City Navigator 2013.20 North America Must Be Close

Maybe they have moved I-5 2.5 inches to the east this time.

Whatever it will be, these updates are always 1-2 years behind. New roads will only show up after 1-2 years after opening.

Is it just me? I really, REALLY thought the new maps would be made available TODAY. Guess not. What a strange premonition.

Add to the HYPE!! ... on Sunday?

Since the first CN NA Lifetime update in Jan 2009, the updates have all been released on a Wednesday or Thursday except for one (2012.40) which was on a Tuesday.

I have two GPS's, both with lifetime update. One in the car the other in the house. I just plug one into my computer and do a check on Garmin to see if a new one is out. I do skip weekends though.

Good idea, since Garmin support isn't open on the weekends so I doubt they would release a map update when they were closed.

but not too much any more. I don't get that "jazzed" when Garmin changes/adds a new intersection in East Overshoe Vermont any longer. I never am able to see a real difference between versions...maybe it's just me. Oh well, when it comes out I'll update all 10 of them!

LOL Agree!

You have to realize though that although it's tough to see significant changes in your local area with each map update, what you're really paying for by updating your maps is all of the changes that are being made to places that you might travel through when you're going on vacation, a business trip, ect. But yeah, I agree, it's not something I necessarily "look forward" to or wait for with much anticipation anymore.

Unfortunately, the European updates seem to come AFTER the NA update.

I'm leaving on a trip to Ireland soon, and it would nbice to have the latest and greatest for the trip.

Whether Europe or North America is released first changes with each map update. Sometimes Europe is released first and sometimes North America is released first. Last 2 updates, I believe it was NA that was released first, but just the update before that, Europe was released first. No one truly knows.

The SHADOW knows.

I'm just curious, does anybody plan their trips around a Garmin map release? I'm wondering how much of a difference it makes in real terms, whether updated maps come out this month or next. The updates always seem well behind reality (for new or recently realigned roads), even when newly released.

No, that would be silly IMO. I have done the opposite however ... delayed installation of a map update when it is released just before I am leaving for a trip. It has happened all too often that there are problems with a new map version, and finding that out during a trip is the last thing I need.

Last year, by luck, my two vacations occurred less than a week after an update....
One of them coincided with a new car purchase, and that confirmed that I'll believe our Garmin 660 over the latest/Greatest that was in the Ford Escape...

I'll use the Ford as is, as $200 per update just isn't worth it!! My 660 with Lifetime Maps Upgrade that I paid ~$60 for 5 or so years back... Is definitely worth it..

I'll run both into the ground!!!

I am hoping the update comes out soon as I am hoping to travel over the upcoming Labor Day weekend, and I would like to have the maps installed by then.

--

it's the dog's fault

I have updated my Garmin's maps usually on the day the map updates come out and have never had a problem with any of the map updates. Firmware updates would be more likely to cause a problem than a map update.

I am on vacation in Toronto from the NYC area and usually around this time the map update comes out. I have been busy and have not had a chance to check in until now. I was very surprised to see that it is August 15th and still no update. I am waiting to see if a new two-mile stretch of highway around Parksville, NY is added to the update. Driving up last week it was again bizarre to see the GPS having us travel in open space. The routing feature keeps recalculating trying to find a way to get me back onto the old highway!

I think garmin monitors these threads and just plays with our minds as to when they will release the updates. they should be able to have a fixed schedule on release dates.

I am definitely a bit surprised to see that the Europe map has not yet been released, it's been on Garmin's servers for almost 2 months now. While I don't have a GPS that uses those maps, it shows how far behind Garmin is running. But it's definitely possible that Garmin could release both maps tomorrow. You just never know. They actually have released both maps on the same day in the past. But based on the way things are going, I think the earliest we would see the North American maps would be somewhere around August 23rd, but I was basing that off of the fact that the Europe maps would be released by now. So I'm at a loss. Garmin is just gonna release them when they're ready and there's nothing we can do about it.

I believe this is why they say "UP TO" 4 map updates a year. Something must be wrong with the maps and they are trying to fix them, I agree they would have been released by now.

Europe 2013.20 was released this morning. I'm downloading it now. Just in time -- taking my family for two weeks in France, UK and Ireland on Saturday.

Hopefully North America is soon to follow, tomorrow maybe.

So, after plunking down $90 for the 2013.20 Europe update, and spending 6 hours downloading it yesterday throughout the day, when I uploaded it to my 3790LMT, it turned out to only be version 2013.10. I promptly wrote Garmin support about this and got the following response just after midnight last night: "The City Navigator Europe 2013.20 version of maps was advertised as being available, but it was pulled during the first hour of the morning of August 15, 2012. We have noted your MyGarmin account for this purchase. You will receive the City Navigator Europe 2013.20 version of maps for FREE when it becomes available. The City Navigator Europe 2013.20 version of maps should be available within the next 30 days." Remarkably, Garmin's website this morning still shows Europe 2013.20 as the version currently available for purchase. Anyway, at least I know I have the latest version actually available for my trip.

Makes me wonder what was the reason for this back off. And why it takes up to 30 days to make it available again. What wrong was with this edition that they have to pull it off in such short time.

With moves like this (plus many firmware fiascoes) Garmin is building itself opinion as unreliable and brainless company. They don't have pressure to release those updates at any specific date and yet they manage to mess them up. So how incompetent people must be working for them right now, including management.

Garmin rescinding the availability was definitely a risk for them but without you (or anyone else outside the decision chain) knowing the error it would probably have been seen as a bigger blunder than pulling it. I can name several software companies as well as hardware manufacturers other than Garmin that have decided to meet a date because of marketing pressure and released some really bad products.

Interesting thinking on your part. "Let's put this on market and pull it back because it is blunder, so we can pretend update was released". And how exactly it is working to build positive PR for company? "We show not working product, but it was on time. And you know, we pull it back right away so everything is ok. You can spend more money on our product. We can't promise they will be working but we show them on time". And good old "others are doing this too" doesn't impress me much.

And in case of Garmin there is no "marketing pressure" of any kind. There is no date when maps should be released. And our guessing on this side or any other site hardly constitute a pressure. It's more of fortune telling. So far I haven't heard any complains that Garmin didn't release update in time we were guessing they should.

In addition it is not first time, they do such a amateur job with updates. Just look into firmware updates for devices. Some of them were able to brick unit permanently. When it happens once it may be accident, but when it is happening so often it is pure incompetence.

What I'm expecting is working product, not promise of delivering it in "couple of weeks". And showing "almost working" version doesn't make good impression on me. How I can believe that next update will be ok and after installing it I will not turn my GPS into paper weight?

I do not think that Garmin can win because they are damned by some people if they release a map that may have a problem and then that same person will damn them for finding a problem and delaying the release to fix it first.

The Europe 2013.20 map update had already been edited and recompiled long before its release due to the fact that it was giving a few nuvi models some trouble. I guess they never fixed the problem if they pulled the update within an hour. I do have to say though, I'm glad that they pulled the update soon before a lot of people started having problems. It sure doesn't bode well for the North American maps being released, but I think that no matter how Garmin acts, there will be people that will be upset.

To me, lifetime maps are fantastic, and since I have so may to do, I try to take my time. Since we are going to Europe August 31st, I think I'll do that one first (Nuvi 775t) I always take two Nuvi's with me when I travel...just in case, I like to be prepared, it's an old Boy scout sort-of-a -thing.

The new North American maps are up on the server.

Ironically, I just returned from my multi-state driving trip for work. Trip went fine with last session's maps, though. I actually do agree with the previous poster who recommended NOT updating maps immediately before a big trip.

No upcoming trips, I'll wait a while to download this update since I'm guessing the servers will be pretty busy for at least a few days...

Looks like this time they released both EU and NA maps together. New updater gives option to update both EU and NA maps to 2013.2.

The pressure to release a new map update comes from needing (wanting) the revenue that comes when a new map update becomes available. I suspect Garmin makes a pretty good penny from Garmin users buying these updates.

@grzesja - Not exactly but almost. Eu was released yesterday and then pulled. They are both up this morning.

Yes, the put out a few a year (4, I guess) but so many updates do not include changes in speed limits, interchanges, or even major road routing changes. In excusable that in large cities with year's long projects that result in major changes (well publicized) that those aren't in the next cycle of maps as soon as project is completed. Instead, it can take YEARS!

Navteq is stealing someone's money. Oh yeah, ours through Garmin (and otheres)