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Garmin Nuvi 295W


Chrysalides

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I'm starting this thread since there are a few people who recently purchased a Garmin Nuvi 295W.

 

I'll start with a tip : if you order from Amazon, and received the case for free, don't open the package for the case. Resell it on eBay. The case is meant for the Garmin Quest and doesn't fit the 295W very well. It's a little snug in terms of length and width, and twice as thick as it needs to be. There's also no belt clip or belt loop.

 

I just received my unit yesterday, checked new firmware (none), updated the maps, configured wireless, and copied custom POI onto it.

 

I noticed that every time I turn the unit off and back on, it asks me to set my country, language preference, accept the EULA, etc. all over again. Anyone knows what it takes to get it to stop doing that?

Edited by Chrysalides
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I noticed that every time I turn the unit off and back on, it asks me to set my country, language preference, accept the EULA, etc. all over again. Anyone knows what it takes to get it to stop doing that?

 

No idea how you stop it but mine only did that once, though when I plugged it in the my.garmin site found a software update. I decided to wait until the last possible day to update the maps.

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I decided to wait until the last possible day to update the maps.

On two of my Nuvis, I waited too long and didn't get any map updates. Decided not to wait for this one.

 

I set a reminder in Google Calendar. Wasn't going to leave that to chance.

 

But you know what I really like about the 295W? As I drove home from work today I left it on the WiFi network page and all along the route it showed me networks, many of which were unsecured so I could have stopped at any of them to check my email or browse the web.

 

I'd say roughly 40% of the networks were open!

 

You wouldn't believe how many Linksys and Dlink networks there are out there.

Edited by Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hide
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Mine will be here Saturday, how long do you have to upgrade your maps?

60 days, I think it was.

I had one that definitely had less than 60 days. I was too lazy to raise a stink with Garmin or Amazon about it. It might have been a returned unit, or somehow powered on earlier, because Garmin claimed that the date of first activation was some weeks before I bought the unit.

 

Easiest way to find out is to register it immediately after you receive it, and the My Garmin website will tell you when your free update expires.

 

Oh, I'm not sure if the serial number is on the box. If not, you'll want to copy down the serial number before inserting the battery to save yourself a couple of minutes.

Edited by Chrysalides
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Mine will be here Saturday, how long do you have to upgrade your maps?

60 days, I think it was.

I had one that definitely had less than 60 days. I was too lazy to raise a stink with Garmin or Amazon about it. It might have been a returned unit, or somehow powered on earlier, because Garmin claimed that the date of first activation was some weeks before I bought the unit.

 

Easiest way to find out is to register it immediately after you receive it, and the My Garmin website will tell you when your free update expires.

 

Oh, I'm not sure if the serial number is on the box. If not, you'll want to copy down the serial number before inserting the battery to save yourself a couple of minutes.

 

Just went back to My.Garmin.com and it popped up this message: nüMaps Guarantee available for your nüvi® 295W - Free update expires Feb 12, 2011

 

I registered mine December 13.

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Have you guys noticed the battery runs dry on the 295W even if it's sitting "off" in your desk drawer? It seems to have a pretty heavy battery drain even when it's "off".. :)

 

So, another tip to contribute: If you're not going to use it for a few days be sure to do a full shutdown by holding the power button for a few seconds till the shutdown screen is displayed. That'll buy you time!

 

Also, I'm using the Nuvi Macro & it's (almost) great! Except is there any way of jotting a field note someway/somehow, for later retrieval?

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Have you guys noticed the battery runs dry on the 295W even if it's sitting "off" in your desk drawer? It seems to have a pretty heavy battery drain even when it's "off".. :)

 

So, another tip to contribute: If you're not going to use it for a few days be sure to do a full shutdown by holding the power button for a few seconds till the shutdown screen is displayed. That'll buy you time!

 

Also, I'm using the Nuvi Macro & it's (almost) great! Except is there any way of jotting a field note someway/somehow, for later retrieval?

 

You can also extend battery life by turning off WiFi.

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Have you guys noticed the battery runs dry on the 295W even if it's sitting "off" in your desk drawer? It seems to have a pretty heavy battery drain even when it's "off".. :)

 

So, another tip to contribute: If you're not going to use it for a few days be sure to do a full shutdown by holding the power button for a few seconds till the shutdown screen is displayed. That'll buy you time!

 

Also, I'm using the Nuvi Macro & it's (almost) great! Except is there any way of jotting a field note someway/somehow, for later retrieval?

You can also extend battery life by turning off WiFi.

I'm trying to figure out how I can use the cradle, connected to the unused USB hub of my monitor, as a recharging dock. Main problem is that the suction cup doesn't stay on very well. Maybe I will repurpose my friction / sandbag mount that is no longer "sticky"

 

To save text notes, you have two options:

 

1. save your custom POI entry to favorites when you find it. You have limited editing options - you can change the name to something more descriptive.

 

2. use tools -> notes to write longer text notes.

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Thanks Chrysalides I guess that'll have to do. Now for:

 

 

Hey you other 295W owners.. can you tell me if yours ever speaks street names? Mine hasn't yet :(

 

You need to go into Settings/System/Language and choose a voice which speaks street names. Not all of them do.

Well I thought I'd drag that question over to this thread :D

 

Thanks for the reply Dr but that isn't the problem.. I checked and all the language selectors have been set. But this thing still refuses to SAY a street name B) It'll say "turn right 200 meters" but never say the street name.. Again I ask you other 295W campers.. has yours spoken a street name yet? Garmin's website does confirm it should.. maybe it just hates Canada? :)

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Thanks Chrysalides I guess that'll have to do. Now for:

 

 

Hey you other 295W owners.. can you tell me if yours ever speaks street names? Mine hasn't yet :(

 

You need to go into Settings/System/Language and choose a voice which speaks street names. Not all of them do.

Well I thought I'd drag that question over to this thread :D

 

Thanks for the reply Dr but that isn't the problem.. I checked and all the language selectors have been set. But this thing still refuses to SAY a street name B) It'll say "turn right 200 meters" but never say the street name.. Again I ask you other 295W campers.. has yours spoken a street name yet? Garmin's website does confirm it should.. maybe it just hates Canada? :)

 

So you chose a voice like the following?

 

295W_voices.jpg

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Hey have you guys been testing out dragging .GPX files directly in the the /Garmin/GPX folder?

 

Sure enough the unit will accept a stock .gpx file from Groundspeak, but if I try dragging in a GSAK/Nuvi macro .gpx file the unit won't see it.. I'm guessing the two formats aren't the same, and the device is rejecting the GSAK one(?) I've been peeking inside both file formats and yes there are differences, but I can't figure out which difference is responsible for the unit to reject the file..

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Yep although I chose American English, which I think is the default. And yep the preview button works fine.. & it's fun to hear the other languages :)

 

Yet still no street names. I take it yours speaks the street names? And yes I did update everything on the Nuvi within a week of getting it.

 

Yes, mine speaks street names - just confirmed by doing a navigate in demo mode and it said "Continue 3.2 kilometers then turn left at McCordick road"...

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I'm trying to figure out how I can use the cradle, connected to the unused USB hub of my monitor, as a recharging dock. Main problem is that the suction cup doesn't stay on very well. Maybe I will repurpose my friction / sandbag mount that is no longer "sticky"

 

Why do you need to use the cradle? Just use one of the standard cables such as you might use to plug a camera or handheld gps into your computer and power it from that. The connector's on the bottom of the 295W.

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Why do you need to use the cradle? Just use one of the standard cables such as you might use to plug a camera or handheld gps into your computer and power it from that. The connector's on the bottom of the 295W.

Well, partly because I don't need the cradle for the car (I am ashamed to admit I have 3 other Nuvis for that) and partly because it is easier than plugging in the USB.

 

The connector to the cradle is also just a USB. In fact, it would be really nice if it has data as well. Hmm.. let me try. Nope. Didn't think so, with only 3 connectors visible.

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Why do you need to use the cradle? Just use one of the standard cables such as you might use to plug a camera or handheld gps into your computer and power it from that. The connector's on the bottom of the 295W.

Well, partly because I don't need the cradle for the car (I am ashamed to admit I have 3 other Nuvis for that) and partly because it is easier than plugging in the USB.

 

The connector to the cradle is also just a USB. In fact, it would be really nice if it has data as well. Hmm.. let me try. Nope. Didn't think so, with only 3 connectors visible.

 

You should have seen the dash on our car today - two Nuvis, a 780 and the 295, and an Oregon. We don't usually have so many with us but I wanted to see how well the 295 compared to the others in actual use.

 

The comparison proved that under most conditions, the 295 is perfectly adequate. The only thing I'm missing is the Bluetooth/FM player, but I can get a earbud/headset paired to my phone, and live without the FM player.

 

It was fun to leave the 295 in camera mode pointing forward, and taking pictures along the way as I saw locations I wanted to remember. The camera's not great, but it is good enough for record keeping.

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You should have seen the dash on our car today - two Nuvis, a 780 and the 295, and an Oregon.

This guy still wins though :

 

502_gps.jpg

 

I don't actually care about the Bluetooth - never used it in all the years I had my 660 - and I hate the FM since it is so weak and it is impossible to find unused bands around here. What I don't like is the long start-up time. I timed it - almost exactly 1 minute.

 

It was fun to leave the 295 in camera mode pointing forward, and taking pictures along the way as I saw locations I wanted to remember. The camera's not great, but it is good enough for record keeping.

That's an interesting application.

Edited by Chrysalides
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That's an interesting application.

 

Here's a few I took today, geolocated. It was a really cloudy day, mostly, and the pictures were taken inside a filthy windshield, but as I mentioned before, they are good enough for record keeping. I haven't modified the pictures in any way so they could probably be a bit better if I tried.

 

The album with location info is here: http://picasaweb.google.com/emmbeedee/295WGeolocatedPhotos#

 

2010-12-18T18-29-21.jpg2010-12-18T19-02-06.jpg2010-12-18T20-25-20.jpg

Edited by Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hide
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Well, I may have solved the "always asking for country, language, EULA" issue. I set my home location and it stopped asking me.

 

What do you mean by EULA? The End User License Agreement that basically says, "Oh my God, you're gonna die if you use this while driving!!!" startup page? That never goes away on startup. It will go away after a while, though, after you turn it on, but it will ALWAYS show when you first turn it on.

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Can this model display a compass rose page pointing to a cache. If not what do you do. I have never owned a dedicated driving model so I don't know how to use them for geocaching. :P

 

You put it in "pedestrian" mode so it will navigate straight-line to the cache instead of using nearby roads. Then you start walking so the GPS can "see" what direction your moving in and you turn to put the pretty highlighted line directly "off the nose". A VERY less-than-elegant and imprecise solution, but I guess it works for some. You won't ever see me out caching with my Nuvi. :huh:

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Well, I may have solved the "always asking for country, language, EULA" issue. I set my home location and it stopped asking me.

 

What do you mean by EULA? The End User License Agreement that basically says, "Oh my God, you're gonna die if you use this while driving!!!" startup page? That never goes away on startup. It will go away after a while, though, after you turn it on, but it will ALWAYS show when you first turn it on.

No, I'm referring to the one that asks you to agree to the EULA for the maps. When you turn it on for the very first time, it asks where are you, what language do you want to use, the EULA for the Navteq maps (and one other thing, which I don't recall) and asks if you want to participate in the feedback. This goes away after I set my home location.

 

The "if you use it while driving and kill yourself or someone else we're not responsible" page is on every single Nuvi I've used. It's more of a disclaimer than an EULA.

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Can this model display a compass rose page pointing to a cache. If not what do you do. I have never owned a dedicated driving model so I don't know how to use them for geocaching. :P

 

You put it in "pedestrian" mode so it will navigate straight-line to the cache instead of using nearby roads. Then you start walking so the GPS can "see" what direction your moving in and you turn to put the pretty highlighted line directly "off the nose". A VERY less-than-elegant and imprecise solution, but I guess it works for some. You won't ever see me out caching with my Nuvi. :huh:

What sviking said is true for most Nuvi's, but the 295W is different. Yes it has a compass rose, and along with that it also has a 3-axis magnetic compass, so you don't even need to hold the Nuvi level for the compass to work.

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Can this model display a compass rose page pointing to a cache. If not what do you do. I have never owned a dedicated driving model so I don't know how to use them for geocaching. :P

 

You put it in "pedestrian" mode so it will navigate straight-line to the cache instead of using nearby roads. Then you start walking so the GPS can "see" what direction your moving in and you turn to put the pretty highlighted line directly "off the nose". A VERY less-than-elegant and imprecise solution, but I guess it works for some. You won't ever see me out caching with my Nuvi. :huh:

What sviking said is true for most Nuvi's, but the 295W is different. Yes it has a compass rose, and along with that it also has a 3-axis magnetic compass, so you don't even need to hold the Nuvi level for the compass to work.

 

And I think the 295W is also different in that you don't have to "put it into pedestrian mode" - it seems to do that on its own.

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Yep although I chose American English, which I think is the default. And yep the preview button works fine.. & it's fun to hear the other languages :huh:

 

Yet still no street names. I take it yours speaks the street names? And yes I did update everything on the Nuvi within a week of getting it.

 

Yes, mine speaks street names - just confirmed by doing a navigate in demo mode and it said "Continue 3.2 kilometers then turn left at McCordick road"...

 

Just to confirm the street name thing, I navigated to work this morning and was given street names the whole way by Emily, using British English. The speaker's not the loudest, but it's adequate. I'll probably try to find earbuds for it sometime.

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Yep although I chose American English, which I think is the default. And yep the preview button works fine.. & it's fun to hear the other languages

 

Yet still no street names. I take it yours speaks the street names? And yes I did update everything on the Nuvi within a week of getting it.

 

If you chose "American English" as seen in the screen shot, that would be the problem.

 

voices.jpg

 

You must select a voice which says "Speaks Street Names".

Edited by Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hide
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Yep although I chose American English, which I think is the default. And yep the preview button works fine.. & it's fun to hear the other languages

 

Yet still no street names. I take it yours speaks the street names? And yes I did update everything on the Nuvi within a week of getting it.

 

If you chose "American English" as seen in the screen shot, that would be the problem.

 

You must select a voice which says "Speaks Street Names".

Wow Dr J yep that was the problem alright, thanks! My 295 is now in speaking terms with me (street names that is). Homer Simpson could summarize my feelings quite easily with a.. D'OH!!

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Yep although I chose American English, which I think is the default. And yep the preview button works fine.. & it's fun to hear the other languages

 

Yet still no street names. I take it yours speaks the street names? And yes I did update everything on the Nuvi within a week of getting it.

 

If you chose "American English" as seen in the screen shot, that would be the problem.

 

You must select a voice which says "Speaks Street Names".

Wow Dr J yep that was the problem alright, thanks! My 295 is now in speaking terms with me (street names that is). Homer Simpson could summarize my feelings quite easily with a.. D'OH!!

 

Glad we sorted that out. :blink:

 

I like using Dr Nightmare - even though he doesn't say street names, he pops up with hilarious sayings at random moments, when all is quiet in the car.

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I've had mine for a couple of weeks and used it a few times for navigation. It seems to work very well. The wireless isn't terribly useful (though the local weather updates can be), since the web browser is so very slow.

 

We haven't used it for caching and don't see how it would be any improvement on our 60CSx for that purpose. We load caches onto it with GSAK (device: generic Nuvi) which makes traveling to caches much easier.

 

Battery life has been excellent; we pressed the "soft-off" button on the side/top to put it to sleep and picked it up a week later and it still showed a full charge.

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Has anyone got any sunny daylight photos to post?

 

A $79 geolocating camera is awfully tempting.

 

Thanks

 

How about this one?

 

2010-12-19T15-09-47.jpg

That works quite nicely. I'm impressed. The critter on the road has boots on, looks wet and happy AND you now know its location to within 10M. :)

 

I read on Amazon that the 295W has a replaceable battery. True?

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A $79 geolocating camera is awfully tempting.

A $79 geolocating camera that plays MP3 and can, in a pinch, connect to a wireless network.

 

Great for people who don't have a smart phone (like me).

 

I wish I can post some sunny day photos, but there hasn't been a sunny day since I got the 295W.

Have no use for MP3, but WiFi . . . well could be.

 

Once upon another forum update, I might have glanced at your profile and figured out where it is so cloudy, no more. Here's hopping that for that loss, double and triple posts have gone away. :P

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