Garmin nuvi 710
Awesome awesome device. Very happy with it :)
Does all the fantastic things a GPS should do, routes, tracks, points of interest, etc. It’s also very good looking and has a massive screen :) Feels much lighter than it looks. Takes SD cards. Comes pre-packaged with maps and custom points of interest (like all the speed cameras in SA).
What annoyed my pants off though was the lack of any help on how to connect the device to your PC as a GPS. When you plug it in via the USB cable (no matter if the device is off/on/navigating to the closest Nandos) it shuts down and enters ‘Mass Storage Device’ mode. In this mode you can do nothing but access the files on the device from the mapped drives on your PC (the screen responds to no taps, the power button doesn’t work), and load files onto it, yes that’s great, but I want to be able to get the GPS information and use it!
So after much fiddling I managed to work out a method to connect it as a GPS, and charge, and do everything it usually does BUT also be able to pull GPS data off it from USB to use in whatever software on your PC. If you don’t have one, this might be rather boring so skip until next paragraph. Without USB cable connected, start Nuvi, hold down on battery icon to get statistics page, connect USB. At this point your PC will tell you that you have connected a new device and will want to get drivers for “Garmin USB GPS”. I just clicked search for drivers and it worked fine. Now, after the Nuvi has completed the RAM and ROM checks (they both say “Pass”), tap “Exit”. You’ll get the big Garmin logo, now turn the Nuvi off. On the screen (very dim) it’ll say something like “Charging Battery, Slide power key to turn on”. Now turn it back on. Viola, Nuvi connected as GPS device to PC, not Mass Storage Device.
Makes me wonder why Garmin didn’t just developed a screen that pops up when you connect the USB and has two options “GPS Mode” or “File Transfer Mode”. Silly nana’s.
let me know how your first wardrive goes :)
This is interesting, am going to try it on my 760.
I was wondering if there is a way to run the nuvi on a touch screen PC with all the features one could use in a standalone nuvi?
Do you mean get whatever is displayed on your nuvi to display on your PC? I don’t think that is possible. However you could use it with another piece of software that takes the GPS information (ie: coordinates, altitude, speed, heading, etc) and uses that (with seperate maps, the maps on your nuvi are locked) to perform similar tasks that the nuvi would make… There are numerous small USB GPS devices that come with bundled software. Perhaps there is a way to integrate this GPS information with google maps?
The reason I wanted to get the GPS information was for use in other programs, like NetStumbler which uses GPS information and Wi-Fi access point/device transmit signal strength (SNR) to try and plot the physical locations of them on a map.
Searching is just engaging.Thank you for new information.