Nuvi 2545 . bad purchase decision....map download problem

Someone more knowledgeable will be along in a minute, meantime..
LM I believe is free Lifetime Maps. You shoulsn't have to buy any.

LT is free Lifetime Traffic.

LMT is both Maps and Traffic free updates.

Have you tried the WebUpdater? Or Garmin Express?

http://www8.garmin.com/products/webupdater/howtoinstall.jsp

http://software.garmin.com/en-US/express.html

One possible issue with getting maps for Mexico is that any new maps would be tied to the product code which, for this unit would be Europe. The LM option will give you European maps but it may require a new North America subscription to receive maps for Mexico unless a one-time purchase was made.

Thanks for the hints.
Of course I registered via Garmin Express and the unit contains the free lifetime maps option for free.....obviuosly only for 22 european counties.
When trying to BUY the Mexico Map via Garmin Express the message is: Cannot be provided for your equipment.
I do not understand that, because I do not want to have any free update option just buy an additional map and am not allowed.
That sounds very strange to me and I am really upset with Garmin about not putting a hint on the box "cannot load other maps than european, even if purchased legally"....

Regards
Michael

Most users at The Factory are most familiar with GPS devices that come with US or North America maps, so take what we say with a grain of salt.

Expanding a bit on what Box Car stated, let me ask how you're trying to add the US and Mexico to your European GPS. The error you're receiving makes sense to me if you're trying to buy a Numaps (One-time or Lifetime) map update for City Navigator North America NT. Is that what you've tried?

Map updates are only available to devices that already have the associated Map itself. If this is the issue, then you first need to buy the City Navigator North America NT:

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/maps/on-the-road-maps/city-n...

(MSRP = about US$80 although you may find it cheaper at Amazon or some such place.)

Once the North American map is purchased, you will have the ability to buy a One-time or Lifetime map update for the North American map.

So my question in a nutshell is: is the problem you're describing a problem with the initial map purchase (see above link) or are you receiving the error when trying to buy a map update to a map that's currently not on your nuvi 2545? You mention the issue arising with Garmin Express. It seems to me that Garmin Express is not the way to buy map for a device that doesn't already have that map--if so, then a purchase using the above link may allow you to install City Navigator North America NT on your device. You will almost certainly have to have a SD card available for the installation of this new map since the device already has Europe installed. Once done, map updates can also be purchased. I strongly suggest trying to buy the initial City Navigator North American NT map through the DVD purchase and not the download and especially not the Garmin SD card option if you have any thought in the future of updating the map.

If the problem you describe comes from trying to buy the map using the link above, then you should probably contact Garmin Customer Support by phone or email next week.

As you are now well aware, the Nuvi 2545 is basically a European unit and Garmin does not list it as compatible with City Navigator North America NT

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/maps/on-the-road-maps/city-n...

I don’t know if CNNA will actually work with your unit or not but as another member stated, I would strongly recommend buying the DVD or SD card version, not the download.

If you are going to risk spending $80 for the mapset, why not spend $44 more and buy the Nuvi 2555LMT which offers free lifetime updates for CNNA.

It is currently available on Amazon.com for $124

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-2555LMT-Portable-Navigator-Life...

I agree with you though that Garmin should have made this issue clear on the Nuvi 2545 packaging.

I don't understand why you can't get maps for anywhere in the world with any unit. I mean, if someone in Europe bought a Garmin and then took it with them to the U.S. on trip or something, they wouldn't have any way to get maps? That's just ridiculous.

You can buy maps for any region supported by Garmin. The issue here is updates. If you don't have the North American maps on your unit, you can't update as there is nothing to update, You need to buy the initial map set and then you can apply updates but you need the initial load first.