Stolen Gps!

December 31, 2005

Some lowlife broke into my car last night as it sat in our driveway and stole our Garmin Street Pilot III (as well as my new Sirius Radio). Happy New Year to us.

Anyway. This model requires a separate software CD that has the map information on it. It only holds so much information, so if you have to load a map from a different location, you need to dump off what you have on the chip. You can buy this software, but you must enter your information and the serial number of the unit before you can use it.

We plan to call Garmin about this when they're open on Monday, but we are wondering if this information is kept anywhere, and therefore, the unit would be trackable. Anyone had any experience with a stolen GPS that would care to share?

December 31, 2005

Oh, and another, related question: Since we will be in the market for a new GPS, I wanted to get your recommendations for one.

We use our dash mounted Street Pilot all the time, for everything. We do use it while driving between caches, yes, but also for just about everything else. We are lost without it.

We will replace it, but the Street Pilot III has been discontinued, and we are looking at newer models, there are some with touch screens, for instance. We can find used Street Pilot III's, but we're not sure if it would be smarter to just get a new one. Our big concern is that we will be able to enter waypoints directly. This is not listed on most of the specs we are finding online, since it's not something that's commonly used. But it's essential to the health of our caching habit! We loved the Street Pilot because of that and for several other reasons such as the large and easy to read display.

Anyone have any recommendations for a dash mounted GPS for us?

January 5, 2006

*crickets*

I am glad that nobody is answering, that means there is not a lot of experience on the forum with people having their dashboard GPS units stolen. :laughing:

In case anyone needs to know, Garmin says that they will flag the unit as stolen with a police report faxed to them, and they were able to get the serial number for us from their files. If someone tries to load new software onto the unit, it will cause Garmin to capture their information and notify us. Unfortunately,

1) The person who tries to load map software will likely be an innocent bystander

2) If the person using it stays in the area that is loaded on it now, they won't need to load new maps. That's possible, some people never leave home!

Anyway, we will probably never see it again, but we think it will be covered by our homeowner's policy.

Let this be a lesson to you: Don't leave your GPS in the car. :unsure:

2.4k · January 5, 2006

Sorry to hear about the theft of your SP III, but thanks for contacting Garmin about it. Eventually the word will spread that stolen Garmin GPS units aren't worth very much if they can never have their maps updated and that should reduce the number of thefts.

1.1k · January 5, 2006

I have not had the experience myself, but it sounds like you did the right thing. I doubt your average thug thief (anyone who would steal another person's stuff is a thug in my book) knows or cares whether about uploading maps. Unfurtunately, it is not like a cell phone that you can have disabled. You can have your Sirius Radio disable so no one else can activate it.

As far as new units go, the Quest or Quest 2 would probably be the closest thing to replace your SP. AFAIK you can enter waypoints, use it as a handheld or use it in the car.

edited for poor grammar!

Edited January 6, 2006 by CenTexDodger

January 5, 2006

I missed your post earlier. My SPIII was also stolen from my car last summer. Garmin needs some proof of it being stolen (a police report in my case) and will mark it that way in their database. Don't know that it helped, I still needed a new GPS and the old one hasn't surfaced.

As far as a replacement, I've been very happy with the reconditioned 2610 I purchased through TVnav.com for $550. It's a lot faster in recalculating routes - my major gripe with the SPIII.

Avoid the 2620 - you don't get CityNav with that package, just the maps on the StreetPilot, nothing on the PC. I think you can get a 2gig card on the 2610 for less than the 2620 and have it loaded up with ALL the US maps by tvnav.

The 27xx series looks good too, but I don't know whether you can get a price break there and I have no experience with the units. Talk to Darell at tvnav, he can at least tell you what the current options are.

Sorry you lost the old SPIII, but the new stuff is better.

Jon

January 6, 2006

Thanks for the information, sorry you lost your Street Pilot, too.

But what about entering waypoints manually out in the field? Can you do that with your new unit?

We are not finding a lot of information on that function. We do both agree with you about the processor speed of the SPIII. It was slow, but we really liked the thing. We use it every freakin day, and really miss it.

I am afraid I am not following you on your reasons to avoid the 2620. Doesn't it come fully loaded with the maps, no interface necessary? Is that a drawback?

January 6, 2006

I have not had the experience myself, but it sounds like you did the right thing. I doubt your average thug thief (anyone who would steal another person's stuff is a thug in my book). Unfurtunately, it is not like a cell phone that you can have disabled. You can have your Sirius Radio disable so no one else can activate it.

As far as new units go, the Quest or Quest 2 would probably be the closest thing to replace your SP. AFAIK you can enter waypoints, use it as a handheld or use it in the car.

Thanks very much for the recommendation!

Regarding the Quest 2, can you enter your own waypoints into these without having to interface with a PC? Also, we are concerned about the size of this thing, as we liked the large screen on the Street Pilot, it was easy to see. It seems really small.

January 6, 2006

The only way I have found on my 2720 to enter waypoints manually in the field is to edit a favorite.

January 6, 2006

Can you do that with your new unit?
We are not finding a lot of information on that function. We do both agree with you about the processor speed of the SPIII. It was slow, but we really liked the thing. We use it every freakin day, and really miss it.

I am afraid I am not following you on your reasons to avoid the 2620. Doesn't it come fully loaded with the maps, no interface necessary? Is that a drawback?

Yep, you can enter waypoints in the field. Even nicer, the 2610 has a remote control and a touch screen, so entering coordinates is pretty quick, even without moving the gps from the dashboard. The only feature I wish it had (and the SPIII didn't have it either) is to identify caches along a route - it will list POI's along a route, but not waypoints. I haven't found anything I could do with the SPIII that I can't with the 2610, it's really a pretty good improvement over the SPIII.

The 2620 comes with maps fully loaded, true. But you can get a 2 gig card and load all the maps yourself or have the vendor do it at about the same price. You have exactly the same functionality on the 26xx either way, except that the 2620 uses a microdrive rather than a flash memory - I preferred the flash memory to avoid the moving parts in the disk drive, with its presumed reliability and shock issues.

The bigger concern for me re the 2620 was that I wouldn't have any maps on the PC. I use the PC maps to plan caching trips (selecting through GSAK). I think you probably could download and run MapSource to manage waypoints (GSAK/GPSbabel doesn't download waypoints via USB to the 26xx) though I'd have to read Garmin's license to be sure, but you would have no desktop routing capabilities and no detailed maps at the desktop. And if you ever want to use it in Europe, you would have no way of buying and downloading European maps to it.

Jon

Edited January 6, 2006 by ikim & noj

January 6, 2006

The only way I have found on my 2720 to enter waypoints manually in the field is to edit a favorite.

Can't you hold down the Page button (also labelled in blue as Mark on the 26xx) and create a new waypoint on the 2720? That's what we do, create a new waypoint (which is whereever we are at the moment) and edit it to the waypoiint we want. I haven't laid hands on a 27xx yet though - it would be a surprising omission if Garmin didn't provide any way to mark a new waypoint though without a PC.

jon

January 7, 2006

Ikim & Noj, I want to thank you for your help. Your comments have helped us a great deal, and we have decided to go with the Garmin SP2610. Joe found a refurbished one and a 2gig card online for a reasonable price, and we expect it to arrive by Fedex today. :unsure: It's so hard to function without it when you are used to having that guidance. It will be so nice to have a GPS in the car again. Yay.

January 9, 2006

Glad to be of help. You will really love the remote control feature of the 2610 and the fast recalculations. Don't imagine you'll need any help or advice, but if you do, email me or post...

Jon

Oh, and plan on a couple of hours (depending on your processor speed) for downloading the 2gig chip. It will go a little faster if you have a card reader (and you can back it up that way too).

j

Edited January 9, 2006 by ikim & noj

January 9, 2006

Yaknow, it really wasn't bad loading the software, it took, what? 30 minutes? to load Maine to Florida, all the way out ot Indiana. We got it by Fedex on Saturday at 10:30 and were ready to leave by 11:15. It is everything you said it is, the recalculating function is amazing. We laughed about our old unit taking forever to recalculate, and then proclaiming "EXIT LEFT!" riiiight after we've gone past the exit.

It's so easy. And it is compatible with the new map software we bought just before the SPIII was stolen. (I think you get two licenses per disk). It's all good. And it only cost approximately seventy bajillion dollars. <_< I am never letting this thing out of my sight, ever.

January 9, 2006

I remember well the old SPIII letting us know we should have taken the LAST exit, over and over and over again as we drove down the road.

Our 2610 no longer stays in the car overnight. "Sara" lives a pampered life, second only to the cats who own us and the household (in the car, Sara rules undisputed).

BTW, with 2 gigs, you should have been able to load ALL the maps, every single last one for the map set.

Jon

Edited January 9, 2006 by ikim & noj

January 10, 2006

You named your GPS? :unsure:

We do refer to ours as "her" because we chose the female voice with the English accent. We also try not to make her angry by going off route too much. She never seems to get angry, but we are waiting for the day when she tells us she's sick of us disobeying her and that we can just find our own d*mn way.

1.1k · January 10, 2006

That's hilarious! I call my 60cs "Mr. GPS", or "Mr. G" for short. When I take a route that is different than the one Mr. G has given me he starts beeping incessantly(understand that heandhelds don't talk, they beep). I tell my wife that Mr. G is getting aggravated with me. One of these days I fear I am going to look at the screen and it will say "I GIVE UP!!"

Edited January 10, 2006 by CenTexDodger

January 10, 2006

Our SPIII also developed a personality - sometimes Emma was quite discouraged by our continual routing misbehavior, other times she was clearly impatient when she said "ding ding - off route, recalculating", yet other times, she spoke with resignation, knowing that we almost never got it right.

Emma totally lost it one day when we just couldn't seem to follow directions (it was a day in which her directions were particularly "creative") - after the usual off route complaint had been voiced for the umpteenth time, she announced the distance to the next turn as "drive 30 miles, 25 miles, 24 miles, 22 miles, 19 miles, 18 miles, 7 miles" and turned herself off before she fried her electronic brain any further. We gave her a rest and after she recovered from her breakdown, we followed her directions more carefully for a while. After all, we needed her guidance to get back from the remote location in the swamps she had directed us into.

Alas, having been GPS-napped, Emma is directing someone else these days. Hope they appreciate her quirks as much as we did.

Both Emma and Sara have English accents, but Emma was a bit more of a nanny-type.

Jon

January 10, 2006

she announced the distance to the next turn as "drive 30 miles, 25 miles, 24 miles, 22 miles, 19 miles, 18 miles, 7 miles" and turned herself off before she fried her electronic brain any further.

I think I would have died laughing if that happened to our SPIII.

Ours did turn off inexplicably once or twice, but she never did the Stepford Wife thing.

3.2k · January 10, 2006

How are these units for geocaching? Easy to input a bunch of caches so the unit will route you to them or a pain in the neck?

I've thought about a unit for my truck because I'm sick of putting my 76CS into and out of the RAM mount I have - not to mention that the mount is destroying the rubber strip down the side of the GPSr.

January 10, 2006

We find ours indispensable. Well, indespensable enough to spend $700 or so to replace it.

It will allow you to route off the beaten path, and has gotten us to many a cache parking spot that we would otherwise have had to guess at. We have done some caches without it, but not too many.

BTW, for those of you who might misunderstand, it's not suitable at all for caching on its own, you will still need a handheld unit for the actual cache hunt. We did use our SPIII a couple of times when we were desperate and our Magellan Explorist was in the hospital, but it wasn't all that great. Our new unit has no battery backup, (and no power source outside the car pluggy thing), so it's not an option.

January 10, 2006

How are these units for geocaching? Easy to input a bunch of caches so the unit will route you to them or a pain in the neck?

I've thought about a unit for my truck because I'm sick of putting my 76CS into and out of the RAM mount I have - not to mention that the mount is destroying the rubber strip down the side of the GPSr.

The 26xx series does not have batteries, so unless the caches are driveby enough so you only have to open the car door, forget it.

They are optimized for car navigation purely. They'll get you into the vicinity of a cache on the roads that are downloaded or in the basemap, but you may be on the wrong side of the Ohio river if that's the closest road.

We use the Streetpilot for getting to the general area and an eTrex for the actual hunt. They are each optimized for the job they do and I don't know of any dual purpose units that do both jobs as well as the separate units (though some of the newer Garmin units may come close).

Jon

3.2k · January 10, 2006

I just asked about navigating to the cache area. I have a 76CS for actually finding the cache.

January 11, 2006

Well, then, I'd say, absolutely, get one. We don't leave home without it. It makes geocaching more fun. Plus, you can download waypoints on it by converting with GSAK and using the Garmin software to import it to the GPS. So when you are driving innocently down the road, you miiiight just spot a cache by accident and you miiiight just *have* to hunt for it.

I think they hold 500 waypoints.

Did I mention we love the thing?

February 18, 2006

One more note to add to this thread. If you do any kind of 4x4 caching, the garmin topo maps are a must have. Autorouting unfortunately does not work on the topo maps but most trails are depicted so you can use the map to find the best route or (more importantly) find an alternate route when the trail you're on has a road pond with Jeep-sucking mud on the bottom.

Real men drive through the road pond. Real stupid men drive through the road pond without a winch.

February 18, 2006

I'm glad all seems to have turned out for the better - even tho you were compelled to upgrade.

I too am gulity of leaving my GPS in the truck often - many times overnight.

I would die!!! As I use my GPS's (GPSV & GPSMAP 60c) every single day between 3 to 9 hours at a clip!

I, for the past 7 years live in a small suburban town where I've (many times) been amazed to find something I left out still there & intact.

A few times I left the garage door open all night - which houses a classic sport racing bike, etc....

My Mom tells me of days when this was the norm & the majority of "people" were in fact honest.

Those days are gone - sadly & it pisses me off to have such a reality check via this forum.

Shame on me I guess... for sitting in my comfort zone.

It would be wonderful if Garmin offered (maybe as an option) to include a reverse tracking feature which can be activated on request similar to LoJack for vehicles.

This would help many a stressed geocacher who misplaced / dropped their unit as well as victims of theft.

Enjoy your new unit.

February 19, 2006

VFRPilot, Garmin does offer something similar to what you suggest on the Rino units. If two units are set correctly then you can "poll" for the location of the other unit... provided it is turned "on" and is in range. I remember reading elsewhere on this forum of a snowmobiler who was able to retrieve a unit lost while traveling using this feature.

February 19, 2006

VFRPilot, Garmin does offer something similar to what you suggest on the Rino units. If two units are set correctly then you can "poll" for the location of the other unit... provided it is turned "on" and is in range. I remember reading elsewhere on this forum of a snowmobiler who was able to retrieve a unit lost while traveling using this feature.

Hey MaGic,

I beleive that to be true.

I would love to have a set of those as I spend considerable time in deep woods - especially w/ my younger son.

They are simply out of my price range.

What I was eluding to was the ability to literally home in on a stolen and / or lost navigation unit.

I'm kinda surprised this hasn't been offered [at least] as an option considering the financial (and emotional) attachments we have to these things?!?!

Looking at it from a business sense (which is often unflattering)...

- it works out better for Garmin if the dedicated user rushes right out & BUY$ another unit, right? Of course I'm right.

2.4k · February 20, 2006

What I was eluding to was the ability to literally home in on a stolen and / or lost navigation unit.

Of course this would require the addition of a transmitting radio in the lost unit. But if it were transmitting continuously it would quickly run down its battery so it would also need a separate receiver so you could remotely activate the transmitter (can't use the GPS frequency since that would violate assorted rules on frequency allocation). And the unit you're using to find it would also need a separate radio with both transmit and receive functions. In other words, you'd have to functionally turn both into Rino-type units - which you've already said are too expensive. How much extra would you be willing to pay just for this 'find lost unit' feature?

Keep in mind that it would only be useful in the event that 1) you realized that the first unit was missing while you're still in range, 2) you do this before the battery runs down, 3) the lost unit has its receiver turned on, and 4) that you have a corresponding tracking unit available with which to find it.

February 21, 2006

What I was eluding to was the ability to literally home in on a stolen and / or lost navigation unit.

How much extra would you be willing to pay just for this 'find lost unit' feature?

Keep in mind that it would only be useful in the event that 1) you realized that the first unit was missing while you're still in range, 2) you do this before the battery runs down, 3) the lost unit has its receiver turned on, and 4) that you have a corresponding tracking unit available with which to find it.

Yes - what I meant was perhaps a constant beacon-like signal similar to that on rescue gps that activated whenever the unit was on and ran off the same power that the unit itself did.

Maybe if there was a function available to deactivate the transmission of the [beacon-like] signal each time you powered the unit on? Similar to that on most cell phones

Most cell phones GPS have either LOCATION or E911ONLY GPS functionality.

Would I mind spending a small monthly fee for this option? no

Would I mind having to hit a button or two when I powered my unit on (password protected) to disable the "signal"? no

What if the beacon was powered by a lithium cell that would last quite long especially if the "function" was turned off on power-up. Maybe I'd change the lithium every 9 months????

Would I like the abiliity to find my GPS if it were lost or stolen? Yes

Is this possible? I'm sure it is

What if I lost the GPS while it was turned off?

Well, unless someone found it and turned it on, It would be gone!

BUT, if someone found, turned it on or a theif - turned it on - it would transmit the signal & maybe I or GARMIN could log into a site & narrow its position.

I'm sure this is possible Peter -

This is all (of course) conjecture & speculation.

2.4k · February 22, 2006

This is all (of course) conjecture & speculation.

Yes, it's clear you haven't thought through what circuitry/firmware would be required in the unit and what external infrastructure support would be needed to make it useful.

Cellphones are required by the FCC to have both location technology and 911 operation and these features can be added with minimal additional hardware on the device since, unlike a GPSr, a cellphone already has to have two-way communication with the network. OTOH, the infrastructure cost is substantial but amortized over a huge number of customers and is justified by the safety concerns and FCC requirements.

I'd note that we already have devices that do basically what you're asking for - emit a beacon signal that can be picked up in an emergency and allow the unit to be found. They're called EPIRBs, include a pretty hefty battery pack to ensure proper operation until found, and usually cost about $500 - $1000+. And in the case of an EPIRB the user is wanting to be found so he's not doing anything to mess it up - unlike thieves who seem to quickly learn all the tricks on disabling alarms, tracking systems, etc.

February 22, 2006

This is all (of course) conjecture & speculation.

Yes, it's clear you haven't thought through what circuitry/firmware would be required in the unit and what external infrastructure support would be needed to make it useful.

Peter,

Our local vet has told us of a gps implant now available for dogs - he said its about the size of or smaller than a quarter.

Couldn't something like this be added to or incorporated into the housing of our gpsr? without the expensive incorporations you reference?

2.4k · February 22, 2006

Our local vet has told us of a gps implant now available for dogs - he said its about the size of or smaller than a quarter.

Couldn't something like this be added to or incorporated into the housing of our gpsr? without the expensive incorporations you reference?

I don't think anything exists yet that's anywhere near the size of a quarter - and implanted devices would have reception issues. There are several devices designed for pet tracking, but all the ones I've seen are things that strap to the dog's collar and are sized about like a cellphone. They're also not cheap and generally require some type of monthly subscription fee - something that devoted pet owners may be willing to pay but I can't see a market for people who are just worried about losing their GPS.

The most practical way that I see of incorporating the necessary two-way communications would be to add cellular phone circuitry to the GPS. But there are plenty of GPS/cellular combination devices already on the market so if you want that capability you'd be best off to buy one of those.

OTOH, I already know people who won't consider getting a GPS because of their unfounded fear that it would allow them to be tracked. If manufacturers start adding this 'lost unit' feature those types of fears would gain some justification and would probably hurt rather than help sales.

February 23, 2006

OTOH, I already know people who won't consider getting a GPS because of their unfounded fear that it would allow them to be tracked. If manufacturers start adding this 'lost unit' feature those types of fears would gain some justification and would probably hurt rather than help sales.

I agree - and am adamant about the whole big brother thing!!

I would take advantage of it if it were offered as an "option"

and would probably hurt rather than help sales

a little earlier in this thread..... I said:

Looking at it from a business sense (which is often unflattering)...
- it works out better for Garmin if the dedicated user rushes right out & BUY$ another unit, right? Of course I'm right.

Peter, thanks for the convo - I learned some things.

Stolen Gps!

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