stolen gps

Garmin says they will not unlock unless it is the registered owner. You should call Garmin and report stolen with the serial number.
However if you have it password protected and it was turned off, they cannot turn it on unless they take it to where you set your home location. If that is the case, I would call Garmin asap and let them call Garmin for help and hopefully Garmin will ask them to ship it back for a check up.

I know they have a way to access..But they also can make it so the maps can not be unlocked. My Brother just got a Replacement Etrex and they sent him his Waypoints somehow...and he said it didn"t come over the Internet. I hope you did register your Garmin.

Everbody should be aware of this, I spoke with my friend who works for safelite autoglass, this is usually a slow time of year for him but he says he has been fixing ALOT of side windows from gps's being stolen, much more this year than ever. Tonight I had dinner with some old neighbors both happen to be cops, the told me the same thing, even with the mounts off the windshield they look for the circle in the glass! So everybody take some precaution with your valuables.

I use a Vent mount, and take the unit with me whenever I am parked at any location other than my house.
Also, it is a good idea to set your home a few blocks away from where you live. That way if it the car is broken into and they may steal something else besides the GPS that will give your home address, or they can find you and just drive by and turn on the GPS and reset the password.

I used a vent mount but it trashed my dash paint (cheap Ford Sport Trac) so I switched back to my windshield mount. Great idea on setting the Home position a few houses away to prevent the password being reset.

Buy the bean bag friction mount and eliminate some of the problems stated.

gusb

Definitely the beanbag is the way to go!
Put it under the dash or the seat, cover it AND don't forget to leave an unfolded map in plain sight ... (lol) ... especially to hide the sticky pad on the dashboard, if you're using one.

Are thieve's stealing GPSr's and mount, or mounts if no GPSs? For now I am using the windshield suction cup mount. Getting the beanbag in a coulpe of weeks.

Just having purchased a Nuvi 660 I setup a Pin number and Home location. It is also registered with Garmin.

Did anybody actually answer this guy's original question?

Anyway my boss mounted his close to his review mirror and plugs the power right into the overhead light above the mirror. The windows are tinted slightly, he has had no break ins.

I use the voice navigation more than anything so I just keep my in the center console and listen, don't watch the thing.

Weeks??? holy smokes, where did you buy it from?? did you try Amazon?
Anyway, seeing the windshield suction cup mount (or the sticky pad), the thief may assume you're hiding the gpsr in the glove box or under the seat and he might want to check this out... usually he will be disappointed, but so do you! and, at that point, it really doesn't matter if he walks away with the mount or not

Hi ZedRight,

The vent mount is "also" evidence of the presence of a GPSr (just as the suction cup ring, on the windshield).

I hope you're removing the vent mount, when you leave your vehicle. If you leave (the vent mount) in plain sight, even when you've removed the GPSr from the vehicle, potential theives may just break your window, to look for a GPSr, that isn't there.

The good news...your GPSr is safe and sound.
The bad news...your car was broken into, because you left your vent mount in plain sight.

Just my 2¢

Regards,

tailspin

Nüvi 670

I should just go walking around the block with my nuvi if I want to use it. Then I would probably get mugged.
Fact/

I skimmed through the thread, and perhaps I missed it, but no one really answered his question. The answer is no, they can't trace the GPSr to it current location.

Does the c320 even have the "anti-theft" feature?

Also, I dont see why so many ppl are against the standard suction cup mount. I love it! My cup is clean as well as my window and it never comes down on accident. When I take it down (everytime I leave my car) it takes exactly 2 seconds to throw it in the console and it doesn't leave rings behind (the trick to that is to have a very clean window as well as the cup).

In the Philadelphia suburbs there have been several instances of multiple thefts from cars. GPS, iPods, computers, etc. were all stolen in large numbers. The common denominator was that the thieves never broke glass or picked locks; they just opened the door!

It seems a lot of folks keep their cars outside without locking the doors. The thieves just went down the block until they found open doors.

While some thieves will break glass in just the hopes of finding something valuable, I would bet the majority are looking for the easiest (and quietest) way to get your stuff.

Sorry to hear of your loss..I would call Garmin Monday asap and see if they can trace it..You did register it and record the serial number? I'm curious to see if that can actually be done.I was on the phone with them last week about an hour before they closed and it was less than a 5 minute wait..Check with your insurance too..Good luck..

I have heard that GPS units are the number one items stolen from cars now.
I don't know if anyone likes to hack their unit, or create custom skins, but when my unit boots I have it display a picture of me and the text "This unit stolen from " with my first name. I also customized my GPS information screen. This will not help stop a thief, but it will help the unit be identified as yours.

Sorry to hear about your stolen GPS.

Check out new web site (not promoted yet) but will hopefully help people

http://www.stolen-gps.com

This is definatly worth the $40. I now toss my nuvi and bag under the seat when parked overnight. Make sure you unplug the power cord as the LED attacts attention.

http://www.gpslodge.com/archives/015081.php
I'll never stop recommending the beanbag! it's just perfect.

Unfortunately, convience aside, one must get in the habit of taking your GPS with you whether into the house or in your pocket. An item worth around $500. is worth the extra effort. Jake

NO, basic GPS units only receive info from satellites and wass signals. wireless phone GPS, yes! onstar units yes! Thieves are smarter than you think, just buy looking at your mount they can tell what unit you have and about how much its worth on the street! keep-em out of sight, and any thing else worth of value, change,ciggaretts,oakly glasses, shopping bags, you get my drift. its easy to do and better than finding your glass broken, and the inconvenience it will cause you!

I have a c320 but all you can do istell garmin about it and they will not allow the thief to upgrade it other than that thier realey you can do..good luck.

As tiffany said there is no security lock on the C320 or C330
Not sure what your deductable is but walmart.com has the C330 with dashmount for 189.

Now I am going to clean the windshield....

: (

Combining GPS and XM to same antenna is becoming popular too. This way you can operate GPS out of sight (ie. under dash) with no circle on dash or window. The drawback, however, is the XM Radio Thief might just get a 2fer. LOL!

I have not problem also with the suction cup mount.No problem to remove and I keep a paper towel in the car to wipe off the ring before exiting the car.

Our local police department passed out lens cleaning cloths specifically to wipe that ring off. They said that thieves who see the mount will break in hoping you've left the receiver in the glove box or center console. So now I've always got my little lens cleaning cloth to wipe away the ring.

Zecpull, you must be dreaming of a perfect communication system. Garmin has no right and no business to access anyone's unit. Once it is sold, it is yours. It is a receiver of GPS satellite signal, not a spy device for Garmin to access it whenever they decide. This will break so many laws, that Garmin will not exist any more if they do this. The only way to have this tracked is if there is tracking along with the GPS receiver.

If for a moment say they can do this, then why do they need a customer service to tell you all kinds of instructions in case of a problem if they can fix the thing on the spot?

c9411010, unfortunately you have to forget about your unit. Once stolen, there are ways to unlock it and use it. You should have insured the unit and now collect on insurance along with your car damage.

i could not claim insurane because my renter deductible was greater than the cost of the gps. also it costed me 200 dollars to fix the window. i was worried my insurance company will increase my rate at time of renewal so decided to pay out of pocket.. total write off.

anyway looking at the bright side. i can try a newer gps now .. plus i now know how to better protect my gps.. poorer and wiser
c9411010

I read somewhere that you can get the GPS disabled if it is stolen. I think Garmin brand does it, but I am not sure.

You can enter a PIN code that it will ask you for when it starts up. It would render it useless to a thief. Garmin will honor this and will not unlock a unit except to the original registered owner.

There is no way to disable a GPS otherwise.

Yeah, Garmin is the one, but in my opinion, it is useless.

If someone steals it, I personally don't care if they can or can't use it, I still don't have it. It doesn't keep someone from stealing it. it doesn't communicate with anything to try to relocate it. Even if someone called into Garmin, I am sure that (if it is even possible) to go after the person to retreive the GPSr would cost you more then just getting a new one.

Garmin Lock stickers...

Torn over whether these on the windows are a deterrent or an invitation?

Jim

Invitation to steal for sure.

On another forum... it was mentioned that if you have a GPS... that you should use the beanbag and always carry a baseball cap...

Then if you must leave your GPS in the vehicle, put your beanbag with the GPS on the floorboard and put the baseball cap over it.

Sounds like good advise.... But... I unplug from the cig lighter, wrap up the cord on my beanbag, put my beanbag on the floorboard... put a blanket over it... and take the GPS with me. And my doors are always locked. DW is my security chief.... and shes tough on security.

Less invitation to the "honest" thieves. The dishonest ones, well...I'll collect the insurance on what they do.

Its an invite IMO

I keep my Garmin locked. The splash screen has my name and cell phone number. If stolen or lost all it will do is tell them who owns it. They can return it or toss it, but they can't sell it.

Are you serious? You wouldn't get even a small sense of satisfaction that the POS who stole your GPS cannot use/enjoy it and probably not be able to sell it? Remember, that guy might not know the whole story behind Garmin Lock. I actually asked a tech about this and he said that if someone called in about a locked unit, all Garmin would do is to tell them to send it in. If they did, thinking Garmin would unlock it for them, Garmin always contacts the registered user first. At that point, I'd happily pay the shipping of the unit back to me if mine were stolen. So, yes...the Garmin Lock is definitely useful.

Maybe if more companies incorporated a lock feature and people actually USED it, GPS thievery would slack off since the thieves would know there's a strong chance a stolen GPS would be useless.

There is a way that you can unlock nuvi with flip antenna. Turn on the Nuvi with the flap antenna close. As soon as the screen pop up to put in the pass code flip the antenna on it will by pass the pass code. I read it somewhere and it worked on my nuvi. For the nuvi without the antenna I don't know how you can unlock it.

Just tried it and it doesn't work. According to Garmin, there is no way to bypass the PIN as only they can reset it.

Are you trying this at your security location? If so, when you flip open the antenna, you're getting a fast fix and THAT bypasses the PIN screen...only at the security location. Since I'm not at my security location, I see no way to get past the PIN screen without entering the number.

And this is why we should make our security locations something other than our homes or places of work. Something not easily guessed if someone knew or observed our daily routines. I use a nearby park that I never go to.

Although, Garmin Lock wouldn't stop a determined thief with a lot of free time since the PIN is only four digits. So, 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 yields only 10,000 possible PINs. A REALLY determined person starting at 0000 and going up sequentially to 9999 could probably crack it in less than a week, especially if the PIN is in the lower numbers. I guess I should move mine up as it would take less than 1,000 tries to get mine. It would be nice that if after, say 100 tries to get it right, the unit would completely lock up and make it useless to the thief. Who knows, maybe Garmin already does this, but I ain't gonna waste my time tryin'...

Hope somebody from fixya.com doesn't read this because there's a LOT of retards there that suddenly "forgot" their PINs and security locations. Suuuuure they did. Ok, there might be some suckers that bought a locked unit off e-bay or something, but, as always, buyer beware! I recommend to all those people to send it to Garmin. If they're the rightful owner, they'll get it unlocked. If not, Garmin will contact the actual owner, provided they registered the unit in the first place. Wonder if Garmin would charge their $200+ flat repair rate to reset a PIN...

I am 100% sure it worked. My security location is at work. I got my first nuvi 360 unit in August 2007 and tested and it worked every time. After reading your post and I search the internet again here is the instruction but the only difference is that it said firmware 3.60 which I had at the time. I will try it again to see if it worked with newer firmware version since the last time I tested is in August. If it doesn't work any more with the new firmware then Garmin found the way to disabled but these units was on the market for awhile since I tested in August 2007.

http://salvador.m.googlepages.com/garmin360-hack

OK here it goes, I tried it on my Nuvi 360 with firmware 3.60, but it may work on other nuvi models (310, 350, 370)

1.- Activate Garmin Lock in your unit if its not enabled allready.

2.- Turn ON the unit with the antenna closed.

3.- Wait until it asks for the PIN.

4.- Flip OPEN the antenna.

5.- The unit shows WARNING and doesn't ask for the PIN anymore.

The home location isn't what bypasses the PIN, it's whatever the set security location is...and it shouldn't be something that predictable...

That's what I did, too. I also included "reward if returned in working order". I figure $50 or so is worth it to get something back I paid $700 for. Hopefully, the thief will realize the thing would be useless, probably couldn't sell it and go for the easy reward.

I also put a non-identifying email address on the splash screen so they can contact me and I can arrange to meet them in a busy place, i.e. NOT my home or place of work.

I'm not doubting you and this is a serious security issue if it's that easily bypassed. I'm running the latest 4.2 firmware and I cannot get past the PIN screen since I'm not at my security location. Since you've brought this up, I've tried it at least five times. But, my unit is a 660 so there are probably some differences.

The beanbag resolved a lot of issues for me, and it works a charm. I highly recommend the thing.

Me gusto "El Baggo de Beano" tambien...

You're right of course. Garmin Lock will do nothing to prevent it's theft. But at least I will have the satisfaction of knowing that the thief will not be using it at my expense.

And you might just get it back if they send it to Garmin to be unlocked. I wonder how they unlock them.

There's an update that corrects this problem with the Garmin Lock. Just updated my nuvi 370 software to 4.30. Make sure you backup your favorites before updating, otherwise you lose your favorites.

It won't work any more after doing the update and I just tested my again no longer work. Wonder why it took so long for Garmin to found out the loop hole.

My bf put a little blinking red light on his c340. The light doesn't do anything but blink, but he thinks it keeps people from stealing his c340.

Jen