Upgrade Maps from Lower 48 to Full North America

You can either purchase a one time full North America map upgrade, or a lifetime, like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-n%C3%BCMaps-Lifetime-America-U...

Note, this item does fluctuate. Currently it is $79.95. I purchased is when it was under $45.

Camelcamelcamel.com is a site that can automatically monitor items and notify you when it drops to a price you like. If it's a semi-popular item, they may even have price history on it so you may see what time of the year it is cheaper (like around Christmas time).

The 760 only has a total of 2GB of internal memory, so you will have to get a microsd / sd card (not much point getting bigger than 8GB) to hold the entire map. Make sure it is at least 4GB in size.

All map updates from all manufacturers cost money. Some more than others, but none are free.

From my experience, older units such as the 760 may not support the latest maps (the full North America and Hawaii) because of the file size limit of 2 GB. I could only install the lower 48 states which amounts to almost 2 GB on my old 350 and 1490 using an sd card. There is a file size limit of 2 GB, or a map file may be no larger than 2 GB. They may be able to support 4 GB cards or more, but when it comes to the map files, it must be no more than 2 GB or the unit won't read it. Older map versions of yesteryears were smaller in file size, typically between 1-2 GB. It was not a problem then. Nowadays, it has grown to almost 3 GB. File size is not the same as card size.

Well, the 350 has a file size limit of 2GB, but the 1490 and the OP's 760 does not. Both of these devices can support the full CN NA 2017.20 map (which is over 2 GB) on SD card. See this FAQ: http://www.poi-factory.com/node/42561

Thought 1 (applies to the OP's nuvi 760 with lifetime updates): As far as I can tell now, the nuvi 760 was sold only with either with all of North America or all of Europe. It was not sold to my knowledge with a Lower 48 map. A possible reason this device now only updates to the Lower 48 states is that the device has insufficient space to load all of North America. During map updates, is there a warning that the map will not fit and are you offered the 'SD card' option or the 'smaller internal mapset option?' If so, add a 8GB or larger SD card to be safe for future map files size increases, reinstall the map update and choose the SD card update option and install North America.

Thought 2 (applies to models: e.g., some nuvi 50 and other low-end models came with a Lower 48 state map): there are devices that have been sold for North American use than come with a map of the Lower 48 rather than all of North America (the nuvi 50 for example that could be bought with Lower 48 states or bought with US/Canada). To convert these devices' Lower 48 map to an 'all North America map,' buying a numaps OneTime map update or a numaps Lifetime map update is not the answer since it will update the original device's Lower 48 states only and of course, isn't needed for any device already with Lifetime Map updates (LM, LMT, etc.) Updating to a full North America for a Lower 48 state device requires buying the standalone City Navigator North America map (not numaps map update) on DVD or SD card and is rarely a good value when a new device with all of North America and lifetime map updates can be had for about the same price and with added features. Therefore when buying a device where you want Canada/Alaska/etc., be sure not to buy a slightly cheaper device from Garmin sold with less than the full North America map if there's any chance you'll want a larger map at some point in time.

But for the OP's question, Thought 2 shouldn't apply since it was only sold with all of North America or all of Europe. If for some reason, the 760 was purchased from Garmin as a Lower 48 state device, then Thought 2 does apply.

Adding to CraigW's thoughts, Garmin unfortunately no longer offers CN North America on DVD. And since the DVD version was the only way that you could then add a lifetime update subscription to an added map, I think it is no longer possible to take a nuvi that originally came with the lower 49 and upgrade it to the full CN NA with lifetime updates.

AFAIK, the only way around this is if you can still find a "new old stock" copy of the CN NA DVD. It would be an outdated map version, but could still be updated with a lifetime map update subscription. After Garmin quit selling maps on DVD, some online stores had some "new old stock" DVD maps available, but I suspect they are now hard to find.

Before I reply, I still have no knowledge that thrak's nuvi 760 was offered as a Lower 48 state device or that the lifetime updates purchased for it were Lower 48 only. If someone knows otherwise, please let me know for my future posts to help others.

If I'm right, thrak's nuvi 760 with lifetime updates should be able to install and use the North America map update and not just the Lower 48 states. So adding a 8GB or so SD card and reinstalling the map may get thrak all of North America which is what his OP was all about.

Wow, that's a fly in the ointment [sayeth the retired pharmacist]. Luckily, all but the lower-end Garmin devices offered now come with full North America maps.

I just checked what Garmin now is offering and see that the low-end devices still can come with either US maps or US/Canada maps (and some older discontinued devices were offered as Lower 48 or 49 states or North America devices). Looking, for example, at the current low-end Garmin Drive 50 (and Drive 50LM and Drive 50LMT), I see that the MSRP for the device with US/Canada is only $10 more than the device purchased with US-only maps. Given a difference of much less than 10%, my suggestion is to never buy the US-only-mapped model unless you absolutely know you will never plan a trip through Canada and never plan to sell the device on eBay, etc. And if buying a used device through eBay, an Amazon Seller, Craigslist, etc., you should always ask what maps the device currently has before buying/bidding. The cost of adding Canada to a US only device essentially means buying a new device with Canada preinstalled—much better to pay the extra $10 at the outset and have a full map on the original device.

I believe it's also true that a Garmin device is no better than its map and given that adding lifetime map updates only adds $20 to the initial cost of a device, it's much better to buy a LM or LMT, etc. model rather than trying to add one-timer or lifetime updates down the road at a substantially higher price.

The 7x0 devices predate Garmin's offering of Lifetime map updates. Garmin announced quarterly map updates and Lifetime map update subscriptions as part of the 7x5 series announcement in 2008. The LM an LMT models started showing up a year or 2 later on the 1xxx series devices. There were no LM or LMT models in the 7x0, 8x0, 7x5 or 8x5 devices. So, any of these models that now have lifetime map updates are because of added subscriptions. I can remember several POI Factory discussions (and in other forums) at the time about whether the added lifetime subscription would transfer to a new owner if a device was sold or if Garmin would transfer the subscription to a new device. Garmin eventually clarified this policy so the subscription would stay with the original device even if it changed owners.

My Nuvi 760 is dead. However, I had installed, City Navigator North America NT 2011.10, Deluxe All Regions, April 10. This list of available maps shows I can download and install everything up and including nüMaps Lifetime™ North America 2015.10. If I'm not mistaken, I purchased the Lifetimes for $89. I do know that it required a 2gb SD card to install the full North America maps.

I have a 260. Garmin did not have Lifetime™ Map that came with the 260, so I purchased a Lifetime™ Map North America for it some years back.

At that time NA Map included only US + Canada. However, I found that I can install Mexico Map when I do a map update.

With Mapupdater, select "view options" and I can select from a list of maps ranging from "Full Coverage of North America" including Mexico to various combinations such as lower 48, East, West etc.