Need Clarification on Map Guaranty

I understand your question. As I understand it the answer is no.
Lets say you found a new garmin unit, bought legally (i.e. from an approved seller, such as Amazon) that was a over a year old and had a 2008 map on it. After registering, and upon your first satellite acquisition, you would have 60 days to update to whatever map is currently available, not to upgrade to what is available at time of registration, and again in 60 days if there is an update. In fact, that is the spirit of the upgrade, ending the fear of buying a new but older model and having to pay for a current map.

At least for new units you get any new map for 60 days from date of purchase (or date of first acquisition, but that date is often "wrong"). I would think that should also apply to official Garmin refurbs. Garmin no longer bases the guarantee on a registration date, they got wise to people like you waiting to register the unit for a year or more until they wanted a new map update. Since yours is a refurb and very likely will have an old date of first satellite acquisition, you may need to work with customer support to get any free map that you are entitled to, but they are quite helpful.

Thanks tampa88.

My question is based on the possibility that a new map may be available in April. But my 60 days from acquisition is through May. So the question is - is it wise to wait closer to my 60 days or do it now.

If you can wait to towards the end of the 60 day period you might as well. A lot of people believe the next map update should come sometime in April based on prior history.

Frovingslosh - Let me clarify my concern. The way I understand the situation is when you register your GPS within 60 days of acquisition and your map is not current, then you will get the current map. So let say you registered today March 23 and Garmin determined that you need a free update and they offer you the current map 2009.11. Say April rolls along and new map is available. My understanding is you will not be given the new map (2009.22)even if you are still within the 60 days limit. So if you register at the early part of your 60 days and get a free update and then latter part of your 60 days a new map rolls along - you will be out of luck. Please correct me if I am wrong.

My understanding is you get one bite at the apple.

I am confused as to when you have to register. If you turn on your GPS and acquire a satellite, how much time do you then have to register your product to get a free update? 60 days from the first satellite acquisition? And then from that point, I would think you only get the one free update.

This has been discussed quite a bit since the first of the year. From all reports, Garmin downloads the date of the first acquisition at the time you register the unit. It that date is more than 60 days in the past, no free update -- UNLESS it is a refurbished unit purchased from an authorized dealer and you can provide a copy of the sales receipt showing the purchase. The date on the sales slip then becomes the date of acquisition.

Everything that I know, based on what I've read here and my own experience getting an entitled free update when Garmin had a bogus date of first acquisition, is that they base everything on the purchase date (receipt required) if you dispute the first acquisition date or their system simply can't get a first acquisition date. They do not go by registration date at all. Too many people were not registering units, using them for a year or more, and then registering them and wanting "free" updates to the next map. The date of first acquisition and the receipt have become the standards that they use, you can't pull a fast one by deferring registration.

it's possible that they have updated this option but this time last year I registered my 1yr old gps and received a free map upgrade to what was the latest and greatest map. If lets say map 2009 is out, when you register and map 2010 is available, you would get map 2010 as 2009 is now considered obsolete. I wouldn't think Garmin would even offer that if 2010 was officially released.

I work for a software company, once our new release is official, we don't offer the option to install an older version. my 2 cents.

Garmin dont give map updates on refurbished
units they feel your already getting a deal
on the unit.

mrlee185 -
I talked to Garmin before I purchased the GPS. I was told that Amazon was an authorized dealer. That I will get one year of warranty and free map update within 60 days of use if the map that comes with the device was not current.

I am thinking that the OP was misunderstood or was not worded properly.

You're allowed ONE update. So wait until the 60 days is nearly over to use it.

If you use it in 30 days, any future updates are closed to you.

This is the same with TomTom as well. You get ONE update, that's it.

That's the correct answer.

Although, I would add a clarification. You're allowed ONE FREE update and that any future maps FREE updates are closed to you.

You may PURCHASE a map update any time you want.

Thank you very much. That was the answer I was looking for.

Supposedly the map updates will now be "up to" 4 times a year. The date of the last map update is very well known, which should give anyone a fair idea of how to predict the next update. While there might be some issues of getting a GPS that is already out of date and the next release being about 61 days out, for most usres it will be easy to predict if a newer update can be expected in their 60 day window or not. And given the high quality of Garmin customer support, I would certainly expect that if one did get an update within their 60 day window and a map update had to be released off-schedule due to some problem or bug with the last release, that Garmin would make an exception if the update was needed to fix something. It is certainly not in their best interest to have all customers wait for day 60 to come arond and then grab an update.

The was a January release, so I would expect the next map update in April. If I had just bought a GPS today i would not update it now, but I would update it when the April release came out, not wait until the very end of the 60 day window. If the was no new update by day 59 then it would be time to grab whatever was available.