I can't believe they charge to much for map updates... Well, I guess I can. You would only have to spend $200-300 every 10 years if they didn't. =(
It's understandable, actually. There's two separate issues: road changes and business changes. The road changes require very fine detail, and people get really pissed if it's out of date - witness the hoo-rah over Apple Maps. The business changes are like keeping a Yellow Pages up to date.I can't believe they charge to much for map updates... =(
It's understandable, actually. There's two separate issues: road changes and business changes. The road changes require very fine detail, and people get really pissed if it's out of date - witness the hoo-rah over Apple Maps. The business changes are like keeping a Yellow Pages up to date.
I was curious what this cost Garmin, but I couldn't find any discussion of this in their 10-K.
The problem is, why would I pay $40 for a map update (without the deal), when almost every modern phone comes with a GPS and gets free updates?
Because once you're out of cell service, your cell phone gps is worthless.
I find the recent updates to my Garmin units have made them very frustrating to use. Constant zooming in and out with no indication of scale, together with hiding of cross-streets makes the whole experience confusing. I also note that recent map updates still don't reflect local road changes that took place over 6 months ago. That said, I don't expect Magellan or TomTom would be any better overall.
Unless it has downloaded maps like Nokia...
The problem is, why would I pay $40 for a map update (without the deal), when almost every modern phone comes with a GPS and gets free updates? I never had a problem with Apple Maps and Google Maps always worked on Android phones I've had. I even sold my Nav unit (here nonetheless) once I realized I didn't use it because of my smart phone.
I understand it costs Garmin money to update the roads and businesses, but in this world, they are going to die charging for stuff freely available that most people have (smart phone).
I wonder what percentage of people who own dedicated GPS solutions actually bought them before smartphones were ubiquitous.
I'm guessing that a lot of people bought a dedicated GPS like a garmin because they didn't already have Android Navigation free on their 5" smartphones. But when you are sitting there with already a smartphone that has GPS, it's that much tougher to justify spending money on a dedicated GPS that doesn't also play games or lets you read books or do anything else that smartphones and tablets can do. I mean look at how compact digital camera sales sort of went away now that everyone already has a cell phone camera?
I use it for long trips and because it is easy to add lots of points of interest. I took a trip to Florida from Minnesota recently and having speed cameras loaded saved me money. My garmin gives me a .3 mile warning. Iowa would have been expensive. I also had all disc golf courses listed on the way so that any time I felt like stopping for a break I could quickly find the nearest one. For fun I loaded Diners, Drive Ins and Dives from the TV show and checked to see if any were near when hunger hit.
You have to know its limitations though. If you deviate off the planned trip it does a poor job of rerouting. On the way back I took a detour through Chicago to buy pizza. As I exited Illinois I noticed that it was telling me to take a 400 mile detour. I had to turn it off and replan the remainder to get it to get back to the shortest route.