Updating My Garmin

 

We're all pilgrims on the same journey - but some pilgrims have better road maps.

About a year ago we decided it was time to purchase a new GPS.  The one we had was old and I really wanted one that showed lane changes, traffic and speed limit.  Now it had been a long time since we had been without a GPS.  We couldn’t get by like our friend, Denise, does.  Check out the picture below.  This is what she calls her GPS.  It may work for her but certainly wouldn’t work for us. 

After our purchase of the new Garmin we were constantly comparing this particular one to the Magellan we had previously owned.  There were a lot of differences between the two.  Some were due to technology changes and others were just the differences between the companies.  There are some things we definitely preferred with the Magellan and some things we definitely prefer with the Garmin.

Over the last year we had been places made it obvious our map was out of date.  In March that update became available.  The model of the Garmin we have is the 2365LMT.  The LMT stands for “Lifetime Maps and Traffic”.  That’s pretty cool, huh?  Well, hold it a minute.  After finally accomplishing the many hours of trying to get this thing updated, I’m beginning to think that the offer of free upgrades is definitely a gimmick.  It’s certainly not as easy as it sounds when you’re doling out the cash and making the purchase.

I’m not saying we didn’t get the update.  We did …. finally.  I made the first attempt to update it when we are on the road using our air card.   When the download first started I was given a timeframe of about 984 hours!!!!  Do you know how long 984 hours is?  It’s not that we care but we certainly knew that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.  The upgrade was put off until we could connect to a wired DSL or cable line.  We knew there was no way it was going to happen on the road.

The time came and the wired line was available.  Our son was paying for it.  The estimated time for the download was 9 hours!! That's still a very long time for a file that size. However, it was better than the first estimate of 984 hours.

Garmin gave an option of upgrading the computer or the device and the computer.  I figured it would be faster to just upgrade the computer and then transfer offline to the device.  That's not how it worked.   A good nine hours later the download was complete and the computer upgraded.  However, that was just the computer and not the device.  It took another three hours to download additional files and update the Garmin itself.  Ever done that?

Here’s my thought.  I know I had a good connection.  I also know my son has downloaded other much larger files without a hitch and in a much, much shorter time.  Here’s my guess.  1) With the release of the new maps others were probably trying to download at the same time.  2) Garmin isn’t set up for fast downloads from their servers for free software.  I bet the purchases are off of different servers than maps actually purchased.  I googled for information on download times.  There were lots of complaints so I know our situation wasn't necessarily different from others. 

I’m glad it’s done.  When the new software comes out next year at least I’ll know what to expect.  We needed an updated GPS map or I wouldn’t even have attempted it.

‘Tis life on the road.