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New Nuvi Owner

Former Member
Former Member
I hope I'm not posting in the wrong area. If so, please guide me. On Friday, I purchased a Nuvi 265W for hubby's birthday. Neither of us have ever used a GPS before. Last night we tried it out. I tried to enter "home" by address, and "she" seemed to have a problem with that, so I entered our home through "Where am I?". Then we left for Church, with two side trips. First via worked fairly well, although "she" was very confused when we entered parking lot. After that "she" wanted us to drive right past the Church to the next road (I had entered that destination by address). After Church, another via to Walmart. "She" tried to get us to drive right out of the parking lot. Then the new destination was home. "She" wanted us to turn into a neighbor's about a 1/4 mile before we got home. We stopped at my mother's (just before our home), and at the end of her driveway, "she" tried to make us turn right to the neighbor's instead of left to our house. Am I doing something wrong, is this unit this inaccurate, or is there something wrong with our particular unit? I'm so disappointed because my husband was so pleased. Obviously doesn't matter around home, but in an area we're unfamiliar with, it seems a GPS wouldn't help much. Thanks for any advice to a total newbie.

Gayle
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Hi Gayle,

    I hate to do this to you, but I'm going to direct you to Garmin Support. I don't want your query to get lost and go unanswered. In the future, these forums will support all of Garmin's products and services, but for now it is the place for Garmin's Fitness Devices and products.

    kk
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    I hope I'm not posting in the wrong area. If so, please guide me. On Friday, I purchased a Nuvi 265W for hubby's birthday. Neither of us have ever used a GPS before. Last night we tried it out. I tried to enter "home" by address, and "she" seemed to have a problem with that, so I entered our home through "Where am I?". Then we left for Church, with two side trips. First via worked fairly well, although "she" was very confused when we entered parking lot. After that "she" wanted us to drive right past the Church to the next road (I had entered that destination by address). After Church, another via to Walmart. "She" tried to get us to drive right out of the parking lot. Then the new destination was home. "She" wanted us to turn into a neighbor's about a 1/4 mile before we got home. We stopped at my mother's (just before our home), and at the end of her driveway, "she" tried to make us turn right to the neighbor's instead of left to our house. Am I doing something wrong, is this unit this inaccurate, or is there something wrong with our particular unit? I'm so disappointed because my husband was so pleased. Obviously doesn't matter around home, but in an area we're unfamiliar with, it seems a GPS wouldn't help much. Thanks for any advice to a total newbie.

    Gayle


    On your Nuvi, there should be a function That says "set home location" and one of the options is to sit in your driveway and mark that spot as your Home location. ;)

    Reference accuracy: The GPS is usually deadly accurate to within 10 feet if you have a clear view of the sky (satellites). The map database may be inaccurate in some instances. But, parking lots are not usually in the map data base, so from the GPS's point of view, you are off-road and it uses an off-road solution to get you to where you want to go, until it gets you on a road.:rolleyes:

    Patience is definitely a virtue when you are a new GPS user. Read the manual very carefully and completely. don't skip sections just because you think thaty are not pertinent to your situation. They just might be. :eek:

    Something Garmin could do, is to have a foldout page of the Menu tree, so that you can locate every menu item without searching and going to dead ends.

    Also, you can download the given Nuvi Manual from Garmin's site. Just go to the Nuvi XXX page and press the tab labeled "manuals". Having the manual in electronic form makes it very easy to located specific words within the document.

    Hope this has helped.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Recommendation

    Most GPS units, as mentioned, have a hard time in parking lots and large mall areas where there are stores you are trying to find. It just gets you close to the specific area off a main road. I always set my new travel destination and "Go" after I get close to where I will be exiting the parking lot to a main road. It will usually pick up the main road and travel direction better that way. Also, I strongly advise that once your Nuvi is charged up, you just let it sit in your home's window facing the open sky for at least 30 minutes after you see 3 and hopefully, in a while, 5 full bars in the satellite graph. This will allow full acquisition of multiple satellites over time. After 30 minutes, set your Home base and save it. This will be much more accurate in finding Home Base thereafter. This satellite "setting up" only has to be done once, although I do again if I have not used my GPS after a long period of off time. Have fun, you'll figure out the nuances over time and you'll find the Nuvi is a great unit. Mine has got me all over the US with very few mistakes and some common sense.:)
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Thanks guys!!! And here I was, afraid Gayle wouldn't get an answer on the Auto device on the Fitness forum. :cool:

    kk
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member in reply to Former Member

    I agree !