EDOTech Hardwire Cable for Garmin GPS Devices Review

EDOTech Hardwire Cable for Garmin GPS DevicesEDOTech offers a good option for those wanting to hardwire their GPS to their vehicle.  The EDO Tech Hardwire Cable for Garmin GPS Devices fits almost all car GPS devices made by Garmin including the Garmin Nuvi and Garmin Drive product lines.  Although these are marketed towards Garmin GPS owners, these also fit most TomTom and Magellan GPS models made over the past several years.  As long as they use a mini USB, this should provide power to your GPS device.  These are made to work on car GPS devices, not one that are made for motorcycles such as the Garmin Zumo or TomTom Rider as these models do not use a mini USB connection for power.

I have often been asked by Garmin GPS owners if they can simply remove the ending from their car charger and hook it up to their motorcycle battery.  The answer is no.  The part that plugs into your car’s power port includes a fuse to regulate the power.  Removing that part is like running your car’s battery directly into the back of your GPS and will likely result in frying your GPS or potentially worse.  So please don’t cut off the end of the charger.

The EDOTech hardwire cable includes two sections of cable attached to a black box power regulator.  The cable running from the battery (or fuse box) to the black regulator box measures one foot and the cable length from the regulator to the USB ending is 4.5 feet.  This is a typical hardwire attachment.  One end of the cable has bare wires which are made to connect to a battery or fuse box.  The other end has a mini USB cable that attaches to the Garmin GPS.  Like the car charger that comes from Garmin with the GPS, this one has a 90 degree ending on the cable which is appreciated.

The typical user of the EDOTech hardwire cable is a motorcycle owner that wants to power their GPS.  The cable supports 12V~24V direct DC power input and delivers output of a standard 5V 1200mA output which is sufficient for most Garmin GPS devices.  There is an LED power indicator which will draw very minimal power when your motorcycle is turned off.  You can install a switch inline between the box and battery to turn the power off to the black box when not in use.  The black box and any spare cable can be tucked away under your seat or inside a saddle bag.  You don’t want to leave it dangling.

If you feel comfortable working on your motorcycle, installation is a fairly simple task and can be done yourself.  If uncomfortable working on your motorcycle, have a mechanic do it for you.  Couple all of this with a good Garmin Nuvi Motorcycle Mount.

The EDOTech hardwire cable is made for delivering power to your GPS.  These aren’t going to deliver a traffic signal.  If your Garmin GPS has the traffic feature, the actual FM antenna used to gather traffic information is embedded in the actual car charger itself.  This hardwire cable replaces that cable completely and as such will render your traffic inoperable.  There are other ways to hardwire a GPS with a traffic cable and you will want to read How to Hardwire your Garmin GPS with Traffic for information on how to do that.  This cable will power your traffic enabled GPS just fine, but traffic won’t be supported.

The EDO Tech Hardwire Cable for Garmin GPS Devices comes with a one year warranty from the manufacturer.