Garmin nüMaps Lifetime North America Map Updates
by Garmin
|
List Price: Our Price: $64.95 You Save: $55.04 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $53.77 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüMaps Lifetime North America Map Updates
Customer Review: Extraction Takes Time - System Works Fine
Summary: 5 Stars
SUMMARY: Yes, it takes a long time to download the master file - it's big. Yes, the extraction process takes a long time. However, once done the maps work well and in the long run should be cheaper than updating at $60 to $80 per year (with only one update per year).
DISCUSSION: If you don't get anything more out of this review it is this: The file extraction process after you press LAUNCH may take a long time. Your computer is not going crazy.
I like the concept of being able to pay once for continuous updates. However, it's not surprising that there are some adverse reviews about the Garmin update system. I have about a three year old Garmin 2820 GPS. I have purchase map update DVD's a couple times. Since these were $60 to $80 each, the new system should be a lot cheaper in the long run. If your GPS includes the "Mapsource" feature / program, it will also work with the new maps.
Some people have complained about the fact that they can only use the maps for one GPS or that after they bought the map updates, it didn't work with their unit. This information is clearly spelled out on the Garmin web site. If you download their communicator program and connect your GPS to the computer, it will automatically confirm if your unit is compatible with the lifetime map program.
Others have complained about new maps not being up to date. The maps are supplied by NavTech. You can go to the NavTech web site and indicate where you think there is a problem. Depending on their data sources, it can take years before they know about certain features. I remember that it took years from the time my house was built until it showed on paper maps because it was "buried" in a subdivision. If you notify NavTech, it should speed the process.
Now to the matter of how long it takes to download the maps. The current update download file is 2.06 GB. My economy cable internet supports a FILE TRANSFER speed averaging about 110 kb per second. Remember, the speed is not necessarily the speed your ISP advertises. It's the FILE TRANSFER speed that counts. In my case, 110 kb per second is about 6.67 seconds per 1 meg or 309 minutes - a little over 5 hours - for 2.06 Gb. That's about what it took me to download the file. If you have a faster file transfer speed, you'll do it quicker. If it's slower - well you get the picture. The best thing to do is make sure your computer won't shut itself down and let the transfer happen while you're asleep.
Once the file is downloaded, you have to press LAUNCH to start the extraction process. This is where I ran into concerns. The process takes a long time (half hour to an hour) and the hard drive light is on almost continuously. When I thought something had gone wrong and tried to stop the process by shutting the computer down, I had to do a hard shutdown. When I left the program to run alone on a subsequent attempt, it finally ran successfully to conclusion.
After that, you need to send the map file to the GPS unit. As advertised, this can take an hour or two. This is about the same length of time it takes to load from a DVD. It's just normal.
Once loaded to the GPS, the system worked well. I have already completed one trip without problem.
Customer Review: Activated and installed easily
Summary: 5 Stars
Edit 2: On 10 February 2011 I did another map update with no problems. I logged on to my account on the Garmin website with my Nuvi 750 hooked up to the computer via USB. The Nuvi 750 was recognized, an alert that a map update was available was given, and the update downloaded and installed just fine with just a couple of mouse clicks. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes.
Edit 1: It is not a DVD-ROM, it is a giftcard so you can go to the Garmin website and download the updates.
I received the NuMaps Lifetime update gift card and started the map update process at 4:55 pm (1655). On the back of the card is a green arrow pointing to the right with the words "Product Key" on it. The arrow is pointing to a blacked out area on the card. You have to scratch the black substance off in order to read the product key. It scratched off easily with my fingernail.
I then plugged the USB cable into my Garmin Nuvii 750 and into my compter running Windows 7 Home 64 bit. I then logged onto the Garmin web site where it did a check for the Communicator Plugin. If you do not have that installed you will need to do it. Easy to do, no problems encountered.
The My Maps page has a choice to activate the gift card. You need to enter the product key uncovered by scratching off the black substance to the right of the green arrow on the card. You then need to download and run the map update program so you can download the map updates. One small bit of confusion is that at one point it once again asked for a product key for the map update. There was an eight letter code automatically entered in the box for the product key, but it was different from the product key on the gift card. Checking the download page on the My Maps page showed that the product key entered in the box was a match to the product key on the map download page. Do Not enter the product key from the back of the gift card because that is only to activate the gift card. You need to ensure the product key entered matches the product key of the map update.
After that was done an easy to follow process happened that downloaded the maps, prepared the maps, and installed the maps. The map upgrade program that was downloaded and run earlier was a great help.
I have a high speed cable internet connection. The whole map update and installation ended at 6:25 pm (1825) for a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes from start to finish. The updated maps have some streets that were built in the last year, so the new maps seem to be up to date for my area.
All in all it was an easy process to activate the gift card and update the maps on my Nuvii 750. The lifetime updates seem like a good deal at $72.95 so far. Opinions on any future updates will have to wait, of course.
Customer Review: It is what it says
Summary: 5 Stars
I gave the Garmin lifetime map update product a perfect score because it is exactly what it says it is. Map updates, up to four per year, for the life of your GPS. What you get is a card about the size of a credit card that contains a product code under a scratch off cover, similar to a lottery ticket. After registering your GPS on the Garmin web site you then enter this code. The lifetime update is then permanently associated with that particular GPS. Then you download the map data. This can take anywhere from 30 min to several hours depending on the speed of your internet connection. It is approximately a 2 gigabyte download so you can do the math to figure out how long it will take with your connection speed. After that is done you then transfer the data from your computer to the GPS. Depending whether you have a USB 1.1 or 2.0 port this can also take a while. Then it is ready to use. The term "update" is a little misleading. You are actually replacing the entire map and POI data base with an updated version. Same end result, just a bigger file.
There are a few things to be concerned about.
1. If your GPS is more than a few years old you may first want to call the Garmin support line to confrim that your unit will be compatatble with the current maps.
2. Future updates will only work with the GPS the code is first associated with. If you lose your GPS or if it gets stolen your updates go as well. If you want to upgrade you GPS in a few years the updates won't transfer over to a new one. If your GPS breaks you will need to have it repaired by Garmin. If you send it back in to be repaired you will keep your updates when it is fixed however the cost of repair from Garmin will most likely to close to the cost of a new current GPS.
3. If you do not have access to a high speed internet connection you will not be able to use these updates.
4. The time of this process may be a concern for some. It only takes a few minutes of user interaction with the computer to complete the process but you must allow several hours for the data to be transferred from Garmin to your P.C. then to your GPS. Just get the download started then go eat dinner or watch a movie. Come back then set up the P.C. to GPS transfer overnight. A few minutes of your time and the next day it is all done. Not a big deal.
If it is important to you to keep your map data updated and realize that, it will be tied to only one GPS and make take several hours to complete you will be happy with this product.
Customer Review: Updates worked with no problems
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the nuMaps Lifetime card to use with my nuvi 265T. The whole process went through without a hitch and took just over an hour. One thing to take into consideration, though, is that you need to have a fairly fast computer and a broadband internet connection. I used my 2-year-old HP laptop, as my desktop machine is kind of a fossil that dates to 2002 and it just doesn't have the horsepower to handle the large amount of data we're talking about here.
I did run into the same issue that someone else wrote about: the Garmin website said my maps were up to date, even though the device hadn't been updated in 7 months. However, the Communicator plug-in from the website said updates were available, both maps and software. The process isn't exactly intuitive, but detailed instructions are available.
The update process is divided into three distinct parts: download; preparing maps; updating device. Each section has a progress bar. If you place your mouse pointer on the bar a small balloon shows the percentage which has been completed, as well as the transfer speed on the download bar. At one point, the software asks you to disconnect the USB cable from the computer and wait for the GPS device to restart before reconnecting it. After doing this, the CONTINUE button was grayed out but it came back when I clicked the redetect device link. Incidentally, the USB cable for the Garmin GPS is a standard item. After the updates were complete, I discovered the USB cable I had used was one that came with a digital camera. Good to know if you should happen to misplace the original Garmin cable.
My card was shipped from Pavilion Electronics and the product key worked the first time without needing to contact Garmin Support. I notice some people have run into invalid product keys. Since these cards are available from a large number of vendors, I suspect, like so many other items, that there are counterfeits out there. Beware of extremely low prices and remember to check the feedback!
Customer Review: Great deal for new Garmin users
Summary: 5 Stars
We have a 3 year old Garmin 350. We find the unit itself is very easy to use. Our problem is we used our fee update 18 months ago and it did not include much of the new road construction around us. We also found that the changing face of our city had many new, moved and closed businesses and our Points of Interest were also out of date. An update was imminent and it was going to cost us this time. I saw on the lifetime map updates on the Garmin site and thought I might find a bit better deal and that brought me here where one of the vendors had a great deal.
If you are unsure whether an update has the new features you are looking for you can preview the detailed US map on the Garmin shopping site. Be careful there are lists of "supported Nuvi units" on some of the vendors sites that are woefully incomplete. For instance our 350 was not on the vendor list, but after a search I was able to find a list on the Garmin shopping site that seems to list all the Nuvi and other units. The product page has a ton of information but you may have to dig around a bit to find it.
What you get in the mail is essentially a reward card size card with a scratch off code. My one gripe for all this is the shipping cost for this is almost unnecessary except the card is in a store theft control hard shell wrapper. If you upgrade at Garmin you will get the code immediately and therefore no shipping so be sure to factor this in the price.
The upgrade was pretty straight forward but took me about 3 hours. The download is almost 2GB so a good internet connection is very helpful, I am pretty sure though you can get it on DVD for shipping cost.
Bottom line, I really like the Garmin unit and the update will have paid for itself the next time I do it. It seems like a good investment to me.