I purchased this item and while it worked for about 1.5 months after that it developed a short in the cord and would constantly keep trying to turn the gps off. It finally quit working this weekend after 2 and a half months of use. Unfortunately my return period has expired. This is a total waste of money and I do not recommend the product. Garmin Car Power Adapter/Charger for nuvis
I have been using this adapter for about three weeks and it is still fully functional. It fits with my splitter and charges my Garmin unit perfectly. The charger is clearly cheaply constructed, hence the sub-$5 price tag. I'm not sure how one can shell out a whopping $3 for a replacement like this, then come up shocked when it isn't perfect. Anyway, mine works fine, but in time I expect the actual outer "shell" of the charger to fall apart, it just seems poorly constructed. For what it's worth, the Garmin-brand charger that came with my GPS unit showed signs of wear fairly quickly as well.
This product doesn't actually charge the device, it only makes it power up, so it must be plugged into at all times. Additionally, several times through out the trip it "reboots" the Garmin as though it is syncing to a computer, then goes back to the map of where you are going, but if you were supposed to make a turn during that process, you just missed it.
This is a type B USB cable instead of a type A USB cable. If you connect a type B cable, the Nuvi starts up in USB mode. Supposedly, you can hold the bottom left corner of the screen for 15 seconds while powering up to bypass USB mode but I found an easier way.
Power up without the cable.
Hold down the battery icon for about 5 seconds to enter Diagnostic mode.
Connect the cable.
Exit Diagnostic mode.
Your Nuvi should be in GPS mode now.
This barely worked a month before it broke. The only reason why I'm leaving 2 stars instead of 1 is because I'm considering the fact that I only paid $7 for it. I guess you get what you paid for. Don't waste your time; save your seven bucks and get one that works.
Bought the charger since it was cheap and then read existing reviews that GPS won't work while being charged.
After playing around with the device while driving :) i figured out a work around. Once you have the Nuvi device display "charging", disconnect the charger momentarily from the car power socket and wait for the Garmin device to start "loading map". As soon as you the screen changes to "Loading Maps" connect the charger to the power socket and lo behold the Garmin device will work while getting charged.. send me a note if you have any question.
Since we lost our original charger, we have gone through several. Many of them have broken and none of them could charge the GPS while it was navigating. This is the first one that can charge in the car without putting the unit into link mode.
Edit: After a few months of happy use, the charger blew the fuse for our cigarette lighter and died... I knocked it down to three stars only because I don't know if this will happen in other cars. For us, though, that pretty much brings it down to 1.
Not Recommended. Product does not look like the one displayed in picture - retractable chord instead, a short cable too. Moreover, the product on powering up, directly goes to PC sync mode. From Garmin forums, this is a possibility when the 12v cable is faulted - at least it didn't work for Garmin nuvi 205W. - Garmin Nuvi 350-360 Dc Charger - Adapter - Charger - Automotive'
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