Garmin Map Updates

If you are a Garmin owner and performed your duty by registering unit, you should have received an email "deal" for map updates. Many of us with the earlier models did not receive Lifetime Map Updates. This new deal valid till July 5th offers onetime updates till July 5th for $29.99 and lifetime updates for $69.99.

If your North America Maps that now include Mexico are in need of updating, you need to be aware of the following:

"Please note: New maps often hold much more detailed information. Map updates may require a microSD™ card (sold separately) to expand storage space on your device."

If you have not received the email with the unique promo code, I am guessing that you can call or contact customer service to get the code?

We had an older Garmin and experienced problems once when upgrading our maps. The newer maps had more detail, which wouldn't fit onto the model we had. The "solution" was that our model received maps with certain features disabled or crippled. The new maps couldn't be downloaded to added SD memory for some reason. Took me forever to find out what was going on as there was no warning about the changes it would make to our unit. It came with "lifetime" map updates, so we just assumed it would be able to handle the future updates to maps we'd purchased... nope!

However, we loved the Garmin system and needed to add Mexico maps anyway, so we sold the old unit and got a new one with more memory and maps we needed. Good GPS, but be careful doing updates to older units.

Heather

Heather:

Very good point! Our older unit had a small capacity micro SD card with our original Mexico maps purchased when they were not part of the North American package. When I was going to do the update last year, tech support told me what size card I needed for that update and any future updates. They also emailed me instructions on just how to handle the update. Following their instructions allowed me to do a flawless installation with vastly improved Mexico maps. Wouldn't travel Mexico without a Garmin unit!

CheenaGringo wrote:Heather:

Very good point!  Our older unit had a small capacity micro SD card with our original Mexico maps purchased when they were not part of the North American package.  When I was going to do the update last year, tech support told me what size card I needed for that update and any future updates.  They also emailed me instructions on just how to handle the update.  Following their instructions allowed me to do a flawless installation with vastly improved Mexico maps.  Wouldn't travel Mexico without a Garmin unit!

What was the SD size?

Kiri:

When talking to tech support, it seems they recommended a minimum 2GB card but since I had a 4GB card sitting around, I used that. As a sidenote, the card slot on my model (785T) accepts a standard size SD card and didn't require a micro SD card. I would advise people to check the card requirements of their particular unit.