Garmin Nuvi Range
Discussion
Can anyone make sense of the Garmin Nuvi range for me?
I cannot see an exact difference between the 300, 310, 350 and 360. Then there is the T, the Deluxe. What is going on? The Garmin site is also not very clear.
I need Europe Maps and the Speed Camera Database and not much beyond that. So which one do I go for?
I cannot see an exact difference between the 300, 310, 350 and 360. Then there is the T, the Deluxe. What is going on? The Garmin site is also not very clear.
I need Europe Maps and the Speed Camera Database and not much beyond that. So which one do I go for?
Can't help with the 300 range, but I have just bought a 660 as I had the same requirements as you and it's excellent.
I was stuck between the 660 and the TT910 (which I'd used a few times) and I have to say the 660 is a far better design. A bigger screen yet more compact (fits in your pocket) and the mount is more robust.
www.handtec.co.uk have a good run down on all makes/models which may help.
I was stuck between the 660 and the TT910 (which I'd used a few times) and I have to say the 660 is a far better design. A bigger screen yet more compact (fits in your pocket) and the mount is more robust.
www.handtec.co.uk have a good run down on all makes/models which may help.
Think I have got this right. The 300 and 350 have no Text to Speech (TTS) facility. The 300 and 310 are UK map only. The T that you see on some models means they come with the Traffic Module which, in theory, receives FM transmissions about traffic problems and should allow you to route around them. Don't know how well it works though. Not sure about the Deluxe version, but think that is Halfords marketing for the 310T. None of them come with a speed camera database, though Garmin are now able to supply one I believe from their website. Personally I use one available from www.pocketgpsworld.com
HTH
HTH
lambochick said:
None of them come with a speed camera database, though Garmin are now able to supply one I believe from their website. Personally I use one available from www.pocketgpsworld.com
I was under the impression most of them came with the Cycolps speed camera data pre-loaded with a free trial period. My recently purchased 660 (excellent bit of kit by the way) has it, although as correctly pointed out the pcoketgpsworld camera data is cheaper and probably better.
pstruck said:
lambochick said:
None of them come with a speed camera database, though Garmin are now able to supply one I believe from their website. Personally I use one available from www.pocketgpsworld.com
I was under the impression most of them came with the Cycolps speed camera data pre-loaded with a free trial period. My recently purchased 660 (excellent bit of kit by the way) has it, although as correctly pointed out the pcoketgpsworld camera data is cheaper and probably better.
Yes, you get the first 90 days Cyclops downloads free.
lambochick said:
Think I have got this right. The 300 and 350 have no Text to Speech (TTS) facility. The 300 and 310 are UK map only. The T that you see on some models means they come with the Traffic Module which, in theory, receives FM transmissions about traffic problems and should allow you to route around them. Don't know how well it works though. Not sure about the Deluxe version, but think that is Halfords marketing for the 310T. None of them come with a speed camera database, though Garmin are now able to supply one I believe from their website. Personally I use one available from www.pocketgpsworld.com
HTH
HTH
Lambochick, et all, just a point on the traffic reception - the unit does't get its traffic data via FM but via the TrafficMaster receiver (and those small black boxes on bridges, etc.). The Nuvi's FM feature, allowing you to tune the unit to your radio, is removed on European models.
Re your using pocketgpsworld's camera database instead of the Nuvi's - how does this work please?
AMG Merc said:
Re your using pocketgpsworld's camera database instead of the Nuvi's - how does this work please?
Visit the website, join up for membership, then follow instructions on screen for your particular model.... I've not done it yet, but it looks straightforward and only costs £19 for the year.
pstruck said:
AMG Merc said:
Re your using pocketgpsworld's camera database instead of the Nuvi's - how does this work please?
Visit the website, join up for membership, then follow instructions on screen for your particular model.... I've not done it yet, but it looks straightforward and only costs £19 for the year.
I looked and there was no Garmin listed?!
£19 per year is half of Garmins - is the database better then?
www.pocketgpsworld.com/subscription.php
Scroll down to the bottom for the full list of supported products.
I'll wait for someone who has used it to comment on the quality of the data and regularity of updates.
Scroll down to the bottom for the full list of supported products.
I'll wait for someone who has used it to comment on the quality of the data and regularity of updates.
See www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/us/ontheroad/nuviseries for an explanation of the various differences.
'T' means it will come with a TMC receiver in the box.
TMC in the UK is sent via Classic FM's VHF frequencies - you don't need to tune the TMC receiver to any specific station. The TMC info. comes from Trafficmaster and is very clever in the way it works.
TMC can take a while to become active - the grey icon changes to blue when it does so. You have to plug the combined TMC receiver/power lead into your fag plug to use the TMC receiver.
Last night I was driving from Didcot station to Witney and received a TMC alert to all the A34 congestion near Abingdon (you get a little red warning triangle and 'bong' tone) - so my 660 re-routed me through Steventon and onto the A338.
Which was nice.
So yes, it works very well! All you have to do is to make sure that the 'traffic' box in your 'avoidances' list in the 'navigation' sub menu is ticked and that 'avoidances' are enabled. Then check that TMC is available and follow your planned route - if the red traffic warning triangle comes up, just follow the guidance around it!
'T' means it will come with a TMC receiver in the box.
TMC in the UK is sent via Classic FM's VHF frequencies - you don't need to tune the TMC receiver to any specific station. The TMC info. comes from Trafficmaster and is very clever in the way it works.
TMC can take a while to become active - the grey icon changes to blue when it does so. You have to plug the combined TMC receiver/power lead into your fag plug to use the TMC receiver.
Last night I was driving from Didcot station to Witney and received a TMC alert to all the A34 congestion near Abingdon (you get a little red warning triangle and 'bong' tone) - so my 660 re-routed me through Steventon and onto the A338.
Which was nice.
So yes, it works very well! All you have to do is to make sure that the 'traffic' box in your 'avoidances' list in the 'navigation' sub menu is ticked and that 'avoidances' are enabled. Then check that TMC is available and follow your planned route - if the red traffic warning triangle comes up, just follow the guidance around it!
nickwilcock said:
TMC in the UK is sent via Classic FM's VHF frequencies - you don't need to tune the TMC receiver to any specific station. The TMC info. comes from Trafficmaster and is very clever in the way it works.
Sorry Nick but no comprendo! Are you saying that TrafficMaster sends their signal via the FM band allocated to a UK commercial radio station?!
Also, I understood, from Garmin, that the FM feature is disabled on all European models?!
The FM transmitter is unavailable on UK models - although I understand that the law changed in Dec 2006 and that low power FM links are now legal in the UK....
As for Trafficmaster, the collated data is sent via the RDS sub-carrier of certain commercial VHF-FM radio stations; as with the rest of RDS information, this is inaudible as it does not affect the audio sub carriers.
As for Trafficmaster, the collated data is sent via the RDS sub-carrier of certain commercial VHF-FM radio stations; as with the rest of RDS information, this is inaudible as it does not affect the audio sub carriers.
The Pocketgpsworld camera database is kept up to date via submissions from the people (ie the likes of you and me) who use it. If you happen upon a camera without receiving a warning, if you are the first person to submit it's location for inclusion you get a lifetime mebership/subscription for free.
Don't know how accurate it is compared to other databases, but then how accurate can any database of this nature be? All I can say is that it hasn't failed to warn me of a camera location yet.
For anyone thinking of using the Pocketgpsworlld database, there is also a utility available from their forum site that allows you to customise at what distance you receive warnings for the various types of camera. As standard I found the default settings for warnings approaching 30mph cameras started way too early, and have amended it to my preference.
Don't know how accurate it is compared to other databases, but then how accurate can any database of this nature be? All I can say is that it hasn't failed to warn me of a camera location yet.
For anyone thinking of using the Pocketgpsworlld database, there is also a utility available from their forum site that allows you to customise at what distance you receive warnings for the various types of camera. As standard I found the default settings for warnings approaching 30mph cameras started way too early, and have amended it to my preference.
TMC, FM Transmission and TrafficMaster
there seems to be a lot on confusion on these services and device functions.
FM Transmission is simply the ability to transmit audio from the unit (spoken directions, alerts, MP3 tracks and I guess Phone speaker if you use the bluetooth link to your phone)to your stereo nand hear it through the car speakers. This transmission (made legal in the UK since end of 2006) is of very lower power and hence can only be picked up from FM receivers in the immediate vicinity. FM Transmission has nothing to do with traffic information broadcasting.
TMC, as everyone has already said is traffic information broadcast as an inaudible signal over specific FM channels (Classic FM being one in the UK). The unit decodes these signals (as long as the GPS unit has an FM Receiver) and supplies the traffic information. There are number of sources of TMC data. Some are free and and require no subscription, whilst others such as trafficmaster have to be subscribed to. As I understand it the information available on the non-subscription TMC is supplied from transmitter units installed in certain fleet vehicles. Using GPS information the location of these vehicles are tracked, their speed calculated and where these are abnormally slow an alert is created. Trafficmaster use both in-vehicle systems and the familar roadside cameras to monitor traffic. It works through either numberplate recognition (on trunk roads) and through IR beam detection on motorways. They also have a team inputting incident information on to the system.
What I am not sure about is what level of data sharing there is between the systems. I was led to beleive that a restricted amount of information collected by Trafficmaster is made available on the subscription free TMC service.
Please feel free to correct me on any of this, but I'm fairly confident that this is how it works!
there seems to be a lot on confusion on these services and device functions.
FM Transmission is simply the ability to transmit audio from the unit (spoken directions, alerts, MP3 tracks and I guess Phone speaker if you use the bluetooth link to your phone)to your stereo nand hear it through the car speakers. This transmission (made legal in the UK since end of 2006) is of very lower power and hence can only be picked up from FM receivers in the immediate vicinity. FM Transmission has nothing to do with traffic information broadcasting.
TMC, as everyone has already said is traffic information broadcast as an inaudible signal over specific FM channels (Classic FM being one in the UK). The unit decodes these signals (as long as the GPS unit has an FM Receiver) and supplies the traffic information. There are number of sources of TMC data. Some are free and and require no subscription, whilst others such as trafficmaster have to be subscribed to. As I understand it the information available on the non-subscription TMC is supplied from transmitter units installed in certain fleet vehicles. Using GPS information the location of these vehicles are tracked, their speed calculated and where these are abnormally slow an alert is created. Trafficmaster use both in-vehicle systems and the familar roadside cameras to monitor traffic. It works through either numberplate recognition (on trunk roads) and through IR beam detection on motorways. They also have a team inputting incident information on to the system.
What I am not sure about is what level of data sharing there is between the systems. I was led to beleive that a restricted amount of information collected by Trafficmaster is made available on the subscription free TMC service.
Please feel free to correct me on any of this, but I'm fairly confident that this is how it works!
Agreed Tuscanboy, the confusion seems to be caused because the Garmin Nuvi promotional material and web messaging quotes the FM transmitter option and many people miss the small print mentioning that this is physically missing from European units.
Edited by AMG Merc on Wednesday 16th May 14:40
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