How Many Standalone GPS Receivers do you Own and How Often do you Update Them?

…relatively old devices, only two of which are eligible for updates. The two eligible devices, (1) 265WT and (1) nuvi 2689 are updated shortly after an update becomes available. Each device also has (2) memory cards, one of which holds the prior map version.

I checked here to remind me: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/account/register/products

I have the following:

Garmin Nuvi 50LM

Garmin Nuvi 350

Garmin Nuvi 360

Garmin Nuvi 500

Garmin Nuvi 3597LMTHD

Garmin Driveluxe 51 LMT-S

Garmin Drivesmart 65 With Amazon Alexa

Garmin Zumo XT

Most of them get updated when Garmin has a City Navigator update. I say most of them because several will no longer update with Garmin City Navigator.

It is the last four that I pay the most attention to.

The Nuvi 3597 and Driveluxe 51 are home in my RAM 1500. I have been using them to compare to the Tom Tom system built into the pickup. The Tom Tom navigation is very underwhelming to me.

The Drivesmart 65 is in our Jayco RV right now and my wife is using it as she is driving.

The Zumo XT rotates between duty on my e-bikes, ATV and UTV.

I have added additional non-Garmin maps to the above four. For anybody here considering that, Open Map Chest is free to use, easy to install and works well.

VV Mapping is what I prefer for ATV/UTVing.

BBBikes has OpenStreetMaps that I like to use for biking.

https://www.openmapchest.org

Eight, counting my old Oregon 500 and Lowrance handhelds and the Bosch Nyon ebike controller. I keep them all updated except the Nuvi 855 and the handhelds which are no longer updatable. My newest are the Driveluxe 51 and the Nyon, both 2017 models!

I own three Garmin stand alone units.
A 3790LMT and Nuvi 2797LMT, DS 50LMTHD

Of the devices I would and do still use in my vehicle, I have two nuvi 3597s and three DriveLuxe 51s. I loved each model, then thought I should look to eBay for a used one of each to cover me if the original dies. Then, in the past month or two, a complete DriveLuxe 51 with mag mount, and Garmin cigarette lighter power adapter appeared that had a "Make Offer" and I offered $22.50, expecting a denial or counteroffer. But the offer was accepted, so I got it with taxes and shipping for under $32. I just couldn't pass up that deal.

Besides these, I have a nuvi 750, which still gets full North America map updates, plus a nuvi 855 that no longer gets map updates and a 295W that never had lifetime map updates. That gives me eight On The Road GPS devices.

I update each device when a new North America map is offered by Garmin.

Only two one Magellan one old 660 and not updated for a while. I keep the wife updated.

But I do have three 20 year old handheld Garmin Etrex units I use when sailing. I actually use just one to feed info to the boat's instruments ... the other 2 are backups.

Updates: they are not updateable!

The oldest one I have is Garmin Street Pilot C550 which is still working fine as I pulled it out of drawer when I moved earlier this year. It is relatively slow comparing with recent models if you remember "calculating...calculating...".
I owned/own various NUVI models, couple of them were stolen through break-in when traveling out. The one I still use actively is NUVI 3597 which I like most.

My kid used to work at a car dealer, and would find these devices under the car seats of auction cars. They would contact the customer to come get it, wait a month or two for the customer to pick it up, and then he would give them to me. We currently have two lifetime map Garmins in our vehicles that he gave us. My wife has an old Oregon and an eTrex that she uses for Geocaching. I have an ancient GPS-12 and a Foretrex 101.

I have five and they are all Garmin devices. I have two handheld units from my Geocaching days. I have a nüvi 200 that we got brand new as a promo one time. (I posted about it here and got a lot of feedback about being gullible as nobody would give me a free unit for whatever the promo was - maybe a new credit card or something but I actually did get the device and my wife used to use it for business trips.) I also have a pair of nüvi 760s. We still use those from time to time on long land trips as they play audio books and actually function with the Audible app as well as any mp3 files whether music or books. I update the 760s every time I read about a new map update here on POI Factory - maybe not immediately but before the next trip.

Not only do the 760s play mp3 and audible files (complete with bookmarking of course) but they have an audio out port that sends the sound through the car system. They also have another function I haven't used in a great many years but, when they were new, it was a pretty impressive function. They have a Bluetooth connection that I used to use for hands-free telephone in the vehicle. Back then it was pretty awesome to have navigation, entertainment, and hands-free phone through the car system. It made long work trips much better.

Just one Garmin now, and I update it once a year. I can't remember the last time I noticed something changed after an update. There are missing (newer) roads and wrong speed limits that have been that way for years in our area, and it's not just the Garmin. It's that way on iOS phone and car GPS too. Updating maps doesn't seem to be much of a priority to anyone, anymore.

Nuvi 350, 3590, and a 3597. I haven’t updated the 350 in 3 or 4 years. The other two about every year or so.

I have a 3597 with some vertical black lines on the screen and a DS76.

The Nuvi 660 is a backup. The DS76 is used anytime I go out of town due to heavy traffic, at times, between Richmond & Hampton Roads.

I miss my Nuvi 660 that died. Battery was good for 1/2 hour or so. Great for getting the L/L of a location that you could not drive to.

I try to keep up with the latest.But ive stopped buying. These should last me a while.For extra back up I still have my 3 phones.

Updated each time one is available.

I donated 8 different units to a thrift store. I kept others (nüvi 200W, 1350, 3760, 3790, 3550, DriveSmart 65, 76) and also picked up a pair of cheap Windows CE GPS receivers. Actually tried them too. They're ok, but much slower than the DriveSmart units.

If I pick up an old GPS, it has to be a Garmin device and it has to receive a junction view file. If I followed it strictly I'd be giving up the 3760, but the 3760 accepts the 3790's junction view file, so it's good.

All the units that I kept, except the 200W, get updated when Garmin sends a new map update. The Windows CE units I don't care too much about: I got them simply because they ran Windows CE.

I update when each new map update is released.

I see tons at thrift stores for less than the cost of a Big Mac combo so it's a bad impulse buy. I do try to clean up, update and resell as many as I can though, to a lot of people it's a cheaper and easier option than upgrading their car's head unit.

Most of my thrift store finds are either ancient units with no lifetime updates, or standard units that have lost junction view for whatever reason. I bought all the ones I could find in the past just to see if they could be updated, and in almost every instance the owner never bothered to update the device from the stock one included in the device. I used the thrift store samples to make it readily apparent that Garmin isn't enforcing its map update policies. With that test done, and with my sleuthing over lost junction views done, if I buy one from a thrift store these days it has to not only have lifetime map updates, but also receives a junction view file with that map update.