SourceGPS.com - Amateur GPS User Web Site

It’s pretty cool that both the TomTom and the Garmin let you change the voice files at your every whim if you want. It’s so easy to do that you can have someone different tell you where to go every day.

It’s not only my GPS that’s telling me where to go, I hear it from different people all the time.

This article is about changing the vehicle icons on your Garmin Nuvi device, so if you’re looking to change the voices on your GPS you can learn how to change your GPS voices with these tutorials on SourceGPS:
http://www.sourcegps.com/2008/04/21/change-your-garmin-gps-voice/
http://www.sourcegps.com/2008/03/08/changing-and-creating-tomtom-voices/

I’m going to have to say right off the bat that Garmin is the front-liner though when it comes to customization and total tweaking control. Not only do they allow you to have the ability to change your voice files, but you can have some real control over your vehicle icon too.

Garmin has a garage (actually a web site) set up just for storing cars to share with the planet. There’s over 50 vehicles in the garage to choose from like the blue RC Buggy pictured on the left.

Some of you knowledgeable people are going to say “TomTom lets you change theirs too!” - but the cheezy little vehicle bitmap icons that TomTom utilizes don’t even come close to comparing to the vehicle icons that are available for the Garmin GPS Navigators.

Garmin says their vehicle icons will work for the Nuvi series, the Zumo series and the StreetPilot c510, c530, c550 and the c580. You can download the vehicle icons from The Garmin Garage.

Check back at SourceGPS in a little while and we’ll have a tutorial on how to make your own custom icons for the Garmin series of GPS Navigators.