stolen gps

You can combine both: Lock you GPS (it will at least give you some comfort at the thought that the thief won't be able to use it or sell it) but put your contact information (email as a minimum) on the splash screen.

There is another reason to put the security location around 500+ft away from your house: It will probably have acquired the satellites by the time you pass the security location and will unlock itself without you having to enter the code.

Recently my 3590lmt was also stolen. I reported it to Garmin as such and they made note on my account in case someone is connecting it to update etc. However, I also did some more research in a way to track the unit once it is turned on and came across this link by Garmin http://www8.garmin.com/law-enforcement/
Law enforcement can request to have this unit tracked but it takes a cover letter from your police dept. etc. I suggested this to the reporting deputy and hope someone is not too busy to follow-up. This whole GPS theft most likely leads to other property crimes and in most cases they are related to some sort of substance abuse. Keep up with your law enforcement and keep pushing for them to go the extra step and request the tracking of you stolen unit.

From the link provided, it states:

Please note:
•There is no way to track a device that has been stolen.

I never did understand how anyone could think Garmin would be able to track the stolen GPS unit. Do the new units now transmit a GPS location? I thought they were receivers only, except for the ability to use as a Bluetooth connection to your cellular device.

And WHY would Garmin want to be in the "finder" business, no money and lots of inter-agency work with police departments that have LOTS more important things to do.

I think it is a case of substance abuse. Maybe by person thinking this, maybe by their parents.

It seems like this topic of tracking a stolen GPS comes up every few months in this and other forums. I think it is because folks have heard about how stolen cell phones have been located and just assume the same would work for a GPS. Not everyone understands the underlying technologies that make GPS devices work.

Maybe we need a FAQ that answers this question and gives a simple explanation of why you can't track a stolen GPS.

When the stolen GPS is logged on for an update, Garmin must know who has it.

dobs108

Perhaps reported stolen GPS units could just be quietly disabled, or bricked if it gets plugged in to try to update it.

if we could do to the GPS, like I can do with my phone, if it gets stolen, it will take a pic of the person holding it, send location, and wipe data..

Garmin is happy to assist law enforcement officers with investigations regarding stolen, lost or recovered units. See http://goo.gl/jWJUbt

...only receives signals. It does not transmit them. Therefore, no way to track it's location.

I will now carefully clean my window to remove the circle. Thanks for the warning.

All Garmin does at the present is check to see if the unit can do updates. Registration is not required as can be attested to by a great many that have given units with purchased lifetime updates to others that continue to receive map updates. The only check is if the unit was re-registered.

It would be entirely possible for Garmin to refuse to issue updates to a unit that was reported as stolen unless they were contacted by the person reporting the theft of the unit's recovery.

8 year old post?

Outdated post and 16 years old, ancient history for Garmin!

And yep.