Garmin the gift that keeps taking (1 Viewer)

[Warmleys]

This is getting completely mad. Garmin dam garmin, long story short. Wanted to get the best say nav for our motorhome as we are away for 4 months. So, dam the expense we decided on a , and the word sticks in my throat , garmin camper 1090. For nearly £600.
When it arrived, it didn't seem to do anything right or show poi and many horrible failings. I tried to contact help page, no luck, tried many times. Then..
This afternoon I was on garmin help page and as often the case a chat help box came up asking if she could help. So I said please help.me with my garmin. Very helpful, took over my mac laptop as they do, things started to download , all.looking good then it stopped. The , Indian man on the phone , he phoned me, said something about a dodgy firewall and garmin has apple tech in house and they could help me, but.... I have to pay Over £200 to sort it out. No way, so this was a SCAM. Thankfully I didn't give my card details. So managed to actually speak to someone from garmin they sounded concerned and sent me an email so I could tell them all the scammers details. Then they put me through to someone that could help me with this wretched machine and after a while dropped the line and didn't ring back. So to recap....
Because I stupidly bought a garmin I had an inferior sat nav, spent hours finding camp sites that had wifi, and finally get scared for good measure. Well thank you garmin. Oh, and, your not going to believe this as it warns me of too narrow roads as it has moho dimensions it Sent us down a very narrow road and we had to back up and ripped the back off the motorhome in the process. Thank you garmin, the gift that keeps giving

 

[maison]

Sorry to hear of your problems but we have used our Garmin for eight years and found it great.

It’s never sent us down an unsuitable road although it does sometimes send us on what seems to be a circuitous route in order to avoid roads that turn out to be OK.

The POIs have also worked well.

Can you really blame Garmin if you logged onto a scam site?

I sympathise with the rest of your post though.

 

[Odd job]

I would check your computer, if you let someone dodgy to run you laptop, god knows what they have done to it

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[Mikey RV]

I have a Garmin camper, had it for 4/5 years and it’s fantastic. Taken us all over the U.K. and France, Spain Portugal and never missed a beat. We update it free every 3/4 months. I have put it to the test with roads I know to avoid and it has avoided them. I also accept that at some point it will let us down but like everything or every body we all make mistakes.

 

[WESTY66]

Sorry to hear of your problems but we have used our Garmin for eight years and found it great.

It’s never sent us down an unsuitable road although it does sometimes send us on what seems to be a circuitous route in order to avoid roads that turn out to be OK.

The POIs have also worked well.

Can you really blame Garmin if you logged onto a scam site?

I sympathise with the rest of your post though.

Same here, used Garmin for years with basecamp to do specific routing, never sent me down the wrong road, bloody Tom Tom on the other hand........wouldn’t have one give me, long story

 

[Warmleys]

Sorry to hear of your problems but we have used our Garmin for eight years and found it great.

It’s never sent us down an unsuitable road although it does sometimes send us on what seems to be a circuitous route in order to avoid roads that turn out to be OK.

The POIs have also worked well.

Can you really blame Garmin if you logged onto a scam site?

I sympathise with the rest of your post though.

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[Warmleys]

Yes!!! A£600 sat nav that's worse than unless, if there is something that needs to be done they should reply to my questions, when I get on again to the GARMIN help site I get scared. So yes, I dam well do blame them

 

[marchie]

We have ended up with 2 x Garmin 780 satnavs [1 is Avtex CAMH rebadge supplied by Dealer when the Pioneer SD Card failed]. Some aspects are a bit clunky/quirky, including the Search facility, but, overall, it works very well and is much more intuitive than the VW satnav for the Tiguan. The Garmin booklet does say that it plans routes that will be safe for your camper, BUT, sometimes there is no suitable approach road and the onus is on the Driver to both drive within local driving regs AND to make his/her own decisions on the route to take.

On a practical note, I set the initial route, and, [especially if I have had to do a last minute adjustment/u turn etc on the final approach], when I reach the site, I save it to Favourites as 'XYZ site Actual' to identify it as distinct from the database of campsites. A regular local site quotes the farmhouse coordinates instead of the CL Field, so Ms Garmin tells me to turn left in 200 metres, instead of right in 100 metres, and that's where the 'XYZ site Actual' saved location routine means I only make the same mistake once ... 'ish

Steve

 

[Lucky]

I've used Garmin for a decade, I think they are poorly developed and supported products so I feel your pain, but I haven't found anything better so I keep using it.

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[Nanniemate]

 

[chaser]

Just use Google maps for free

 

[tofo]

Thinking can you return to where it was purchased as not fit for use
question 2 is it genuine Garmin product

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[Howard B]

I bought a Garmin Camper and wasnt impressed with its routing, so sold it and am using Waze for now.

 

[63720]

Just use Google maps for free

Google maps are not recommend for oversize vehicles. Like you I use it with a Garmin for the bigger picture - on a 10" tablet.

 

[Podney]

I feel your pain! I’m just a simple country boy and I don’t understand computers et al. So when we are in France,my darling wife uses our Garmin Satnav and I use the map..........interesting at times! But it’s actually the best way.

In the uk I use Phillips motorhome and caravan map book which is similar to the Trucker map mentioned above....superb!

I don’t think that you will ever be happy with Garmin.

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[63720]

Your Garmin will only route you around roads that have a statutory restriction. There are many, no thousands, of country roads that are extremely narrow but without restriction and you are likely to meet a bus or a tanker or a harvester or a feed lorry or an animal transporter or a 4*4 with a trailer. The best plan is to stick to the biggest roads for as long as you can without taking ANY shortcuts guided by any satnav, the first and last mile is usually the worst.

 

[RubyOptics]

So I said please help.me with my garmin. Very helpful, took over my mac laptop as they do, things started to download , all.looking good then it stopped.

Get an anti-virus, turn off your wi-fi. Run a full, thorough scan. Don't go online until it's finished the scan. If some unknown person has downloaded files onto your computer, play it safe and please take my suggestion.

 

[Podney]

Just use Google maps for free

How do you cope with width and height restrictions? I understand it doesn’t show these?

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[63720]

I feel your pain! I’m just a simple country boy and I don’t understand computers et al. So when we are in France,my darling wife uses our Garmin Satnav and I use the map..........interesting at times! But it’s actually the best way.

In the uk I use Phillips motorhome and caravan map book which is similar to the Trucker map mentioned above....superb!

I don’t think that you will ever be happy with Garmin.

Like you when abroad we have 2 Garmins, his and hers and they rarely agree, but I usually follow the roadsigns untill we get close to our stop then I look at Google.

 

[RubyOptics]

How do you cope with width and height restrictions? I understand it doesn’t show these?

At the moment, I deal with google maps by putting up with the nagging fear in the back of my mind that round the next blind turn will be a bloody tiny bridge I can't cross

 

[Warmleys]

I've used Garmin for a decade, I think they are poorly developed and supported products so I feel your pain, but I haven't found anything better so I keep using it.

I'd rather use a signpost

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[Warmleys]

Get an anti-virus, turn off your wi-fi. Run a full, thorough scan. Don't go online until it's finished the scan. If some unknown person has downloaded files onto your computer, play it safe and please take my suggestion.

Thanks, we are on the road for 4 months but will do that when back.

 

[Nanniemate]

google maps (other makes available) allows you to drive the road prior to travelling however if you are going to do this all the time may as well stay at home and travel remotely

 

[chaser]

How do you cope with width and height restrictions? I understand it doesn’t show these?

There really are very few roads that can't handle delivery vans, dustbin lorry's, cattle trucks, tractors, bus's and the like, must admit our van is not over wide being an old ambulance, but never come across anything we couldn't go through.
And if you are a bit worried where you are going you can always change the screen to sattalite , or Google earth and have a look.

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[maison]

Yes!!! A£600 sat nav that's worse than unless, if there is something that needs to be done they should reply to my questions, when I get on again to the GARMIN help site I get scared. So yes, I dam well do blame them

Once again I am surprised.

I am not the most tech savvy person by a long chalk but, when I cocked up an update download, the Garmin help desk talked me through how to correct it, in terms that even I could understand.

 

[Grummyb]

I'm still trying to workout how you can blame the satnav for the damage to the back of your van

 

[Grummyb]

View attachment 507632

Is that a 12 volt version and does it come with a power lead

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[Brianmor]

There really are very few roads that can't handle delivery vans, dustbin lorry's, cattle trucks, tractors, bus's and the like, must admit our van is not over wide being an old ambulance, but never come across anything we couldn't go through.
And if you are a bit worried where you are going you can always change the screen to sattalite , or Google earth and have a look.

You've obviously never driven in Devon or Cornwall.
The 1st time in Devon with my 1st motorhome Google maps directed me for the last 12miles to the campsite on virtually single track roads that I couldn't turn off of .Even if I could I wouldn't have known if turning off would have been better or worse.
When I returned from holiday I bought a Garmin camper and never looked back.

 

[marchie]

You've obviously never driven in Devon or Cornwall.
The 1st time in Devon with my 1st motorhome Google maps directed me for the last 12miles to the campsite on virtually single track roads that I couldn't turn off of .Even if I could I wouldn't have known if turning off would have been better or worse.
When I returned from holiday I bought a Garmin camper and never looked back.

If you never looked back, did you use your mirrors when reversing?

Steve

 

[LesW]

Love our Garmin units, all three of them, (including a motorcycle unit) have no problems at all with the routing, most of the time I create my own routes using Mapsource, though Basecamp is also a useful program, also include my own POI (stop overs, LPG etc) with no problems.

Haven't contacted Garmin tech for years, but when I did the response was excellent. I find it strange that the occasional user has difficulties then immediately takes to social media to proclaim how 'useless' the product is.

Google maps is fine but not always accurate, and not as versatile as a Garmin stand alone satnav, but if you like it then that's a decent enough reason.

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