Zoom Scale level

The Zumo doesn't display the scale in the 3D view either.

The 660 is also this way.

I had a c550 for a week and returned for a nuvi 660, difference right of the bat was in the zoom. The c550 would zoom in to 80 ft, the nuvi will only zoom to 120, anyone explain why this is the case?

Each model seems to have a different zoom level - my Nuvi 650 is as noted by others (40m) but my iQue will zoom down to 30m. Go figure... (still love the iQue... just awful battery life...)

I have always used the 3D view also, but after reading this I decided to try the track up view. The zoom scale appears at the center bottom of the screen but changes by itself depending on the road. I keep it zoomed in all the way but if I enter a highway it will zoom out on it's own and then zoom back to my previous level when I exit the highway and return to the surface streets. It does this in guidance and view map modes. Very cool feature and I had no idea it did this until Lsmonop mentioned the track up scale level. So Thank you Lsmonop:)

Wish I found it earlier.

I've mentioned this in other posts but;

How about your "Next turn in" press it, get the split screen, and then it will time out and return back to the main Nav map.

If you press it, then press the down arrow, then the up arrow, it will remain in split screen mode until your trip is finished.

(I think this works on the nuvi)

I will be trying this tonight, I hope it works. Here in Atl if your driving in the city things come up very quick and often so the split screen is very helpful. I actually called tech support to put in request to have this as an option.
Fingers crossed!

I use North Up zoomed out to see the "highlighted route" selected by the lady after I pick a destination. If you zoom out far enough, you can see the entire route. Comes in handy. As far as the automatic zoom, I think it changes the zoom depending on how fast you are going. Zooms out for freeway speeds; zooms in for surface street speeds. I think it's great!!

Now that's a cool little trick. How did you uncover that one? I use that Next Turn In screen all the time in the city, but hated that I had (past tense) to keep tapping a button to use it for more than 10 seconds.
Your my contributor of the week!
Thanks again.

I was checking out the next two or three turns...before getting into traffic through Dallas...Sooner than that, there was the traffic, then I noticed the split screen didn't go away, so tried it again and as they say, the rest is history.

I'm just not sure how I didn't put two and two together on the zoom scale being on only two of the three viewing options. 3D is still my favorite, just wish that little scale was there.

That is great! Thank you, thank you.

Actually, another variation is if you simply drag your finger across the screen, you will be put into track mode, north-up. You can then use the +/- keys to zoom back to see your track. I don't think it updates realtime in this mode, and as I said, it's north-up, but what I like about it is you don't have to go into settings to change the default view mode when all you want is a quick track overview.

jamie

I can achieve this in all three modes...north up, track up, or 3D.
When zoomed out to see the entire track, it will update in real time..it just appears slower due to the zoom level.
I would just like the little scale level indicator to show up in 3D mode. Helps to find the right level when I want to see custom bmps.
I'll have to try the finger drag trick.

I noticed this feature on my 680 as well, and thought it was cool how it zoomed out when I got on the freeway and sped up, and zoomed in when I exited and slowed down. However, I have noticed that after it zooms in, and I zoom in further (to see the POI icons or other detail), the map zooms out automatically. I cannot get it to stay after zooming in. This only happens when I am navigating a route. It may be purposefully designed that way as a safety feature, but it is annoying that I can't zoom in on the map. I thought it might be so I e mailed Garmin and the response was
"Thank you for contacting Garmin International. We are aware of the issue and our engineering department will have a fix for it on the next software release. I would check our website http://www8.garmin.com/products/webupdater/howtoinstall.jsp periodically to see if there is an update as I do not have a date of release at this time. "

It is not feasible put a map scale in the 3D mode due to the fact that the scale varies as you go from the top of the screen to the bottom so you are not dealing with a fixed scale. What perhaps could be done is something to indicate how many miles are visible from the vehicle icon to the top of the screen?

The nüvis remember at least 2 zoom levels. One at low speed (<58mph) and one at high speed (>58mph).

There might be more speed thresholds, but I haven't found them. (One reason a manual would be nice).

Whatever zoom level you set in these ranges will be remembered. This works in both navigation and routing modes.

I haven't had my 2820 very long and my 2610 doesn't have the 3D view, but when I seen this post I decided to do a little experiment. I found out that whatever scale I use on the 2D view the 3D view changes also, so I am just about positive when I set the 2D to 800 feet the 3D is also 800 feet. Try it on some of the other models.

I kind of figured that in the 3D mode if it was set at 800 feet it would be like being in an airplane at an altitude of 800 feet and the view you get ahead of you would be what you would see from that altitude. on my 2820 in the 3D mode there is a straight line in the lower left corner and as I zoom out a wedge starts moving across getting higher the farther I zoom out.

Keep in mind that the 3D mode is a simulated 3D. The way this is achieved graphically is by varying the perspective based upon the distance. A 1/4 inch near the bottom of the screen will cover less distance that a 1/4 inch at the top of the screen.

Now what I have done on occasion is taken note of the distance to an upcoming turn when it first appears at the top of the screen. This at least tells me the total distance on the screen from the vehicle to the top of the screen which in kind of a scale, just not a consistent one.

didnt know they would let you turn on a gps on a plane

i will try it next tim i fly

My Garmin came with 3D as the default. I never tried changing it. Since reading this thread I have switched to the Track-Up view and I find it gives me more information.

I don't know if it's unique to the c340 but the 3D setting has a tiny, tiny, bar graph in the same location as the 2D graph. It adds or deletes a vertical bar as you hit +/-. It's just damn hard to see. The 2D version is much more readable.

If I'm understanding what you are saying, what you are saying is also true in a real life view. That's why artists do the thing holding their thumb on a brush and sighting on objects they are going to use in their painting. If you hold your thumb on the one inch mark on a scale and sight on a building 50 feet away you might cover two or three feet of the building sighting over the top of the scale. Do it with a building 100 yards away and you might cover the whole building. I guess the only way a person would ever know for sure would be to talk to the person or persons that wrote the firmware for the GPS.

I have a C340 and was "playing" with it the other day trying to find POIs. (By the way never did find any.) I was watching and changing the zoom level trying to get POIs in 2D and 3D. Noticed that the zoom level changed by itself once in a while. This is about 200 or 300 feet scale. Happened several times. Might have been related to the speed I was driving. Intend on trying it again when I road conditions where I can.

Any one notice the scale changing by itself?

Yep, it will do that. It does seem to be based upon speed but I have noticed that when you are going say 35 and then speed up to 55 or so, it takes a while to before it starts to step out to the larger scale. It probably waits to see if you are going to continue at the higher speed. I think if you set a zoom level when you are cruising down the highway that will be come the default high speed level and it will always return to that level.