Garmin DriveSmart 65 Premium GPS w/ Lifetime Maps/Traffic (Factory Refurbished)

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01-19-2021 at 05:49 PM #61

I love my Garmin GPS.. I leave it on all the time when I'm driving and it displays the speed limit and my speed and if my speed goes over the speed limit it turns red so I know to slow down. The screen is much bigger than my phone so easy to see. Can't imagine how much money I have saved in traffic tickets.

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01-19-2021 at 06:24 PM #62

Forgot to lock my car last night and my old Nuvi got stolen. In for 1, thanks OP

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01-19-2021 at 07:46 PM #63

I constantly travel for my job and am always going on trips and this has been a lifesaver for me. Hate relying on my phone for GPS as it burns up the battery. The updates make it solid. If you don't get around alot then by all means use your phone. If you get out and are constantly going somewhere then this is more than worth it.

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01-19-2021 at 08:39 PM #64

Quote from ansonvs

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That is incorrect or misinformation Even if you neither have data plan nor no cell service, Google or Apple maps on smart phone till led you to your destination with its own GPS. I tried several times.

Well, maybe I was doing something wrong. Last time I used offline map, it plotted a course. I missed an exit and things got very nasty, and it just hanged there with no guidance on how to get back on the course. So I had to turned on data to get things moving. The reception was poor though, I don't know if that had anything to do with it.

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01-20-2021 at 07:10 AM #65

Quote from bluesteps

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Sorry if this is a dumb question. Is this really better than a cheap phone and google maps? I haven't used my Garmin GPS for at least 5 years, especially after google allowed offline maps.

if you do many road trips through remote areas or national parks, you will feel it's the pain the butt using phones.

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01-20-2021 at 08:01 AM #66

Quote from SociableMint9995

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Firefox. What? How can Google track you when you're using a competing browser maintained by a non-profit organization? It can do so because before Firefox takes you to your destination, it first checks to see whether that website is on Google's blacklist, an ever-changing list of about 600,000 websites that Google's bots have identified – sometimes mistakenly – as dangerous. No government agency or industry association ever gave Google the authority to maintain such a list, but it exists, and Firefox uses it. Thus, Google is alerted when you visit websites through Firefox. [B]Even more disturbing is the fact that Mozilla, the organization that maintains Firefox, receives 85 percent of its $163 million in annual income from… that's right, Google. In return, Firefox makes Google its default search engine.

You have no idea what or how BIG TECH can track you! Shall we explore further on Part Two or Part Three?

you are not bringing anything new to the table here, it's public knowledge that most top browsers are paid to have google search engine in them . . . but you can change the search engine to something else if you object to google search engine.

having a search engine and firefox selling your info to google on the side is a big jump . . . post some credible links, would love to read more about that.

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01-20-2021 at 01:48 PM #67

Quote from budster

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There's an amazon review that says the BC30 backup camera is not compatible with this GPS. Is this true? I could not really understand the review after reading it a couple times. Quoting it here.

Having a BC30 and a DriveSmart 61, I think I understand the issue quoted.

In order to use a BC30 with any compatible DriveSmart unit, you must use the special power cable that comes with the BC30 with the DriveSmart unit. This power cable has an inline wireless transmitter.

It sounds like the DriveSmart 65 with Alexa has an 3.5mm AUX output on the power cable that it comes with, and this lets you route the unit's audio to your car's speakers (if your car has an AUX jack, which many cars in the past 10-12 years do).

Since the BC30-provided power adapter doesn't have this feature, you are relegated to using the DriveSmart unit's built-in speaker.

I admit that it'd be great to have both features (I wish my DriveSmart 61 had this feature), but other than this, I don't see why the BC30 camera kit won't work with the DriveSmart 65 w/Alexa.

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01-20-2021 at 03:33 PM #68

Quote from Jawadali

:

Having a BC30 and a DriveSmart 61, I think I understand the issue quoted.

In order to use a BC30 with any compatible DriveSmart unit, you must use the special power cable that comes with the BC30 with the DriveSmart unit. This power cable has an inline wireless transmitter.

It sounds like the DriveSmart 65 with Alexa has an 3.5mm AUX output on the power cable that it comes with, and this lets you route the unit's audio to your car's speakers (if your car has an AUX jack, which many cars in the past 10-12 years do).

Since the BC30-provided power adapter doesn't have this feature, you are relegated to using the DriveSmart unit's built-in speaker.

I admit that it'd be great to have both features (I wish my DriveSmart 61 had this feature), but other than this, I don't see why the BC30 camera kit won't work with the DriveSmart 65 w/Alexa.

Thanks for the insight. Do you know if the BC30's power cable can also serve as a traffic antenna to allow the traffic feature to work with compatible DriveSmart GPSs? These refurbished units are coming with TA20 power cables to allow the traffic feature to work so I'm wondering if this would still work when using a BC30 or other backup camera.

Also, on not being able to use the car's audio system when also using a BC30, is it possible to connect the GPS to the car's audio via bluetooth so that both the BC30 and car's audio can be used at the same time?

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01-20-2021 at 05:44 PM #69

I have a few GPS devices, automotive and handheld, but some Slickdealers pointed me to better alternatives, which I'll repeat as a PSA. You can use your own phone or a junker Android phone (an expired Tracfone, in my case) and choose from a variety of GPS/map applications that allow you to download the map files over WiFi so that 3G/4G is never needed.

For street navigation, my favorite is HERE WeGo ( https://play.google.com/store/app...e.app.maps ).

For dirt roads and trails, my favorite is MAPS.ME ( https://play.google.com/store/app...e.maps.pro ).

The apps and the maps are free. Since I got these two apps, my Garmin and Magellan devices have stayed in a drawer.

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Last edited by LOREM_IPSUM January 20, 2021 at 05:52 PM.

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01-21-2021 at 01:01 AM #70

Quote from alcatraaz

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For those saying just use phone, I was driving across British Columbia and through the wilderness, the phone map just stopped working, was totally lost with no idea where or how to get out, remembered my old Garmin in the trunk, removed it and voila that thing steered me out and easy.

Maybe get an app that monitors cell signal and alerts, or look at a cell signal map and offline those areas?

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01-21-2021 at 07:57 AM #71

Quote from Dllemm

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Maybe get an app that monitors cell signal and alerts, or look at a cell signal map and offline those areas?

Or just keep a backup Garmin which takes away the hassle and is WAY more reliable in ANY terrain whatsoever?

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01-21-2021 at 11:10 AM #72

Quote from bluesteps

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Sorry if this is a dumb question. Is this really better than a cheap phone and google maps? I haven't used my Garmin GPS for at least 5 years, especially after google allowed offline maps.

As someone stated above, use one as primary unit, and other as backup. I use both all the time because I rarely have both unit working flawlessly.
I learned never to rely on single device, one device always fails at the most critical time. Garmin does it intentionally, forcing users to buy new.
S/W engineers must prove their worthiness to employers with this kind of trick...

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Last edited by eiei January 21, 2021 at 11:13 AM.

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01-21-2021 at 04:42 PM #73

Quote from rmplatt

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Essentially, anytime you hook up your unit to your computer it will check for an update to both firmware and new map data. So as long as the company stays in business you'll have up to date maps as long as YOU keep it updated. To my knowledge it's not rolled out on a schedule.

This unit also has built in WiFi so theoretically you don't even have to hook it up to your computer anymore.

Sounds easy enough, Thanks.

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