Customer Reviews

Powerful External Remote Amplified GPS Antenna Receiver for Garmin Nuvi

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Update December 2010:

DO NOT leave this plugged into the GPS for extended periods when not being used.

It consumes a small amount of power, and will flatten the GPS's internal battery within a few days. There was an even worse problem in one of my cars which was not used for several weeks. It left the car battery TOTALLY flat when it and the GPS were left plugged-in to an un-switched 12v outlet (even though the GPS was switched off).

I still rate this item as ***** (5 stars) - now that I know how to easily avoid a flat car battery. Just unplug it!!! All 5 antennae I have bought are still working fine (as is my now-ancient Nuvi 350).

Update December 2009:

I continue to be impressed and bought 2 more to give as gifts. AND No! I have no personal interest in the company (unfortunately). Improves speed of signal acquisition in my Garmin nüvi 765/765T 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic - especially noticeable when the GPS has not been been used for many days. Again, thoroughly recommended.

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Update April9 2009:

I was so pleased with this item that I bought 2 more so that they are permanently installed on my cars.

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I came across this item while browsing Amazon for reviews on new GPS. I needed to replace my 30 month old Nuvi 350 which was non-functioning - displaying the dreaded "Cannot Acquire Satellites" error message. The 2 reviews on this antenna both stated that its use had resolved this issue. Further investigation confirmed similar results with other comparable antennae.

I had returned a Nuvi 750 because its performance was inferior to the 350. Seeing that the cost of both the antenna and shipping was minimal I decided that I did not have much to lose by ordering one.

When it arrived, I connected it to my 350 and dumped them both on the passenger seat. - My hopes were high but my expectations were low.

In a very short time I noticed that my old 350 (previously destined for the garbage) was now fully functional. Further investigation revealed that signal strength is far higher that it had previously been. Signal acquisition is also very much quicker.

The antenna itself measures 1-3/4" x 1-3/8 x 9/16", has a 10' 1/8" diam. cord and has a powerful magnet for easy routing and exterior attachment. Since I am getting such good signal strength, I shall probably place it permanently above the dash where it will attract less unwelcome interest.

My other pleasant surprise was that it had arrived in Maine (from Texas) 3 days after placing my order.

When I finally replace my Nuvi 350, it (and this antenna) will continue to be used in our second car. My new GPS (maybe 765?) will be ordered along with a second antenna - hopefully from the same seller (if not Amazon.com itself).

One caveat:
The antenna's plug could be improved. It is tiny and difficult (very hard on finger nails) to remove. I plan to attach a more substantial grip (maybe a 1/2" diameter plastic disc or similar shape) using epoxy glue to eliminate this minor problem.

This is not enough of a problem to reduce my 5-star rating.

FYI:
The Nuvi has a direct connection for an antenna rather than through its quick-disconnect mount (a design upgrade would be a major improvement!!!) therefore this item must be unplugged whenever removing the GPS.

This antenna performs as advertised. My Garmin Nuvi GPS was suffering increasingly intermittent connections with satellites. Eventually, it would only rarely locate my car, and several times I had to resort to my phone's GPS to get where I was going. Apparently, from browsing the web, this is a fairly common problem for Garmin units.

I was procrastinating before spending hundreds of dollars on yet another GPS, when I spotted a claim of this solution on a random web page, and then found it on Amazon and saw favorable reviews.

It still might take up to 30 seconds to locate the car when starting, but then the connection is rock solid. At about $20, it is a tiny fraction of the cost of a new GPS unit. The cable is longer than necessary, about 6 feet rather than the necessary 1 or 2 feet, but the antenna itself is compact. It makes putting the unit out of sight slightly more cumbersome, with the extra wire emanating from the GPS, a minor hassle.

[a few days later - after looking at the extra cable for a while, I wrapped it around, out the door, and used the magnet under the antenna to stick it on my car roof - the extra cable is actually a good thing.]

Instructions were minimal. The user simply plugs the cable into the little connection on the GPS antenna flap that lifts up from the back of the unit.

It worked for me, thanks Amazon and its diligent and accurate reviewers.

Our Nuvi 660 would no longer acquire satellites. After attaching this external antenna, it now works again. Does not come with any manual or setup recommendations.

I bought the antenna to fix my reception problem with Garmin 350. The signal reception has been restored and looks like works even better than original Garmin chip that broke.
So, if you need cheap fix for Garmin - I recommend to try this before spending money on new device.
Disadvantage in my case - the cable is too long

As many reviews have suggested, I also had a Garmin Nuvi 660 that had been slowly getting worse and worse reception until it finally would get no signal at all. I had it for over 3 years and traveled extensively with it, so figured it was just the end of the road. I read something about trying this product and figured it was worth a shot for the price. This completely fixed the problem, and in fact, never have any issues with the unit trying to find satellites. The only drawback is that for traveling purposes, having to takes this along is a bit of a headache. (I'm talking about on planes and using rental cars.) As I have stopped traveling and can just keep it in one car, then it is not really an issue.

Overall, very pleased. It saved me from having to buy a new GPS.

My Nuvi 360 always take long time (more than 15 min is common) to lock in satellites when I am using it in the car. Placing it very close to the wind screen did not help. If it ever work, I got 3 bars in average and frequent "Weak Satellite Reception" message. It got worse when I am driving around tall buildings and fly-over, as in a city like Kuala Lumpur. Weak signal also cause many other problems. It sometime found me on the wrong street (and recalculate), keep moving when I stop at red light (predictive movement ha, smart programmers?), and turn to opposite direction when I am not. So you can guess how helpful this Nuvi was to me.

I am living in Malaysia, where we always have at least of 7 layers of clouds, 30" of annual rain, 30-35 deg C day temperature and probably about 70-90% humidity throughout. Adds tall buidings, fly-overs, well grown trees and heat shielding windows film, maybe it is too much to ask from the little Nuvi.

I tried the Nuvi in California and it got full bars all the time, inside the car. Lucky Californian!

I found about external antenna after Googling briefly. Not very convincing (maybe it is no brand?) initially but thought nothing much to lose at $17 (plus shipping) from Amazon. What's a pleasant surprise! Not only the GPS able to lock in within minutes, full bars becomes a norm now. Signal strengths are doubled to almost 80-100% and I can see a lot more satellites are locked. Accuracy improved from 9-15 meters to 5-9 meters. Tall buildings, fly-overs, tall/full grown trees and bad weather would drop the signal to 3 bars at times but it never turn red anymore. All this with simply plug in the antenna to Nuvi and let the receiver lying on the dashboard!

This thing really work and I am buying 2 more as gifts for my friends. I have never tried other more expensive brands such as Gilson and Garmin, but I think this one is near perfect. Why spend more?

I strongly recommend this product.

Pros: Lock satellites much quicker. Improve signal strength significantly. Small, humble looking receiver that blend in with black dashboard and wouldn't draw unintended attention. No power supply needed. Wire is long enough that the GPS unit can be installed anywhere in the car. Excellent value.

Cons: How to route the wire neatly around the car?

My Garmin Nuvi 350, after about 20 months of use, suddenly became incapable of tracking satellite signals. This attaches an external antenna and now the signal is better than it ever was, including in cities where even in the best of days it would constantly lose signal. In open roads I have no less than 10 simultaneous satellites being tracked.

I have Garmin nuvi 350 that I bought 3 years ago, and It was working until 2 weeks ago. It stopped acquiring satellites, I tried to reset it and that didnt help either. so, I browsed on Amazon and found out about this external antenna and read the reviews. so, I decided to order it and It arrived yesterday. I attached the pin on the side of the gps antenna and voila. It works!!!!!!!! It works great, now my gps acquiring full bars and sigal accuracy is 9 foot. I highly recommend this product. Its cheaper to buy the external antenna than the gps.

After a year or so, my Nuvi 360 was having trouble acquiring and holding the satellites. It got so bad, it wasn't worth using and counting on it.

I bought this little external antenna, and now I'm back in business.

Don't let the low price fool you - it's delivering for me.

As others have written, the Garmin Nuvi 350 has a documented design flaw where an electric "surge" can shut off the internal antenna and default the unit to an external antenna only. This surge happened to me while updating my maps from the Garmin site. Garmin's response - buy a new unit. With an otherwise perfect 350 and lifetime maps already paid for I wasn't pleased. Then I found this external antenna. Problem solved. The antenna improves reception time and accuracy but you do have to deal with the cord. Overall I'm thrilled.