Does updating map make sense?

I used to think this way, but I ended up using Emily for so many things and so often that I broke down and got the map update anyway to get the current version of roads and POIs (though for specific items POI Factory is of course better, having gas stations be current is a lifesaver).

When I got my 660 in January, it came with 2008 maps, so I was several months off for qualifying for the free upgrade. I don't have a problem with missing streets in my area, so I decided to hold off and possibly upgrade to the 2010 maps.

Its really a personal choice depending on how much you use your GPS and if you are in an area with a lot of missing streets.

I only update my MS Streets & Trips on my PC every 2 years so I decided to follow the same update schedule with my Garmin.

I tend to disagree that the value of the unit is only $5.00 after 3 years (disregarding your math). Regardless of the depreciation factor (it happens with all electronics) I believe that updating is very inexpensive when you consider what you paid for the device. If I extrapolate your case, I'll assume you never change the oil in your car (cause, gee, you're just going to trade it in a few years anyway). I live in a fairly small town in Middle Georgia, and every time I've updated my Nuvi, I have found improvements in the update. If a small town shows improvements, I believe that, overall, the update was worth it because the same level of improvement is throughout the country.

My 2 cents.........

Joel

Your logic has lots of holes. In 3 years, my nuvi 760 will still give me the same value it is providing now. Sure its market value will be less (but not $5), but the intention is not to sell it after 3 years.

The better advice is to wait 3 years and get the map upgrade at that time. You will only be out-of-pocket $70 (or whatever the cost of the upgrade) instead of another $500 for a brand new unit. That is of course, you're not the early adopter who "needs" the latest gadgetry as soon as they come out.

I made the upgrade after 1 year. Don't think I'd do that again. At least in MY area of the world, I haven't seen anything new. Stupid me, I upgraded 2 units for free... but, 3rd one cost me. Should've used to 2 free ones first and realized there was no need for the 3rd one. Oh well... maybe in 3 years I'll upgrade... or, more likely, buy the latest and greatest gadget!

I have NA NT v8 on my Nuvi 350 and 2009 (2 versions newer) on my Nuvi 260 and I yet to see any difference in my area either.

The infrastructure in this country is quite old. 99.9% of the roads and highways I drive on in any given year are decades old. My GPS maps are two years old and I still feel no need to update them. I almost never run into a situation where roads have changed. When I do, the change is easy to figure out so it is not a big problem. I do not use my GPS for any work related applications where I need the most recent update. For my motorcycle rides and automobile vactions, my unit still works great. I will probably retire my c530 in two years and buy a new unit. I will probably retire it with the original maps.

When I bought my street pilot III it came with city navigator 4.01, I updated the unit software occasionally, but I didn’t update the map software until city navigator version 8 came out. So for about four years I used the same mapping software and not once did it fail to take me to an unknown address. Do I think you need to update every year? Now with pois available on my new gps I think there is even less of a need… Although if they’re giving them away I’ll take one….. And after 5 years and it being a discontinued product I still think my street pilot is worth a lot more than 5 bucks…

The one thing I would like to see available for my 4210 is maps of Mexico, Central and South America (Magellan, are you listening?!).

As people travel more, we also are becoming very sophisticated tourists and moving away from the tour bus mentallity. Manufacturers need to clue in on this and design GPS' that can use the same map formats so they only have to do the job once. Or, does that make too much sense?

I've had a StreetPilot C530 for a little over a year now. I paid $270 for it, and shortly after I got it, Garmin discontinued that model. Since I've had it, I bought both the 2008 and 2009 map upgrades and even one of those thingies that goes over the screen to protect it (I don't remember what it's called, but you know what I'm talking about).
And do you know what? I haven't regretted a dime of the money I've spent. Know why? Because it's the nearest thing to a hobby that I've had in my life; and even after a year, I still think it's the coolest thing I've ever owned. The heck with amortization tables and residual values. I love my Roxy and I'll have her as long as she'll have me.

I have a Nuvi 350 purchased in Dec, 2007. I have not updated the maps yet. However, when I updated the software on monday, I received a message from Garmin reminding me to update the maps. If I can not find an address or street, I simply use Goggle Maps and download the address to my favorites.

JG
Atl., Ga

I would say it depends on your need and uses of the device.

I'm retired and can't remember when was the last time I tried to find something in a new development or the like. So I don't see any need for me to update the maps.

On the other hand if I was a real estate agent you can bet your bottom dollar I would update the maps whenever a new version came out.

I was just reading the reviews for the updates for Canadian locations on the GPS City website (www.gpscity.ca) and won't be updating. I live in Alberta and one person on the site says no updates were made for us. This is really sad considering the growth that has occurred in Calgary. Parts of my current map are more than 5 years old. Near where I live the map is out of date by more than 15 years old or is just plain wrong. I'll wait until next year to see if we finally get some better detail up here.

I've now owned two Garmin units over the past 10 years.

I faithfully upgraded the mapping software and Mapsource. No more.

After living where I do for the past 19 years NavTeq still insists on showing roads that do not exit (and never did) and NOT showing roads that DO exist.

I know this isn't the fault of Garmin per se since they only purchase the maps from NavTeq. I have submitted error reports to NavTeq to no avail.

I'll just wait and cross my fingers that in 5 or 10 years hence NavTeq will finally get it right.

I have new maps in my two main GPSr's, one being a Garmin SP550 with Mapsource NT 2009, the other is a Navigon with Fresh Maps, Navigon gives you a quarterly map updates for 3 years at the price of $70 bucks (12 updates).

If your going to have a tech gadget, it may as well be up to date.

You can throw your amortization table out the window, because it's not accurate it will be worth at the minimum of 7 bucks at the end of the three year time period!

It depends on the model and price. A $200 model probably isn't worth updating more than once over the life as I suspect it will be hard finding one that expensive in a few years. However, updating the maps every couple years, especially if you travel much or live in an area that is having many new developments, is certianly worth it for the accuracy.

I had 2008 map and 2009 update and found some changes made in our area but many inaccuracies still exist. (Wish I knew how to provide updated information to them). Had I paid for update, I would have been upset but for free...

I suspect I will update my nuvi 760 when 2010 comes out, assuming they don't have something cosmically better, and that will be it.

There were a lot of updates for me in the SF - East Bay area. An excellent upgrade for me.

I'll second you on that. If you're an early adopter then no software update for any embedded device makes any sense because they go out of style very fast (including iPod, etc.)

My GPS is doing everything I want it to do, so I'll just keep it until it doesn't. Maybe a failed battery will be the time. My map works fine so, again, I'll just keep it until I'm disgusted about something.

I don't know now if I'll need the map update or a new unit first, time will tell. I'll know it when the time comes, so no sense in planning ahead. Maybe by the time I need either the map or a new unit, the price for them will be about the same. Yeah, then I would get the new unit.

I have trouble understanding people who are always updating and upgrading when they don't have any serious issues. Maybe there is a kind of GPS addiction or disorder that we should name.

You might try looking at the article:

REPORTING MAP ERRORS -
Do Your Bit

on the

GARMIN NUVI TRICKS, TIPS, WORK AROUNDS, HINTS, SECRETS & IDEAS

Web site.

Look for it here

http://snipurl.com/garmin_gps_tricks

or

http://home.comcast.net/~ghayman3/garmin.gps/page4.htm#maper...

Gary Hayman
Greenbelt, Maryland

I would update the maps every 2-3 years. It would just get too expensive to do it every year.

You can decide for yourself if anything is new in your area as Garmin makes it possible to preview the new maps before updating.

City Navigator® North America NT at:
http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/citynavnt.jsp#

City Navigator® North America at:
http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/citynav.jsp

Just use the MapSource Map Viewer in the upper right-hand corner.

RT

In reading through a number of threads I have noticed that users in more populated areas find map updates helpful and substantial, were as users in less populated areas of the country say that they have been waiting for changes/updates for years.

Are mapping companies allocating resources in order to get the biggest bang for the buck? No doubt about it. If the aim for a map update is to generate revenue, then focusing changes/updates in populated areas were more people will have GPS's, makes a lot of sense.

This means that users in remote locations will not see many changes to maps in their area for long periods of time. All their reporting of error's and/or missing data will fall on deaf ears.

It's a matter of money.

Wasn't worth it, maybe 2010?

Newbie with a Nuvi 360

I just got a nuvi 660 about 2 weeks ago, and I followed the instructions and was eligible for the 2009 map. After seeing what the procedure entailed, I would not do it again--I really don't find it to be effective time-wise. Unless I did something wrong, it seemed to take around 2 hours to go through the whole process (including downloading the file with cable internet)! Getting a DVD would save a little time, but the nuvi was also plugged into the laptop and had no status as to what it was doing, which I find odd. Usually devices give a hint as to how much is complete...

If I have in my computer the maps of lets say Mexico, can I download it to my Nuvi 750 or Tom Tom 720?

ylehavot,

You need to be more specific when you say a map of Mexico in your computer.

First if you have the Garmin map of Mexico on Mapsource then yes you can transfer it to your Nuvi, but not your TomTom. You will need the Mexico map from TomTom for a TomTom GPSr.

Note for advanced users you can import some maps using a series of tools , but it is not easy. Note this would be free maps not the Garmin or TomTom maps.

See http://www.robomatt.com/maps/

Thanks.
What I realy want is to use software from this site:

http://www.i-go.com/en/products/iGO_2006_SD/

and use their SD card for Romania, Israel...Will this SD work in the Tom Tom or Garmin?

I am planning a trip to this countries and will be nice to use the Navigation I already have.

Updating every 2-3 years is the way to go for most of us.

I find if my travel routes are on new highways and bi-passes and it appears on screen I am passing through corn fields and over creeks and rivers, I need to update. Unless of course you enjoy to hear "Recalculating" ever 10 seconds.

No. Maps are proprietary to the manufacturer. They are not compatible with each other.

I bought an IQue 3600 four years ago. Soon afterwards I wanted to buy a Streetpilot 2600 or 2700 series GPS. So for 3 years I decided to skip the map update and since I was going to buy a new GPS soon. Then I was waiting to buy a new Nuvi.

We drive from Texas to upstate NY each year and more and more roads on the path were not present. It was still fully useable, but...

So, from my experience after 3 years the maps in my IQue were getting long in the tooth.

With the Nuvi and custom POIs, it will be better longer since you can put the most important POIs that you want in.

For myself, I plan to get updates at least every 2 years and may go yearly with this GPS. I bought the Nuvi 760 in July. It came with the 2008 maps and qualified for 2009 maps. Day one was with 2008 maps which was a major upgrade from my Ique. However, with the 2009 maps I really like having the speed limits.

However, I did go 4 years without updates and your approach is valid.

I update every third year