Novice Nuvi 360 question...

I've read the usb charge for a completely drained unit appears to be common among the Nuvi line - all models. If you use your unit on battery power until it gives you the first audible "low power" alert and get it charging one way or another, you should be ok - and not develop "battery memory" issues.

Thank you for clearing that up.

The manual was a little confusing so I appreciate all this information. (In fact, I didn't even realize that on the 360 that the power port was also the headphone port -- as it wasn't shown in the printed manual but was shown on online manual.)

It is so wonderful to have knowledgeable people help you out when the booklets aren't able to.

Your car charger plugs into the USB port on the mount for the unit, or, you can plug it into the USB port on the unit itself. Same for the AC adapter. Don't plug anything providing power into the headphone port.

I used the Blue tooth feature on my nuvi 360 with my wifes
verizon moto razor and it worked great. I only did it to try it and have not used it day in and day out as my work phone does not have bluetooth (i'm working on that!)

You're absolutely right, of course.

When I charged the phone with the AC wall adapter, I had to insert it into the USB slot. There's no other option, so there was no problem.

The confusion actually came was trying to find out if you could use a headset with the 360 and turned to the printed instruction booklet for guidance.

There, they inadvertantly labeled the headphone slot, "the Power Connector," which it isn't. (I believe it's printed correctly on the online documentation.)

A Samsong SGH-D407 works great using Cingular. the Garmin web site says it is not supported but it is. It connects up easily. I also use a FM transmitter (MP3) plugged into the headphone. Then you can use the car radio for all speaker functions For GPS and Phone.

You can charge the 360 with the GPS hooked to the USB Port, the wall charger or the cig adapter in the car. When you turn of the GPS it will go to charging mode and display that message on the screen.

The FM transmitter could solve a host of problems for me.

I was having difficulty with placing my Nuvi 360 because I found that the nighttime glare from the windshield was a very big distraction. I tried to solve this by putting the Nuvi in this little tray that holds the power outlet and non-built in satellite radio receive ... BUT ... the sound gets so muffled in the compartment that you can barely hear the turns.

I called Radio Shack and they said that they do sell the FM transmitters ... but that you have to plug something into the car lighter. And, of course, that's where my Nuvi is plugged into.

What is your set up like? What plugs into what?

Lastly, does your FM transmitter work directly with the car radio or do you only use it with the bluetooth cell phone?

Thanks.

On the 360, if you have selected shortest route under Systen/navagation, It will occasionally inform you there is a better route. This usually is the fastest route using expressways. You are given the option to take it or not.

Get a splitter for your cig lighter plug in. Then you can plug both. The FM transmitter plugs into the Cig or works on a Battery. It then plugs into the headphone jack on the GPS. The transmitter transmits to 88.1,88.3,88.5, or 88.7 then you have 107.1,107.3,107.5, and 107.7. You find one of these that hs no station on it and set your radio to that station then set the transmitter to transmit on the selected frequency. All the GPS sound comes through the car radio.

The FM transmitter has nothing to do with Bluetooth.

The Bluetooth phone transmits to the GPS which goes to the FM transmitter and then to the car radio. Sooooo the bluetooth phone ends up transmitting through the car radio for sound. HOW ABOUT THAT

I use a suction cup mount and put it just below the rear view mirror. Works great. You will always have glare problems at certain times but not much. Just rotate it a bit on the mount.

... and greatly appreciated.

I found that now with the latest firmware upgrade the volume of the speaker was increased significantly and now I do not see a need to plug the output to car speakers.

...available on the Nuvi 350 too, do you know? It has a headphone port and MP3 option.

GC

The 350 does not have an on-board FM transmitter, but you can plug one into the headphone port - look for them among the iPod accessories at your favorite electronics-toy store. They work pretty good - load up an SD card with MP3s and you have good music, interrupted by the turn by turn voice prompts of your unit's selected voice.

I found the suction cup did not work as well after you clean the windshield. I caught my nuvi mid-air several times.

I purchased a mount from proclipusa.com

I have a VW Passat, the mount used a blank option button in the dash board. Easy directions and pictures. You can view the directions on how to install before you buy. The mount inserted without glue or drilling! It works great!

-Mike
Nuvi 360
Samsung A900 Sprint

I just bought a FM transmitter for the GPS, and it works quite well. Far better sound quality for both the music and the directional info. But, I discovered the splitter I bought for the cigarette lighter port, purchased at Auto Zone, is a piece of junk. Anyone know who makes a better quality one?

GC

I have only seen this once on my 360 on a trip from Houston to Jacksonville. The trip was originally 12 1/2hrs and somewhere after Beaumont a small symbol popped up on the unit and told me it found a better route, i then got a choice if i wanted to accept it or not. I chose to accept it and it knocked 30mins off the arrival time

My nuvi 660 has the FM transmitter built in and it works pretty well... unless your in a area that has a lot of FM stations then it can be hard to find an unused freq that doesn't have interference, but if your in an area with few FM stations it's ok.
I also have one of the belkin FM transmitters (runs on 2 aaa batteries) with 4 preset freq's.... don't waste your money, you can have mine for free, since I find it pretty much worthless!

A better method (sound quality wise) is if you have a cassete deck in your car stereo, then go get one of those adapters that goes from your GPS headphone output to the cassete player, ($15-25 at Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack) I did this and the sound quality is superior to the FM transmitter when playing mp3's or using the bluetooth phone from my nuvi and of course it still interrupts for driving directions.

Just my opinion,
Greg

GC, where did you get your FM Transmiter and how much?

Thanks

1) The 350 unit also has a "Find Better Route" feature. Although the feature appears "hidden" it will prompt you with a yellow construction sign in the lower right corner of the screen when a "better route" is available. I found this true in Richmond, VA while driving south on I-95, the 350 had me routed to take the I-295 loop around the city, however when I appropriated the I-95/I-295 interchange, the 350 prompted for a better route, i.e. continue south on I-95 through the city center.

2) The 350 also comes with a AC wall charger. I have successfully charged a fully drained 350 unit will charge with AC, DC and USB cable.

3) You may found the compatible Bluetooth phones for the 360 at http://www.garmin.com/bluetooth/phones.jsp.

If you have a Bluetooth enabled cell phone, the nuvi 360 is definitely a keeper. However, if you do not have a Bluetooth phone and don't plan on paying one anytime soon, the nuvi 350 is a more cost efficient buy.

Check out the Belkin's TuneCast® II FM Transmitter at http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_I... which is not pre-tuned, i.e. you can select the frequency to transmit on, battery operated, and it works quite well.

Thanks very much, 360 is to stay

I have Honda Pilot and glass is to far away to install the glass surface suction cup mount that came with Nuvi 360 http://shop.garmin.com/accessory.jsp?sku=010%2D10815%2D00
They have these Automotive mount http://shop.garmin.com/accessory.jsp?sku=010%2D10815%2D01
my question is can I used the same glass surface suction cup mount and mount it on the dashboard?
Thanks

Wow, I've never had that happen to me before, I didn't know that was even a feature.

How/where is this found...can't hear mine!

My Sanyo 8400 works fine with my wife's Nuvi 360.

Can this be done, and still opperate the Garmin mapping? I could find nothing on this. I was hoping that the 360 could be used, even with the cig. lighter cable. AND be able to map.

To eliminate night-glare on the interior windshield, try turning down the brightness control. Jake

Nuvis operate while while plugged in, and charge at the same time. In the upper right of the main screen, you'll see the battery with a lightning bolt displayed over it when charging or plugged to external power.

$5-6 dollars on EBAY: http://cgi.ebay.com/CAR-CASSETTE-TAPE-DECK-ADAPTER-FITS-ALL-...
Z73835QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks Keith!

Milt

Has anyone tried to use the lg cu-500 with this nuvi, does the address book transfer ok?