Your experience with 2595 LMT traffic reception?

[TimL2]

I bought a Nuvi 2595 LMT in July and generally I've been very pleased with it when compared with my old Nuvi 300. One thing doesn't seem to work very well and that's the traffic service reception - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

On long motorway journeys, more often than not when I press the green traffic button, the heading at the top of the screen says "Poor reception for xx minutes". When it does say "Traffic up to date", it has been excellent, giving warning of hold-ups and adjusting the ETA.

I've gone through all the recommended actions from the Garmin Support FAQ, without any better result. Before I contact Garmin Support, what has been your experience of traffic service reception with the 2595?

-- Tim

[sussamb]

I take it you're talking about the FM traffic?

Are you using the supplied wire antenna that plugs into the power/traffic cable? That makes a significant difference, at least on my 1490.

[TimL2]

Yes, I am using the supplied wire antenna, and I've now mounted it vertically on the windscreen. The Garmin FAQ says "Ensure the [traffic receiver/power] cable is not coiled, bundled, tucked away, or otherwise blocked from traffic signal"- which is a bit difficult considering that the cable is about three times as long as the distance between the power outlet and the satnav.

I presume I'm using FM traffic. As part of the troubleshooting process suggested by the Garmin FAQ I reset the FM tables.

[sussamb]

I have mine vertical too and that seems to work fine, and I have a Ford Mondeo with the 'hot screen' but it clearly works OK through that

I've only ever experienced the 'poor reception for x minutes' in the hills/valleys around Brecon. Elsewhere in the UK (less Scotland where I haven't taken it) it's worked fine ... and even got excellent results in France in the summer.

[TimL2]

Thanks, sussamb - it does look as though mine is not working as well as it should.

[briwy]

I have exactly the same problem. To put it bluntly it's rubbish.

After talking to Garmin about it they decided it was a faulty lead/aerial and exchanged it for a new one but it hasn't made any difference.
It's still very intermittent at picking anything up. I thought it was probably because we live in a rural area but even on motorways and cities it still doesn't connect well.

We have now invested in the Live services which seem to work well, only problem is that it is dedicated to one phone rather than the unit which is a pain and it does mean that abroad we will get charged for the data it uses.

[sussamb]

I have to disagree, mine seems to work fine.

You need to ensure the antenna is sited corrrectly so that it gets a good signal ... just like you would for any receiver

[briwy]

Well perhaps the units vary in sensitivity.
I can only speak as I find and having tried the aerial (with the vertical bit) in all sorts of positions and different vehicles it's still not working.
Maybe works better in some areas than others as well.
As I said in a previous post, the traffic info in my other car (VW Columbus) which as far as I know picks up the same FM data works fine in the same areas so I can only assume that the Garmin system doesn't work as well.

[briwy]

Garmin have now decided that there may be a fault with the unit itself and are changing it for a new one.
Hopefully that will sort the problem.
I must say that Garmin have been helpful with this problem, keen to sort it out and are replacing the unit without any arguments.

[M8TJT]

Don't forget to let us know the outcome

[sussamb]

Definitely. As I said, mine seems to work fine so it would be good to get confirmation that the unit was the cause

From reading posts elsewhere Garmin do seem good at swapping units when they need to, a plus to them

[briwy]

Got the replacement unit back from Garmin yesterday, relieved to see that it has the latest firmware and maps already on so that saved a few hours download.
Tried out the Traffic today on a 200 mile round trip from home in the Peak District up to the North West.
It is definitely a lot better than the old unit but the coverage does seem to be confined to mainly urban areas. I deliberately just left it on the Traffic reception screen to see when it had s signal but even on parts of the M6 it dropped out occasionally for a few minutes.
Away from built up areas it soon lost a signal which is a bit of a pain as it means that I can't see what traffic is the route until I have travelled 15 - 20 minutes from home.
Overall, I guess the unit is now functioning as it should and top marks to Garmin for their service. I sent the old unit off last Wednesday so basically it was a by return replacement given that the weekend was in the way.

One odd thing though is that POI Loader and Mapsource both don't recognise the new unit. No problems with the old one. Basecamp and Mapupdater both recognise it straight away so I'm a bit baffled by this.
I can work around it to get POIs on by loading them to the memory card from POI Loader, putting the card back in the unit which then asks if I want them transferred to the main memory so it works OK but it's bit odd.

[sussamb]

Sounds like it's in MTP mode, which Basecamp etc can see but older programs like Mapsource cannot.

Mapsource can be made to work with the newer devices, but they need to be set to Mass Storage mode. To do this:

1. Press the upper right hand corner of screen for 10 seconds.
2. The Developers Screen will pop up
3. Scroll down to MTP SETTINGS
4. Change from AUTO DETECT to MASS STORAGE
5. Shut down NUVI and connect to PC
6. Mapsource should now see it.

As an alternative to step 1 above, you can bring up the Nuvi's "dashboard" screen, then press and hold the speedometer for about 10 seconds to access the developer screen.

[briwy]

Yes, that's sorted it, thanks sussamb

The screen needed on the 2595 is the Diagnostics screen though, not the Developer screen.
To get to it you start the unit up normally, go into the Volume screen and then hold the top right corner as you say.
Then you can scroll down to the MTP settings.

I wish they wouldn't keep changing things.

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