Sat Nav's

Hi everybody

Sat Nav’s

Just sharing something that happened to me. On the 29^th May 2016 I ordered a Garmin Nuvi 2599 LMT-D 5 inch Sat Nav with UK and Full Europe Maps. It arrived in good order and I set it up in my car, from that time on it kept losing the satellite signals and as time went by it started to get worse with no signal at all while inside the car. My wife and I where travailing from Killarney in Ireland to Co. Antrim in the North of Ireland and as soon as we hit the out skirts of Dublin we lost the signal and never got it back. I’ve since been onto the Garmin forums to find that I’m not the only one that this is happening to. One of the members has already spoken to Garmin about this situation and has been informed that it isn’t the fault of the Sat Nav but of the car, this is what they said to the forum member:  Answer from Garmin: Windshields with solar ray glass, solar tint, heated-reflective windshields, and insulated or Insta-Clear glass may affect satellite acquisition, it also said:  An external antenna may be needed to receive satellite signal. Not all Garmin devices are able to connect an antenna. My Nuvi 2599 does not support an external socket. I have tried the Sat Nav outside and it works fine but as soon as I put it up inside the car (on the air vent/dashboard) it loses the satellites. My point is, this wasn’t stated at the time of ordering the device and for Garmin to make this kind of statement surly this device isn’t suitable for the purpose. All in All when the Garmin did have the satellite it was a great piece of kit and had some futures better than my TomTom, having said that, if it hadn’t been for the TomTom (which never once lost a signal and never has) we would never at times have found our way through the road  diversions. I just thought that I would share this piece of info not to put you off buying a Garmin as we have two hand held Garmin GPS devices and both are fine, but just do your home work and find out the type of windscreen in your car before you spend your hard earned money. I have since bought a new TomTom for the life time maps and traffic etc. I’m not completely sure but I think Garmin uses a different method from TomTom to receive the signal I’m not that technically minded so please forgive me if I’m wrong.

Regards from a fellow caravaner

David N Bailie.