OK, I spend a wee bit more time with the Garmin Camper 795. Let me divide this into 3x topics:
- Hardware installation
- Software connection
- Software usage
Hardware installation
I searched again to find information of how to remove the mirror - no luck. What I have found was a spare part:
The reason why I put this in the post is because it seems to prove that the mirror is only just "screwed in" (or however you want to call it).
So I had another try at the mirror - no luck. I was not able to turn the mirror, not even a tiny bit. Have I said that I am not well at the moment and I have not used full force. Tools would be a no no anyway.
What I managed was to separate the mirror from the VW mirror holder. That was easier. Just to take out a "spring ring".
Now I checked if the Garmin holder will fit onto the remains of the VW mirror holder. The Garmin holder is a wee bit to big, but with a bit of rubber from a bike tube it fits rather well. Now my dashboard looks like this:
The adapters which I got worked well. VW installed a power cable for the Nextbase Dashcam. So I had Mini USB power cable at the top of the windscreen. The first adapter female-mini USB to 2x male-mini USBs. One of them I connected into the Nextbase Dashcam, die other I connected to the 2nd adapter female-mini USB to USB-C.
I started the engine and both device receive power and work well. Switching the power off both devices lose power (exactly as I wanted).
So that worked well.
Software connection
What I mean is to Bluetooth connection between the Garmin Camper and the VW radio unit. It seems they "see each other" but they won't connect. Here I might push it a bit, because both devices were not designed for this kind of usage. But for me it is important (this still can be a deal breaker for me). The sound from the Garmin is bad. Driving along, listing to music (not loud) it is possible to overhear the Garmin.
I have to spend more time with this one.
Software usage
Like many others I got to be used to Google maps. In general it worked well. Using the Garmin device means to change the workflow (help - change!).
Using Park4Night, finding a spot and "hand over" the coordinates worked in my tests:
1.) Park4Night - 2.) Garmin Drive - 3.) Garmin Device
It supposed to be possible to "share" destinations from Google Maps to Garmin Drive, but this morning all my tests failed. There is an error message: No location information found in the link provided.
That is a wee bit annoying. I need to look into this more. I think it is extremely handy to use the Google Maps power to find something, hand it over to Garmin Drive and then to Garmin Camper to calculate the rout based on the campers size. This is not working.
What I have not tested at all, how to create a longer tour (up to 9x or more stops) preferably on the PC and send the saved tour to the Garmin device.
So, that is where I am at the moment. If somebody came across some solutions listed above please let me know. My plan is to test the Garmin Camper 795 for about 2x weeks. If it is ok, I will keep it and if it won't meet our needs it will go back to Garmin and I get my money back. The cost for the entire test was only for the 2x adapters.
Regards,
Eberhard
). But if I plan to keep the Garmin Sat Nav the best place would be where the mirror is now.
