...suction cup mount?There is a port on the side of the device that the vehicle power cable fits into, but the manual says the vehicle power cable is designed to plug into the suction cup mount. What happens if I plug the vehicle power cable directly into the gps unit? Does the unit operate, but not charge? Does it not operate at all? Does it operate and charge? Before trying it, I'd like to know so I don't harm the device.
Garmin makes a couple of power cords that go from one GPS to the other. Read the instruction manual, if it says a power cord plugs in there it will work. It will not recharge unless you have Ni-Cad rechargable batteries. Garmin is an excellent unit and you can moved saved info from other Garmins on your computer to your new one usually.
According to the Nuvi 370 instruction manual - this unit appears to be designed to receive power only through the suction cup mount. In other words - the vehicle power adapter connects to the suction cup mount, and when you attach the device to the mount - it receives the power it needs to operate. Looking at the photo in the owner's manual and the identified ports and controls - the device does not appear to have a direct connect power/charge port to which the vehicle power cable can directly connected. If your device does in fact have a charge/power port on its side that the vehicle power cable can directly connect to, then you should be able to make that connection without any problem. It should operate and charge your device just fine. Note: Your unit has a USB port for connecting the device to a computer for updates and for charging (via the USB port). If you want to charge the device without using the suction cup mount (and therefore the vehicle power cable to which it connects), you have the option of buying a vehicle USB power converter/adapter that plugs into your vehicle's 12V power outlet. Then you would simply connect a USB cable from the USB power adapter to your device to charge it. Update: Reading the instructions in the owner's manual a little more closely - it would appear that you can certainly plug in the AC power adapter directly to the unit, although they are not really clear about it. (The manual could have been written a little more clearly in my opinion.) So again, I will reiterate that if the vehicle power adapter connector will mate directly to the device - then it will power and charge the device without having to use the suction cup mount, if that is your desire. BTW, congrats on your new Garmin 370 GPS unit. Really nice!
