For anyone interested in the BMW portable nav that integrates into the car stereo...

[JimD]

My radio has two or three time been unable to recognize the aux input that my nuvi comes in through. Every time it has happened, the next time I started the car it was fine. Sometimes the radio will still play but I think at least once it wouldn't. May be related to your issue, I don't know. I don't want to take it in for an intermittant issue so I'm just living with an occasional issue.

Jim

[AW128i]

Wanted to chime in with some additional info. My nuvi 3790 crapped out and the dealer had me go through Garmin for replacement. Not a problem, except that the new unit I received was not the BMW version of the 3790. Initially I didn't think it would be an issue, except that the non-BMW version won't output the audio over the car speakers. It also doesn't have the BMW splash screen, nor the BMW dealer POIs category, nor the BMW icons. These latter features weren't a deal-breaker for me, but the lack on audio integration was.

Long story short, I called Garmin to address the issue and the rep I talked to basically told me I was crazy and that obviously the dealer had custom-wired the GPS unit because Garmin doesn't make any portable GPS units that integrate with the car's audio over a hardwire connection. He basically said that the only difference between the BWM version and the regular retail version is that the BMW version has the aforementioned graphics and POI information. After some very persistent arguing with the rep, he finally agreed to talk to a supervisor to see if what I was saying was legit. Only a couple minutes later he came back on the phone and guess what, he acknowledged that I was right and the BMW version does integrate with the car's speakers. Duh!!

So, the replacement unit is on its way back to Garmin and a new BMW-specific version of the 3790 will be on its way. Hopefully this will straighten it out!!

[ianc]

Sorry to hear that AW! What were the symptoms when it 'crapped out'?

Mine has spontaneously rebooted itself a few times while driving, but still seems to be hanging in there...

ianc

[JimD]

AW128i,

Your experience is interesting. I count 10 contacts on the cradle of a 3760t in a review in GPS Magazine. I assume yours is the same. While Garmin doesn't do anything with all of these, that many contacts suggests there is the ability to do more than just transfer power and traffic signals through the cable. I have a wiring diagram for my 885t cradle and it even has the capability to receive a backup camera input - but the leads are not brought out of the PC board. One or two people who commented on GPS Passion said they got it to work. Several people have soldered in their own audio jack for the cradle to avoid having to plug and unplug to the GPS. I messed with it a little but chickened out. I was afraid of putting too much heat into the PC board and ruining the cradle trying to make a solder connection. I also did not want this real bad. Soldering to things this small that soak up heat is something I've not had good success with in general. Younger eyes would help.

I would have guessed that putting a 3790 into your cradle would have worked fine. The splash screeen, POIs and pictures are almost certainly files in the flash memory of the BMW unit. You should back up your new unit to your hard drive anyway - always a good practice - and then you would have those files if you ever need them. They are things you could easily take care of yourself. The audio issue suggests different programming for the BMW 3790. That is not great unless BMW updates it every time they update the "plain" 3790.

Have you tried adding any POIs? That could be a clue about how the Garmin ones are handled. Normally you need a file on your computer of all the custom POIs you want to add and then you run Garmin's POI loader to load them. But to do the BMW ones this way you need a file on the hard drive of your PC. Maybe they loaded them into the POIs you can't mess with. That would still be a flash memory file, however.

Like any computer based device, you can do a hard reset of a GPS. I forget how but I'm sure you could find the process on POI factory or GPS Passion websites. I've successfully reset my 885t by pulling the battery.

Please let us know how it turns out.

Jim

[AW128i]

Originally Posted by ianc

Sorry to hear that AW! What were the symptoms when it 'crapped out'?

Mine has spontaneously rebooted itself a few times while driving, but still seems to be hanging in there...

ianc

What I mean by that is it started freaking out on a regular basis. It would randomly take literally 10 minutes to get a GPS lock. It would not switch day/night mode automatically until several hours after sunrise/sunset, despite the time and other similar parameters being correct. Garmin actually remoted into my computer to try a few firmware/software tweaks, but even that didn't help.

Originally Posted by JimD

AW128i,

Your experience is interesting. I count 10 contacts on the cradle of a 3760t in a review in GPS Magazine. I assume yours is the same. While Garmin doesn't do anything with all of these, that many contacts suggests there is the ability to do more than just transfer power and traffic signals through the cable. I have a wiring diagram for my 885t cradle and it even has the capability to receive a backup camera input - but the leads are not brought out of the PC board. One or two people who commented on GPS Passion said they got it to work. Several people have soldered in their own audio jack for the cradle to avoid having to plug and unplug to the GPS. I messed with it a little but chickened out. I was afraid of putting too much heat into the PC board and ruining the cradle trying to make a solder connection. I also did not want this real bad. Soldering to things this small that soak up heat is something I've not had good success with in general. Younger eyes would help.

I would have guessed that putting a 3790 into your cradle would have worked fine. The splash screeen, POIs and pictures are almost certainly files in the flash memory of the BMW unit. You should back up your new unit to your hard drive anyway - always a good practice - and then you would have those files if you ever need them. They are things you could easily take care of yourself. The audio issue suggests different programming for the BMW 3790. That is not great unless BMW updates it every time they update the "plain" 3790.

Have you tried adding any POIs? That could be a clue about how the Garmin ones are handled. Normally you need a file on your computer of all the custom POIs you want to add and then you run Garmin's POI loader to load them. But to do the BMW ones this way you need a file on the hard drive of your PC. Maybe they loaded them into the POIs you can't mess with. That would still be a flash memory file, however.

Like any computer based device, you can do a hard reset of a GPS. I forget how but I'm sure you could find the process on POI factory or GPS Passion websites. I've successfully reset my 885t by pulling the battery.

Please let us know how it turns out.

Jim

The BMW cradle has a built-in speaker and so does the GPS itself. Putting the regular 3790 into the cradle activated the cradle speaker, but no audio could be heard over the car speakers and the "navigation announcement" notification on the radio display wasn't present, either. The BMW version of the 3790 has an option in the volume settings that determines where you want the audio output, the car speakers or the GPS unit. The regular 3790 doesn't have this option. So, I'm sure it's a combination of firmware and software between the BMW and regular versions that allow for the different functionality.

[AW128i]

Received the new GPS yesterday. And by new I mean brand new, as in Garmin sent me the BMW GPS kit, including the cradle and attached BMW wiring harness that can't be sourced separately.

If anyone is interested, and willing to pay shipping, the cradle and wiring harness are yours for the nominal fee of, "thank you." This way, you could take a normal nüvi 3790 and use the cradle for power and the integrated speaker. Unfortunately, I think you might need the BMW-specific version of the 3790 to get the car speakers integration. But, then again, perhaps Jim could teach me how to pull the BMW firmware off my 3790 and share it with the buyer so that he or she could 'convert' his or her normal 3790 to the BMW version.

[JimD]

If it was a BMW cradle for a 885t I'd be all over it. I use my Garmins for music playback so I haven't had interest in the newer ones, like the 3790 - at least for myself. The cradle for shipping is a sweet offer for anybody who likes the newer garmins. It would be worth getting a 3790 just to use it. The least you would be able to do is to tie in the audio to the car via the aux port and power the nuvi with no wires visible. That would not require any reprogramming of the car. It's what I do but, without the cradle, so I have a few inches of wires showing.

The instructions have you taking the audio into the radio and that will require programming (at the dealer). If you took those same signals into the aux circuit, you would have to switch the radio to aux to hear the output but you do not need the car reprogrammed. Two taps of the button on the wheel from radio to aux. One tap back. If I am listening to MP3s out of the nuvi and get a call, no taps required.

Did the new nuvi fix the issues, so far?

Jim

[AW128i]

Yep, all issues seem fixed!

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by AW128i

As far as I know, there isn't any way to integrate an iPhone or iPod Touch into the car stereo in the same way which you can these BMW portable nav units. And, there aren't any cradles/mounts for the iPhone/iPod Touch that integrate into the vehicle as seamlessly, either. I didn't buy a BMW to hack up the interior with wires and aftermarket cradles everywhere

actually exactly such a product exists it works just about the same way as the GPS cradles and integrates into the BMW audio system

[AW128i]

Originally Posted by taibanl

actually exactly such a product exists it works just about the same way as the GPS cradles and integrates into the BMW audio system

Do tell!

[JimD]

Just for grins I googled a 3790. Looks pretty nice to me. Best Buy apparently will sell you a rebuilt for $249 and somebody else would sell a new one for about $290.

Jim

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by AW128i

Do tell!

read about the BMW station for apple iphone over on e90post. Good news is it looks better in the 1 than in the 3

[nato-main-man-5am]

Originally Posted by AW128i

Received the new GPS yesterday. And by new I mean brand new, as in Garmin sent me the BMW GPS kit, including the cradle and attached BMW wiring harness that can't be sourced separately.

If anyone is interested, and willing to pay shipping, the cradle and wiring harness are yours for the nominal fee of, "thank you." This way, you could take a normal nüvi 3790 and use the cradle for power and the integrated speaker. Unfortunately, I think you might need the BMW-specific version of the 3790 to get the car speakers integration. But, then again, perhaps Jim could teach me how to pull the BMW firmware off my 3790 and share it with the buyer so that he or she could 'convert' his or her normal 3790 to the BMW version.

You got mail

[Satalite]

Originally Posted by taibanl

read about the BMW station for apple iphone over on e90post. Good news is it looks better in the 1 than in the 3

Doesn't help us without BlueTooth pre wired for our cars...

[AW128i]

Originally Posted by taibanl

read about the BMW station for apple iphone over on e90post. Good news is it looks better in the 1 than in the 3

Interesting alternative, but honestly, the integration doesn't seem any better than the portable nav kit and actually, maybe not as good as the nav kit. The cradle looks rather bulky, too.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by AW128i

.

Interesting alternative, but honestly, the integration doesn't seem any better than the portable nav kit and actually, maybe not as good as the nav kit. The cradle looks rather bulky, too.

agreed. No better its essentially and texhnologically the same What's better is the device you put in the dock and its associated capabilities. Much better

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Satalite

Doesn't help us without BlueTooth pre wired for our cars...

incorrect. It works on ANY non idrive vehicle!!!

[AW128i]

Originally Posted by taibanl

agreed. No better its essentially and texhnologically the same What's better is the device you put in the dock and its associated capabilities. Much better

Agreed that the device used is better...been an iPhone user since the 1st gen. However, I really don't like that you have to use the Aux source to hear any audio from the phone. With the BMW nav kit, the nav instructions and BT phone calls interrupt whatever media you have playing (AM/FM, CD, iPod, etc.) so you can listen to whatever media source you choose and still get nav and phone call audio.

What does coding the car for the BMW station accomplish?

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by AW128i

Agreed that the device used is better...been an iPhone user since the 1st gen. However, I really don't like that you have to use the Aux source to hear any audio from the phone. With the BMW nav kit, the nav instructions and BT phone calls interrupt whatever media you have playing (AM/FM, CD, iPod, etc.) so you can listen to whatever media source you choose and still get nav and phone call audio.

What does coding the car for the BMW station accomplish?

Still TBD, as I have not coded mine...but it is supposed to allow the audio to "auto-switch" to aux when required. I'm not sure in what situations that will apply. It really should work nearly identically to the garmin thing.

[AW128i]

Originally Posted by taibanl

Still TBD, as I have not coded mine...but it is supposed to allow the audio to "auto-switch" to aux when required. I'm not sure in what situations that will apply. It really should work nearly identically to the garmin thing.

If it does that, then it's a legit contender.

[taibanl]

At the dealer getting coded, I'll post updates on my DIY install thread on e90post

[AW128i]

Originally Posted by taibanl

At the dealer getting coded, I'll post updates on my DIY install thread on e90post

Link? I can't remember if I'm subscribed to that thread or not!