Steal Deal (IMO) Garmin 2730

[SkooterG]

Well, I got the refurb 2730 that I bought for the g/f. Works great, but one small problem.............

It came with the 2008 map that I expected. When I called Garmin for the free upgrade to the current 2009 mapping, I got a big "NO"! :angry2: I suspect it may be because I went ultra cheapo and got the unit off ebay for $162. I am wondering if I would have bought one of the Amazon units if I would have gotten that map upgrade as many have.

So what sayeth all of you?

What map did your unit come with? If it was 2008 have you been able to get a free upgrade to City Navigator NT 2009? And from what vendor did you buy your refurb'd unit?

I am pretty bummed about this. Now with the g/f's unit, I have 3 Garmin GPS's. The $70 for the updated map is only good for ONE gps, and I ain't spending $210 per year to keep them all up to date. Not sure what I am going to do.

 

[Geezer]

Well, I got the refurb 2730 that I bought for the g/f. Works great, but one small problem.............
It came with the 2008 map that I expected. When I called Garmin for the free upgrade to the current 2009 mapping, I got a big "NO"! :angry2: I suspect it may be because I went ultra cheapo and got the unit off ebay for $162. I am wondering if I would have bought one of the Amazon units if I would have gotten that map upgrade as many have.

So what sayeth all of you?

What map did your unit come with? If it was 2008 have you been able to get a free upgrade to City Navigator NT 2009? And from what vendor did you buy your refurb'd unit?

I am pretty bummed about this. Now with the g/f's unit, I have 3 Garmin GPS's. The $70 for the updated map is only good for ONE gps, and I ain't spending $210 per year to keep them all up to date. Not sure what I am going to do.

Contact Garmin. Tell them you just bought from (the name of the vendor, don't say EBAY) and you didn't get the latest maps with it. Have your receipt in hand in case they ask questions.

 

[SkooterG]

Contact Garmin. Tell them you just bought from (the name of the vendor, don't say EBAY) and you didn't get the latest maps with it. Have your receipt in hand in case they ask questions.

I did.

On the first call, I gave the name of the vendor (Geekdeal.com) and did not tell them it was an auction. Sneaky ******* that I am, on a 2nd call an hour later with a new customer service rep, I outright lied and told them I bought it from Amazaon even though they asked if I had got it through an auction. On both calls, they went away for awhile while they looked up the unit's serial number and told me it came back as "not eligible for free upgrade". One call the rep seemed perplexed by it (and did check with a supervisor) and on the 2nd they said something about a new policy on free upgrades for refurb'd units.

So I am just wondering how everybody else is doing with this.

 

[lacofdfireman]

Contact Garmin. Tell them you just bought from (the name of the vendor, don't say EBAY) and you didn't get the latest maps with it. Have your receipt in hand in case they ask questions.

I did.

On the first call, I gave the name of the vendor (Geekdeal.com) and did not tell them it was an auction. Sneaky ******* that I am, on a 2nd call an hour later with a new customer service rep, I outright lied and told them I bought it from Amazaon even though they asked if I had got it through an auction. On both calls, they went away for awhile while they looked up the unit's serial number and told me it came back as "not eligible for free upgrade". One call the rep seemed perplexed by it (and did check with a supervisor) and on the 2nd they said something about a new policy on free upgrades for refurb'd units.

So I am just wondering how everybody else is doing with this.

I got the same answer from my Garmin Rep. I did buy mine through Amazon but they said since the unit was discontinued almost 2 years ago that they would not update the maps. I said oh well and am just excited to get a decent GPS for this price.

 

[SkooterG]

I got the same answer from my Garmin Rep. I did buy mine through Amazon but they said since the unit was discontinued almost 2 years ago that they would not update the maps. I said oh well and am just excited to get a decent GPS for this price.

You should be happy. It is a great unit for the price. I am just being nitpicky. Even if you spend the $70 for the latest map, it's still a great deal. Or, wait for the 2010 map to come out in 8 months or so and do it then.

Arizona is growing and adding roads all the time so ideally, I like to have the latest map.

Congrats on your new GPS. Hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I have mine.

 

[Bungie]

On the first call, I gave the name of the vendor (Geekdeal.com) and did not tell them it was an auction. ...

So I am just wondering how everybody else is doing with this.

I got mine through GeekDeal as well, I'll try Garmin tomorrow (gotta call them anyway, I can't reg' it as its still being shown as registered). I'll let ya know how I make out.

 

[stryg8r]

So I am just wondering how everybody else is doing with this.

I just went through this on Wednesday. When I called to get the update they didn't ask where I purchased. They told me the Garmin line is the mapset provided is that which is current at the time the unit is discontinued. The 2730 was discontinued in 2007 so is not eligible for the free upgrade to 2009.

I was able to get the update for half price by letting the rep know how good a customer I've been. That's a small consolation but the unit is still a smoking deal overall.

 

[FatNakedGuy]

They refused to upgrade mine although I explained that I owned four other Garmin devices, am a loyal customer, etc. They did offer to take 20% off. After hanging up slightly pissed I found it as a free download online... not that I did that but still...

 

[painman]

I got a new 2720 that came with 2008 maps, courtesy of Amazon, and purchased the update to 09 for $75 online. Now even though I don't have the 2730, I don't need the bells and whistles of the 30, and it is the same mapping and really the same unit.

Annnnnnnnnnd, in my area new roads have been constructed within the last year and a half to 2 years, subdivisions, major roadways and bypasses. Now this is what doesn't make sense, the subdivisions have been added to the 2009 mapping while the major roadways have not. :blink: What's up with this? So, IMO is it really worth updating every year? I don't know. Personally I would wait for the 2010 maps. Really though, from the original price on these units, these are "steal deals" we are now getting. PM. <><

 

[mtnhigh]

I saw this and couldn't pass it up. I'm too broke to afford the $6-700. After a 1500 mile ride with it I am very pleased with it. Definitely waterproof!! I also like it for the xm set-up. Beats the ole' mp3. As far as the mapping it's already been said, The price is great for what you get. It will still get you where you need to go.

Btw my old gps was about 10 years old, so anything would have been an improvement!!!

 

[BwanaDik]

I got mine from some guy in West Virginia. Looks good, I'm real happy with it so far. However, it also came with "City Navigator NT" which is the biggest POS I've run across in a while. It doesn't have half the roads on it that are on the GPS. So what software do you use to program in a route and then upload it into the 2730? Doing point by point routing is tedious at best with the 2730 if the route is long and complicated. Does Streets and Trips work (don't think so....)? Is there something from Garmin that can be used on my laptop for route programming that has the same map as what's in GPS? And doesn't cost a fortune?

 

[SkooterG]

I got mine from some guy in West Virginia. Looks good, I'm real happy with it so far. However, it also came with "City Navigator NT" which is the biggest POS I've run across in a while. It doesn't have half the roads on it that are on the GPS. So what software do you use to program in a route and then upload it into the 2730? Doing point by point routing is tedious at best with the 2730 if the route is long and complicated. Does Streets and Trips work (don't think so....)? Is there something from Garmin that can be used on my laptop for route programming that has the same map as what's in GPS? And doesn't cost a fortune?

"City Navigator NT" is the map that is loaded into the GPS. It should have a 2008, or 2009, or some other info after it so you know which version you have. Do you have a current, or near current version?

Garmin's computer based mapping program is called "Mapsource" You should be able to call Garmin and get a copy for free as it's supposed to be included with the GPS. If you bought from a private party, this may affect whether they will give it to you for free. Lots of people hate Mapsource. It is not as good as STreets & Trips, but I use it. The more you use it, the better you get at it. For seamless operation, you want to make sure Mapsource is using the same version of City Navigator NT that your GPS is using.

You can use Streets & Trips and to do so, you need to download the free utility called "GPSU", or "GPS Utility". Just google it and you will find it. GPSU allows you to download S&T waypoints to a GPS. There is a free version which should be fine, or a pay version. It is not the most user friendly program at first, but easy to eventually get the hang of it. The only problem with using S&T and GPSU is that you can't download a 'route' to your 2730, but only 'waypoints'. So if you want a specific, non-linear route, use plenty of waypoints so that when the GPS calculates the route from the waypoints on it's own, it will match what you did on the computer.

Typically, for general route planning, I use Google Maps to come up with a route (due to it's user friendliness) then knowing that route, I re-enter it into Mapsource so I can download it to my GPS. Iggy is a big fan of S&T and GPSU, especially for rallying, but I miss not being able to download an actual route to my GPS as well as additional info on waypoints that Mapsource can include and GPSU can't.

Clear as mud?

 

[BwanaDik]

Outstanding! Thanks. Now I've got something to work with. I'll try Garmin for the Mapsource, probably fool around with the GPSU conversion and see which method I like better

 

[RenoJohn]

On the first call, I gave the name of the vendor (Geekdeal.com) and did not tell them it was an auction. Sneaky ******* that I am, on a 2nd call an hour later with a new customer service rep, I outright lied and told them I bought it from Amazaon even though they asked if I had got it through an auction. On both calls, they went away for awhile while they looked up the unit's serial number and told me it came back as "not eligible for free upgrade". One call the rep seemed perplexed by it (and did check with a supervisor) and on the 2nd they said something about a new policy on free upgrades for refurb'd units.
So I am just wondering how everybody else is doing with this.

I haven't dug into this yet, but just starting to use one of the units I ordered -and sent my original one back to Garmin for screen de-lamination issues (no complaints here -a few years of heavy use/abuse and it still works fine).
In the past, I've had GREAT luck with Garmin customer support and them bending over (backwards) to go the extra mile. I hope that continues, but it seems with this old unit that maybe we're not going to get the golden treatment(?)

I hope to get my original one fixed for free, and updated maps on the new ones -I'll share how that goes good/bad or whatever.

Worst case, picking up a spare/replacement for under a hundred bucks (after dumping antenna) is groovy with me.