Customer Reviews

Garmin City Navigator for Detailed Maps of Southern Africa (DVD)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased this product for my daughter who will be spending the next 2 years at school in South Africa. What is not disclosed is that this is an outdated map. While the ad implies that it is a current version the one I received was from 2008. I did not discover this until I had started the installation process and a warning was displayed. When I called to return the map software to ANTONline they refused to accept the return despite their misrepresentation of the product. I have no doubt that they deliberatly use deceptive trade practices to defraud buyers and sell an outdated product. I WOULD NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM ANTONline AGAIN AND SUGGEST YOU STAY AWAY FROM THEM. You definitely would want the latest map update. I downloaded the latest 2010 maps from Garmin which were far more comprehensive and up to date. The 2010 download from Garmin was accomplished online and loaded on my Nuvi. The 2010 maps were definitely worth the slight difference in price.

My family of four relied on the Garmin South Africa for a 3 week trip and found this software to be incredibly helpful. It was reliable, updated and had much more information than was expected.

My only criticism of the product is the tedious and cumbersome installation process and no way of really knowing if the install was successful until you actually arrived in-country. It was really a cross your fingers experience. Garmin really needs to improve this and the only reason why I did not give it a full 5-start rating.

(Note: We actually purchased the SD card version of the South Africa maps, not the DVD)

My husband & I rented a car in Cape Town & used our Garmin nuvi 760 to drive down to the Strand area. From there we drove to Cape of Good Hope, took the Stellenbosch wine route, and also toured the Hermanus area. The Garmin displayed distances to restaurants (including their names and type of cuisine), gas stations, the names & locations of the wineries in Stellenbosch and even the distances to ATM machines.

We then flew to Johannesburg, rented another car, & drove to the Hluhuwe area (near Richard's Bay). The Garmin only ran into problems when we were about 3 miles from our destination - it knew we were on a dirt road, but it couldn't tell us which way to turn to get to our lodge (luckily, we had a printed map). Then, a couple of days later, when we drove to the St. Lucia Wetlands Park, it wanted us to exit onto a road that turned out to be on private property. Once we got back on the main road & continued down the highway, it "righted" itself and took us to the correct exit.

It accurately identified all of the city & small town streets along the way and told us exactly where to turn.

So unless you're planning to travel on a lot of unpaved roads, the maps are fantastic!

I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 1250 last spring, anticipating a two month stay in southern Africa. The Nuvi is fine and I've learned to use it out and about. It does not seem to work with much cloud cover, but one can still use the stored maps.

However, I purchased "maps of southern Africa" at Amazon.com more than two weeks ago. I depart in two days. I consulted with Garmin to be sure they would work on my mac before purchasing the maps and purchased what they advised me on amazon. Apparently what I purchased works only on PC's.

This is fair enough so far. I have spent the last 5 days trying to figure out how to get Garmin to send me something that I can download onto my nuvi. I don't think this should be a problem, but I am an hour into my most recent phone call to Garmin. This follows 4 detailed emails with [...] product support. I assume they will come through with some help sooner or later.

Though I would prefer to have the $110.00 + shipping that I paid to Amazon.com back. My bottom line is that the people at [...] support generally seem nice. But my maps of southern Africa still do not work.

Given that I own Garmin products, I am sad to say: Avoid Garmin products.