Garmin City Navigator

I gather that Garmin are likely to release an updated version of City Navigator (the mapping data) next month.

I also understand that their intention is that they will offer upgrades on an exchange basis (ie you send back your old CDs, they will send new ones with unlock codes).

How much you pay will vary according to how long you have had your current ones. If you have recently bought a Garmin product with City Navigator - DON'T register the product - you'll get a free upgrade!

Watch the Garmin website for further info.

Greg

Upgrade

Greg,

I fall into "the just bought" category, but won't they need to know where I am?

Or can they track me through my nice new toy?

Well, of course, Big Brother is pretty big these days!

The advice that I was given (by Garmin) is NOT to register it until they publish on their website that the new maps are available. Then you contact them with a pseudo-moan that you've only just bought it and the maps are out of date already. He said that in those circumstances, you'd get the upgrade for nothing.




Greg

Moans

Moans like the Mapsource CD-ROM is out of date when you buy it, and you have to get the up-date off their web-site? I won't complain too much as at least it only cost the cost of the phone call for 20 minutes!

Update CD

Just filled in an online form on the Garmin website for the update cd for European City Navigator v5.
The cd comes free but costs 150 Dollars to unlock via their web page.
Not sure if it is US Dollars or not.
Seems a bit steep when I have only had v4 for less than 6 months.
I did give them a phone but facing the wind and passing water came to mind.
Oh well............KR

Update

I've just spoken with Garmin Europe - 1794 519 944 and as I'd not got round to registering the SP3 that, if I e-mail them with my name and address etc I'll be sent a new V5 of the map data next month.

BTW the supplier of my SP3 wasn't aware of V5 being issued yet (correct as it turned out) but Garmin are showing it on the City Navigator pre-viewer! Also, the dealer said that the dealers weren't selling the V5 upgrade but that it would be direct through Garmin.

When I spoke to UK Garmin they said that the update cd was just that.
An update to anyone who already has Mapsource European City Navigator v4.
It's of no use on it's own.
They were hinting at maybe the end of Feb or into March before they start posting them out.
DO I REALLY NEED IT?
REALLY?
REALLYREALLY?
KR

Need it?

The answer is probably to look at the V5 viewer in the cartography section on Garmins site. My initial impression is that the town data in Europe is similar to the UK but villages are just as bad. That is V4 is not much better than the base map. As I'm off to France and Spain this year then I'd probably buy it (if I have to).

Hope this helps.

Does anyone have the definitive comparison between V4 & V5?

As the Garmin website now only features V5, it's impossible to compare, but from what I can see the main difference is that the whole of Sweden is now covered instead of the southern most area, and some backroad detail is improved.

If we could have a decent comparison we would be able to make an informed decision about whether it's worth the cost of the unlock code....

I'll also do some digging & report my findings here....

Yesterday I registered on-line my SP3 and e-mail Garmin at upgradeoffer.europe@garmin.com <upgradeoffer.europe@garmin.com> this is the reply I have received:

Thank you for registering for an update to your Garmin MapSource product;

We hope to start shipping products as soon as practicable after the shipping
dates specified on our website.
http://www.garmin.com/unlock/index.html

If you would like to contact our sales or support teams in the mean time,
please use the following e-mail addresses:

techsupp.europe@garmin.com

sales.europe@garmin.com

Best Regards

Garmin Sales Support Team
Garmin Europe Ltd


http://www.garmin.com/unlock/index.html has examples of costs, release dates and shipping dates plus examples of the costs to varying degrees of oldness of the City Navigator etc.

Not an in depth appraisal, but I've been looking at Beaune, Pamplona, Salers and Arras (as I'll be going to them this year) and all but Salers have a much greater coverage ie on par with maporama.com, which on maporama shows one way streets and something approaching the detail of the UK streets and facilities. This is not surprising as the two seem to use Navtech......

As the saying goes there's no such thing as a free lunch, and if like me you're going to go through France and Spain from the NW of England my route nicely fitted the 128 mb datacard. I would willingly bet money that it won't, once the V5 upgrade is on.

What a pain, only 4 months, after I unlock my CD, they produce a new one.

And even the upgrade costs 3x what Microsoft charge for a new product.

When will garmin ever learn.

I suspect that the level of coverage won't be much better than v4 (which is not very good in Spain - and that's a shame 'cos I'll be going to Spain three times this year!) but will update or correct new road layouts. For example, I'll be interested to see if it includes the new layout around Trafalgar Square.


Greg

Somethign Odd

As I am off to Belgium for the meeting in June I thought I would plot the route on mapsource. The hotel we are staying at is still shown as an industrial estate with no road or street names. Given that my SPIII is only 5 months old I naturally assumed that V4 mapsource was relatively upto date. Now my Autoroute 2002 purchased at the end of 2001 shows all the roads and streets. Makes you think just how old is V4. When I spoke to Garmin UK about V5 and what were the advantages of updating the very nice lady said " oh you will have to speak to our cartography department, as every call is asking the same question " ? They told me the has been a major revision of all new streets and roads throughout europe. Great but I said its a bit expensive don't you think when I have just forked out over a thousand, the line went dead. Should I read something into that.
Customer Service ??? I think not, they appear to be exploiting the catalogue market and many other home delivery companies who use there products

Re: Somethign Odd

gazza said:

... the line went dead. Should I read something into that?

Click to expand...

Gazza

It sound to me like the line just went dead. In my dealings with Garmin, they have been nothing but helpful and polite.

Greg

I've been dealing with Garmin for years and they have always been really helpful. I fly, and while you're not allowed to use GPS as a primary navigation aid people do, but tend to carry two.

Anyway I've twice had a GPS fail in the air - once over the Black Mountains in good weather, and once over Stansted in total crap-out and both were replaced without question - one was out of warranty, the second was upgraded.

By the way don't believe everything a GPS tells you.

waterhouse said:

By the way don't believe everything a GPS tells you.

Click to expand...

I've had an aviation Garmin 95 fro the last six years, and while they're excellent bits of kit you have to watch that you don't divorce yourself from reality. The time you really want it to work is sods law the time it won't! The only problems I had was with power sources and inaccurate information being put in. Both would really be my fault if I'm honest.

As the desk sargeant in Hill Streets Blues would say "take care out there today".

Bad day

I have rang Garmin on numerous occasions and they have been very helpfull. However, I think this V5 upgrade may be getting to them. They did say every call they have received recently related to the cost of the V5 upgrade, so it is obviously causing them pain. Might try a letter to BMW seeing as they commisioned the Navigator. Probably a bit of this but we will see.

BMW Motorrad Navigator

For all you Navigator owners, here's the response (and query) that I recently had from Garmin Europe.

You may recall that as part of the BMW package, your unlock codes for all European regions came with the unit & did not require registering with Garmin, as with the Garmin SPIII unit & others....apparently, we will not have to register the V5 upgrade with Garmin for the unlock codes & therefore will have nothing to pay, regardless of when you purchased your BMW Motorrad Navigator.

Here goes:



Hi Chris,

The upgrade is simply the latest release of the map data we have received from our data source;

As a BMW user you simply register for the update CD to be sent to you -
Please send your postal address and product required to the upgradeoffer.europe@garmin.com <mailto:upgradeoffer.europe@garmin.com> e-mail address.

We will post the CD's out as soon as they are available.


Regards,

Tony Broad
Service/Support and MIS Manager
Garmin (Europe) Ltd
http://www.garmin.com
http://www.garmin.com/support/

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Holland [mailto:bmw@dutchman.org.uk]
Sent: 22 January 2003 20:00
To: techsupp.europe@garmin.com
Subject: BMW Motorrad Navigator


Hi

I purchased a UK version of the BMW Motorrad Navigator from a UK dealer in May 2002.

It came with European City Navigator V4.0, together with an 'all areas' unlock code, which did not require registering with Garmin to activate all European MapSource areas.

I've kept a close eye on the Garmin website & utilised the various SPIII software upgrades for the BMW Motorrad Navigator as well as the various MapSouce & USB driver upgrades.

I notice that V5 of European City Navigator is iminent & have taken note of the various time dependent upgrade procedures and costs, but given the unique purchasing package afforded by the BMW branded unit, I would like to know if either the same upgrade arrangements apply or if not how can purchasers of the BMW unit upgrade their MapSource product to V5.

When I discussed this issue with the suppling dealer, he had no idea what I was talking about & referred me directly to Garmin.

Finally, could you please detail for me the precise nature of the differences between V4 & V5.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Regards
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chris Holland
Edinburgh
Scotland
+44(0)131 620 1792
www.bikersbeds.com
www.dutchman.org.uk
www.bmwclubscottishsection.org.uk
www.coolcarbon.net
www.maneevent.org.uk

Registering

I didn't have to register on-line or by post with my SP3 to unlock the Mapsource CD either! The code came with the CD-ROM. I sent Garmin an e-mail to the same address given to Dutchman for his BMW Navigator, and they (Garmin) implied that I'd get the upgrade at no cost.

BTW has anyone any experience of buying data cards from the USA at dollars = pounds prices?