Customer Reviews

Garmin nüMaps Lifetime North America Map Updates

5 star:		(247)
4 star:		(114)
3 star:		(57)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(54)

 

 

This is well near a brilliant plan for owners of Garmin GPS's. Pay one time, get up to four updates to your core GPS map software per year, for the life of your device. I've actually paid more than the price of this subscription to update one of my GPS's. So this was a no brainer for me.

First step - go to the Garmin Website and verify that the exact model of GPS you own is listed. Don't assume your model is listed - go to the website and verify it is really listed first. The list is huge, long, major long. My Nuvi 765T and 670 were both listed as compatible.

Second Step - order this "gift card" from Amazon. This is by far the most incredible deal compared to a purchase chez Garmin. With a Prime account, no sales tax, no shipping, and you've got this lovely little credit card in around 2 days.

Third Step - Like most gift cards, you scrape off the product key cover on the back of the card.

Fourth Step - make sure you know your MyGarmin user name and password - if not create an account. If you've had a GPS for longer than 1 year, you should have an account.

Fifth Step - Plug your GPS into your computer with a USB cable. Go to the website listed on the back of the card and follow the instruction.

Now the automatic stuff happens. You log into your account, it validates the product key, and then starts the download process. First it checks your computer, then checks for your device, then checks for compatibility, and then launches a download manager. You will see a pop up and you'll have to give permissions like 10 times before the manager installs, and starts the download.

Don't be afraid of the download manager. It's simple and only works with Garmin's website. It won't trash your computer.

Now the part to be afraid of - my first update to my Nuvi 765T is 1.92Gb. So you darn well better have a very fast internet connection (my comcast connection did that download in around 20 minutes) or you'll need to start this up before you go to bed at night and just let it run.

Last step, once the download manager has downloaded the whole file (you can check a box that says "close when done" and "launch when done"), click on Launch on the download manager box. The file will extract to the destination folder you set up in the early steps of download. Once extracted, the update program will run. The prompts there are simple and straightforward. I'm not sure what the update speed depends on, but they warn you it can take up to 2 hours. Mine updated in around 10 minutes.

An important caveat that you cannot miss. This is for ONE GPS. ONLY ONE GPS. You cannot use this same code to update other Garmin GPS's. You have to purchase a second card to update more units.

The other downside at Amazon, the combo North American and Europe card is not available through Amazon at this writing. So you must go to the Garmin website for that download.

Honestly, if you buy two updates to your GPS, this card pays for itself. I really love the "no questions asked" quarterly updates to my GPS.

July 8, 2009 Update - type nuvi tips and tricks into your favorite search engine. The first hit is a resource on how to better use your Nuvi. It's a fantastic site with hundreds of tips.

December 13, 2009 update - that North American / European lifetime subscription is now available at Amazon, it is here: Garmin nüMaps Lifetime Map Update for North America & Europe [Online Map Code]. This one double requires my instructions above, becuase you purchase nothing physical at all. Amazon sends you the activation code, and no physical card. It doesn't get faster, but you have nothing to show for your money other than a code number.

I pretty much agree with Daniel's 5/20 review. If Amazon had 1/2 stars, I'd give this product 3 1/2 stars for ease of the process; doesn't get 4-5 stars because POI's don't include local chain stores that have been around for ages and b/c you can't transfer the update code to a new device. The process is easy (on a Mac running 10.4.11) but lengthy and of course I agree with everyone who says that Garmin really should provide a way to transfer the update to a new device should yours break or get stolen. But if you get even two years' worth of updates, you're doing better than buying the updates individually. Here are a few additional comments:
--as other said, be sure to check the Garmin website (garmin-dot-com/numapslifetime) for compatible models and caveats. Back of package says for example, that nuvi 200 and 205 series owners do not get coverage of Mexico
--"lifetime" = lifetime of your unit or lifetime of Garmin's relationship with Navteq, whichever comes first. Navteq's current agreement with Garmin lasts until 2015. You may recall that in 2007 there was some doubt about that relationship when Garmin got into a bidding war for TeleAtlas, the other major map provider.
--there are computer requirements as well, no doubt available on Garmin's website. Back of the package says Windows XP SP2 and Mac OS X 10.4.11 minimum (+ other requirements). I would not put it past Garmin to suddenly change the computer requirements - another way of shortening the lifespan of your "lifetime" product.
--Garmin says you need a high speed internet connection. Even with my high speed connection (my ISP claims 6630 kpbs at the moment) it took two hours to download the 2.7 GB file and another hour to install the update (during which Garmin recommends you not use your computer for other things)
--as with other "tech" things, read the instructions (on the back of the card). It gives you the address for the map update site and reminds you that you need the scratch-off product key from the card to do the update.
--to get a sense of how the installation process works, search on G--gle for
"map download instructions" site:[type garmin's site name here] and look for a pdf document called "downloading your map update" - this is the pdf file Garmin refers you to for step-by-step installation instructions
--Addendum: well, Garmin just lost their 1/2 star. I purchased a 2nd nuMaps subscription and had a horrendous time downloading the update. The download manager (which helps managed dropped downloads) didn't show up and the download stalled multiple times, forcing me to restart from scratch multiple times until the download finally succeeded - and having my two-hour download stall halfway through the process multiple times made for a very frustrating night. To top it off, the support e-mail form gives no indication that it's been sent after you click the send button (so I sent them several duplicate e-mails, thinking that my request hadn't gone through). The next day Garmin tech support responded and pointed me to a link in my myGarmin account maps tab that allows me to redownload the product should I need to.
--if you are a Mac user, I strongly recommend backing up your device before installing your nuMaps (the nuvi is just a hard drive as far as the computer's concerned and you can make a backup using Disk Utility). The nuMap installer warned me that I might lose some voices, but said I could re-download them from Garmin. Two teensy problems the installer forgot to mention - my particular device is not compatible with Garmin's new web-based voice installer ("Garage") and the .vpm voice files (e.g, American English Jack) that are still available on Garmin's website come in a Windows-only .exe file. I was able to restore my lost voices only because I had previously backed up my device.

We have a 3 year old Garmin 350. We find the unit itself is very easy to use. Our problem is we used our fee update 18 months ago and it did not include much of the new road construction around us. We also found that the changing face of our city had many new, moved and closed businesses and our Points of Interest were also out of date. An update was imminent and it was going to cost us this time. I saw on the lifetime map updates on the Garmin site and thought I might find a bit better deal and that brought me here where one of the vendors had a great deal.

If you are unsure whether an update has the new features you are looking for you can preview the detailed US map on the Garmin shopping site. Be careful there are lists of "supported Nuvi units" on some of the vendors sites that are woefully incomplete. For instance our 350 was not on the vendor list, but after a search I was able to find a list on the Garmin shopping site that seems to list all the Nuvi and other units. The product page has a ton of information but you may have to dig around a bit to find it.

What you get in the mail is essentially a reward card size card with a scratch off code. My one gripe for all this is the shipping cost for this is almost unnecessary except the card is in a store theft control hard shell wrapper. If you upgrade at Garmin you will get the code immediately and therefore no shipping so be sure to factor this in the price.

The upgrade was pretty straight forward but took me about 3 hours. The download is almost 2GB so a good internet connection is very helpful, I am pretty sure though you can get it on DVD for shipping cost.

Bottom line, I really like the Garmin unit and the update will have paid for itself the next time I do it. It seems like a good investment to me.

I bought this Lifetime Map Update card from Amazon, but it failed the authentication step at the Garmin website. After many weeks of going back and forth with Garmin Customer Support (lousy website design on their part, by the way), Garmin claims that the code on this card was not in their database and that they could not activate it. They also had me take pictures of the front and back of the card and the packaging, and email it to them for their investigation. It took pinging them again to get a response, after the promised 24 hour response no-show.

To make a 40 day story short, the activation finally worked, and the installation worked flawlessly, but it took far more time and effort to get past step one than I would have thought. Customer support at Garmin could have been more responsive as well.

Definitely nice to get the discount on Amazon compared to the price on Garmin's site. Card came fine, code worked first time out, Amazon great, no problem.

HOWEVER - Once on the Garmin site after opening account and putting in the product code, the file downloader needs to load. This too way too long, so opted to download the file manually. 1.9 GB file can take a long time depending on your connection so be prepared.

File downloaded no trouble just took awhile. Then tried to open it, nothing. Waited while it seemed to hold my computer hostage for about 15 minutes with no indication anything as happening. Couldn't do anything so did a force computer shut down and restart. Now figured that perhaps I needed their downloader to make it work so making sure POP UPs were NOT blocked on my browser I went through the download process again using their downloader. This took another long while but didn't experience any problem.

Once downloaded, I hit launch on the box, nothing. Waited, nothing, came back after a while, NOTHING. Tried to look at other things on the computer, computer running really slow and getting locked up. This should have been a clue to me, but there is NOTHING to indicate anything is happening. Did a manual restart again.

Saw after doing online search that MANY people having MANY problems with this. So read for some tips etc, but didn't find much helpful except for one that said you won't see anything happening and it takes a long time.

This time started the computer and went to the downloaded file (after plugging the Garmin Nuvi 750 back in via USB) in Windows Explorer. Double clicked the file and again nothing happened but you do get the rotating circle (Vista's version of hourglass) as if the machine is doing something, so I left it.

45 Minutes later the program box came up ready to begin! From that point on there was no problem, I accepted the terms, hit next and it extracted the files, and proceeded to update my Garmin. The update process AFTER the 45 minute initial wait while seemingly nothing happens took about another 40 minutes, but finished without trouble and my Garmin has the new maps all set to go.

Whew! So I am ultimately happy with the purchase just not the Garmin Process to update. I am hoping subsequent updates will be smoother, but at least I have a feel to the waiting needed now.

I have a Garmin Nuvi 750, using a pretty speedy ASUS laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit system, service pack 1. I have 3mb DSL service. I was updating from North America Maps 2008 to North America Maps 2010 (in June of 2009) - Garmin download file Garmin_RMU_CNNANT2010C.exe

This is by no means a speedy process, give yourself plenty of time to accomplish this update and if you can not do anything else while your machine is working on this you will be happier as it seems to use all memory available and makes anything else crawl or simply "not Responding".

4 stars because, Amazon part was great, product is what it says it is and ultimately is on my unit and working fine, but minus 1 star for the pain and suffering involved in the process with Garmin's programs.

UPDATE: March 22, 2011 - Just did my third full map update since buying this lifetime subscription. Things were much easier and faster. Same computer but faster internet connection certainly helped. The update was coordinated through Garmin's site and my account there. I found it now quite simple to do and the GPS unit accepted it without problem. It still takes a bit of time to do simply because it is a large file and I'm guessing the system inside the GPS units has probably advanced quite a bit since I purchased our NUVI 750. Still very happy with the Garmin Nuvi 750 and this Lifetime Maps subscription.

I guess I should have read the other reviews before I bought this on Amazon. First of all I have not yet been able to unlock this map so I can not give an actual product review. I am reviewing Amazon and Garmin's service.

I am very comfortable with Garmin's web site and registered my Garmin device when I bought it in 2008. Having said that the instuctions on unlocking the maps using the gift cards do not exhist. I did fumble through the site and found that if you login and then click on mymaps you can get mapdownloads button. Click on your registered product and it will take you to a screen where there is a link that says "Activate/unlock or update your mapping product(s).". I started the process to unlock the map and got the dreaded not a valid product key message.

I then went back to Amazon and read all of the reviews. I am wondering if this is a common problem, why has Amazon not done anything about this?

I then called Garmin customer service. Just like everyone says I was on hold for over 30 minutes. They first accused me of typing in the product key wrong and then of trying to reregister a used gift card. I explained to them that I got it on Amazon and that it was not opened and was brand new. They tried to pawn it off on Amazon and told me to contact them. They accused Amazon of wrong doing. After a lot of back and forth, Garmin is sending out a replacement card. Too bad for me I will probably not get the working card until after my vacation. I hope the old maps work out on my road trip.

Hopefully, the new card will work. Amazon please get with Garmin and figure out why the cards that you are selling are not valid. According to Garmin the keys on the cards are not valid. Please don't make anyone else go through this.

I like my Garmin but the maps were about 3 years old, so I purchased the lifetime update.

It took several hours to download the 2G file, and an hour and a half to open it each time I tried to use it.

My problem? I didn't have a SD card for my Garmin so only had enough memory to update one region. I asked it to install the southeast region, once it finished none of the minor roads would show up at all. Contacted Garmin customer service, turns out the update had installed the northwest region. They said to redo it, I must have selected the wrong region.

Tried again, (several hour process) same results. So I tried installing the northeast region which also included my state...got Canada instead.

Finally I bought an SD card which holds all the maps and now it works.

But what an ordeal!!

I love the idea of this product, but so far have been unable to download it from Garmin. After waiting more than 30 minutes to speak to tech support, they acknowledged that I properly followed the registration procedure but could do nothing for me on the spot. The tech said this is a "well-known" problem, took the information needed to "fix" the problem, and said I would be contacted by phone or email within a few hours. Coming up on 24 hours and still no response, but Amazon and Garmin certainly have my money.

I have also emailed Garmin support where I have been assured they will respond with 3 days.

As I write this I am on hold to Garmin support and have been advised that the current hold time "exceeds 30 minutes."

If you need to be sure your maps work as soon as you get them, you may want to stay away from the download version of this product. I assume the cd-rom version works OK, but I don't actually know.

Either Amazon or Garmin dropped the ball on this one as I keep getting "invalid product key"... maybe Amazon did not activate the "Fast Card".

My GPS model is the Garmin Nuvi 885T and is listed as a model that should operate properly.

Seems Garmin is closed on the week-ends. So much for the "Fast Card"! Doing it over again I would download directly from Garmin for the extra $19 then you have to deal with just one company if it doesn't work properly.

Was excited to find this, but after I purchased it and opened it, found out it only works for certain Garmin models. Check the Garmin site for product details, they are not listed correctly on Amazon.