MSN 3 month trial ended....do I miss it?

I had it for 12 mos when I bought my 680. Didn't renew and glad of it.

Since you did buy the receiver, you may still be eligible for the 'complimentary' MSN service thru 1/1/2012.

Worth a call to see if they will do something for you... In a way, you paid for something you didn't get (ie, a MSN receiver that is now worthless as opposed to a generic power cord).

I use the 'send to GPS' feature, sending a destination directly to the GPS via MSN. I will miss that function when MSN expires.

Larry

I had not considered calling them. I am actually so relieved the service has stopped that I will not try to get it complimentary.

I did check my work stock each morning as I parked the car....but otherwise MSN's traffic and other services just seemed to be nearly useless.

I other posts I have described some of my frustrations with the traffic alerts being either way way out of date, or simply incorrect. Since my 780 was set to use traffic data to set routes, I found it picked some amazingly complex and definitely wrong paths....having MSN's poor traffic data out of the routing equation now is going to be a joy. Now I will use actual traffic data (radio) to make my choices and let poor Emily recalculate my way there.

If I had known MSN was going belly up last summer, I would likely have elected to buy the 760 though. So I guess your point can be taken that I was sold a traffic receiver that had a pretty short lifetime.

Some find the MSN traffic and services to be very helpful and timely. I guess a lot would depend on your area. I did get all but 32 cents of my "lifetime" purchase price refunded and I find the service is fairly accurate in Washington DC and pretty much along the East coasr.

I found the service itself useful but here in SoCal, I always had problems when crossing from Los Angeles county to San Bernardino county on the 10 freeway (Kellogg Hill). This is where a coverage area ends and another begins (there is no gap between the coverage areas though). The unit would sometimes take 20-30 minutes to realize that a coverage area change had occurred. During this time, no data would be sent at all. Quite a few times, I had to reset the activation from the website for a re-sync. Later on, I started resetting the GDB 50 via it's reset button which did the trick just as well.

It grew to be quite a pain to consistently have this data gap, especially on the freeway while trying to rely on the traffic service. I just ended up connecting the GTM 20 whose connector sits right next to the GDB 50 to get uninterrupted traffic data flow.

Don't miss it a bit on my 680. Just sold my GDB 50 on eBay and picked up a GTM 20 with Clear Channel Traffic. Cost just over $30 after all was said and done.

Jon

jonzim, can you clarify what you did to get clear channel?

MSN traffic in Los Angeles was usually dated. Anybody have clear channel experience in Los Angeles?

When I searched for a GTM 20 on eBay, one popped up which included Lifetime Clear Channel Traffic. It was from a seller in NH and was listed at $79.95 + shipping of $4.50, I believe. Here is a link to the seller. http://cgi.ebay.com/GARMIN-GTM-20-FM-TMC-TRAFFIC-RECEIVER-wi...

Okay, I see it also on Amazon for $85.99.

You mentioned selling your GDB 50. Why would someone buy it if MSN Direct is shutting down?

I don't know. I explained that it would only work for two more years. Guess they just thought they can still activate and use it until the 2012 date. It is on its way to PA.

Jon

Most of the GTM-20's I have seen come with Naveteq traffic. That is the one with the ads. Clear channel is different. Double check before you make a purchase.
Jon

The one on Amazon is the Clear Channel version. thanks.

Works Very WELL in all of the large TEXAS cities!!!