Garmin Lifetime Maps Terms & Conditions Has Once Again Changed

of things to come.

That muell9k spotted this sometime ago therefore this is old news !

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/40624

Why they kept changing that?

Because they can. It's probably not as cost effective anymore. The amount of data change probably don't justify the cost of treating 4 full updates every year.

Perhaps it was old news that we never experienced.

In my old age I forgot all about that post and the change made back in August indicating that it's no longer 4 times a year.

With this 2015.40 update delay we may not get another update for some time. If that's the case, it will be interesting how they name the maps going forward since they won't be named on a quarterly basis.

Garmin keeps up to its rep

Yikes, I surely don't remember that thread even though I replied in it. Thanks for the "news(!)"

"terms and conditions" is a one-way street for the benefit of Garmin, not a commitment to the customer.

It is interesting how they make us agree to the terms and conditions in the license agreement whenever we get something from them, but the agreement does not work the other way around. They change the meaning of what we agreed to at will and make it retroactive.

Not that Garmin is different from any other company...it is the way that a profit driven economy works.

A lot of people think that a company should only exist to make jobs. That is what our government thinks and that is why it is the largest employer in the world. They produce nothing. The only way they can support those jobs is to actually take money from those who do produce to pay those that don't.

The thought police are watching!

Here we go cats out of the bag, no more 4 updates probably one or two.

First off, all replacing "up to 4 times a year" with "when updates are made available," simply removes the 4 times a year cap. Other than that, it's the same thing.
Second off, the map update is later than normal this time, but it still is within the normal range since the last update. Even if it is a few days later, that doesn't mean we won't get a map update. Also, they will not release the map update until the GE4.0 bugs are ironed out first.
Thirdly, other websites that use HERE data have already been updated for a few weeks with the new map data. It seems unlikely that a map update would be given to these websites (like Yahoo maps), but not given directly to consumers with PNDs.

If....I was a betting man I'd bet the days of 4 updates are gone, we will see.

Going to more ambiguous language in the terms and conditions in itself doesn't change anything. Heck, who knows? Maybe Garmin wants to give us 5 updates a year! It doesn't really matter that much to me whether it is once a year or 4 times. But I do hope Garmin doesn't abandon the map updates altogether. With the declining PND market, it could happen.

Who's to say we won't get more than 4 updates... It could go either way.

And who is to say they won't give you all four updates in December.

When was the last time we seen a company ever give "more"? me? they always take, and give less for the same money.

Who knows?

The things we "understood" from past updates to be expected are now all out the window with one possible exception. The exception is that the map will be available a little over two weeks from when the manifest is uploaded to the Garmin servers. Since this hasn't happened yet, we may be able to conclude that the map update is at least two weeks in the future from today.

As change isn't bringing any positive or negative difference it not surprising. There was quite few users even on this forum, who read "up to 4 updates" as "4 updates every year". And as EU maps in NT version are being limited to two releases yearly they probably didn't want any more complains. So Garmin instead of 4 promises unspecified number of updates.

Just to pick nits, but it's the non-unicode version of Europe that only gets two updates per year. The unicode version gets up to four per year, as full support for the various languages in Europe is only possible with unicode.

Also, despite everyone seems to think, HERE releases map updates 4 times a year. Garmin really doesn't have much to do with it...it's just releasing the data after it gets it from HERE. However, I do not know how often European maps get updates from HERE. The point is, Garmin distributes the new map data as it gets it from HERE. It doesn't arbitrarily make its own release schedule.

What is interesting is the worry about whether or not we will receive 4 updates a year when the change in the policy took place in July of 2014 as best as I can determine.

We have received 2 updates and are about to get a third.

I suppose this discussion is taking place because the map has not yet been released.

It is now 109 days from the last release.

The highest has been 113 days and this will be exceeded if it takes two weeks from manifest upload.

I retired my first GPS (from Becker) because I never got an update - ever.

I would be pretty happy with a couple of updates a year.

I am curious John ... have you received confirmation from Garmin that there will be a CN NA 2015.40? I have no reason to believe that there won't, but have seen no official announcement from Garmin that there will.

I am making an assumption based on the European map being put on the servers I think back in the first of Feb.

Your assumption is probably correct. I was just thinking back to when Garmin reduced the Europe NT releases from 4 to 2 per year. As far as I know, Garmin never really said that version was not going to be available until users on the Garmin Software forums started complaining about not being able to get it to show up in Express ... then one of the Garmin Express team spilled the news.

Amen on that

My initial thinking was that perhaps they were scaling back the amount of updates CN North America would receive and it would still comply with their revised policy.

It's just speculation on my part, but now I'm thinking perhaps it is a Garmin Express issue causing the delay. Since Europe City Navigator(NTU) was placed on the servers February 2nd, tomorrow will be a month and is still not released.
That's almost double the average normal time of two weeks.

Personally I'm not a fan of Garmim Express (many are) and I don't use it. Only time will tell of what the future holds regarding map updates.

With all the construction going on and road openings, closures, and diversions, more frequent updates may be helpful but one thing I've noticed with other drivers in the family is that they are relying on GPS almost to the exclusion of knowing directions and looking at the signs.

That plus the amount of time to update makes me think less frequent but more substantive updates may be the way to go, or as needed.

I think Maybe it is time to let Garmin know how garmin users feel about the G.E. fiasco and the new map update policy..No company is TOO BIG To fail. If people would start sending them not to happy camper mail ,I am sure they will start change theyr mind.

I guess this will mean that Garmins will be more like the factory nav updates from the car manufacturers many of which only come out one a year on navigation.com.

Hey Garmin! See that road there? You didn't map it!

You said it.

Nuvi1300WTGPS

None of this is any different from any license agreement we click on. Software, hardware, etc. It's always in the company's benefit, not the consumer's.

Writing emails, letters, etc. to Garmin is a waste of time & energy. They have no incentive (i.e. $$$) to change policy.

Sounds fine to me, I rarely update every quarter anyway, it is not necessary. Once or twice a year is sufficient for a map update. Just my 2 cents.

If the maps were accurate, once a year would be great, mainly for the POI updates. But I'm always running into routing or map errors, such as telling me to exit a freeway and immediately merge into the same freeway for a destination 20 miles later on the same freeway.

This is just like the Sunset Clause some major SW companies use to force people to spend money to "upgrade".

used to be released in May? If I remember correctly, we used to get yearly updates in May - and of course each was a separate purchase. My first unit, a Nuvi 200 purchased in December 2007 had 2006 maps. I didn't know you could update maps free in the first 90 days so it never had the 2007 maps.

It was later updated with Open Street Maps and then stolen from my daughter's car.

I have a built in Garmin based uConnect 430N in my Jeep. The Jeep was built in January of 2013, In January of 2014 navigation.com said a new map update would become available in March (I think) of 2014. Whichever month it was had come on gone and their check for updates page still had March of 2014 as the release date. In fact it wasn't until late December 2014 did they change that to March 2015. Here we are in March 2015 and I have to wonder if there will truly be an update available.

My area is fairly well built and new streets are rare, and only then when they knock down what few trees we have left and build a new development. 4 times a year isn't really necessary. Of course traveling beyond my normal range could make me change my mind of that.

I have a Zumo 450, a Zumo 550 and two Nuvi 2460's. The Zumos are old and I don't update them each time a new mapset comes out because I don't want to push them beyond their limit. The 2460's on the other hand get each update.

I'm guessing reducing the frequency of updates would be more of a problem in area where there is a lot of new construction.

I don't seeing it Garmin doing anything wrong though, my agreement said UP TO 4 times a year, to me that meant could be 1, 2 ,3 or 4, but not 5 or more.

Were the maps better when Garmin took their time and spent a year on their map updates?

Just a thought.

I never bought a new map for my old Nuvi so I don't know how good the earlier updates were when compared to the ones they only get to spend 3 months on now.

I always look forward to the map updates.

There wasn't as much data included then. No junction views and the number of POI included was less (and still as hit-or-miss as they are today).

Garmin introduced the quarterly updates and the lifetime map subscription in 2008 with the 7x5 series. There were no LMT models, you had to purchase the lifetime subscription separately for $120 (which I did when I bought my new 755T in Oct. 2008). The first "quarterly" map update came out in Jan. 2009 and was given the version number of 2009.1. The next one was in April 2009 and had version number 2010.10

I have to laugh about the

"more" versus "less" crowds arguing back & forth.

Doesn't matter as the area I live in was "built" (concrete poured houses built) back in 1989 and most of the streets are still missing even though I send them in monthly.

Sometime I laugh as I drive through forest areas shown on the 2015.30 maps on the Garmin while I drive on the divided roads.

....doesn't it?

In all fairness to Garmin,I think quarterly updates are really not necessary.

great

Guess this'll give us an opportunity to experience whether they actually need 4 updates a year, or the software is robust and stable enough for longer periods.

I have to agree with you.

I think that it stinks that Garmin has changed its policy. I purchased my GPS because of the lifetime map updates(up to 4 updates per year). I do not think that it is right for them to change their policy on the people that purchased the GPS's based on the policy that was in affect at the time of their purchase. Its ok if they change their policy on new purchasers of GPS's, but their old policy should remain in effect for the older purchasers.