I will not do how to's on this page if your looking for how to's, please go to how to page, Thanks, Regards.
Q. How Should I set my home location ?
A. Never set your house as your home location, it is a security risk, Always set your home location, at the end of your street.
Q. Can I change the battery in a GPS ?
A. yes with basic soldering skills (streetPilot), and delicate nimble finger's. it is a 20 minute job. see my "How To" and "resources" for the YouTube Video's on battery changing.
Q. How long will an Average battery last ? How long is a piece of string ?
A. Depends how you charge first few charges and depends on the Model, average 2/3 years, Always charge for 3/5 hour's for the first charge. Heat from the car in summer, will kill it off quicker too. heat kills battery Cells.
Q. Why should I charge my battery for 3-5 hour's for the first charge ?
A. The charge you first give a battery must be the full charge of the cells,
IE: 1-3 hour's charge = half charged battery will lessen the life of the battery,
Always fully charge a brand new battery, then let it drain to dead, then charge it up fully, then let it drain to dead, you are using the full capacity of the battery cells, this will ultimately give it more life, the more cells your battery will use, the more cells will last longer, small charge, small life, cells will die quicker.
Q. Why do the batteries only last for around 2/3 years ?
A. Nothing lasts for ever, rechargeable batteries are like any other batteries, they have a life cycle, then they are shot, the unit will last 10 year's if looked after, the battery will never last this long, plus high temperatures in car's, destroys the cells inside faster too.
Q. How many question's could I think of for this Q & A session ?
A. Not sure come back in 3 years :)
Q. who will change the battery for me ?
A. Garmin will charge you $100/$120 to change your battery, or EBay & yourself $30
Q. What is the ( Garmin anti theft Lock ) or secure location ( safe Zone ) however people may call it on a G.P.S. ?
A. This is the place where, when your at the location, the security lock it asks for, IE: the 4 digit PIN number, will not be set to on, just in this specific location only. (long/lat)
Q. Why does the unit have a safe zone ?
A. Because us humans tend to forget the 50 million pin number's we have, so the safe zone, secure location is for folks like me that forgets pin number's.
Q. Which is the best GPS on the Market ?
A. It depends on your needs, lifestyle, and budget.
Work out all your needs, budget, do some research, and it will sing out to you.
Q, If I spend more money will this be better ?
A. not necessarily, it depends how you treat it, weather/heat is a factor too.
Q. Why does the battery die on the StreetPilot's after 2/3 years ?
A. This is a common problem with the StreetPilot's, a bit of a battery issue with them. Like I said, nothing lasts forever, if it lasts 3 year's, this is good going.
Q. What are via/waypoints ?
A. Waypoints are stop along your route, IE: you may want to go from home to school to pick the kids up, then go to town, the school is the waypoint.
Q. What is Multi destination routing ?
A. Let me describe in My own way for easy understanding, Bus driver takes a route, from start to finish, they stop at bus stops along the route, before they park the bus up at the last stop, this is multi destination routing.
Q. What is Goecaching ?
A. Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world.
Q. What is a Geocache ?
A. A typical Geocache is a small waterproof container (usually a Tupperware or ammo box) containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value, which Geocache hunter's seek out.
Q. What is Geotagging ?
A. Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as photographs, video, websites, or RSS feeds and is a form of geospatial meta data.
Q. What is meta data ?
A. Metadata is "data about other data", of any sort in any media. An item of metadata may describe an individual datum, or content item, or a collection of data including multiple content items and hierarchical levels
Q. What is TTS (text to speech)
A. All GPSs talk to you (otherwise they would be pretty useless eh)
But TTS, pronounces the street names for you too, the pre-recorded voices will not do this for you. Make sure your GPS has this feature.
Q. Can I save locations, instead of putting them in every time I use it ?
A. Yes you can save location's, in a place called the favourites folder.
go to "where to" & "Favourites".
Q. What are (POIs) points of interest ?
A. These are places of interest or useful places, IE: gas station, ATMs, checkout Garmin's POI LOADER
Q. How does GPS work ? good question :)
( people have PhD on this question ) haha.
A. Checkout the Video's on home page for a scientists view, but basically, in a few lines.
There are around 29/30 satellites in space floating round the earth, we use 23/24 for GPS, it takes 3 satellites and the earth to use the GPS, but a 4th satellite for super accuracy,
IE: within 6/10 feet, Trilateration is the method,
check out the link if you want more information
click here for triangulation info
Q. What is GPS Longitude and Latitude ?
A. in it's simplest form it is where you are north,south,east,west on the planet,
IE: get a 2D atlas, draw a line from east to west, this is Latitude, now draw a line from south to north, this is longitude, all measured in numbers to locate you (degrees) IE: (36°21'00"N, 87°23'00"W)
Q, Does my GPS charge off the Computer ?
A, yes, it does charge off the Pc, but you cannot use it, and it is slower to charge up than the A/C wall outlet or car.
Q, What if my Garmin screen becomes non responsive ?
( but everything else works fine)
A, sadly if the screen will not function after resetting it, powering it off, and factory restoring it, It is Capacitive, if it is damaged, it is not replacable, :(
Don't waste your money sending to Garmin ((before ringing for advice first))
Q, Is my Garmin repairable ?
A, depends what/where the problem is, hardware yes possibly, screen doubtful.
Q, Does any other Firm offer repair's out of warranty ?
A, NOPE. (by this I mean, Magellan, Tom Tom)
Sony and pioneer will, ( you guess the price tag ) might aswel buy new one.
Q, What is an RMA return's number ?
A, Before you send a product back to Garmin, you must contact them for an
RMA Return Material Authorization Number, DO NOT just send the GPS to them.
Check their website for RMA detail's
Q, If my Garmin get stolen, can we track/trace it ?
A, no, it does not have a tracker inside the unit, ( this would cost you $1200 )
it is not tracable, even when registered with Garmin, so always hide it away
and like I said before, never set your home address for the theft reason.
Thief steals your car, says to GPS "where to" then "home", if he knows your out of town, your house is at risk too. (( use the Garmin P.I.N. lock )) prevension better than the cure.
Q, Can Garmin or the police track/trace the unit, because it is registered ?
A, NO, every car on the planet is registered, yes, do they get stolen ?
Registration means nothing, it is for Garmin's documentation and statistics...
Q, can I buy a GPS with a tracker inside ?
A, yes it will cost you a fortune, well over a $1000, have a look online !
Q, Why do my maps need updating every 12 months ?
A, because the roads change so often, they become outdated very quickly.
Q, What kinds of Maps are there ?
A, There are Car maps, water maps, trail/topo maps, alsorts of maps
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