Purchasing Garmin maps from a third party

If you can determine that you are actually buying the true Garmin product (and not an illegal copy), then you should be OK buying from a third party. I have seen maps for sale on places like Ebay that are obvious copies, and not the official Garmin product. Garmin SD card maps have a product number, so that would be the first thing to check to make sure the seller is listing the actual Garmin part number.

Note that it is legal to sell a used Garmin SD card map, and it is legal to use an official Garmin SD map on any Garmin device. This also means that you can legally sell your Garmin SD map once your trip is over.

One thing you may want to consider instead of buying the map is to just buy a second GPS with Europe maps. That way you will get full function and content including junction view which you won't get with a supplemental map. And again, you could sell the GPS once your trip is over. So the net cost may not be much more than just buying a supplemental map for your current device.

I've seen a lot of these on eBay although I've never needed or bought one. The thing to ask and confirm before bidding/buying is whether the map on SD is the genuine Garmin-made item. Several folks here have recommended going this way. As a buyer, you could get a current or recent map for much less than buying it new from Garmin or Amazon. Then too, if you're planning this vacation as a one-time event, whether you have a new or old map on SD, you could recover some cost be reselling yours when you return home.

My guess is that a large number of the Garmin Europe on SD card maps are from North Americans that did a one-time trip to Europe and used the card in their North American nuvi and upon their return, they don't need it anymore so recover some cost by reselling it.

One thing to remember with these. Junction Views and maybe some other features will be missing and if these are important to you, another option is to buy a European-mapped Garmin device for a bit more than the new Map on SD card will cost, then have all the features you're used to.

But to answer your asked question, buying a used Europe on SD is worth considering as long as you do your due diligence and confirm from the eBay Seller that you're getting the genuine article. Of course, a seller with near-100% eBay feedback, etc. is also to be considered as you'd do for any ebay purchase.

[Later] Ha, I have to get up earlier. You're the early bird this time, alandb.

at least we gave consistent advice

You might also take a look at the free and routable OpenStreet maps, if you are interested and have not done so.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/36598

Before you pay $99 for one or two map areas, check the price to get "Lifetime" European maps.

The only problem is that it will be locked to just that one device.

It is probably close to the same price and you can get updates of those maps as they are released.

On the other hand, If you buy map cards, you can use them in any unit.

A few thoughts:

1) I think that to add a map not currently part of the nuvi, you first need to buy the standalone City Navigator Europe (or smaller division, if sufficient), then buy nuMaps Lifetime Updates for it. Again, I think that's the way it is for North America maps. If both need to be purchased as I think, it may well be cheaper to buy a new Garmin device with lifetime European maps rather than add them to a NA device. For Europe, maybe sussamb can pipe in with thoughts. I think it's also true that adding Europe this way still will results in a somewhat crippled device; i.e., no Junction Views, again making the purchase of a European Garmin a better choice.

2) Adding another continent to a Garmin device certainly could create a storage capacity issue and having a device with North America and Europe would likely be installed to a SD card tied to the specific device, assuming the original Europe installation allows the SD installation.

3) For someone planning to return to and drive in Europe more than once, I agree that lifetime maps are a good idea. But we're not sure if the OP here is planning a once-in-a-lifetime European driving vacation or plans to return often. As mentioned earlier, I still believe a dedicated European device purchase with lifetime maps is a better option then, than for adding Europe to a North American device.

Take what I say with a grain of salt. My only driving with or without GPS is in US/Canada. If I were mpion, my two most likely options that I'd consider would be buying a used Garmin Europe-on-SD from eBay or to buy a dedicated Garmin device with City Navigator Europe with LM or LMT. If buying a new device, I'd try to buy it before going to Europe so that I could do any software or map updates at home with my computer and internet access. I'm not sure how easy it is to buy a European model in the States. Anyone know or have done it?

... I've done it the other way around, and got US maps when I visited the US. As already been stated, you don't get junction view but you do get lane assist, as that's in the map data.

Note you cannot any longer update supplemental maps. Buying the EU map and then adding a lifetime map subscription is no longer available. The only option you have is either a download or a map supplied on a card, neither of which can be updated.

Good to know. I need to remember this.

Just want to say a big thank you to all of you who took the time to answer. I have a better idea now what my options are. Although you cannot foresee the future, i'm assuming that this will be a once in a lifetime trip.

Thanks again

Are you saying my lifetime subscription to my Europe maps is no longer valid? I have both NA (main unit) and Europe (SD card).

If you purchased your Europe map on DVD, installed it to SD, then added a lifetime subscription, the lifetime update subscription is still valid. If you purchased your Europe map as a download or SD, it never had a lifetime update.

Unfortunately, Garmin no longer sells the DVD version of its maps. That is why you can't add a lifetime update subscription.

muell9k Wrote
Although this is not economically feasible for member mpion, others may find it useful when choosing a model that has updateable lifetime maps for North America & Europe.

I believe the only model available that has Lifetime Map Updates for both North America and Europe with lifetime subscription is the Nuvi 2559LMT .

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/138335

There are also now the Travel Edition versions with pretty much worldwide map coverage all of which can be updated, coverage is here

http://www.garmin.com/en-GB/coverage-travel-edition

and here is the device, sold in the UK, not sure about the US

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Lifetime-Updates-America-Aus...

Unfortunately, the Travel Edition Drive models are not marketed in North America. I don't know if there are any European sellers of the Travel Edition that would ship to the US or Canada.

Hello again,

I've seen other sites that are selling (dirt cheap) what seems to be European maps made with OpenSteetMap. Anyone knows how reliable these are? I'm guessing that some information supplied by the City Navigator map are lacking such as lane assist. Any opinions on those?

OpenSreetMaps are free, so I wouldn't pay for one. My experience with the NA OpenStreetMap is that it is mostly accurate and complete for roads and navigation, but is not very useful for address lookup. You pretty much have to pick the point you want to navigate to (either from the map itself or by knowing the coordinates) because you can't find an exact location by address lookup.