Garmin LifeTime[TM] Maps

[ionbeam]

[image removed to conserve precious Forum resources]
If you knew where the lake was, why the hell do you need Garmin to confirm it?

Don't need to plot through there, that area of road work was one of the most recent that I could think of to determine how up to date the Nuvi maps are in my area.

I live way east of there, Good Wife plotted a route into the great unknown west of there. After listening to 10 minutes of RECALCULATING she grabbed the power cord and ripped it out, then gently cooed, [SIZE=14pt]"FOR CHRIST SAKE, BUY A ***'N UPDATED MAP SO I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS **** AGAIN!"[/SIZE] I told her I would look into it. In the mean time, I've turned off the 'Recalculating' notification so she won't blow a gasket again. We all have our hot-buttons :lol:

 

[johndaub]

FYI- For the Costco members out there. We get it for $99.99.
Thanks,

Fred

I might buy it next time I am at Costco. I looked at Costco's website and was a little concerned with the terms:

If you purchase a nüMaps Lifetime gift card..... for one (1) compatible Garmin product until your product’s useful life expires or Garmin no longer receives map Data from NAVTEQ, whichever is shorter. .....Garmin may terminate your nüMaps Lifetime subscription at any time if you violate any of the terms of this Agreement. Your nüMaps Lifetime subscription may not be transferred to another person or another Garmin product.

So, it is the shortest lifetime of: the unit, Garmin, Navteq, Garmin's deal with Navteq, or your ownership of the unit. Or, if you violate something? I think that the updates are through your account with Garmin so that, if you sell the unit, the lifetime maps do not go with it.

 

[radman]

Well I'm ******. Bought it, tried to update my refurb 2730, won't work-says it's registered to someone else, WTF????? Have owned 3 Garmins now, each and every time I try to update from the Garmin site, something screws up. Rand McNally looks better and better all the ****** time. :glare: :angry:

 

[pawtracks]

Well I'm ******. Bought it, tried to update my refurb 2730, won't work-says it's registered to someone else, WTF????? Have owned 3 Garmins now, each and every time I try to update from the Garmin site, something screws up. Rand McNally looks better and better all the ****** time. :glare: :angry:

You bought the lifetime maps and they won't work with your Garmin 2730 (I have two 2730 refurbs)

or

Garmin thinks your 2730 is registered to someone else?

or

Both?

All can be fixed by an email or phone call to Garmin.

Sucks it happens, but it is easily fixed.

 

[mdisher]

+1

Had to call them once cause they thought my then state of the art Quest2 was registered to someone else. Was easily fixed with a phone call.

 

[user 17635]

I just got a Refurb SP 2730 and had a similar problem to Radman. The unit came with NT2008 (which I assume was released in 2007) on the CD in the box. The unit itself has v8 (from 2006) loaded already.

I registered the unit online, and it shows that what I unlocked with the included codes was v8, but it also shows that the unit had previously unlocked another instance of v8 AND an instance of NT2009 (released and registered 2008). So on their site, I am seeing product codes and unlock codes for 2 copies of NT v8 and one of of NT 2009. There is a link to download NT 2009, but it is "expired" and not available for download.

And every time I start MapSource, it says that I have NT 2008 maps installed, but they are still locked.

So I called Garmin. I waited on hold for... well, I think it more than 45 minutes. I was warned that it would be more than 30 minutes at the beginning of the call. Good thing I had a hands-free headset so I could do other stuff while I waited...

Anyway, when I finally talk to someone at Garmin, he is completely confused by the situation. I told him if he could just get me the NT2009 software - without any codes, I would be all set because I've got the codes right in front of me already. He says the unit is not eligible for any free updates, so I have to deal with what was on it. I said I am not happy about buying a device and having to deal with 3-year-old maps, and not being able to sync the maps on the device with the maps on my PC. He tells me to email him my receipt and he'll get someone to help him figure it out. I did so...

About 3 hours later, I got an email in which he basically says "I'm not supposed to do this, but I'm sending you NT2010."

OK, I'm good with that! Not what I was expecting, but I won't complain about Garmin going above and beyond for once. I Paid $120 for the detailed maps back in 2005 for my little GPSMap60C (which came with no detailed maps at all, despite it's $400 initial cost!), so I feel like maybe now we're even.

I certainly can't expect them to do that for everyone, but I will say that it may be worth waiting on hold to talk to them about any issues. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome here. I figured the best I was going to get was the codes for the NT2008 software that I got in the box.

 

[radman]

Well I'm ******. Bought it, tried to update my refurb 2730, won't work-says it's registered to someone else, WTF????? Have owned 3 Garmins now, each and every time I try to update from the Garmin site, something screws up. Rand McNally looks better and better all the ****** time. :glare: :angry:

You bought the lifetime maps and they won't work with your Garmin 2730 (I have two 2730 refurbs)

or

Garmin thinks your 2730 is registered to someone else?

or

Both?

All can be fixed by an email or phone call to Garmin.

Sucks it happens, but it is easily fixed.

The site says it's registered to someone else. Don't know if the maps will work (though I believe they will) but this can't be verified, because the map WON'T UNLOCK SO I CAN INPUT IT! Email sent, but my lack of instant gratification is upsetting. We'll see.

 

[squeezer]

Just learned that AMA members save $30 bucks (25% off, $89.99). Cool.

Go to the member benefits area, scroll down through the deals to the Garmin link, and log into your Garmin account through that (they'll want your AMA # too). Then type in the nuMaps lifetime maps item number: 010-D0129-00

I'm in the middle of buying it now.

 

[johndaub]

Just learned that AMA members save $30 bucks (25% off, $89.99). Cool.
Go to the member benefits area, scroll down through the deals to the Garmin link, and log into your Garmin account through that (they'll want your AMA # too). Then type in the nuMaps lifetime maps item number: 010-D0129-00

I'm in the middle of buying it now.

I am planning to buy using the AMA discount since it is cheaper than Costco. I first checked with Garmin since there are other options such as combined North America and Europe maps as an alternative. This led to a detailed discussion regarding my GPSMAP 478 which is popular with many of you (this is one of their marine units). Bottom line, I cannot buy the NA and Europe updates since my unit was not shipped with Europe on it. I would have to buy a standalone Europe ($$). The agent also cautioned me that I probably would not have space to add Europe without deleting NA. This led to the discussion on how big the memory is in the 478 and "they don't know". He even checked with the engineers and they don't know. He then said that with the lifetime updates, the maps keep getting bigger and I would reach the point that I could no longer update since the memory was full. Finally, after some emails, he claimed that if the memory ever got filled, I would get a prompt to select parts of NA to delete to make room for the update. I suppose I could make room by deleting the shorelines for marine use but I do not know if I would be able to restore them if I later wanted them.

 

[johnny80s]

Well I'm ******. Bought it, tried to update my refurb 2730, won't work-says it's registered to someone else, WTF????? Have owned 3 Garmins now, each and every time I try to update from the Garmin site, something screws up. Rand McNally looks better and better all the ****** time. :glare: :angry:

You bought the lifetime maps and they won't work with your Garmin 2730 (I have two 2730 refurbs)

or

Garmin thinks your 2730 is registered to someone else?

or

Both?

All can be fixed by an email or phone call to Garmin.

Sucks it happens, but it is easily fixed.

The site says it's registered to someone else. Don't know if the maps will work (though I believe they will) but this can't be verified, because the map WON'T UNLOCK SO I CAN INPUT IT! Email sent, but my lack of instant gratification is upsetting. We'll see.

Radman,

Call them they will make it right. Same thing happened to me and I explained that I had bought a refurb. They fixed it over the phone. Let us know how it goes.

 

[luvtoride]

Not Garmin's fault though. Go to Navteq's website. They have a place to report map in-accuracies. They are the one's that need to fix it. With YOUR help!

Well hell Scoot... if I had known that, I would've done that a long time ago. There is a section of I-40 in NC that I traverse coming home from that area. I KNOW that road rerouting construction has been done for years... my 276C with 2008 maps still shows me driving through a field even though I am most positive that I am on I-40.

 

[Steve Hunt]

It seams like a good deal to me as long as you don't break or lose the device.

Bingo...I bought the lifetime map updates and the 2730 crapped out 2 weeks latter for no apparent reason...they gratiously let me pay $170 to repair the unit.

Steve

 

[TruWrecks]

I'm afraid this is just another case of shortsighted marketing by these companies.

And shortsighted in the tech market can be killer. I was checking out a friends iphone, built in GPS with google maps = no more map updates. :clapping:

The iPhone will work very accurately, as long as you have good coverage for the EDGE or 3G network. No internet access, no map.