# Map Updates for Garmin Nuvi Sat Nav



## DubShelley (23 Aug 2010)

Hi There,

Sorry if this has been answered already but I couldn't find any recent posts! I got a present of a Garmin Nuvi Sat Nav a few months ago and hadn't really tested it out properly until this weekend when driving to Killarney. I quickly realised the Sat Nav needs to be updated as it is not showing many of the newest roads, e.g. M8 and M7.

I've had a look for updates on the Garmini website but keep getting brought back to a page which gives the cheapest map update at around $90!! Is this correct or are there free updates available anywhere? I'd be fairly shocked that the device could be out of date so quickly!

Any help greatly appreciated.
DubShelley


----------



## SparkRite (23 Aug 2010)

DubShelley said:


> Hi There,
> 
> Sorry if this has been answered already but I couldn't find any recent posts! I got a present of a Garmin Nuvi Sat Nav a few months ago and hadn't really tested it out properly until this weekend when driving to Killarney. I quickly realised the Sat Nav needs to be updated as it is not showing many of the newest roads, e.g. M8 and M7.
> 
> ...



Have you registered it on the Garmin site yet?

You are entitled to a free update within 60 days of the units first use.
This is recorded within the unit when it gets its first satellite lock.

NB. There are certain roads that are more than 2 years old and are STILL not on the Garmin maps.


----------



## gipimann (23 Aug 2010)

You can buy lifetime updates, which allows you to update indefinitely - it's restricted to one PC and one sat nav machine though.

Don't remember reading about the free upgrade - wish I'd known!!

I upgraded the maps on mine in May 2010, and it didn't have the new M7/M8 roads in that upgrade.


----------



## regvw (23 Aug 2010)

sparkrite said:


> have you registered it on the garmin site yet?
> 
> You are entitled to a free update within 60 days of the units first use.
> This is recorded within the unit when it gets its first satellite lock.
> ...


 

+1


----------



## DubShelley (24 Aug 2010)

SparkRite said:


> Have you registered it on the Garmin site yet?
> 
> You are entitled to a free update within 60 days of the units first use.
> This is recorded within the unit when it gets its first satellite lock.
> ...


 
Unfortunately I did register it already but the free update has now expired as I had (stupidly) assumed that the device would just automatically update. Oh well, looks like I'll have to either fork out for an update or just bring an old fashioned map with me!

Thanks for the replies!


----------



## Purple (24 Aug 2010)

I bought maps for the whole of North America for under $90. I think that's fantastic value.
Do remember that your upgrade will be for the whole of Europe.


----------



## Conshine (24 Aug 2010)

Are there any Sat Navs that you can buy, where you can get free map updates?


----------



## SparkRite (24 Aug 2010)

Purple said:


> Do remember that your upgrade will be for the whole of Europe.



How do you know this?

If the OP's GPS came with just IRE/UK then any update will be just that.


----------



## Red (24 Aug 2010)

Have a Garmin nuvi 310 sat nav and signed up for lifetime maps for all of Europe. 
I downloaded the program but Satnav does not work south of Nantes ? 
How do I get it to work ?


----------



## SparkRite (24 Aug 2010)

Red said:


> Have a Garmin nuvi 310 sat nav and signed up for lifetime maps for all of Europe.
> I downloaded the program but Satnav does not work south of Nantes ?
> How do I get it to work ?




More than likely a memory issue, specifically the lack of........

What maps came with the unit?
If is was just IRE/UK then you could run into copyright problems with Garmin trying  to install all Europe. During the update process what areas did you select in "Mapsource" ?

From Garmin site:-
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]f  you purchase a nüMaps Lifetime subscription (sold separately), you will  receive up to four (4) map Data updates per year, when and as such  updates are made available on Garmin’s website, for one (1) compatible  Garmin product until your product’s useful life expires or Garmin no  longer receives map Data from NAVTEQ, whichever is shorter. *The  updates you receive under the subscription will be updates to the same  map Data originally included with your Garmin product when originally  purchased, or updates to map Data that you purchased separately (if  applicable). If your Garmin product does not include, or you do not  purchase separately, the map Data you want to update using your nüMaps  Lifetime subscription, then you must purchase the map Data separately  before you can load the updated map Data onto your Garmin product.*  In some instances, your Garmin product might not have sufficient memory  remaining for you to load an update to the same map Data originally  included with your Garmin product (or purchased separately, as the case  may be), in which case you will need to select reduced map Data coverage  for your updates. Garmin may terminate your nüMaps Lifetime  subscription at any time if you violate any of the terms of this  Agreement. Your nüMaps Lifetime subscription may not be transferred to  another person or another Garmin product.[/FONT]


----------



## Leo (25 Aug 2010)

SparkRite is on the mark here. The Garmin site has a downloadable utility you can run locally to choose the areas in Europe you want mapping from, it'll let you know when you hit the memory limit of your device.


----------



## Leo (25 Aug 2010)

Conshine said:


> Are there any Sat Navs that you can buy, where you can get free map updates?


 
No Sat Nav offers free map updates beyond that offered by the likes of Garmin or Tom Tom with a one-off update within a short period of purchasing.


----------



## Frank (25 Aug 2010)

Some of the new nokia phones have big enough screens to reasonably work as sat nav's 

They are giving free updates.

The updates for the garmins seem very slow and pricey to boot.


----------



## Staples (26 Aug 2010)

I recall hearing something to the effect that the usefulness of the updates is proportional to the efficieny of the relavent national agenices to update their satellite listings (in Ireland's case, the Ordnance Survey).  

Not sure of the technicalites, but AFAIK any update of say, Ireland from Garmin could only pick up what's been updated by the Ordnace Survey.  An update purchased today wouldn't necessarily pick up a road completed last month.


----------



## Leo (26 Aug 2010)

Garmin use NavTeq maps, and NavTeq carry out their own mapping of Irish roads (story goes it was a lot cheaper and more effective than obtaining OSI data). For each new road opening, NavTeq drive the routes in specially equipped cars. 

I heard recently that they are in talks with OSI again about obtaining their data.


----------



## roker (26 Aug 2010)

I updated my Garmin free when it was new, it took 10 hrs to download. Garmin wanted €80 (half the price of the original sat nav) to update, and could not guarantee that the new motorways are on it. The maps were out of date before the warranty was. When I travel to Dublin now I have to switch it off because it does not recognise the new motorways and constantly tries to correct the route. There is a lot of points missing, eg, I does not have some of the main hospital in Cork listed.

I was under the impression that Tom Tom has a live update that you can correct yourself and feed back.


----------



## rgfuller (27 Aug 2010)

Just a note on Garmin - on Wednesday they issued a limited recall for a few of their devices due to a possible overheat issue:

Only the nüvi 200W, 250W, 260W, 7xx and 7xxT (where xx is a two-digit number) model numbers may be affected - more details in the link below.

[broken link removed]


----------



## scuby (29 Aug 2010)

just checked my serial number, and it's one of the ones being re-called...thanks for posting rgfuller !


----------



## Gtec (10 Sep 2010)

Slightly off topic, but for major routes the most up to date maps are probable those on the OpenStreetMap project.

This is an open source style project where people upload the routes. I have not to date found a decent Sat Nav that uses these maps, so I'd love to hear from anyone that has. 

As an example of the speed of update, the M9 opened yesterday at 3pm is already on the on-line map.

www.openstreetmap.org for details

I have a garmin, and tom tom on a smartphone, and think that both are pretty much useless, the maps are years out of date, and the interface for selecting destination is very very poor.

Gtec


----------



## dahamsta (10 Sep 2010)

Looked at updating my old Nuvi recently, the data they had on updates was very poor and the consensus on the web seemed to be that the updates are still very out of date, even the motorways. I kept me money. When I do finally get hacked off with it I'll be buying an Android tablet and a dash mount. Garmin can go screw themselves. They're not and have never invested in their own future and they deserve to go bang because of it.


----------

