garmin gps auto

My husband purchased this GPS for me and he doesn't really know what he bought, he just figured it would be a good one. Is there a difference between a GPS Receiver and a regular Auto GPS Navigation system and is it a good one?

I have a Nuvi 350. Though discontinued, It's a lovely GPS for what it is.

"Auto GPS Navigation System" typically (though not always) refers to an in-dash unit.

Between the absurd price, the quality of the maps, the price and availability of map upgrades, and the inabilty to take it with me when I travel in a rental car, I recommend the handheld or dashtop products like a Nuvi over an in-dash.

2009-06-30 15:18:48 by andi3693

My friend's Garmin 650 has the auto dimming at night function and will light up when you need to make a turn or change lane etc. I think that's almost a MUST for me.

However, garmin website only list 5000 has auto dimming and prices at 900???

Anybody know which one has this function? Thanks
I don't think low end Tomtom has this function

Not sure, but our 330 auto changes when it gets darker out or lighter out.

2008-09-12 11:08:49 by Nong

I wanna buy it cuz in other day, i was in my friend's truck and we were going to mall. and the GPS jus pointed the street for him. Can you type like where you live and where you want to go and it will shouw u? or??how u do it? or a GPS jus tell you the streets name?.... And whats the SD card used for? i know whats a SD card, but whats need for that card? thx

I have a Megallan GPS and all you do it enter the address and it gives you step by step directions from the point you are at. It also has an address book and a home button. The home button stores you home address so you can get back home from where were you might be. In som GPS you can add an SD card for extra memory.

2007-11-25 18:09:29 by skat3 for life

Price: $39.99 $25.99

Ships in Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging
Four-arm shape conforms to your dashboard
Garmin ball mount easily attaches to your existing cradle
One-year limited warranty
Compatible with nüvi series GPS navigators and StreetPilot C5XX series

They seem similar so I can anyone tell me which is better? Assume both are roughly the same price.

Also, although its use is primarily for auto-navigation, I'll also be using it for light GeoCaching. Is it possible to input coordinates in either?

Thanks!

the nuvi 255w is newer and has newer features than the 260w(all the garmin series that end with '5' are the newer ones. so the nuvi 255 is the nuvi 250 but with newer features)

the main difference i see between the nuvi 255w and 260w is like i said the 255 is newer
1)the nuvi 255 has a newer interface. the old interface(nuvi 260) just showed the icon of your car, the arrow.path to take, and the time arrival, and the distance untill you turn. the newer interface shows the same thing(more organized) plus your speed limit and the posted speed limit(i'll give you a website so you can see for yourself)
2)the nuvi 255 has a way of predicting where the satellites are therefore when you turn on the garmin it doesn't spend as much time looking for a signal.
3)nuvi 255 has topographic maps
4)you can use traffic updates with FM broadcast or MSN. MSN is the newer function which not only tells you traffic but weather info, movie times, and local gas prices. traffic updates are a monthly fee unless you get a lifetime subscription and is not available everywhere.
5)im not sure if you can enter coordinates but also with the nuvi 255 oppose to the 260 you can do photo navigation which is if you take a picture(or have a picture) taken with a camera that records the geo-coordinates then when you upload it to the nuvi 255 it will find those coordinates and navigate you to that point.
6)i believe but do not hold me to this that the nuvi 255 is newer and has a faster processor so route calculations will also be a little faster

other than those features they are pretty much the same. they both have your basic navigation, text to speech, photo viewer, and 4.3 in screen

you can furthermore compare and look at the new and old interface here
garmin nuvi 255W
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015EW MX8?ie=UTF8&tag=marartpla-20&lin kCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN =B0015EWMX8

garmin nuvi 260(i couldnt find the W but the only difference between the two is the widescreen, so you'll get the same info out of the 260)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UU7 ZPS?ie=UTF8&tag=marartpla-20&lin kCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN =B000UU7ZPS

i would personally go with the nuvi 255w

2008-11-28 12:10:34 by Christopher

We have a Garmin e-Trek Vista C. The tracking mode can be set to work in distance or time or "auto" mode. It's pretty obvious what it is doing when set to distance/time mode - just takes a reading every so-many metres or so-many seconds. But does anyone know what it is doing in auto mode? We've looked at the track data it records and cannot see any logic to it? We thought it might have been tracking when triggered by a change in direction, but that's not supported by the sample data it is producing. Does anyone know?
Yes, reading the manual hints that in Auto mode it is based on "frequency" but that seems to imply a time basis (for which is a separate setting) and certainly the track logs produced from Auto mode don't seem to be taken at any remotely predictable time intervals (varies from 1 second to 39 seconds in the log I have inspected in some detail). Clearly there is some algorithm that underpins it, but from inspection alone, I can't figure it out.

First off a disclaimer about any answer you get other than from a Garmin person: Garmin doesn't say how their system works so anything anyone else says is an educated guess.

I spent a little time trying to figgure out what determines when it marks a point.

I think you are close but are limiting your view. I think it looks at the direction speed vector. You can change your direction in three dimensions and the speed can change. The direction speed vector would be a vector in four dimensions, X,Y,Z, and speed. When looking at a track, you can only see two of the dimensions, so changes in dimensions 3 and 4 are invisible to you.

If you are unfamilier with vectors, I put a link to a detailed discussion in the source list. However, the quick way to think about them is that the track you see on your computer is a series of two dimensional vectors and the angle between the vectors is the change. It is easy to understand the extension to three dimensions by thinking of the altitude changes comming out of the screen. The fourth dimension takes a larger leap of the mind. (see the source section for more information).

If you are going straight and change your speed or your route changes slope, the vector changes. If it changes enough from the one that you were on from the last point, it marks the point.

The settings for the auto function change the frequency of points indirectly. They change the amount that the direction speed vector can change before it adds a new point. If the vector is allowed to change more, you will get fewer vectors.

When I am trying to get tracks for use later, I prefer the constant time settings. It uses more points (they keep piling up in the same spot when you are stopped) but any vector that is really different looking on the screen is probably a hiccough in the measurement from the satelite and not a change in the actual locations.

2007-12-28 18:26:07 by kr_afol