Garmin Lock

I wasn't aware that it is easily done. Do you mind sharing? I've thought my 650 was sort of safe.

I also would like to know if this is possible, I always thought that this feature was one of the ways Garmin protected their units from being stolen. Unable to use it without the password or the homebase to open if user forgot the password..

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=76776

I have the C550. I use the lock feature but refuse to put the Garmin Lock sticker on my window (advertising to thief). I think the lock feature is almost useless anyway. It's not going to keep the unit from being stolen. If it gets stolen, I would be very surprised if you ever get it back. The only way (if someone was stupid) would be to contact Garmin, give the seriel number (hope you registered your unit) and Garmin sees that it belongs to someone else. Whether Garmin deals with this through the police is another story. Note: I was a victum of GPS theft. Broke window and grabbed the GPS. It was my father's GPS and he had me checking it out since he thought it was broken. Well it was broken. I contacted Teletype (teletype.com) and gave them the seriel number incase someone trys to get it repaired. Nothing heard so far and it's been 5 months.

I've replaced my cute splash screen with a jpg file I created in MS Paint. The screen says "Reward if Returned" and gives my phone and email contact info. If they can't unlock it, they can't remove my reward offer and contact info. My secure location is also a place I never go to and is remote and not easy to get to. I never leave it in the car either.

I personally don't care if the gpsr works or not after it is stolen, I still don't have my GPSr

I doubt anyone will be dumb enough to risk getting arrested by trying to claim the reward...unless you also state "no questions asked".

If the unit was lost-and-found, this would help ... people do lose thing. We found a cell phone at a large outdoor gathering. Just waited for the owner to call his number and got it back to him. I would like to believe there are enough good people in the world that this would work ... they would return it.

RT

I too would like to believe there are enough good samaritans. However, that scenario is more likely with cell phones as we carry them and have more opportunities to lose/misplace them. GPSr, on the other hand, are mostly stationary on a vehicle, bike, boat, etc. and the chance of losing it is slim. The only possibility I can come up was in a rental car, but they would know who last rented that car (AVIS actually called me for something I left it in the back seat).

The Nuvi's are handled devices and I put mine in my 680 in my pocket instead of leaving it in the car. When I get into say a restaurant, I pull it out and set it on the table. I've walked off and forgot to pick it up before. So you can't assume all GPS are mostly stationary today.

I put the splash screen on my unit too. Bottom line is that people who will do the right anyway will do and people who won't do the right thing Won't. I realize today the odds are slim if I loose it but at least I have a chance. If stolen, well then kiss it goodbye.

I did put another picture file with the Garmin Logo that says "to unlock unit, call Garmin at... and give this unit code to get unlock password" Not that that will help me much but it may get them caught or an Ebay buyer realizing it stolen. Hope I never get to test this!

You're right, thanks. I do take my 660 with me when I go into a restaurant, but I always put my keys on top of it so I don't forget (Over the years, I've made a habit of checking my wallet and keys before I leave any premise...part of rituals I've developed as a result of constant traveling)

The first time I tried the work around it was succesful. I did it from my house and safe area is the yard. So I re-enabled the password and tried to unlock it from other locations, it was unsuccessful. I am going to try again when I get home. Going to turn it off when I get home, take it to another location without a signal and attempt it again.

It seems to me that the way to work around this is to NOT set your security location at your house (which I wouldn't do anyway) and also not set it at a location to which you frequently visit so that it won't ever (or will rarely) be at a place where it remembers your last location.

I would set my security location at the gas station 4 blocks away from my house. That way it's somewhere I easily remember and somewhere that is easy to get to should I need to bypass the PIN.

Will setting a Garmin Lock password prevent the "finder" of the lost GPSr from doing a master reset? If it doesn't, the "finder" could perform a master reset and erase "all user data" including the Garmin Lock password.

A reset does not clear the Garmin Lock pin.

I set mine at the corner parking spot in my church parking lot. Close to home. Easily remembered. Far enough from the road that driving along the road won't unlock it. And, it's not likely to be visited by someone who steals my GPSr!!!

Andy

Hahaha, it's the last place any thief would visit. I can see "dear father, I have sin. I stole someone's GPSr and it was locked. Please forgive me" and found that the unit has been unlocked right after that.

I do not have my locking feature enabled. I find it annoying to have to type in the code every time I want to use the unit. Plus, it does not keep the unit from being stolen. Worthless feature in my opinion.