Garmin Nuvi 755T

I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 755T two or three years ago and for the most part I've been fairly satisfied.  I even bought a life-time map subscription for it, though recently I've been wondering if that may have been a mistake.  Why is that?  Read on!

First, I have to say that 90-95% of the time the 755T does what I want a portable GPS to do... give me driving directions.  I forget whether the 755T has additional features like playing music or showing pictures, features I could care less about.  I picked up the 755T because it came with both Canada and U.S.A. maps, had a decent screen size (at the time) and had reasonably positive reviews.

Unfortunately, the map updates haven't been entirely successful.  I say that because I know of three different big-chain, international retail store locations in my area that the 755T places on the wrong side of the street.  This despite updating my maps less than a month ago and the locations being there for years.  I know a Sony Style location where my GPS takes me to the completely wrong exit with no Sony Style in sight.  No shopping mall, either.

All of the above I can live with.  What now has me doubting the longevity of the Garmin Nuvi 755T are two incidences which I describe as epic fails.  Actually, perhaps I should say three instances, though the third may be partly my fault, too.

1. Last year sometime I was in Niagara Falls, NY little more than one hour drive from my home in the Land of Tim Hortons.  The 755T had been completely successful guiding me there.  The EPIC FAIL occurred when I tried to get the 755T to guide me back home.  The route calculation stopped at 99% and no further.  I turned the GPS off, waited a couple minutes, turned it back on, and it still wouldn't work, still stuck at 99%.  In disbelief I repeated this process with no improvement in outcome.  It was quite a quandary.  Since I'd followed the GPS directions to get there I hadn't paid particular attention to the roads I'd taken, making back-tracking problematic.  Anywhoo, to cut this particular story short, I eventually managed to find my way back, though along a different and longer route than I'd hoped.  Once I got home I was so frustrated I ignored the 755T for a while, and when there was a firmware update the 755T worked again, so I thought the problem solved.  Not quite.
2. Fast forward many months and full moons.  My 755T FAILED AGAIN in the exact same city.  I was once again in Niagara Falls, NY, and once again when trying to get directions home the 755T route calculation stuck at 99%.  AGAIN.  Something very strange is happening with Niagara Falls, NY.  I purchased the 755T when I was still living in the U.S.A. and it worked (except for a time in the dead of night somewhere in PA where I lost all satellite signal for a critical 5 minutes or so, sending me off in the completely wrong direction).  So... something odd with Niagara Falls, NY.  This incident wasn't quite so stressful because I had a clearer memory of how to get back to Whirlpool Bridge.  This time I managed to "recover" my GPS while on the QEW.  Simply powering off, waiting a couple minutes, powering on again still didn't work.  Here's what did work for me:  My GPS was powered up and plugged in to the 12V outlet.  I pulled out the 12V adapter and let the GPS shut itself off automatically after the 30 second countdown.  I left it off for at least 10 minutes.  I turned it back on and the 755T was back to normal, no longer stuck at 99% and I could now successfully get new directions.
3. This last incident I'm going to relate was partially my fault.  I was on the U.S.A. side of Niagara Falls.  I was 10 minutes away from Whirlpool Bridge, my preferred border crossing.  I asked the 755T for directions to the bridge and was on my way.  This is where blame rests partially on me.  I glanced at the "time to destination" on my GPS and saw "10" so I thought, good, it's correct.  I should have looked more closely but I was on the road for about 20 minutes before I realized the indicator was saying ten HOURS and not ten minutes.  Eh?  What had happened was that the 755T was guiding me to the Canadian side of Whirlpool Bridge without actually taking me across Whirlpool Bridge.  Mind boggling.  As far as I could gather in my stressed out state, it was taking me far, far, far north to cross the border, then all the way back south to reach the Canadian side of Whirlpool Bridge.  Turning off the 'avoid toll roads' feature didn't do anything.  No amount of swearing and re-routing fixed the problem.  Nowadays I have two addresses programmed in for Whirlpool Bridge -- one for the Canadian side and one for the U.S.A. side.  If I'm in NY going to Canada I get directions using the latter, if I'm in Canada heading to the U.S.A I have the 755T use the former address.
4. Oh, yeah.  I updated maps plus firmware several days ago.  Yesterday, in the midst of a single trip the 755T asked me to input my PIN... TWICE.  What's even more odd is that the audio directions apparently still worked; it was just the map/picture that was kaput until I re-input my PIN.  Not the most convenient thing to do while driving at highway speeds.

The 755T works adequately in the Land of Tim Hortons and Toronto,  It worked fine in the Washington DC beltway and surrounding environs.  It worked fine for two round-trips driving from DC to Canada, but as I said something strange is going on with Niagara Falls, NY.  All of this has made me start wondering whether I should get a new portable GPS, and if so whether getting another Garmin (but different model) would just be asking for trouble.

Titan Air Jack

I think that as described this Titan Air Jack is pretty nifty, far and beyond -- light years in fact -- better than the wimpy jack that came with my R. On even the slightest incline the stock jack is a tad dangerous. I guess I should really look for another one -- but the jacks I've seen appear to take up a lot of room.

In short, the Titan Air Jack is an air bag inflated by attaching a hose to your exhaust pipe or to an air compressor. You can change two tires in one go.

Anywhoo, my only questions are: cost, warranty, weight and deflated volume.

Curious minds want to know

Yesterday I was stopped behind a Ford 4x4 that had two large vertical pipes sticking up from behind the cab.


Each pipe seems to be protruding from a metal box you can barely see in the pic. They look like exhaust pipes to me--does this indicate it's an extra-powerful truck for hauling things? I wonder how much extra hp this gives you. Is this a factory option, or after-market mod?

UPDATE: Ooops. I must be blind. As noted in the comment, the truck is a Dodge - as clearly seen in the pic.

R32 news

First, earlier this month I needed to replace one of my wheel center caps. I was slightly shocked at how ugly it looked with it missing. Anywhoo, you can check Stargazer's Garage or my website for details and pictures.


Second, a nod to Volkswagen service--scaring customers away from free repairs is a talent only they have (I hope!). This minor epiphany came about when I realized I was seriously contemplating taking the R to my preferred tuner shop rather than a VW dealership for warranty work.

Power and torque and math, oh my!

Lurking around on vwvortex occasionally I would see some discussion about a particular mod and its associated power gain. As proof of said improvement often a dyno sheet would be posted. Beyond acknowledging its existence, however, I didn't take much notice of the dyno itself. From my personal newbie point of view I was more concerned with enhancing the R's fun factor rather than absolute numbers.

Recently, a couple people have asked me about my R32 and I was chagrined to realize that I had no idea what gains my performance mods had given me. I remembered that the flapper mod was reported to give + 5 hp, but that was it. I still place more importance on the fun factor rather than numbers, but it's still information I decided I should know.

Anywhoo, I found some dyno sheets EIP had posted on their website and elsewhere comparing their ECU upgrade and cold air intake to stock, which I've uploaded (EIP Stage I ECU upgrade dynos; EIP cold air intake dynos), and for the first time I took a closer look at them.

To make a long story short, with both the chip and intake, EIP says an R should have gains of around 14-15 wheel hp and 21 torque at the wheels. All very well and good, except this led me to another question: given that the VW specs on the R32 are in bhp, how do I convert the numbers?

Converting whp to bhp was simple enough--assuming a 15% drivetrain loss, my R32 should be getting around 267-276 bhp @ 6200-6400 rpm, compared to stock, which is 240 bhp (or more likely, 247 bhp) @ 6250 rpm.

Torque = [bhp*5252]/rpm

So, given this dyno and remembering to convert to bhp, then it's 270 ft-lbs torque @ 2800-3200 rpm, compared to the stock value of 236 ft-lbs @ 2800-3200 rpm.

To sum:

Stock: 247 bhp @ 6250 rpm; 236 ft-lbs @ 2800-3200 rpm.
R32Argent: 267-276 bhp @ 6200-6400 rpm; 270 ft-lbs @ 2800-3200 rpm.

Oh my!

Magellan Roadmate 2200T

Along with my new HTC S620 the last of the big purchases I've made recently (see: Goodbye, hard-earned cash) was a portable navigation system, the Magellan Roadmate 2200T.

In deciding on which GPS navi to buy, I wanted something that was easily portable, reliable, with maps of Canada and the United States, with text-to-voice, and at a reasonable price. In addition to Magellan, I also looked at similarly priced models from TomTom and Garmin. I chose the 2200T because of various reviews I'd read, and it met all of my criteria. It doesn't have the most POIs out there (1.5 million), and I find it a little laborious searching for some specific POIs, but overall I'm satisfied.

The 2200T has several additional features I'm not interested in, like playing music, displaying pictures, upgradeable traffic updates and more, but I couldn't find any GPS navi that was just a navi and still met all my criteria (what's up with that?!). The worst thing about the 2200T is that it didn't come with an AC charger. There was a dash mount, windshield mount, and car charger, but no AC charger. Ugh. I had to fork over extra cash to get the AC charger. Unforgivable.

Some good points: it's small, light-weight and fits easily in my pocket (I might not want it in there all the time, but as a temporary thing it's fine), the rechargeable battery is rated for 8 hours, has an auto-detour feature to get around traffic jams, auto re-routing and multi-destination routing, the option to avoid toll roads when routing, and has an address book to store destinations for future use.

Anywhoo, previously I hadn't been impressed with GPS navis I'd seen at work, but I think that was do to my unfamiliarity with the system and how it works. The more I use the 2200T the more familiar I become with the voice, how it relates directions and how much time I have before having to perform the latest instruction. The more familiar I get with the 2200T, the more I realize just how useful this little device can be.

And then there was one

It was only a matter of time, unfortunately, but recently two of my valve stem caps were stolen--both from the rear. This wasn't the first time, either. Let's see, over two years ago I started with four .:R-line valve stem caps from the .:R accessories kit. Roughly one year later I was down to two, joined by two VW valve stem caps I purchased at a local dealership. Now I'm down to one .:R-line cap remaining. At first I thought the thief had taken both of them, but no, he/she took one .:R-line and one VW cap. Oh well. I guess I'll see how long they last this time. :o(

R32 @ Summit Point

Someone posted a video of himself racing a R32 at a track. It's on Google Video and about 14 minutes long.

According to his post on vwvortex, all he has is a GIAC chip, CAI, and a rear sway bar.

I'm not the best at identifying cars on the fly, but I think I saw a Ferrari, Corvette, and a Porsche among others. I thought the R32 and driver did pretty well in comparison.

I wish I could drive like that!

Sunglass holder

Last weekend I replaced the driver's side ceiling grab handle with a VW OEM sunglass holder (Part No. 1J0 857 465 Y20). Unfortunately, VW only offers the holders in beige or grey. The R's headliner is black so I was forced to paint it black myself.

Part No. 1J0 857 465 Y20:


My weapon of choice (actually, I would have preferred flat-black, but I'd been to six different stores with no luck):


For the results and details, you can click here.

Green top coolant temperature sensor

As a preventative measure I replaced the engine coolant temperature (ECT) sensor on the R. The old black top ECT sensor has a high failure rate, possibly resulting in negative effects on gas mileage and performance at cold starts. The updated ECT sensors have green tops (Part No. 059 919 501 A).

You can follow this link for further details.

Out with the old...


...and in with the new:

Billet aluminum dash vents

Today I installed some billet aluminum dash vents I purchased yesterday at the R32 GTG. The stock vent covers pull straight out, and the new ones go right in. I'd write more but these were so easy to replace there isn't very much to say. These billet vent covers are sold by EIP Tuning for $99.95 per pair--though I bought them at a discounted price. Here's a picture of how they look from the outside; I thought these vent covers might look better than the stock black, given that my R is reflex silver.


You can click here for even more pictures.

East Coast R32 GTG #2

This weekend is the 2nd East Coast R32 GTG at EIP (the picture is actually from last year's 1st East Coast R32 GTG). Last year EIP and other sponsors had some great deals, demonstrations, and great door prizes :o) I'm sure this year will be more of the same, though the format has changed. For more information you can check out the plan of events. Last year I picked up a spare tire, upgraded the ECU, and for the price of the gasoline I used to drive up there, picked up a CCAI.

This year I don't have firm plans to buy anything, since the R is pretty much the way I want it. The most I might do is pick up some billet aluminum dash vents. Kind of pricey ($99.95 per pair) for something purely cosmetic. I'll have to see what kind of discount they have :p

Oopsie

A while ago a passenger accidentally snapped off the seat release handle/lever on the (surprise surprise!) passenger side. It was easy enough to fix. Check here for more information.

Monster mats

I decided it was time for me to replace my GTI monster mats. More information here.

AEM Air-Bypass valve

I opted to install the AEM bypass valve along with my CAI. It gives me peace of mind, especially since originally I had no intention of getting an intake. Here's a review of the AEM BPV. More information on my CAI here.

Project complete!

Hurrah! All the performance modifications I wanted for my R32 have now been installed :o) When I first purchased this car, I ultimately wanted to get three things: HIDs, upgraded suspension, and a rear sway bar. Due to fortune (of the good kind!) and a change of mind, I went a little above and beyond that. In order of installation:
1) EIP short shift and lower rear transmission mount (July 2004)
2) EIP ECU upgrade (April 2005)
3) VW OEM HIDs (May 2005)
4) H&R 21mm RSB (May 2005)
5) EIP CCAI (May 2005)
6) HPA Motorsports SHS coilover suspension (March 2006)--installed Monday this week. Having driven it for almost a week, now, I don’t know why I was initially hesitant about installing it. Anywhoo, more information and driving impressions on my dedicated R32 website. FYI, I've also updated a couple other things, too.

Any future modifications will be purely cosmetic :o)

EIP street series short shift:

EIP lower rear transmission mount:

HIDs:

H&R 21mm rear sway bar:

EIP CCAI:

HPA SHS:

HPA SHS

Today I upgraded the suspension on my R. Wow, even on the way home in heavy traffic there was a noticeable difference--less squat and roll. More impressions and pics, later.

P.S. Oh yeah, the stock shocks and springs are noticeably heavier than the HPA SHS.