Garmin RV 760LMT

[booster]

Originally Posted by Mike

Crap. Now I've got homework......

and there will be a test!!!!

[booster]

I did a closer look into the detour function to see if it would do as you wanted. IIRC you would like to be able to hit "pause" or another button to kind of freeze the unit in place while you go off for a gas, potty, or whatever off route adventure. The way they had it stated, I thought it might just be quiet and let you take a detour, but when you hit the detour button it arbitrarily calculates a new route, just not on the route you were on. Pretty useless, as it will do that as soon as you turn off anyway. Only difference is you can tell it how much of the road to avoid.

Like you, we do a lot of those little side excursions (that is part of the reason we miss waypoints), and on streets and trips I just hit the mute key on laptop. It can calculate all it wants and we don't care if it doesn't harp at us. On the 2797, as you are navigating, it takes only a 3 button pushes (easy ones at that, you can do while driving I think) to mute it. "menu" then "volume" then "mute". Same to go back to sound.

There might even be an easier way, that might work better. I can't simulate it in the house, so I will have to test it on a route. On ours, you can put it to sleep by pushing the on/off button. When you push it again, it appears to come right back where it was, but has to reaquire the satellites (ours if very very fast at that). It looks like it might just come right back to navigating where it left off, as it does with an active but not moving route at home, but that is what I have to test. If it does work that way, it is what we will do, as it is very very easy.

When messing with the 2797 while sitting on the couch at home, I was amazed how well and fast it grabbed the satellites. We live in a stucco house (metal lath, Heat mirror metallized low-e windows, aluminum miniblinds closed), so even cell phones work poorly here. I went out and got the gps receiver we use with the laptop to try that, and it got some satellites, but less of them and at much less strength, but did lock. I then tried the Samsung Galaxy Tablet that we use for a mobile hotspot. It has built in real gps, not off the cell towers. It would not get any gps lock at all. That made me glad we didn't get a gps app for it instead of buying the dedicated one. It would be interesting to see how other tablets and phones do in a situation like this, as they probably don't put as much emphasis on gps reception compared to phone and data.

[Davydd]

Maybe you have the wrong equipment. My iPhone and iPad have not failed me yet locking onto satellite GPS.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Maybe you have the wrong equipment. My iPhone and iPad have not failed me yet locking onto satellite GPS.

Were you sitting on booster's couch when you last used your iToy's GPS functions to get a satellite lock? Maybe you'd have similarly poor results?

[booster]

Originally Posted by Mike

Were you sitting on booster's couch when you last used your iToy's GPS functions to get a satellite lock? Maybe you'd have similarly poor results?

I can assure you he wasn't here--I think he was in his kitchen drinking the Apple cool-aid.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by booster

I did a closer look into the detour function to see if it would do as you wanted. IIRC you would like to be able to hit "pause" or another button to kind of freeze the unit in place while you go off for a gas, potty, or whatever off route adventure. The way they had it stated, I thought it might just be quiet and let you take a detour, but when you hit the detour button it arbitrarily calculates a new route, just not on the route you were on. Pretty useless, as it will do that as soon as you turn off anyway. Only difference is you can tell it how much of the road to avoid.

I thought that's how it worked after reading up on it a bit. Useless, mostly.

Originally Posted by booster

Like you, we do a lot of those little side excursions (that is part of the reason we miss waypoints), and on streets and trips I just hit the mute key on laptop. It can calculate all it wants and we don't care if it doesn't harp at us. On the 2797, as you are navigating, it takes only a 3 button pushes (easy ones at that, you can do while driving I think) to mute it. "menu" then "volume" then "mute". Same to go back to sound.

If your 2797 has voice commands ability (you can tell it what to do?) you can use the spoken voice commands "mute", "volume down", "volume up", and I believe "mute off", instead of pushing buttons. In fact most of the voice recognition units have some capability to respond to voice commands, even if you're not on that particular screen. At least for some universal functions like volume/mute.

Originally Posted by booster

There might even be an easier way, that might work better. I can't simulate it in the house, so I will have to test it on a route. On ours, you can put it to sleep by pushing the on/off button. When you push it again, it appears to come right back where it was, but has to reaquire the satellites (ours if very very fast at that). It looks like it might just come right back to navigating where it left off, as it does with an active but not moving route at home, but that is what I have to test. If it does work that way, it is what we will do, as it is very very easy.

My 855 will do that. Simply turn it off while detouring, but if we pass a waypoint or via point while it's off, it usually tries to get us to turn around to go to the missed stop, until I kill the running program, and restart it minus the missed stop. A "pause/resume" and/or a "skip current destination" would be a nicer option.

Originally Posted by booster

When messing with the 2797 while sitting on the couch at home, I was amazed how well and fast it grabbed the satellites. We live in a stucco house (metal lath, Heat mirror metallized low-e windows, aluminum miniblinds closed), so even cell phones work poorly here. I went out and got the gps receiver we use with the laptop to try that, and it got some satellites, but less of them and at much less strength, but did lock. I then tried the Samsung Galaxy Tablet that we use for a mobile hotspot. It has built in real gps, not off the cell towers. It would not get any gps lock at all. That made me glad we didn't get a gps app for it instead of buying the dedicated one. It would be interesting to see how other tablets and phones do in a situation like this, as they probably don't put as much emphasis on gps reception compared to phone and data.

To see how your satellite reception is, press and hold the satellite bar graph for a few (10?) seconds and then release it. You should get a screen that will show you where the nearest satellites are and how close your accuracy will be using them.
Also, when you do what I call a power off/on reset, where you press the power off button and hold it for 30 seconds before releasing it, 2 things. If you do it and just let it boot up normally, it will get rid of looping searches and other problems, including the route you're on. If after releasing the power off button, you lightly press anywhere on the screen and hold it, the nuvi will come up in PRE-BOOT mode which runs extra diagnostics and allows you to calibrate your touch screen sensitivity.
If you select View Map, and then touch the lower right hand compass indicator, it takes you to your trip statistics display. Press and hold (10sec?) the speedometer, and it should pop you into a screen with all sorts of functions that you can look at, but be careful, they are probably for system programmers.
And last but not least, if you press and hold the battery power graph for a few seconds and then release it, you'll actually get a software/hardware status screen which will have all kinds of other info for you to be amazed by. I think it's for system programming people to mess with.

[booster]

"My 855 will do that. Simply turn it off while detouring, but if we pass a waypoint or via point while it's off, it usually tries to get us to turn around to go to the missed stop, until I kill the running program, and restart it minus the missed stop. A "pause/resume" and/or a "skip current destination" would be a nicer option. "

That is part of what I need to test. With ours capable of ignoring via points, I am hoping it will do that through a sleep shutdown also. If it does, missing a point won't matter. Any point that it does try to send us back to will be intentional because we programmed it as a waypoint or stop because we want to go there.

The "skip next or missed waypoint" button would be so nice, I don't know why the don't do that. Makes no sense.

[Davydd]

Well, if you are going to sit on your couch at home to use your GPS and complain about it instead of getting out on the road and using it then you deserved my response. Hey, I don't appreciate the slams about iToys and Apple Cool-aid. My iPhone works fine sitting on my couch at home and I bet it would work fine on Booster's couch because it doesn't need a cellular or satellite connection to plan a route. I'm just finding all your comments on using a GPS rather humorous, or maybe I should say couch potato pretend like with no doing.

[markopolo]

One of the things I like about my Rand McNally RVND 7720 is how quickly it finds the satellite. Indoors on my couch too My old, entry level Nuvi wouldn't pick up the signal when in my house.

I can build a "multi-stop" trip on it but can't easily skip a stop. I have to go to the trip and delete the stop and then restart the trip which is a nuisance.
However, if I choose a destination and then add multiple stops as via points then it allows me to "skip" a stop just by tapping skip on the screen.

Is it like that on the Garmins? Two different ways to build a trip?

[booster]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Well, if you are going to sit on your couch at home to use your GPS and complain about it instead of getting out on the road and using it then you deserved my response. Hey, I don't appreciate the slams about iToys and Apple Cool-aid. My iPhone works fine sitting on my couch at home and I bet it would work fine on Booster's couch because it doesn't need a cellular or satellite connection to plan a route. I'm just finding all your comments on using a GPS rather humorous, or maybe I should say couch potato pretend like with no doing.

So let me get this straight. You can bash all electronics not Apple, which you do regularly, and did here, even though I had said that I only wondered about if other brands of tablets would do better, as the SAMSUNG did not. You bash everything not Mercedes. You bash everything not Sprinter. You used to bash everything not Pleasure-way, but now it is everything not Great West. You bashed our fan install, and many, many things others have done. Etc, etc, etc. Apparently everything you do and have is better than everyone else's.

If you had been watching, we have tested a lot of gps stuff, this included, on the road a lot, but you didn't notice that I said I noticed the quick connection on the couch while learning something else? Did you notice that I said the GPS worked well, the tablet didn't?

You don't appreciate slams about itoys and cool-aid, then I think you have way too much ego tied up in your Apple love, and not much sense of humor. Some of us actually look at, and test the various options, rather than blindly following a dream, and yes, sometimes it is on the couch!

Oh well, I guess some of us just aren't smart enough to know how to use stuff, by assimilation or guidance from the Apple gods, to its potential, without studying a little.

Rant done--Marko will probably, and rightfully, put this where it belongs--elsewhere!

[booster]

Originally Posted by markopolo

One of the things I like about my Rand McNally RVND 7720 is how quickly it finds the satellite. Indoors on my couch too My old, entry level Nuvi wouldn't pick up the signal when in my house.

I can build a "multi-stop" trip on it but can't easily skip a stop. I have to go to the trip and delete the stop and then restart the trip which is a nuisance.
However, if I choose a destination and then add multiple stops as via points then it allows me to "skip" a stop just by tapping skip on the screen.

Is it like that on the Garmins? Two different ways to build a trip?

Does the Rand McNally let you hit "skip" once you have missed a stop, or via point? If it does, I missed that when I was looking at units.

On the 2979, you can build a route on the unit, but it seems to always put in the points as waypoints which it would not let you pass. You do seem to be able to go in and change them to vias, which it will ignore if you miss them. One big reason for choosing Garmin or TomTom is the ability to program on the PC or laptop, where you have a lot more flexibility and options available. When done on the PC in Basecamp, if you layout waypoints on your route, that is how they transfer to the unit, and it will make you stop there or stop and restart the route. If you just put in a start and end, but then drag the route to what you want, the points automatically transfer as vias to the gps, and can be skipped.

[markopolo]

Probably best to ignore what I previously posted........ I just read a few pages in the manual and it looks like it is the opposite of what I thought.

According to the manual, adding via points automatically turns the current route into a multi-stop trip.

The options are:
• Next Stop - To calculate a route to the next stop in the route.
• Skip Next Stop - To skip the next stop and calculate a route to the stop after the next one.



I must have brought up another menu (somehow ) that gave me a "Skip to next stop" option.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by booster

"My 855 will do that. Simply turn it off while detouring, but if we pass a waypoint or via point while it's off, it usually tries to get us to turn around to go to the missed stop, until I kill the running program, and restart it minus the missed stop. A "pause/resume" and/or a "skip current destination" would be a nicer option. "

That is part of what I need to test. With ours capable of ignoring via points, I am hoping it will do that through a sleep shutdown also. If it does, missing a point won't matter. Any point that it does try to send us back to will be intentional because we programmed it as a waypoint or stop because we want to go there.

The "skip next or missed waypoint" button would be so nice, I don't know why the don't do that. Makes no sense.

I tried missing a via point that i added to a route we were on this afternoon, and the nuvi 855 also doesn't seem bothered that we missed it. I was sure it had complained about missing them in the past. I'll continue to monitor that one. I didn't try missing one while it was powered down into standby/charging battery mode. I can try that easily enough tomorrow, if I remember.
Agree about intentional versus unintentional misses, and that programmed stuff should have a requirement to clear it, by arriving at the waypoint coordinates, or re-writing the route program.
For us, we just add via points to our route between where we are and the destination. I guess we've probably never needed to clear a via point, because our nuvi wouldn't keep bugging us about one, if it was missed. Good to know.
I'm thinking Basecamp isn't for us. I tried it, and while it's got a lot of interesting features, some defaults, and some user defined, it just isn't the way we plan our trips. It reminded me of doing for the nuvi, what the nuvi is supposed to be doing for us, namely finding the best route from A to B. If we decide to look for stuff in between, that's just us doing our Chris Columbus (or markopolo???) routine. I also use an extensive library of "Custom POI" files we've selected that contain all sorts of things that we may like to see if it happens to be somewhere on our primary route. They're located in the "Extras" folder, in the "Where To" part of the nuvi. If a POI file audible alert sounds while we're driving, and it is something we think is worth detouring or stopping for, then we stop or detour, accordingly.
That's how we do it.
Did you try any of the tips and tricks I posted up previously? Some of it is interesting stuff. I'm sure if you google it enough, you can find more "secret tools and tricks" for Gamin nuvi units. Some of it I found online, some I got from Garmin Technical Support. They do respond to emails, if you ask a question through their website's support section. Eventually. Set up a user account first - makes entering a question easier.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by markopolo

One of the things I like about my Rand McNally RVND 7720 is how quickly it finds the satellite. Indoors on my couch too My old, entry level Nuvi wouldn't pick up the signal when in my house.

I can build a "multi-stop" trip on it but can't easily skip a stop. I have to go to the trip and delete the stop and then restart the trip which is a nuisance.
However, if I choose a destination and then add multiple stops as via points then it allows me to "skip" a stop just by tapping skip on the screen.

Is it like that on the Garmins? Two different ways to build a trip?

Basecamp allows a laptop to be used to build a trip, then transfer it to the GPS unit.
Or, you can build the trip manually on the nuvi itself, but it is probably best to keep them very simple. It functions best that way, by doing point A to B, with a smattering of via points added if desired.
Alas, no "skip" feature button on the Garmins. Some think it should be added to the next release of software for these Garmin nuvi things (along with powerful iPhone/iPad satellite jamming software ).

[Mike]

Originally Posted by markopolo

Probably best to ignore what I previously posted........ I just read a few pages in the manual and it looks like it is the opposite of what I thought.

According to the manual, adding via points automatically turns the current route into a multi-stop trip.

The options are:
• Next Stop - To calculate a route to the next stop in the route.
• Skip Next Stop - To skip the next stop and calculate a route to the stop after the next one.



I must have brought up another menu (somehow ) that gave me a "Skip to next stop" option.

That all looks much more pliable than Garmin's tools and buttons. I like the skip functions for "skip next stop" or"skip to next stop". very nice. That would make Basecamp more user friendly, IMO. I might have to revisit it, if they were to add that functionality.