Thread: Nuvi 255 TTS voices not working?

Your 255 is one of those 'specials' i mentioned, it lacks support for TTS in the "logo" data flashed to region 16. Garmin's lazy way of limiting features. Look at the different headers of the standard US/EU logo and your current one:

Spoiler: Image

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This can be easily corrected by flashing the standard logo to it, so use this SD pack which will enable TTS:

Spoiler: Click

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Same procedure as before, extract to CLEAN card etc.. After it reboots any loaded TTS voices will be selectable.

Originally Posted by lych

Perfect, that enabled TTS indeed and those voice files showed up. What a silly limitation from Garmin with this 'special' variant.

It does make economic sense for them to have done that towards the end of a series production when wanting to introduce a lower-cost leader-line, which was what those 'specials' were intended to be. Otherwise, they'd have had to use a different firmware which means also allocating them a different HWID thus really complicating ongoing updating. Worse, different hardware in the form of a modified PCB would be nonsensical.

They did indeed use different fw & HWIDs for some hire-car derivatives.... remember when Avis etc used to charge an arm and a leg for a GPS device to stick on the windscreen? It was usually cheaper for a punter to buy a new basic PND than hire one for a few weeks as an add-on to a longer-term car package! You can still find unarchived threads here and there, ppl later bought those things cheap from auctions only to be mystified when the device quickly 'bricked' itself because nobody bothered before the sale to remove the requirement for a PIN code entry after a set time of use. That was planned bastardry which served a purpose during the device's life with a hire company but left a landmine for the next unsuspecting owner. We solved that too, mostly.

It takes a knowledgable one like you to be able to solve the issue, especially this being a model released back in 2008.

Many of us collaborated to work out how to solve those sorts of issues back in the day. Most don't bother being involved now, time is leaving the dedicated portable auto GPS device in the dust of history because of in-dash units and smartphones. I really only stand on the shoulders of giants; it just so happens that i'm still interested in this stuff ... and maybe a bit OCD.

...... God bless.

Thanks but i already am. I have 5 kids, 9 grandkids and something over 50 old GPS devices ... i've never bothered to keep proper track of that latter number ...