2009 MAP UPDATES

I just puchased mine today also with 2008 maps. I sent email and requested the update or if not free, advise how to tell what maps are on the unit without opening the box as I plan to take mine back to the store and find one with new maps. I have not heard back yet but it's only been one day.

Let me know what you hear and I'll do the same.

I bought got a C340 for Christmas 2007 during that year the 2008 update came out and it was sent to me free (no shipping).
This year I bought two Nuvi's for my girls for Christmas. One of my daughter's just signed onto Garmin and said there was a shipping cost of $10.

Not a big deal considering it'll cost me $70 if I want to buy the update, but worth mentioning as it came as a surprise to me.

Hi, everyone,

I haven't taken the time to read all the posts on this subject...I may be restating, but, Radio Shack has this update listed in their latest "Fathers Day" sale circular (6-01 thru 6-14) for $69.99. This may or may not be a good deal for those of you, like myself, who aren't entitled to a free or discounted update from Garmin. I updated at a discounted rate last year, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this new one. Prior to getting my 660, all of my mapping was done using DeLorme. I still use their products and update them religiously.

Miki

My first day on here. Love the site thus far.
Just got my 780 2 days ago and is working great. I was reading all the comments regarding Garmin giving the 2009 update free to those who purchased a unit after April. I hope I qualify. I sent them an email yesterday, but have not received a response yet.

When you register the 780 with Garmin, you should be offered an upgrade.... If not call there tech support.

Looks like there are lots of updates for Edmonton - very nice.

I can't say for certain, since they are slightly different models. However, I purchased my 760 last night. It came with the 2008 maps. Once I registered it I was able to d/l and install the 2009 maps for free.

Hopefully you'll have the same experience.

Got my Nuvi 750 last week and it came with 2008 maps. When I connected my GPS (via USB) to the web update software and Garmin website--I qualified for the free 2009 update. I downloaded the 2.04gb file and updated my Nuvi without any problems and was also given a product key to unlock it. The website also gives you the option to receive the CD for about $10.

Just to let everyone know if you download the new map (which I did for my recently purchased nuvi750)you must have 7.5 gigs free space on your c drive. I downloaded the maps on a separate drive but when you extract it it drops it on your c drive only. no choices. I called garmin and they know about this and are working on a fix. BIG problem if you do not have sufficient space on your drive.

I just got my 780 yesterday and I registered it yesterday as well. The only thing I was told during registration is that I had 10% off accessories for 30 days. I will give them a call on Monday and report back my sucess.

I got my Zumo 550 3 days ago and when I registered it online, I got a prompt that said I could download it for free, but I had to do it within a certain time-frame. I think it showed a week or two to do it by before I had to pay for it.

Finally got an e-mail from them Friday to tell me updated maps were available for $70. Holy cow, talk about being behind the times!

My girlfriend and I each just bought a GPS. I got the Nuvi 660 and after I registered it I got to download the 2009 update for free, but when I registered hers, no such luck. I called tech support and after waiting for a while they decided to call be back. Another 15 min and he finally called back only to say that hers didn't qualify for a free up date. Seems pretty strange. I wish they were more clear about who / which units qualify and why they do.

Okay folks, here's one of those "good news" stories. The battery stopped taking a charge in my C550 last week. When I purchased the unit (in Tennessee), I opted to get the extended warranty offered by Circuit city. Last week in Ohio, I merely stopped at my local Circuit City and they did a one-for-one exchange (no questions asked). I registered the new unit, Mapupdater offered the 2009 maps as a free upgrade...downloaded and all is well.

Hey...so I'm a total noobie at this....just bought a simple Garmin nuvi GPS for my everyday needs (1st time )and man I have found out that this is a lot more high tech than I thought. Any suggestions on how to get the basics? What are the best downloads etc.....I have been trying to dl red light cameras and all that stuff but just not sure if I am doing this right. And before I screw something up I thought I had better ask lol...Sorry about the "noobie" basic stuff...just not sure what I am doing yet lol! Thanks for any suggestions ahead of time.

Glad I read this. I logged into the Garmin site and found out I get the update free! It's available on disk or via download if you have a high speed connection. For those not elligible for the free upgrade, I did find it at amazon.com for $55.

Where can I find an update for my computer mapsource program

This is the update for the MapSource program.
http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=209

If you are looking for an update for the City Navigator maps, you need to log on to your my.garmin.com site and then information will be under "Manage Maps".

I wish Garmin would have posted an easy to find answer to all of these questions on their web site. I purchased mine on June 2, and I figured out that since it was after April, I would qualify for the 2009 update.

But I am still waiting for Tech Support since last Thursday. One more day and back it goes to the store and I am switching to TomTom.

My brief experience with Garmin is that they are not a customer friendly company. Difficult web site to navigate, no manual with device, etc.

Does anyone know if you can see what has been updated on the new maps?

I bought my 760 at Best Buy on Friday (#349 ... ask for the online price), and was told (incorrectly) I would have to purchase the 2009 maps. Once I registered Garmin told me I had 30 days to download. I did it right away, well as quickly as the two+ hour download speed would allow. It all worked very smoothly.
This is my first GPS device and so far I'm enjoying learing how to use it. Garmin makes it easy for the most part. Trying it out around a medium size city (Colubmia SC) shows me it is not always taking me on the most efficient routes, however.

The manual is "ON" your device. You need to hook it up to your computer to view it or print it out. It was a cost saving feature to get the GPS devices lower.

If you email tech support, they are slow to get back to you but on the phone, they are quick and courteous.

You can compare the differences at Garmin.
http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/

I spoke to one of the senior tech advisors on this issue and asked him why soem get automatic free update and others not.
There are two reasons for this problem:

1) Older models that have been around a while are not eligable because they were never intended to come with the most recent 2009 maps (for example, an item on the market for 3 years is not eligable.)

2) This is the more complicated problem. Once the unit has acquired a signal for the first time, the clock starts to tick on the 30 days for the map update. Sometimes, during the build process, some of the units turn on and lock onto a signal. For example, my NUVI 780 was built in northern Taiwan in early January 2008, I know this because it is clearly shown on the website of my registered product. Because my unit started the clock in January, it inadvertantly told me I was not eligable (or simply didn't tell me it was even a possibility). If you call up support, they can fix this problem (expect a wait if you call in teh morning- try 3PM).

Received my nuvi 760 about 3 weeks ago. Funny story, I kept entering the series of numbers on the far right as my serial number and it kept saying that it's already registered!! I thought, oh great, I got a refurbished unit. Phoned tech support and they said the serial numbers are the ones in the middle near the contact points. Ha! That's what I get for playing with this thing well up to midnight in the kitchen where the light is not that good. Oh well, when you're over 40, it's either the knees, the back or the eyes that start to go.

Anyway, I finally registered. The Garmin site said I had a free update to 2009 map. I have 4 computers on a home network and the download won't "connect" on 2 of them. So I thought it must be the garmin site that's down. For 3 days, I never thought to try the 3rd computer. When I finally did, the download took hold. So it must have been the software firewall on the 2 computers. Weird that I never have problems downloading stuff on any of my PC's before.

I got the strangest email from Garmin the other day informing me that the 2009 update is now available.

I don't know if they are just WAY behind the times informing their map customers about new maps or if there is ANOTHER update available.

They are very cryptic in the way they handle the mapping and updates and one of the feew areas I think Garmin needs to improve dramatically.

Tim

I have been reading through a lot of these posts and would like to be sure I am understanding this. I just purchased a Nuvi 780 yesterday. I should have it in my hands by Thursday. Will it most likely have the 09 maps already installed and if not, would I qualify for a free upgrade>

Thanks!

Registered my 360 March 1st of this year. I ran the web updater software hoping to see a map update option but did not. Next I logged onto my account at Garmin.com. I wanted to find out when I had registered my unit. Instead I found a message that I was entitled to an update to the 2009 maps and could download it from there. It's a big file (2gb) so it may be that downloading it from web site or getting a disk are the only two reasonable choices. Hope this information is useful and not repititous.

I got a 760 on Sunday and it had the 2008 maps. Garmin web site said I get the upgrade free when I registered it.

Bought a Nuvi260 and it has the City Navigator North America NT 2008 Deluxe All Regions which includes Alaska, Canada and all of the lower 48 states (as we say in Alaska).

Registered the Nuvi and Garmin said the unit did not qualify for the update because the unit had a first acquisition date back in February. Sent purchase documentation and Garmin provided 2009 update for free. Elected to get DVD simply because I didn't want to take the time to download (even with broadband).

Now another person on another web site reports --

"I own a Nuvi 260 and downloaded the 2009 maps for free. One issue that has not been brought up is that my unit will not install both the lower 48 United States and Canada. I have 4 choices:
1) Lower 48
2) Eastern US and Canada
3) Western US and Canada
4) Canada and bordering US states."

They went on to say they contacted Garmin and got the following response --

"Thank you for contacting Garmin International. Unfortunately this is a limitation with the unit and you would either have to install the lower 48 states or the Canadian states to the unit, and this are interchangeable..."

Can anyone confirm that the 2009 update has Alaska, Canada and the lower-48 and that ALL of them can be installed on the 260? Guess I could always write Garmin too, but it looks like lots of people have already done the upgrade.

The map has All 50 states, which includes Alaska and Hawaii, and Canada. The update requires you to connect your unit to your computer and it replaces the 2008 NT with the 2009 NT....

That's the way it worked on my c550 and my nuvi 760.....

I purchased their update for $69.00 and selected download rather then wait for the CD and it took 26 hours to download. The only good thing is using their download manager you can start and stop the download manager program and pickup where you stopped. I just purchased the Nuvi 760 and checked for software updates and there were several.

Pratzert - I too got the e-mail from Garmin just this week but I have the C320 which requires a different map update than the later models. Upon contacting tech support apparently the 2009 map update for the C320 (and i'm not sure what other units) was just released.

theskycop, My nuvi 350 was ordered Friday and received today via Amazon. It had the 08 maps. when you get it, go to garmin.com and register the 780. Follow the onscreen prompts and it will walk you through registering the unit, updating the software and upgrading the maps. If your unit has 08 maps you should be able to get the free upgrade to 09, it will tall you during the registration process. Don't forget to plan on it taking hours to complete though, I downloaded in under an hour, but jamming all that map data through a USB is taking for freakin ever.

I have downloaded the file 5 times and each time the file has been "corrupt". I think the only other option is to order the map update on CD

Hi - just thought I would share my experience getting and installing my 2009 maps.

I bought a new 760 that had 2008 maps on it. I was supposed to be entitled to a free 2009 update but there was a glitch in the Garmin system that prevented me from getting it. I talked to Garmin - they knew the problem right away - and got me access to the map download.

I tried to run it on my work computer running Vista with crazy restrictions but that did not work. I had to then run it in administrator mode using XP-Service Pack 2 Compatibility mode. After three hours of figuring out how that was going to start it took about an hour to install.

Works great - hope this might help someone out with similar problems.

After several failed attempts of downloading the update, I successfully downloaded the file w/o it being "corrupt". This time I used the Garmin download manager and it worked just fine. For some reason I thought it was also going to install mapsource as well but it didnt

I broke down and bought the map update for my C550 today and installed it. Took a little over an hour to get installed and uploaded to my Garmin.

I was reluctant to get this at first but after doing a bit of research and looking at the map that is on the Garmin site I noticed that some streets that were missing with the map that came with my Garmin are on the 2009 update. This has come in handy since I have moved to GA and currently looking for a house to rent. Now I can actually load the addresses in my GPS (before the update, streets in some of the newer sub-divisions didn't exist) instead of using Mapquest to figure out where I need to go and my GPS showing white where there should be streets. Now I see streets and can find where I am going easier.

Now I did find one of the streets is misspelled and I guess I'll let Garmin know about it.

This update has saved me a lot of time and frustration now that I can just put in the address instead of wasting time looking it up in Mapquest.

I got the Nuvi 760 just about a week ago and downloaded the 2009 map update from Garmin's website with no problems (yet). The page says that the free update is only good for 30 days. I could be wrong, but I thought in the past there was a little bit longer amount of time one was given to download (or order the DVD for) map updates.

It normally takes a couple of days for them to answer the emails, BUT as far as the manuals go if you buy a computer, NO MANUALS, they are online, so you going to trade your computer in for another, IF you want a manual for the NUVI 760 click on this link, Make it a favorite, and there is your manual,

http://www8.garmin.com/support/userManual.jsp?market=4&subca...

i need the update!

After purchasing the Garmin unit and downloading the free update 2.04GB from MyGarmin site. I try opening the file and it after a few minutes gives me Error message "File is corrupt" any great ideas ?
Thanks

Just got back from a road trip... was on an entire highway that didn't show up on the new 2009 maps. It was Rt 119 in Kentucky, near Pikesville.

Then, going to a hotel, my Zumo told me to "Navigate off road"!!! Are you kidding me??? Found these two issues rather annoying.

That is what I did - waited and put in a false purchase date. Yes, I know that was not the right thing to do.

Try downloading it using the Garmin download manager. I had the same problem then tried the download mangager and it worked fine

You can get the update DVD for $10 shipping. Forget what it says about 4-6 weeks. Mine came in 4 DAYS. And I have a backup if my computer ever crashes or the Nuvi goes bad, lost or whatever.

2 gig is a pretty big download over the net. I'd guess you're more likely to get a corrupt file than a clean file...

Can anyone that has bought the 2009 upgrade tell me if it shows route 355 running from I-55 south to I-80 here in Chicago? This is a real new extension of the tollway.

Thank you MR. BIGG for your swift reply.
Small problem, 1. how do I access the Download manager
2. When I go back on the Garmin site it says I have a copy downloaded already

Yes, the new 355 extension is there, along with many other changes. Money well spent if you live in Chicagoland.