Download: City Navigator® North America NT 2009 Map Update free from Garmin site. I think the cutoff date is March 1st. Updates valid till Jul 31, 2008. This is what mine says
Download: City Navigator® North America NT 2009 Map Update PC Download Product Key: XXXXXXXX Download Expiration Date: Jul 31, 2008
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Here is some information that I believe to be accurate since these questions keep getting asked over and over: 1. Garmin is supposedly using the first fix satellite date to gauge whether or not you're eligible for a free upgrade to the 2009 maps. This means if you bought a GPS last year, but didn't register it in hopes of getting the new maps, you are likely SOL. This applies to those with preloaded maps since it looks like you have to connect your GPS to their website to receive the update. (From my personal experience with the C320 unit which uses a SD card, I was able to request a 2009 update disc to be sent to me. Then I registered my GPS with the unused unlock code at that time and was able to get a free unlock code for the 2009 maps. At no point did I ever have to connect my GPS to their server.) 2. The unlock codes for the 2009 maps are specific for each GPS and serial number. Unlike previous releases, you cannot load the maps onto a SD card and share them between units. The 2009 maps will ONLY work on the unit it was unlocked for even if you have identical units which differ only in serial numbers. (This is different from the 2008 and prior maps) 3. Garmin has no policy for one free map update for everyone. The update only applies to people who purchased a GPS AFTER the new maps were released. 4. If the battery in your GPS dies, contact Garmin. Even though your GPS is out of warranty, there is a good chance Garmin will fix it for free.
Feel free to correct anything that you believe I've written in error.
Message edited by: kimdani1 on 2008-05-29 06:31:03 CDT
People w/ ethics/morals need not read any further. This only work one time however since once registered, you won't be able to use this method next year.
Garmin has absolutely no way of knowing when you bought your system if you have haven't registered your GPS unit. So if you want the update, go to Garmin's website and register it and put any date after March 1st and then it'll let you download the update for free. Now, obviously if you have a GPS w/ any maps older than 2008, they'll probably know you're lying but if you have 2008 maps, you're good to go. Flame away people.
They try to charge me $69 when I log in to download for my Nuvi 680 bought in last December.
I think this kind of free download is randomly picked by GAR-MEAN. I have another unit in 2006 and they send me the free map in 2007. My cousin have the same unit but never received anything and he was thinking free-map is a joke at that time.
I don't like Garmin any more. Before they are the best GPS unit in the world. Now they are getting a bunch of mistake in the nevigation and taking 3 times longer to search the satellite.
It means it is only good for those people who never register their unit. Am I right?
raider73 said:
So if you want the update, go to Garmin's website and register it and put any date after March 1st and then it'll let you download the update for free.
sam19777 said:It means it is only good for those people who never register their unit. Am I right?
raider73 said:
So if you want the update, go to Garmin's website and register it and put any date after March 1st and then it'll let you download the update for free.
Yup, I bought mine in Dec. and register 2 wks ago and put March 15 as my buying date and I'm downloading the 2.04GB file as I type.
Try going here and enter the serial number to your Garmin GPS. It should tell you if your up to date or not.
One question I have is whether this will tip Garmin off to people that haven't registered yet (like me) because we have been waiting for the new maps to come out.
You can't link. You have to create an account w/ garmin. You do this when you register your unit. Also, your account will have the unlock code. Even if someone sends you the file, you can't use it w/o the unlock code that Garmin provides.
Edit: I'll try linking and see if it works. I'm not sure if it'll work. I'm still downloading so I'm not really sure how the update will work but most Garmin updates need an unlock code. Also, different updates are for different GPS. Mine is the Nuvi 260 which should be the same update as all the other NUVIs. Will probably not work if you don't have a NUVI.
mahyar1 said:When I log in they try to charge me $69 too
If you just registered today, I would wait a couple of days and then try it again else wait a couple of weeks. I registered mine 2 wks ago and there was no update available but when I logged in today, the update was there. Maybe they need time to update your account.
I already got a Garmin account but it's requiring me to install some stupid communicator program. Is this necessary? Could i update without installing the communicator?
PullMyFinger said:I already got a Garmin account but it's requiring me to install some stupid communicator program. Is this necessary? Could i update without installing the communicator?
OK, I don't understand this. I just registered my Nuvi 200, however, the way the communicator "registered" my product is basically connect the GPS to my computer and then it just automatically registered. It didn't even ask for my purchase date. And then, when I finally got to the link for downloading the map, it's trying to charge me for $69. What the heck??
By the way I registered the device on my existing account that I had a previous purchase.
raider73 said:mahyar1 said:When I log in they try to charge me $69 too
If you just registered today, I would wait a couple of days and then try it again else wait a couple of weeks. I registered mine 2 wks ago and there was no update available but when I logged in today, the update was there. Maybe they need time to update your account.
They just released the update to everyone on May 1st. After you register, then you can check using your unit's s/n, to see if you qualify for a free update. It will tell you immediately now.
FYI, some of the Garmin GPS units will not qualify for the free upgrade, because they are at their end-of-life. Even though there are stores that are still selling these models, there is not a free map upgrade path for these models. One report I have seen indicates that GPS units within the 300 and 600 series are affected. One guy reported he ordered a model 660 on April 11th from Amazon.com and he does not qualify for the free map upgrade. Others are reporting similar issues with model 350's.
This makes no sense, I sent to "my products" of my garmin account, it appears that the communicator registered my garmin nuvi 200 automatically without asking for my purchase date and now it's showing
Product Name: nüvi® 200
Registration Date: May 2, 2008
Serial Number: xxxxxxxx
Registration Code: xxxxxxxx
First Satellite Acquired: Mar 14, 1999
Does this mean the damn program somehow determined that I first used my garmin 200 on march 14th, 1999!??!?!? Is this why i'm not getting the free download?
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