Garmin Nuvi 650
The Garmin Nuvi 650 should be available soon and marks a new entry point to the Garmin Nuvi widescreen series (600 series). Widescreen GPS devices are commonly only found in the upper end of GPS devices. But many people who are looking for a widescreen don’t necessarily want a device loaded with advanced features they might never use. The Nuvi 650 will fit this role.
In fact, the main selling points of the 650 might be what it doesn’t have. For example it does not come with Bluetooth hands free calling, it does not come with a traffic receiver, and it does not come with an FM transmitter. If any of those features are something you would use, consider moving up to the Garmin Nuvi 660 which offers all of those. An optional traffic receiver is available, however at an additional cost.
The predominant feature is the widescreen display, but there are a couple of other “extras” you do get with the Nuvi 650. An MP3 player is included, although without an FM transmitter don’t set your bar too high when it comes to good quality sound at highway speeds.
Text-to-speech is also included on the Nuvi 650. So in dense urban areas if you don’t have enough time to glance over at the display, you can listen for the name of the street you need to turn on in addition to the distance cue. The retail price is $750 and it should be available within the next couple of months.
I need a full list/definition of the icons on the 650′s map. The posted list is incomplete.
Thanks.
Is it possible to download Europe maps for the Garmin Nuvi 650?
thanks
Heather
Yes, you can get them through my.garmin.com or order them on SD card.
I recently purchased a Garmin Nuvi 260W for my husband, who is a trucker. The salesman advised there was an accessory that could be purchased for truckers routes, but I am unable to locate anything on it. Any ideas would appreciated.
No such accessory exists for the Nuvi.
I have owned a Nuvi 650 for a couple of years now, and it has come pretty handy. I purchased the Europe SD card for or trip there last year and saved us a lot of grief, particularly around the one way streets of Paris.
Lately, I am having trouble with the touch screen: Last month it was off calibration [I will press "t" and it showed a letter a couple of boxes down], so it was virtually impossible to enter an address.
Yesterday, apparently stopped working all together: It tells me that I need to upgrade the maps, and presents me with the OK at bot. right, but I cannot press it.
I pressed the reset button in back, and now takes me to the main page, but I cannot select any features: the touch screen does not work!!!
Any way to work around this? Thanks!!
My Nuvi 650 has the same touchscreen problem. Tried the software update and reset, no luck.
Just shipped it back to Garmin for repair today.
Service dept. is good.
How much did they charge you, or you were under warranty still?
Hi,
A siilar quandry to those above.
I am looking at sat nav system .
Priority Speaks “Street Names”
Have narrowed it down to three models
Nuvi 650 discontinued but can buy newly overhaled.
Nuvi 760 Just been discontinued.
Nuvi 1340 No bluetooth but offers lane guidance.
I do not drive for a living just need to know my way around
recreationally.
Thanks in advance
Phill
hi, my garmin nuvi 650 was stolen last night. what do you recommend i replace it with in the nuvi line and for a comparable price as the 650? thanks
Mark, depending on the features you use, the Garmin Nuvi 255w and the Garmin Nuvi 265WT are probably pretty close and have a few advantages over the 650.
thank you very much for your prompt reply. we use it for family trips and it looks like the 255w is the similar devive and will suit our needs. thanks again mark
I’m a first-time buyer, having only experienced the Magellan Navigator in rental cars in the past. I have several questions.
1.With the touch-screen interface feature, does the screen get full of finger prints and have to be cleaned often?
2.I will be using the new unit in rental cars. Does the dashboard disk allow stable mounting and can it be removed without damaging the dash?
3. With audio coming through the car’s FM radio, will we be able to listen to music at the same time?
4. With route planning, can I choose which routes to keep?
5. I will be receiving and unwrapping the new unit in Costa Rica. When I rent a car in the US, do I need to allow 30 minutes to an hour for the unit to acclimate to the satellites?
THANK YOU for this very helpful site!
1) Some models are better than other, but overall it isn’t an issue.
2) No, it is put on with an adhesive, it can damage the vehicle. For a removable option consider a friction mount (aka bean bag mount).
3) Not unless the music is coming from the GPS.
4) I don’t understand the question.
5) It shouldn’t take that long. 10 minutes is more likely.
I have a problem with this Nuvi 650. The touch screen is mess up. After recalibrate, it works, but randomly it mess up again. There was a time, it mess up, and I could not touch the “TOOL” icon to recalibrate. I shut it off for a few days, and all of sudden, I was able to touch the “TOOL” icon and recalibrate. Anyone has this problem?
In the mean time, I bought a different model to use.
I posted the same problem in June of this year, except I didn’t know how to re-calibrate it [see above]. My screen went kaput after a while. It turns on and everything, but I cannot press anything on the screen. I contacted Garmin, and they want $108 for the repair!!??.
I think I will go for a different brand, since they want also a ton of money to update the maps….
This units are becoming disposable almost…
same here just stopped working no touch screen tryed reset severalX no luck glad I didnt upgrade for $120… waste of $$$
most times i could predict a better route, and or the beast brought me to an empty lot!
Garmin will not repair your model, they just replace it with some other refurbished model. That model may have the same problem eventually. That refurbished model may even be an older nuvi than the one you think they are going to repair. It happened with my 650nuvi. I had 2 refurbished models they replaced for my original new model.
we want to buy a Garmin for driving only, no other features needed except ease of entry for streets and city, voice prompts and turn by turn voice prompts–we have used the Neverlost system and found it easy, something like that–what version do you suggest for non technical folks
Micky– take a look at the Garmin Nuvi 205W.
I have a Garmin nuvi 650 personal travel assistant. It has the software that came installed in it. I will be traveling in and around Tucson this winter. Do I need an upgrade? What is the best way to get updated?
I bought my garmin nuvi 650 2 yrs ago and suddenly my touch screen wont response.Is this a very common problem since my friend has the same model and she has the same problem.
Seem to have the touch screen issue as others noted. My nuvi 650 is a little over 2 years and the touch screen just went kaput with little warning. I saw on this this site that the Sharp touch screens are defect prone: http://www.sharc.net/gps_LCD_repair.htm
Not sure what recourse (if any) we have here.
when i click on address it states no map data.there should be pre installed maps i tried to download and still will not show a map
My nuvi 650 had touch screen problem shortly after the 1year warranty expired. It happened after the firmware upgrade. I asked Garmin to send me the older version of firmware, but got refused.
Garmin kept telling me to go to ‘tool’ to recalibrate the screen when the touch screen is not responsive at all.
My 650 did the exact same thing. Tech support sent instructions about how to fix it and that worked — but not permanently. It still locks up frequently for no reason at all.
My 650 just stopped speaking. I have checked all the settings (TTS, mute off, volup etc) and even reset it, but still no voice. any suggestions? Thanks. John
My Nuvi 760 touch screen won’t respond at all. The unit fires up and shows me where I am, seems to be accurate with the map, but I can’t use the touch screen at all. Tried master reset, tried recalibrating the maps, but no luck. Any fix for this besides a Garmin repair? This is the second garmin I’ve had and neither one has lasted much more than 1-2 years.
I received this from a Garmin technician… try it and see if it works.. [It didn't in my case]
“Follow these steps to get the screen on that unit to respond.
1. Plug the device into the computer and allow it to go into Mass Storage Mode
2. While in Mass Storage Mode have the customer locate the device on the computer and delete the gupdate.gcd file in the Garmin folder.
3. Safely remove the nuvi via the Safely Remove Hardware feature on the computer. Once prompted unplug the nuvi from the computer
4. Power off the nuvi
5. Power on the nuvi by holding the power button. Continue to hold the power button for about 1 minute at which time the screen calibration option will display.
6. Calibrate the touch screen.
Good luck!!!!
As my touchscreen is unresponsive, I am willing to try this method but cannot locate the gupdate.gcd file in the Garmin folder. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
There was no “gupdate.gcd” file in the Garmin folder!
What do I do now?
Garmin Nuvi 650 touch screen suddenly quit working. Worked fine last week, touch screen completely unresponsive today. By reading above comments, seems that this is a “common problem”
Nuvi was purchased less than 1 year ago, so should be under warranty, but there is a “clause” in the warranty…if purchased through an online auction, no warranty. (I did purchase it through an e-bay store…not through auction however, but I’m guessing that they will consider my warranty void)
garmin 650 is fully charged and stopped receiving GPS signal. How do I reset or correct this issue.
Same issue as above. 650 touchscreen just stopped working. Less than 2 years old. We actually took good care of this. I tried all the solutions above. No file named gupdate.gcd I think we’re screwed. Seems like we all got this at about the same time. Seems like it was planned by Garmin. Seems like a plan to lose customers. Thank god I didn’t buy the map update. It would have been useless now. Hopefully there’s an app for my iPhone.
My touch screen for the Garmin 650 nuvi, stopped responding after less than 2 years or purchase. I have tried about everything to have it respond. I got it to one time by holding down the on off button and touching the right corner. The screen turned while and there was a dot in the left bottom corner of the screen. It asked me to erase something(can’t remember now) and I pushed yes. It worked for a while after that, but now it stopped working again.
I think Garmin should make this right. I called them, but they want me to send it in (my cost) and pay almost 100.dollars and give me back a refurbished GPS. I would rather get a new GPS and not have the same problems with the GPS they’ll replace this defective touch screen. I paid good money for this. Just seems it should last longer. I think their should have been a recall on this Garmin GPS 650 unit.
Re: Unresponsive screen. It asked if I wanted to update my map. Maybe since I did not update, I have the 2009 map. I did not feel like updating and waste my money for a GPS that is defective and should have been recalled by Garmin.
It is not a update that is needed. In fact, one of the solutions emailed to me by a Garmin technician was to remove the update file. The screen is a piece of crap.
I bought my garmin nuvi 650 2 yrs ago and suddenly my touch screen wont response, this a very common problem since so many people complain.
I’m trying to find is it anybody file class action lawsuit against Garmin company
I will join group against Garmin
( because from personal experience I had problem with my bose sound system
dvd player unit was defective and company replace unit for free plus they update software, now unit works like new )
I gave hubby a garmin nuvi 650 for a Christmas gift 2007, we have the same issues with the touch screen as above. For cost, we are totally disgusted with the short lived performance. We are retired,it was not overused by any means. Any suggestions? We are now looking at another brand.
guys: A lot of good news!!!
I contacted Garmin product support, through their Web site, pointing to this web site, and got the following response:
“Hi Fernando,
Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I am happy to help you. Garmin is aware of a known issue with the 6xx series nuvis with unresponsive touchscreen, or suddenly failing to acquire satellites. The company is allowing us to take care of the customer, even if you are no longer under warranty, at no charge to you. I can create an RMA (Return Material Authorization) for you to send your nuvi in to Garmin for exchange. The replacement unit will be shipped back to the address listed in your account, unless you specify otherwise. You have 2 choices for the RMA:
Future ship is where you send your unit in first, no money changes hands, and a replacement unit is sent back to you after 10-14 business days turn-around.
Immediate ship would require us charging your credit card as a deposit so we can send a unit out that day, and once your unit was received, and checked in by the warehouse, that would initiate the process to have your monies refunded to your card. Since you’ve had the unit more than 60 days, a refurbished unit would be shipped, and the charge would be $158.00. The refund should take 7-10 business days to be reflected on your electronic credit card statement, once it has been processed by Accounting.
Please consider your RMA choices and email back your preference. If you opt for Immediate ship, I can call you for your credit card details.
With Best Regards,
Vivian A
Product Support Specialist
Automotive Team
Garmin International
913-397-8200
800-800-1020
913-440-8280 (fax) Att: Vivian A, Associate #6040
http://www.garmin.com”
I sent the unit last week, and today got my replacement unit!!! way to go!!!!
SO THERE IS HOPE!!!!! KEEP POSTING HERE TO SEE IF SOMEONE GETS THE SAME RESULTS!! GOOD LUCK
You are just lucky.
My Garmin 650 Nuvi is just about 1.5 years.
The same touch screen not responsing issue, called the Garmin support line, the technician asked me to send the old one back with $79 charge.
Let’s Ban Garmin.
I would not buy Garmin product, since there are so many problem.
Vince
Those refurbished 650 nuvi were sombody else’s problem. All Garmin did was make it work again, but before long you have the same problem with the touch screen. I had 2 refurbished 650nuvi replaced my original garmin while still under warranty, but now this refurbished model has the same touch screen problem. I am not paying money to Garmin to get another refurbished model. If they can’t replace a defective 650 nuvi with a new garmin, you are just asking for trouble by getting a refurbished nuvi 650 or any other nuvi that has been refurbished. My new 650 was newer than the one they replaced with the refurbished model.
Nelly:
Again: my unit was out of warranty, and it was replaced for free.. Was it a refurbished unit? probably. Was it an older unit? probably. But if they were repairing mine, it will still be refurbished… The thing is that the unit is a piece of junk, and more so if it doesn’t work… I was over a year without it, so having it replaced at no charge was an accomplishment.
Fernando:
Thank you VERY MUCH for your posting. I contacted Garmin support immediately after I received the good news. Initially, they were to charge me $79 for the repair. Having read your posting, they decided to ‘award’ me a warranty. I just got the replacement back and tested it briefly. I hope that the refurbished unit works longer than the previous one (posted April 16, 2010 here). With the identical defect for so many of us here on nuvi650, Garmin’s actions have not been friendly.
i buy one of this gps in a fleamarket but when i push up the power button it ask for pin number i think is lock but i need to know if is possible that i can dislock the gps by my self or i have to take the gps some where else to check the lock problem please let me know how i can do to dislock or help me thanks
The lock cannot be disabled without the PIN. If the seller doesn’t know the PIN then get your money back.
I too join the ranks of those with an unresponsive/dead touchscreen on my Garmin Nuvi 650. Mine gave good service for almost two years. I’m in email communications with Garmin techs – their advice might just as well have been to “say a coulple of hail Mary’s and restart the device” as updating software or removing certain files from the Garmin’s memory couldn’t possibly be connected with a dead touchscreen – I suppose there are other problems out there I have yet to encounter that this fixes! My Garmin has been trouble free for the past two years with no software or firmware upgrades. At the moment their solution is to charge me $79 for a refurbished 650 – dicy since I’d be getting another poorly engineered touchscreen so maybe Tom Tom is the answer. I am waiting for a reply to an email that includes Garmin’s (Vivian A) email exchange with Frenando (# 26 above) where Fernando was given a rebuilt unit at no cost….I’ll let you know how this comes out but my guess is Vivian got into trouble for owning up to the problem in an email.
Phil
I actually started bugging Garmin about this issue since June 2009, (#4 above), and was one of the first ones to complain about the touchscreen failure in this blog.. after my post most of the cases started to appear. I bugged Garmin for over a year, complaining in their site until they gave me a satisfactory response. I think you should flood their e-mail with complains, letting them how a shitty product this is, and how dissapointing their response is…
Good luck
Fernando and others,
Well Garmin came through. They are going to repair or replace my unit at no cost. Looks like they will do this for those of us who have the touch screen problem within 2 years of purchase so no switch to Tom Tom for now! My take on this is there’s little quality control possible on “Made in China” merchandise.
Phil
I bought from ebay a touch screen for Nuvi 650 at $13.5 with free shipping.
don’t receive it yet. I opened the Garvin Nuvi 650, it is pretty easy.
Wish I can fix it.
Any luck fixing? Was it easy, have any instructions?
Thanks.
Phil
I fixed it spending about 30 minutes.
I cannot say it is easy for me for the first time, because no instruction with the Touch Screen parts.
I bought a special screw drive Craftman T5 X 1-1/2 from Sear Hardware for about $4 to take off four screws.
The only trick thing is the Touch Screen has two layers.
One plastic layer and one glass layer.
The glass layer is sticked to a frame. Using a thin knife, carefully seperate the glue, you will and need to break the glass piece by piece, in order to remove the old touch screen.
Don’t scratch and break the LCD under!!
The new Touch screen comes with the sticker, peel the paper one, you can easily stick the new panel to the old frame.
It is worthy to try, the Touch screen on Ebay only $11.5 now with free shipping. It tooks me 15 days to receive the part though.
Need further information let me know.
Thanks Vince. I ordered, and will give it a try.
Phil
You can find a video in Youtube showing how to open the Garmin Nuvi 650.
Be careful with those data cables. gently pick up a clipper, then you will be able to pull the data cable out of the socket.
When you install back the cable, just insert it , and fold the clipper, it will be fastened.
Have fun.
Did you got it working?
Please update your experience.
Thanks,
Daya Kandati
I have same touch screen problem. I just called Garmin twice and requested to repair or replace the unit. They said “Sorry, we don’t have any units to replace or any parts to repair. You just need to throw away the unit and buy a new one”.
I said, I’m ok to pay any service charge, but they said they don’t have parts to repair, and recommended to buy a new one.
What to do??
Same problem. No response to the touch screen. E-mail response was they don’t have the parts to fix. Won’t even transfer my lifetime maps to another unit.
Vince–Any luck on the touch screen replacement from e-bay? I don’t want to spend much on this.
Received and replaced my Touch Screen into my garmin 650 today. Ebay purchase for little cost and ~ 1hr work (It could be done in 30 min., but was my 1st time). It’s now working again.
The Only Way I’ll buy another Garmin again is if the replacement parts are more readly available than any other GPS…
Can you or someone please give instructions on replacing the touch screen . I was told to take my touch screen out and send a pictuce of it to get the correct one …. well , a few weeks later I can’t remember what order to puth every thing back in ….HELP .
I’m researching for a new GPS unit since my Magellan 1470 freezes every 5 minutes & is totally unreliable after a little over 1 year since new. I’m not having much luck in finding a unit by any manufacturer that is reliable. I avoid all units with less than 4 star ratings & then read the reviews. They all seem to have problems ranging from minor to major & almost 100% poor results dealing with any companies customer service department. I assume they know their units won’t last since a 1 year warranty is all most offer. To replace a recently purchased unit that has a problem with a refurb unit is BS. You might as well buy one at a yard sale. I had a Garmin ETrex Vista that gave very accurate position, etc. for 8+ years. Features were basic but it always got me to where I wanted to go. I think they try to put too many features in the newer units that takes away from reliability. Aren’t there enough distractions driving without viewing pictures or whatever on my GPS? I think I’m going to give up the search until they return to providing reliable products, so for now, I’m going to go buy me a paper map.
Just had my 660′s touchscreen & battery replaced by SHARCNET-USA. They did a great job and had it back to me in less than a week. Very pleased with the communication too. I had a couple questions and they answered them right away.
As of yesterday my 2 year old Nuvi 650′s touchscreen became unresponsive. I have tried everthing I have seen online if I have no luck with Garmin on Monday I plan to file a complaint with the BBB.
my original post Sept.16-2010, garmins response Oct. 18-2010.
Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I will be happy to assist you with this. If you would, please make sure that your GPS has the latest software version and recalibrate touchscreen. To update your unit to the latest software, you need to use the Garmin WebUpdater program. You can install and run WebUpdater any time that you need to update your unit. WebUpdater lets you connect with our server, download, and install the latest updates for your GPS unit.
The Garmin Web site has the latest version of WebUpdater and instructions on how to use it. Go to:
http://www.garmin.com/products/webupdater/howtoinstall.jsp
Once you install it, you can run the WebUpdater program. WebUpdater automatically updates your unit to the latest version of software.
If your touchscreen is not responding to any touch and preventing you from recalibrating the touchscreen using the instructions above, please follow the steps below:
Connect your nuvi to your computer with a compatible USB cable.
Open the Garmin Nuvi drive located in MyComputer/Computer. (Note: Mac users can locate the Garmin Nuvi drive icon on the Desktop.)
Open the Garmin folder.
Locate and delete the GUPDATE.GCD file.1
Safely disconnect your nuvi from your computer.
Power the nuvi Off.
Power the nuvi on by holding the power button.
Continue holding the power button down for 1-2 minutes until the screen calibration option displays.
Touch the center of the dot as it moves around the screen.
When Calibration Complete appears on the screen, please touch OK.
The touchscreen will now be recalibrated and should respond properly.
Notes:
1. If the GUPDATE.GCD file is not in your Garmin folder, then you will need to update or reinstall the system software in your nuvi and then try the screen calibration steps again once the update is complete. For instructions on updating your nuvi’s system software, please read the following article: How do I update the software in my Garmin device?
Links referenced in this article:
Updating system software: http://iqc.garmin.com/eCustomer/KODSelfService/request.do?create=kb:garmin&view()=c%7B8576ba20-e948-11dc-d6fc-000000000000%7D
If you need an additional assistance, please reply to this e-mail or call our product support.
I followed the above instruction and it worked, I’m a happy camper, thanks GARMIN.
Yeah, i did the same as above. It bought me 3 days more use b4 it died again. Hope yours is a better ending story.
If the manufacturer has a 1 yr warranty on the product and it breaks after 2 years, how would reporting it to the BBB help? Your unit worked fine for a year beyond the warranty.
I ‘ve been getting a message from my Garmin Nuvi 650 (2007), telling me to upgrade maps. How do I upgrade it?
Thank you
https://my.garmin.com/maps/updates.htm
well, it seems i have the same issue as lots of others with the 650. touch screen went kaput. tried ALL of the fixes, but to no avail. any NEW ides or suggestions??
SHARCNET-USA replaced my Nuvi 650′s touchscreen. Been working great since.
My faulty unit (unresponding screen) was replaced with a refurbished nuvi 750 for free as it was still under warranty
Nuvi 650 screen stopped responding. I saw a solution on another forum.
I used a wooden toothpick and slid it under bezel around the screen.
The dirt or whatever that was under the bezel came out and now the touch screen works again.
NOTE: I believe that stowing the unit out of sight on the car floor probably caused the dirt pickup – so beware where you stow the gps.
All you are doing when you use a toothpick is applying pressure to the fractured silver conductive paint boarders that surround the touchscreen. This temporarily closes the fracture making the touchscreen work again. The problem WILL come back. There is a design flaw in the touchscreens used with the SHARP LQ043T1DG03A LCD displays. The conductive paint becomes brittle and fractures from the unit being left in a hot vehicle or in the window. Please don’t put your faith in a wives tale. The way to PERMANENTLY fix this problem is to replace the touchscreen with the ORIGINAL style that does not have this problem.
I have the 660 and have the same problem as all listed above. non-responsive touch screen. I also did all the listed fixes with no results. The problem is intermittant except it is not working most of the time and has only recovered for one day then back to the problem again. They will give me a replacement GPS and not a 660 or I will never buy from them again and that includes Fishfinders which we use a lot of.
We need this to make a newspaper or TV to get some action.
Well, well.. Looks like the 650 is causing grief for a lot of people. Mine developed the touch screen problem on a trip to Florida in January. I was able to recalibrate the screen and it lasted 2 weeks. I have it about 5yrs. does anyone know how to get the antenna off the case so the screws behind it are accessible to open the case? Where is a good place to get a new screen… SHARCNET is not taking any quote requests for some reason…….can’t navigate their web site.
SHARCNETs owner is out of the state handling a family medical emergency. They repaired my 660 last year that had a bad touchscreen. My wife’s unit just developed the same problem last weekend. I was told that they would be back to taking in repairs on Monday. I tried taking mine apart and nearly destroyed it. I’m glad I stopped and sent it to someone who knew what they were doing.
Just received an email from SHARCNETS owner. Their site is temporarily down due to a problem with their service provider. He said the provider is working on the problem.