New 3790T has arrived - first comments

Wazza_G · Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 1:59 pm Post subject:

I'm still awaiting a reply from Garmin's CS department regarding my complaints against their units & their inadequacies.

I'd like to know where you found the Chunnel in the Transit list because I couldn't find it or any Ferry terminal in there, like I said probably it's probably because it's a piece of Yanky rubbish.

jdgwinnell · Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:23 pm Post subject:

Where to - Points of Interest - Transit - All Transit - [Search with the magnifying glass icon, top left, and type in] Channel Tunnel - after a moment's searching gives two results: Folkestone/Channel Tunnel and Channel Tunnel Terminal de Coquelles - both of them within a few metres of the Favourites I have previously saved when using the tunnel.
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J D Gwinnell
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nuvi 3598LMT-D
Montana 650, Oregon 650

p-brain · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 17, 2008 Posts: 30

jdgwinnell · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 4:43 pm Post subject:

Yes, it was a planned trip on a route I know well ... it's useful because, on the rare occasions the unit gets traffic info (!), it can warn me of traffic problems anywhere along the route, which in this case is 200 miles - and gives me an ETA which is accurate within 5 minutes, useful for phoning ahead to ask hosts to put the kettle on/break out the G&T. This was the 'fast' way, motorway for most of it, but once approaching Wales it suddenly wanted me to go via Hereford when I prefer Leominster. When I looked at the trip on Trip Planner afterwards, the 'map' option showed a trip mostly following the route I'd taken, including where I'd gone via Leominster not Hereford. Coming back I had more time and came the shorter/pretty way, where planning the route is more useful as there are several cross-country options (this is when it pathetically gave up near Warwick).

You can review any journey you've recently driven if you turn on the Trip Log - Show on Map feature in the Navigation - Automobile menu, where it shows up as a blue line. The same info is available if you download the Tracks to MapSource, or open current.gpx [in the unit's GPX directory] in any suitable mapping program. The trip log/tracks are surprisingly discontinuous - surprisingly because nowhere along the route did the unit complain of losing satellite reception.

myTrends worked for me for the first time this afternoon - it was a bit creepy when it realised I was going to Tesco, told me there was no traffic and it would take 8 minutes. I had not told it to take me there (even I can get to my usual supermarket 3 miles from home without routeing there!) and I can only surmise that it knew where I might be going because I recently put it in as the destination when playing with Voice Command. After I'd shopped it knew I was coming home... Twilight zone! If I understand the handbook correctly (p23), myTrends only kicks in when you don't tell it where you want to go.

I'm coming to the conclusion that it's cleverer than I thought at first, though I'm still impatiently waiting for it to accept pre-planned routes from MapSource.
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J D Gwinnell
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nuvi 3598LMT-D
Montana 650, Oregon 650

Wazza_G · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:47 pm Post subject:

Still waiting for a response from Garmin CS, so much for their site saying they answer within 72hrs! Rolling Eyes

It's complete bull. Waiting 6 days so far & nothing.

jdgwinnell · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 4:06 pm Post subject:

I got an automated impersonal reply from UK support a couple of weeks ago, saying they were sorry they hadn't responded to my original query but they'd been very busy, and if it hadn't been resolved could I get in touch again ... not impressive. Try submitting a question through the US-based forum which however only seems to deal with mapping software issues - I got a reply quite quickly from someone in the US, not that it was much help: "There will be a software update to address the compatibility [of the 3790] with Mapsource and the POI loader. At this time we do not know when it will be released."
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J D Gwinnell
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nuvi 3598LMT-D
Montana 650, Oregon 650

coastersteve · Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 9:16 am Post subject:

FYI there is a firmware update for the GTM35 which comes with the 3790:

* Changes from version 2.80 to version 2.90:
Improve preference for premium traffic service.
Fixed lockup that could result in grey traffic icon being displayed on PND.

* Changes from version 2.60 to version 2.80:
Fix issue with lifetime subscriptions expiring.

To get the update connect using myDashboard, allow the garmin to get the update and then connect to the car mount whilst the unit is switched off. Connect power to the unit and once its booted to the home screen it'll display "Updating traffic firmware, please wait" message.

Has anyone changed the "string" antenna for a proper amplified antenna?

G300PBV · Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 11:48 am Post subject:

mikealder · Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:27 pm Post subject:

Coupling the RDS aerial to an amplified roof mounted car aerial is something coastersteve and myself were doing with the early TomTom RDS receivers in an attempt to improve reception.

Its not difficult to do and involves connecting the RDS wire aerial to the center core of the car aerial cable via a small ceramic disk capacitor to de-couple the aerial feed in case its got 12 Volts on it (some cars feed power up the coax cable which would fry the RDS receiver and possibly the Nav unit without the capacitor) - Mike

coastersteve · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:42 pm Post subject:

Since updating the firmware of the TMC receiver I can honestly say it hasn't been too bad. Not perfect, but not bad either. I still think it needs an amplified antenna as my car picks up TMC even when the Garmin doesn't (Same source)

Mikes correct, we were dabbling in this kinda thing a long long time ago when the first mk1 TMC came out for the TomTom series.

BAVC10 · Lifetime Member Joined: Dec 20, 2005 Posts: 750

Couple of updates to the voices are now showing on Webupdater including British English Daniel and Emily with improved pronounciation (version 1.90 from 1.70)
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DriveLuxe 51 LMT D - Firmware 6.70
Previously owned: DriveLuxe 50 LMT-D, NuviCam LMT-D, Nuvi 3598 LMT-D, Nuvi 3490LMT, 3790T, 1690, 765, 760, 660, 610, 360, 310, 300 and Streetpilot i3

coastersteve · Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:58 am Post subject:

Galvany · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 04, 2008 Posts: 10

Thanks to all who provided useful info on this thread.

Having owned both Tom Tom (on an iPaq) and a 2008 Garmin (can't recall which), I'm not at all put off by any of the issues. Both have been fine for long Continental runs between 2005 and 2009, but the Garmin has been superior every time.

Now I'm researching another and was undecided between the 1490TV or 3790T. The latter gets my vote thanks to the feedback on here - the quality of the rendered content, and the 3D imagerywill be extremely useful during my Continental trips.

One or two of you are complaining bitterly and being unhelpfully rude about Americans - the same Americans who are responsible for fundamental GPS technology that enabled these devices to exist in the first place! Irony or what?

You're also complaining about a portable device with a limited processor for computations that have to account for so much in so little time! They perform far better than units integrated within cars and are flexible. Yet they cost far less than integrated units which offer similar or worse faults!

I see these things as only ever giving a back up for routes I absolutely don't know, where I need reasonable guidance. In this respect, they are more than good enough. And if they aren't, take another human being with you and get them to re-plot routes, warn you of speed cameras, and update you of traffic jams along your route. Smile

Mapoholic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 15, 2011 Posts: 4

BigPerk · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:14 pm Post subject:

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