GPS needs fixing

[Onlychaam]

Where in Hua Hin can I have my GPS fixed? It's a Garmin nuvi 205, recently it started to lose the satellites as soon as the car was moving. Thanks for your help.

[Bristolian]

I suggest that you give Garmin Customer Service a call. Tel : 0-2266-9948 they may be able to point you towards a local service provider

However, I believe that they only have a few dealerships and nothing in the Hua Hin area
Their main showroom and service centre is in the Silom area of Bkk

Garmin Showroom & Service Center
Sathorn Nakorn Tower, 22nd floor,
100/38-39, North Sathon Road,
Silom, Bangrak,
Bangkok, 10500

[Big Boy]

Did it ever work in Thailand? I ask because with my Tom Tom I had to change several settings for it to pick up satellites after I moved from the UK. I simply logged on to the Tom Tom website, and sorted it myself there.

[VincentD]

You may need to do a factory reset.
Most GPS units 'remember' the satellites that were around when it was last turned off, so it tends to look for those satellites on startup. This is to provide a quicker acqusition time in the case of a cold start. If, however, you start it up in a different location where the same satellites are not visible, it tries to search for those satellites while keeping the last-found satellites still in memory. This is what causes the slow start and/or dropped satellites.
A factory reset clears the memory and starts the acquisition process from scratch.

OR

You may have had some extreme window tint installed on your car. A lot of the window tinting these days has metallic film content to cut the UV, but it also has the effect of reducing the incoming signal from the satellites. This same tint also affects the sensitivity of radar detectors...

[Onlychaam]

Thanks for your replies. I bought in Bangkok 2 years ago or something. It used to work fine, same car, same location, it just started to lose staellites from time to time, and now it finds them only when the car doesn't move. As soon as I start to drive, it loses the signal again. I had it restored to default settings and now it's in Thai and English is not an available option in the language menu anymore. I could use it in Thai, but the problem is the satellites. Maybe I should go to Garmin website and find a software update, but I'm afraid I will lose my favorite points and I really need to keep them. If there is no place in HH I will just bring back to where I bought it next time I go to Bangkok (was at Fortune Town, Ratchada).

[VincentD]

Another thing you may want to consider is the state of the battery. An old battery unable to keep it's charge will tend to 'drop out' until there is enough charge, and will keep repeating the cycle. Leaving it plugged in doesn't help as the car charger cannot charge it fast enough. Have mothballed one GPS because of this.
Have heard Garmin charge quite a lot for a replacement battery.

Maybe you could try just charging up the battery for 8 -10 hours without using the gps and then see what happens next time you use it? Two years isn't all that long.

[Pleng]

Have you tried driving around for some time, or have you given up after a few minutes each time? I know when some GPS units loose signal they can take up to 15 minutes to get a hold of it again.

Also did you introduce anything new to your car that could possibly interfere with the signal before this happened?

[Onlychaam]

Have you tried driving around for some time, or have you given up after a few minutes each time? I know when some GPS units loose signal they can take up to 15 minutes to get a hold of it again.

Yes I tried. Each time it said "do you want to continue searching for satellites" I touched Yes.

Also did you introduce anything new to your car that could possibly interfere with the signal before this happened?

I also have a dashcam, on a separate lighter plug, but it is a very basic model with no GPS function, and the two used to work together fine. Could it possibly interfere after some time, for some reason?

[Roel]

If you Google what can interfere GPS signal it says: certain radio and TV frequencies, remote garage door and gate openers, car alarm systems and cell phones!

[Pleng]

Yea if you have a mobile with GPS try getting a fix with that. If neither of them work then you can be pretty sure it's something in your car.