Garmin Bluetooth sound quality

DJones

I was wondering if anyone else has issues with sound quality using Garmin's bluetooth models? The speaker on the unit is less than perfect and people on the other end have complained about the quality too.:(

Mine came with an FM Transmitter which certainly fixes things at my end but not for the person at the other end of the line. (The chief problem with the FM transmitter is that it has to be plugged into the cigarette lighter socket which means cluttered/ugly & dangerous wires sprawled across the car!):mad:

I think I'll go back to my old handsfree kit... though my Garmin keeps complaining that my phone is disconnected when I connect to the other unit.:mad:

Alun

DJones wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone else has issues with sound quality using Garmin's bluetooth models? The speaker on the unit is less than perfect and people on the other end have complained about the quality too.:(

I've got a nuvi 760 and I've had the same problems. I can hear them quite clearly but I have to shout like crazy for them to hear me.

Mine came with an FM Transmitter which certainly fixes things at my end but not for the person at the other end of the line. (The chief problem with the FM transmitter is that it has to be plugged into the cigarette lighter socket which means cluttered/ugly & dangerous wires sprawled across the car!)

On mine the FM transmitter is integrated into the unit itself, and it works fine just on battery power .. you're not confusing it with the FM traffic receiver which is built in to the cigarette lighter plug are you?

DJones

I'm a muppet... you're right I'm confusing it with the FM traffic receiver which is built in to the cigarette lighter plug!:o

Thanks Alun - that solves half of my problem anyway!!

Alun

DJones wrote: »

I'm a muppet... you're right I'm confusing it with the FM traffic receiver which is built in to the cigarette lighter plug!:o

Thanks Alun - that solves half of my problem anyway!!

No problem

I've also discovered in the meantime that you can get an external microphone from Garmin that plugs into the cradle. Reports on the net say that it makes a huge improvement and gets rid of the echo many people report when using the FM transmitter to listen to the audio. I'm thinking of getting one myself, although the prospect of having to route the wire is putting me off.

See here https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=1445#

Krusty_Clown

On a tentatively related note, I'm buying a Bluetooth enabled Stereo (Sony MEX BT5000), and am hoping to route the voice prompts and calls through the stereo via BT (from a Garmin Zumo 550). I presume that this should be no problem (given that this is supported for a BT head-set). It supports A2DP and HFP.

Flying

Have you tried to get a 3.5 mm aux in socket in your car (on the headunit) and plug the 3.5 mm on the Nuvi directly into it, I used the FM transmitter (660FM) it is okay in non built up area's but otherwise it is crap.

Alun

Flying wrote: »

Have you tried to get a 3.5 mm aux in socket in your car (on the headunit) and plug the 3.5 mm on the Nuvi directly into it, I used the FM transmitter (660FM) it is okay in non built up area's but otherwise it is crap.

I don't have a problem with mine .. what frequency do you have it tuned to? I have mine set to 87.6MHz and haven't come across anything yet that has interfered with it.

Alun

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

On a tentatively related note, I'm buying a Bluetooth enabled Stereo (Sony MEX BT5000), and am hoping to route the voice prompts and calls through the stereo via BT (from a Garmin Zumo 550). I presume that this should be no problem (given that this is supported for a BT head-set). It supports A2DP and HFP.

I'd not be so sure. I can't see any way on my 760 to route voice prompts or calls through anything but the inbuilt speaker or the FM transmitter. I don't have a BT headset to test with, so maybe that option pops up if it detects one, I don't know.

wallyworld

Probably not a fix for the problem described by OP, but I was having all sorts of problems with my Garmin Nuvi 670 and bluetooth. The connection was getting dropped, hard time getting connected, hard to hear etc.

Anyway, it turns out that Garmin had updated the bluetooth software (and a whole bunch of other stuff), which I obtained off of its website. This release date for these patches was 31/10/2007.

Once I downloaded/installed these patches, bluetooth works like a charm. Absolutely no problems.

Krusty_Clown

Alun wrote: »

I'd not be so sure. I can't see any way on my 760 to route voice prompts or calls through anything but the inbuilt speaker or the FM transmitter. I don't have a BT headset to test with, so maybe that option pops up if it detects one, I don't know.

The Zumo is designed to output voice prompts (calls and music (mono only) to a BT headset, for motorcyclists. Fingers crossed that it'll also work for the car stereo.

Alun

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

The Zumo is designed to output voice prompts (calls and music (mono only) to a BT headset, for motorcyclists. Fingers crossed that it'll also work for the car stereo.

Aah, that would make sense, I suppose .. I'd forgotten the Zumo was specifically designed for motorcyclists.