Garmin update

luckat

Garmin announced in October that they had issued a new operating system version, with comprehensive maps of Ireland. I've been promised this as a free upgrade half a dozen times by email since, but it's never arrived.

Does anyone know if it actually exists?

Owen

Use the Forum Search to look for 'Garmin Upgrade', you'll find many threads where the majority of users have sucessfully upgraded their units F.O.C., I've upgraded 4 myself without having to pay a cent.

luckat

Thanks, Ned. How did you get the upgrade? Garmin keep promising, but I haven't had the CDs.

By the way, I did search for 'Garmin Upgrade', but found only two threads, neither of which had the promised stories.

Krusty_Clown

It depends on what you're talking about luckat. There's either:
1) Unit software upgrades - Bios updates for your Garmin unit, which you can get from here, or use the Garmin WebUpdater.
2) Mapping updates. You need to create an account on the MyGarmin section of the Garmin website and request a mapping updade CD or DVD. They wont just send them out to you automatically. .

if your device is an NT product (like a Nuvi etc) then the version 9 mapping has been available since November. if you're product is non-NT (like a Quest, 2610 etc) then it has only been availably for the last week, and the DVDs are arriving as we speak, but only if you've requested one.

luckat

It's a Nuvi, and they first promised to send me the CDs last October; I've been sending polite requests every few weeks since then.

Krusty_Clown

If it's a Nuvi, then it's City Navigator v9 NT. You can finds someone who already has the DVD and borrow it off of them. You don't actually pay for the DVD, you pay for the privilege of unlocking the maps.

Otherwise, you really should request the DVD through the MyGarmin web interface. Garmin have very good customer relations, but very bad customer support, e.g. they'll replace a faulty product without question, if you can get through to them on the phone..

luckat

I've requested it again, and got another embarrassed "oh heavens, have you not got it yet, this is awful" type email.

Rowley Birkin QC

If i buy a garmin unit from somewhere like pixmania will it come preloaded with the newest maps?

sharkman

Where you based , You can take a loan of my Cd to update .

luckat

Thanks very much, Sharkman - if it doesn't arrive next week I'll take you up on your kind offer. I'm in Dublin.

Krusty_Clown

bigkev49 wrote:

If i buy a garmin unit from somewhere like pixmania will it come preloaded with the newest maps?

Maybe You'll need to read the description/check with the vendor..

dak

I got the version 9 update on DVD , unlocked the maps etc and thought it was all done and dusted as the european map appeared on screen etc. However I was surprised at the lack of detail for some areas in Europe etc. I loaded the DVD ont omy Pc and when I zoomed in on the PC was much more detail. What I didn't know was that you have to select map areas from your PC and send them to a Nuvi SD card . My problem was that I hadn't got an sd card in the nuvi at the time. It wasn't all that clear when I updated it . All I can advise is to get the bidggest SD card you can and download as much map info as possible.

luckat

I got the update. Not only that, but I got *two* CDs and two instruction leaflets, posted separately.

Woohoo, I said, brought the Garmin, CD and leaflet into work where they have PCs and set to.

But they hadn't sent me a coupon with a number to unlock the software, so the effing thing wouldn't work.

Un-woohoo.

Two more emails to the person who sent them out (and it's only taken since October) haven't had any replies two days later. Oh, sorry, no, she did reply, to tell me to go to the site and log in, as I'd told her I'd done originally.

When I next buy a GPS it's definitely going to be a TomTom.

luckat

Finally I rang Garmin. Now they tell me that because my unit was registered on August 14 2006, and the cut-off date is the beginning of September, I'm supposed to pay for the update - which they'd previously promised me for free.

The new version was produced something like three months after the date it was announced for - when I bought the unit, I was told that because the software update was due within a stated period, it would be free.

Definitely TomTom for me in future; in my experience they don't mess you around like this.