and didn't give him my email or my name. He had that too. So back to the Garmin deal i give him the 2598LMT which is worth? and in turn i get a drivesmart 65 listed on Garmins website for $299.00 and he gives it to me for $258 no shipping fees. They have the serial so they block my updates...that simple[/quote]

I was unaware that Garmin had a loyalty program. Having said that, did you do some shopping around? The DriveSmart 65 is currently $233 at Best Buy. I think I would have kept the 2598LMT and parted with the $232 at Best Buy.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/garmin-drivesmart-65-6-95-gps-w...

[/quote]
I was unaware that Garmin had a loyalty program. Having said that, did you do some shopping around? The DriveSmart 65 is currently $233 at Best Buy. I think I would have kept the 2598LMT and parted with the $232 at Best Buy.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/garmin-drivesmart-65-6-95-gps-w...
[/quote]

my price is a lot cheaper. If you read dobs108 comment you would have known i'm in Canada and 258 canadian is better than your 232 american...lol

I am not seeing the quotes with the usual gray graphics, so this is a test post.

Update - This post looks normal.

@Speed2 Is there a link for this loyalty/trade up program?

Probably not. It's more like a Customer Service Tool. Just like the "retention department" is a tool for Satellite and Cable TV.

They sent me a link that was good for 28 days i think he said.
took me right to the cart, filled in my stuff and confirmation was sent. I went back later looked at the regular price and it was different, so it was a link made especially for me.

Could it be that you had two weeks to decide whether to accept the offer and not that the new device would only update maps for two weeks? Losing the lifetime map update on a replacement Garmin device is something I'd never accept.

I suggest you keep the device and check for a map update when the next comes out. I'm hoping that you'd find the device accepts the map update in a few months.

Don't care. I don't have a gps hording issue. When i'm tired of my toys i get a new one and sell the old one. I also don't worry about the amount. And no, it was made clear to me and i'm not deaf. I had 2 weeks till the map upgrade is over if i took the deal and close to a month to decide if i wanted the deal.

My bad, I did a quote which resulted in the quote and end quote brackets ([] [/] being out of proper sequence and then Speed2 quoted me, still resulting in out of sequence brackets. I tried to do an Edit but apparently that has a limited time availability.

We Received Your Request

We’re getting your device ready, and we’ll let you know when it ships. You don’t need to return your device, but note that it will be permanently deactivated in the next 14 days.

The 2598lmt that you are trading in will be deactivated in 14 days, not the new one.

Garmin is sending it a KILL command? How?

no idea, its not that its a kill command it won't let me update any more maps. The unit is still fully functional.

When you connect to GE to update, the unit will check with mama before it's updated.

you got it
lol

@phranc Lol... So an indirect kill command. Didn't the older nuvi's come with a limited map update cycle - 1 year?

I don't think so. If you paid for an update, it was yours. I paid for a few. But once the free annuals came along, there wasn't any issue.

way back when, my 265w got one free update. They had only one update per year back then. My 765t was the same. The 775t had the eoro maps also on them not sure how that worked. Rob (Juggernaut)
had one or still has of those he might remember.

With all my purchases over the years, the devices (those without LM) came with one update, to be used more or less at time of purchase to bring the device up to date.

That just means there is no compatible cable connected at that time, not that there isn't one at all, if I'm reading into what you wrote correctly.

nope it means exactly what i said. The -s is what didn't compute right away. It stands for Smartphone. So a lmt-s doesn't get shipped with a GTM 60, gtm 36 or a TA20. You can buy it and it will work. I tried it with the gtm 36 from my 3790 and that missing traffic cable went away and it searched. The rep seemed to agree that it might have been a bad idea to make such units. I guess there have been more issues with this considering you can get a 65 for less money by the time to buy a traffic cable for the 61. When you look at the specs for both the 61 and 65 they look identical except the 61 has livetrack. Its only when you go into "in the box" which i never look at you see that the 61 only comes with a charge cable. Its misleading for sure. They both say they have traffic which is true, you certainly need to do your homework before you buy on of these. Provides real-time services such as live traffic².²To access live information, you must download the free Smartphone Link app. See the little 2
Have to pay attention to it...lol.

It's always nice to read that a problem is resolved even when the results aren't what was wanted. Thanks for sharing.

Wait for it. I'm not done with these units yet. I hate all that clutter on the drivesmart 65 as well as the 61 had it too. Reads all your poi's and saves and plunks them on the screen. What an icon mess...lol. I'm going to do a faq on these drivesmart units onto how to keep it clean if you so desire, just need to do some more testing when we go on the road next month.

I have a DS61, have had it for a while now, there is a setting somewhere, I don't see all the icons for my poi's, I do see a green heart when passing by a favorite though.

I guess you do need to read the fine print, and asks questions here on the factory. I knew when I bought mine that it needed the smartphone app to get the traffic. Honestly though, the traffic is hit and miss at best here in the Philadelphia PA area.

Settings>Map & Vehicle>Map Layers> Places Along the Road. Uncheck.

What does that have to do with all your poi's? Never found those settings to be linked with them. These new drivesmart 61 and 65 on the other hand, your poi's are always on your screen. They are not removable by any setting.

I had 65 and now I have a 55, and neither one shows POIs unless they have an associated Icon file.

Thats the key and why would they do that? If you were going to design it that way lets have something in place to remove it other than removing icons. Can you imagine what that would look like on a 4.3" diag screen. Drove me nuts for a while because i had fast food places as a poi and they all cluttered up the screen couldn't see much at intersections...lol

What a pain, they send you a link to pay for this new drivesmart 65. You buy it and the order just sits there. Aug. 26th i ordered it. I chat with this dude and he says its back ordered. I asks him when does garmin let the customer know, he tells me it would have told me when i bought it. I tells him no it didn't, all i had was a link to pay for it through the customer loyalty program. He then says to me "we'll let you know when it ships" Is that customer service or what?