Sunday, August 1, 2010

GPS Woes

The new GPS came with [ALL] North American maps installed. I assume this included Mexico. When I registered the unit on line they told me there was a free map update waiting for me. I connected the unit to the computer and away it went, downloading maps for over an hour. When it finished I rebooted the unit and checked the map data only to find I now had the updated 2011 maps but only Canada and USA! No Mexico.

I fired off an email to Garmin and then went whining away on the Garmin Users Forum. On the forum I was told that the memory in my unit was not large enough to hold the new maps file so they eliminated Mexico to make it fit. Another person told me that if I hooked the unit up to the computer I could eliminate all the languages and voices I will never use and that will leave enough room for the Mexico maps. I will do this and then phone Support to plead with them to send me another download. If this does not work, I have two weeks to return the unit to London Drugs with no questions asked. I really want the Mexico maps.

Life is complicated.

4 comments:

  1. Suggest you take it back and get the proper one that you want.

    We ended up getting a TomTom XL340S that Sears had on sale a few weeks back for $99. I made sure that it included the Mexico maps before I bought.

    Having said that, I think I liked my old Garmin better. I'm getting used to the TomTom, but the maps seem kind of cartoonish, and it's definitely slower to recalculate a route if you go off course.

    But, the price was right and it will be handy to have the Mexico maps this winter.

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  2. I read a side by side test of the two and the Garmin fared better. I deleted all the non English, French and Spanish files and gained a little memory. On Monday I will call Garmin and plead my case for another full download.

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  3. I think when I bought my Garmin it came with the North America (Canada & Mexico) but no Mexico, I believe I read on Tioga and George's blog a couple years ago that he had to buy the Mexico maps, Are sure they were in it before the update, Good luck, maybe you will get them if you yell loud enough. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

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  4. Croft, you should be able to download the maps again from the MyGarmin site, or run the little program to start them again.

    What you can also do if you have MapSource installed, is to make sure you have the 'Advanced' window, and then choose to put it on the GPS and the computer.

    From MapSource, you can highlight Mexico and send it to an SD card. Pop it in the GPS, and make sure the map is checked under Settings.

    If that doesn't work, then a call to Garmin is required.

    Cheers!

    Rob

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