Garmin Mobile 20 GPS Receiver for Smartphone
By: Garmin Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 20
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 On: 2008-07-14
Ive only had it a couple of days, but so far it works great. And being able to map addresses from my contacts awesome :) I would have given it 5 stars, but I had to get my own maps (used a torrent, so no $ but lots of time) and I have to turn off my phone plug in the charger and then turn it back on to get it to charge (this may just be a bad cable though and Im going to get another from garmin or amazon). I loaded the software from Garmin website (mobile XT, support files and free base maps) and then got the maps to load, kind of glad I did it that way too. I have the 2009 maps and I can choose what states I want on my phone, so it isnt using up all my memory. You can use the POIs, garmin online, and the maps without the gps being connected, it just doesnt follow your position shows you as being at the last place it was connected. If I had wanted to buy the maps I could have used the 10% off you get from garmin when you register this to buy them.
 On: 2008-07-12
I wanted somthing that will work on my cell phone and pda so i ended up returning this one and got something else. Garmin 10X
 On: 2008-07-08
I did not try the SW that came in the box, it is all from 2005. Just went directly to Garmins website and downloaded the newest 2008 Garmin XT SW for the phone. It is working great on a Verizon XV6700 (also tested on the XV6800). The touch screen on the phone works great with the SW and all the buttons in the SW are big enough to use without a stylus.
The maps are also from 2005 but, this model is also eligible for the 2008 maps for free. Just needed to order the DVD through the mail and move the new maps to the device.
Garmins website is a little hard to use but had no issues when I emailed their support team. Got an answer next day with detailed directions.
On: 2008-06-16
I have a lot of experience with GPS from portable to panel mount aviation models. I have a Cingular (HTC) 8125 smartphone and the Garmin Mobile 20 works perfectly with it. I really think some of the negative reviews have more to do with phone being used. I have two Treos and they are in my desk due to various issues. The 8125 is far superior.
I cant tell you how many car phone mounts I have purchased. Suction cup, friction dash, air vent and none of them are with a dime so I was a little concerned about even that aspect of the GPS 20. But Garmin has made a high quality holder/ charger / bluetooth hands free that is almost worth the $80 I paid for it not counting the GPS.
The GPS is amazing. Easy to navigate and so much information like restaurants, shopping, parks, gas prices, and so much more. I was very impressed. Great value and I say buy it but there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
It will only be as good as your Win Mobile phone. If it locks up now it will lock up later too. The screen on your phone is not always the best for bright light viewing. I find that my 8125 is acceptable but glare is an issue. The volume could be louder and the single button/ wheel is a little difficult to operate. It also has no battery so it must be in your car to operate. 4 of 5 stars for these minor issues but I consider it one of the best GPS values available.
On: 2008-05-24
I own a Palm Treo 680 and have been looking at GPS units and came across this package for my phone. I couldnt believe how low the price was on this package. I took my chances and order it. When it arrived I opened the package everything you needed was in the box. I plugged the Blue Tooth GPS unit into my cigarette lighter and plugged the SD card into my Palm Treo 680 phone and the software took a minute or two to install. I registered the product with the Garmin website and downloaded the latest update for the phone which one update allows the screen to stay on continuously instead of timing out which is very handy. I paired my phone with the Bluetooth GPS sensor/phone cradle, typed in a destination and was off and going. I have found the GPS to be very accurate and I was very surprised that it even took the same route as short cuts I take myself.I like the Blue Tooth GPS unit as it also serves as a cradle for holding your phone and includes a charging cable to keep your phone battery fully charged at all times. The hands free Bluetooth speaker works very well when making or receiving calls.The GPS has the function of Where am I and what intersection is close by. You can even upload your own Points of Interests to the SD card.It has many more features available that I wont get into here. I have seen the setup in the price range of $200 to 300 and was real happy to get it for $79.00. This is my experience with the unit installed on my Palm Treo 680 and I highly recommend it if you own a Smart Phone and are looking at standalone GPS units.
On: 2008-04-24
Garmin Mobile 20 GPS Receiver for Smartphone
Havent had a lot of chance to use the product yet. But did take it to Salt Lake City once to try it out, and was very impressed. Realize that I need to spend more time in the book to realize the performance of the product. It is not as dressy as the bigger units, but fits well on my Palm Treo, and works so far just great.
 On: 2008-03-18
The software (on a mini SD card, with an adapter) wasnt readable at all on my Treo 700P, though the product is advertised as working with the Treo 700P. I tried reading the card with a card reader, and it didnt work that way either.
The Bluetooth hands-free speakerphone feature worked perfectly, but that isnt why I purchased it.
I returned the product to Amazon.
On: 2008-03-04
I am giving this 3 stars b/c when it works, I really like it.
First, it wont work on a Verizon Treo 650 as it requires to much RAM space. After upgrading to the Treo 700, my space issue was eliminated and after downloading the most recent version of the software from garmin (it was hard to find on the website) I got it to work.
I am having some issues with call handling, and I seem to lose my satelite signal everytime I get an email on the TREO. Hard to say if this is a garmin issue or a Treo 700 issues (as I have had other problems with the Treo).
On: 2008-02-15
This product was supposed to be compatable with my AT&T 8525 phone but was not. The data card included was an SD and not a micro SD as needed by the phone. The customer service person at Garmin was completely unhelpful, especially when she found out that the product was purchased from Amazon and not directly from them. This is not the usual experience I have when buying a Garmin product.
On: 2008-02-05
I purchased this unit for use with my Treo 700p. The price was very good here on Amazon. So good that I wondered if Garmin was dumping inventory. At this point I can say, maybe, maybe not.
The product ships with the old version of software. When I loaded the card it sent my Treo into an infinite loop of continuous resets that only could be stopped by removing the battery. I finally got it to load up and then discovered the sound bug that is referenced on the net by other users. The sound is full of static which renders it unintelligible. I went to the Garmin web site and found that there is an update, however it will only run on a PC because it is a dot exe file. I have a Mac.
I called Garmin and got an unfriendly sounding woman who was unaware of any sound issue and proceeded to tell me to reset my phone using techniques that dont apply to a Treo. When I suggested that her instructions being read off her screen could not possibly apply to a Treo she made some snide remarks about how she cant have access to "every phone on the planet" (This unit only supports a limited spectrum of "PDA" phones like Treo and Blackberry)
After being on hold for a while she came back and said that she had found a colleague who "remembered the sound issue" and suggested that I "try the software update" When I told her the update only runs on a PC and I have a Mac, she said that was my problem, not Garmins. At that point I was so disgusted I told her that I had no choice but return the product to Amazon. She told me to "go ahead"
I have a friend that has a PC (w/o Palm software). He downloaded the update and upon running it, discovered it would update the SD card directly, no need for Palm software. I gave him the Garmin SD card and he installed the update. Voila. the sound works and I have a working GPS.
The other comments here regarding the "assembly" issues and such are actually trivial. Installation of the support arms is easy and logical. Positioning them to avoid buttons and ports is also easy. No issue at all in my book.
The unit takes some time to acquire satellites. Since it has no power of its own, it must re-acquire every time you stop and start the car and lose power to the 12 volt jack. This is an inconvenience at best on a long trip with potty stops. When it is running, the maps and directions are great and the timings are good. The auto-zoom is a nice feature. It zooms out to an overview map if you have a number of miles before your next turn, and then zooms in again when you need the detail. Routing works well, can include multiple waypoints, and can be done in advance and stored.
My biggest disappointment is that the software only will accept the Garmin GPS built into the mount. I was hoping it would connect to my portable Palm Bluetoorth GPS so I could use it when Im not tethered to the car, e.g. while walking. No dice, it wont recognize the Palm GPS at all. This is a serious flaw that I believe that Garmin should address.
Overall, what it does, it does well. It has shortcomings that reduce the flexibility. For $89 it was a steal.
On: 2007-12-31
This thing works great with my AT&T 8525. It was a bit frustrating to get it going, but once I did, it was well worth the "trouble" (all I had to do was activate the SW online, not mentioned in the manual). I thought the volume would be an issue after reading some reviews here, but it defaults to 40% and you have to adjust it to get it louder...I drove with it tonight in the rain with my radio on and window partly rolled down (I have rain guards) to keep my sushi cool and didnt have a problem hearing her over all of that. I wish I could give it 4 1/2 stars, took one off only because the manual doesnt tell you exactly what to do to get it going, but it is not too too hard to figure out. The other thing Im not a fan of is there is no way to power it without being plugged into a cars cigarette lighter; this kind of sucks when you want to play around with it and test it in your home. I ordered a "Thermaltake Xray A2021 5.25" Drive Bay Kit with Beverage Tray and Cigarette Lighter" so I can power it at my computer (was thinking of getting one anyway when I lost my home charger for my cell a while back, this gives me a new reason to get it). Note that you can still use the Garmin SW on your phone to locate food stops and whatnot, so it is really not a big deal either. Still, would be nice if there was a way to power it to where you could put it in your backpack (or purse) and walk around with it. The hands-free feature works great. It recognizes my voice commands with zero problem and nobody had a hard time hearing me and I heard them fine with the phone/Garmin approximately 3 feet from my face.
In summary, it works great and is a great deal for the price Amazon is selling it for. 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
On: 2007-12-30
This thing works great with my AT&T 8525. It was a bit frustrating to get it going, but once I did, it was well worth the "trouble" (all I had to do was activate the SW online, not mentioned in the manual). I thought the volume would be an issue after reading some reviews here, but it defaults to 40% and you have to adjust it to get it louder...I drove with it tonight in the rain with my radio on and window partly rolled down (I have rain guards) to keep my sushi cool and didnt have a problem hearing her over all of that. I wish I could give it 4 1/2 stars, took one off only because the manual doesnt tell you exactly what to do to get it going, but it is not too too hard to figure out. The other thing Im not a fan of is there is no way to power it without being plugged into a cars cigarette lighter; this kind of sucks when you want to play around with it and test it in your home. I ordered a "Thermaltake Xray A2021 5.25" Drive Bay Kit with Beverage Tray and Cigarette Lighter" so I can power it at my computer (was thinking of getting one anyway when I lost my home charger for my cell a while back, this gives me a new reason to get it). Note that you can still use the Garmin SW on your phone to locate food stops and whatnot, so it is really not a big deal either. Still, would be nice if there was a way to power it to where you could put it in your backpack (or purse) and walk around with it. The hands-free feature works great. It recognizes my voice commands with zero problem and nobody had a hard time hearing me and I heard them fine with the phone/Garmin approximately 3 feet from my face.
In summary, it works great and is a great deal for the price Amazon is selling it for. 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
On: 2007-12-29
I bought this to replace a CoPilot Bluetooth GPS receiver that is suffering from a dying battery. I intended to use it only with my Sprint PPC-6700 and the CoPilot software. However, after owning this for a couple of days, I am changing my plans.
This device is both a bluetooth hands-free device and a GPS receiver. The speaker is loud. I used it to make a call to Garmin customer service where I found that I was entitled to an upgrade to Garmin 2008 maps (the unit shipped with maps from 2006) free. The Garmin software has tons of POI and the maps are adequate. You also can use free service, Garmin Online to obtain real time traffic alerts. Be warned that this service opens a data call on your phone, which unless you are on an unlimited plan could get expensive real fast (I didnt notice the open connection for over two hours). The maps come on a 2GB mini (NB!) SD card with an SD adapter. I dont like the Garmin interface as much as CoPilot, I find I really miss the test-to-speech capability. However, at the current Amazon price, the software is just about free.
The bonus feature that this thing has, which has pleased me so is that it also fits and pairs with the Nokia N800 Internet tablet. Its a tight squeeze, but once in there it looks great and the free maps provided in the Nokia OS 2008 make a nice "add-on" GPS device. In fact in a test, I had the Garmin paired with both my PPC-6700 running CoPilot and the N800 running its map program for over 6 hours without a hitch. During the phone call I mentioned above the nice lady at Garmin customer service told me the Mobile 20 would only pair with one device at a time! The unit comes with four "charging" adapters, but the included mini-USB wont charge my PPC-6700. Neither will the enclosed "small" Nokia adapter fit my N800. But the folks at Garmin are sending me the right one for free.
The cons of this unit are the the mount is kind of on the small side and of course, theres no battery. Then theres the what do you do with it when you get to the mall question. With an N800, my brick like PPC-6700 and now this I guess Ill have to think of something ("Charlie? Youre NOT wearing Cargo Pants."). One things for sure, I am NOT buying a murse.
On: 2007-12-28
I bought this to replace a CoPilot Bluetooth GPS receiver that is suffering from a dying battery. I intended to use it only with my Sprint PPC-6700 and the CoPilot software. However, after owning this for a couple of days, I am changing my plans.
This device is both a bluetooth hands-free device and a GPS receiver. The speaker is loud. I used it to make a call to Garmin customer service where I found that I was entitled to an upgrade to Garmin 2008 maps (the unit shipped with maps from 2006) free. The Garmin software has tons of POI and the maps are adequate. You also can use free service, Garmin Online to obtain real time traffic alerts. Be warned that this service opens a data call on your phone, which unless you are on an unlimited plan could get expensive real fast (I didnt notice the open connection for over two hours). The maps come on a 2GB mini (NB!) SD card with an SD adapter. I dont like the Garmin interface as much as CoPilot, I find I really miss the test-to-speech capability. However, at the current Amazon price, the software is just about free.
The bonus feature that this thing has, which has pleased me so is that it also fits and pairs with the Nokia N800 Internet tablet. Its a tight squeeze, but once in there it looks great and the free maps provided in the Nokia OS 2008 make a nice "add-on" GPS device. In fact in a test, I had the Garmin paired with both my PPC-6700 running CoPilot and the N800 running its map program for over 6 hours without a hitch. During the phone call I mentioned above the nice lady at Garmin customer service told me the Mobile 20 would only pair with one device at a time! The unit comes with four "charging" adapters, but the included mini-USB wont charge my PPC-6700. Neither will the enclosed "small" Nokia adapter fit my N800. But the folks at Garmin are sending me the right one for free.
The cons of this unit are the the mount is kind of on the small side and of course, theres no battery. Then theres the what do you do with it when you get to the mall question. With an N800, my brick like PPC-6700 and now this I guess Ill have to think of something ("Charlie? Youre NOT wearing Cargo Pants."). One things for sure, I am NOT buying a murse.
On: 2007-12-24
Some of the problems I encountered were experienced by the other reviewers. Originally, it would not work in New York City but was just OK at home. My solution was to call Garmin support. The person I spoke with resolved all the issues over the phone in a through and professional manner. It works really well, in fact, much better than the Street Pilot I own and almost as well as the GPS in my car. I requested the free map update online -and it was delivered by USPS in about a week.
This review, if rating only the Garmin support, would have been 5 stars.
On: 2007-12-18
My Garmin 20 for Motorola Q has forgotten how to talk as soon as I put the phone in the mount. Otherwise I like it. But this is a biggy. I tried to get help on-line but the web page for that purpose crashed when I tried to send my message.
On: 2007-12-17
My Garmin 20 for Motorola Q has forgotten how to talk as soon as I put the phone in the mount. Otherwise I like it. But this is a biggy. I tried to get help on-line but the web page for that purpose crashed when I tried to send my message.
On: 2007-11-30
This is a nice GPS to use with your PDA phone.
Positive: Four devices in one, "a smart mount" which means that the GPS sensor is embaded in the mount also included are charging cables to charge the phone battery for long trips, the mount can also be used as a speakerphone for hands free calling. The other best feature that i like the FREE! Garmin online service as long as you get a data plan from your service provider. You get wheater, traffic, hotel, and gas price at your current location, This is awsome!! right? and the good thing about it, its free!!
Negative: The volume is too low when using the device as a speakerphone and the Garmin maps could me more up to date, when i am supposed to be their latest updated maps. other than that i would rate it with a five stars.
On: 2007-11-29
This is a nice GPS to use with your PDA phone.
Positive: Four devices in one, "a smart mount" which means that the GPS sensor is embaded in the mount also included are charging cables to charge the phone battery for long trips, the mount can also be used as a speakerphone for hands free calling. The other best feature that i like the FREE! Garmin online service as long as you get a data plan from your service provider. You get wheater, traffic, hotel, and gas price at your current location, This is awsome!! right? and the good thing about it, its free!!
Negative: The volume is too low when using the device as a speakerphone and the Garmin maps could me more up to date, when i am supposed to be their latest updated maps. other than that i would rate it with a five stars.
On: 2007-09-03
This product works well except that sometimes it tends to sort of studder. This does get quite annoying at times. The ease of operation and the features are great, it tracks well and gets me where I want to go without many mistakes. This could be due to a lack of updates, but overall I am very pleased that I purchased this product.
On: 2007-05-16
I use the receiver/software with my HTC ppc-6700 and it works great. Zero warm-up period. Garmin maps and info. is way better than any other Ive used. Works really fast, no stuttering, no problems whatsoever. Very pleased!!!
On: 2007-04-17
I have had a very poor experience with the GPS 20 and my 700W. The handsfree calling and bluetooth for that works great, however the GPS (the main reason for buying) is non-functional. If trying to start the program, it will endlessly seach for the software never to find it. Even when working, it did not have enough memory to navigate a 5 mile route. Just spend the money to get a GPS unit and a hands free bluetooth device and you will be much happier.
On: 2007-04-11
The Mobile 20 is excellent at tracking to a destination. The touch input is excellent. However, there appears to be serious system fault, probably in the software, that results in major interference when voice directions are activated. This renders the voice guidance useless. Due to the small mapping screen, properly functioning voice guidance is critical to use of the Mobile 20.
On: 2007-04-10
The Mobile 20 is excellent at tracking to a destination. The touch input is excellent. However, there appears to be serious system fault, probably in the software, that results in major interference when voice directions are activated. This renders the voice guidance useless. Due to the small mapping screen, properly functioning voice guidance is critical to use of the Mobile 20.
 On: 2007-03-14
I was shopping for a GPS system for my car for a few months before I decided to go with this because I already had a Palm Treo that this would be compatible with, it had built in bluetooth, and came with all the software. This sounded like a great bundle because it was much less expensive then some of the other GPS systems that included everything that this did. However after using this approximately 2 times, I found it hard to connect to the bluetooth and when I did the maximum highest volume was hard to hear even with all the windows rolled up. On one of the two occassions using the GPS it sent my Palm Treo into an endless cycle of reseting and turning on and reseting again. I tried to do a hard reset on my phone after this to stop this cycle from occuring but unfortunately I could not get it to stop. I had to goto my local phone dealer and have them take a look at my Treo, they could not figure it out either, so they replaced it with a new Treo (thanfully I pay extra for phone insurance each month).
I ended up returning this item after that because I did not want it to keep causing problems with my phone but even if that didnt happen I still didnt like not hearing my phone calls or even hearing the turn by turn directions, which was a pretty good part of this package, with the exception that my female voice directions stuttered...
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