Garmin GPS - A quick account of my experiences unlocking maps with Garmin

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A quick account of my experiences unlocking maps with Garmin

Dario Ciccarone

2008-02-20, 10:33 pm

Let's see. I bought a StreePilot 2720 on 2005, which came with City
Navigator North America NT v7. Unlocked, installed it on one of the PCs
(comes preinstalled on the GPS), forget about it all.

The StreePilot started to nag me about three months ago - "maps are kind of
prehistoric now, pal". Went ahead and bought a "Map Update 2008". Installed,
unlocked, downloade to StreetPilot 2720. So far, so good.

And then I decided to invest on a GPSMAP 60CSx to connect thru a Garmin
serial cable _and_ a Nikon MC-35 to my D300. The GPSMAP 60CSx, as probably
everyone here knows, comes with no maps preinstalled - just the basemap.

So I called Garmin and spoke with a very nice lady which explained to me
they would be thrilled to send me an additional activation code so I could
load the v7 on the 60CSx. When asked about an additional unlock code so I
could also install the 2008 update on the 60CSx too - things came to a
screeching halt. No deal.

It looks like there has been some change to the licensing agreement between
Garmin _and_ NAVTEQ (no clue if it has anything to do with Nokia's
acquisition of NAVTEQ or was already in the works). If you got a
pre-new-agreement map, Garmin will happily send you a 2nd activation code.
But if you have a new map/map update, post new deal, you're out of luck -
will need to bay one full version/one update for each device you own.

And no - Garmin isn't offering discount codes, nor coupons, nor anything to
make it less painful.

So considering I had to shell out about $60 for yet another update, I
followed up over email with a simple question - when was the 2008 Update
originally made available, what is the release cycle for Garmin? The answer
was that Garmin tries to release updates every 12-15 months - so the "2009
Update" should be released on or about summer this year. But with that
information came a slightly ominous phrase: "we can't make any commitments
at this time about how much future upgrades will cost".

That can be read any way you want - either they expect for upgrade pricing
to go down, or go up. I'm pretty sure if the news were "it's going to go
down", they would share it with the community - who doesn't want to share
good news and price cuts with your customers? Not sharing which way it might
go smells to me like "get ready for a significant RAISE in the cost of both
upgrades and full versions".

Maybe I'm just wrong and full versions are going to cost $60, while upgrades
will be $20. But somehow I don't think so ;)

Sharing this for the benefit of the whole community.

Thanks,
Dario

2008-02-20, 10:33 pm

"Dario Ciccarone" <dciccaro@cisco.com> wrote in message
news:1203547816.548297@sj-nntpcache-2.cisco.com...
> Let's see. I bought a StreePilot 2720 on 2005, which came with City
> Navigator North America NT v7. Unlocked, installed it on one of the PCs
> (comes preinstalled on the GPS), forget about it all.
>
> The StreePilot started to nag me about three months ago - "maps are kind
> of prehistoric now, pal". Went ahead and bought a "Map Update 2008".
> Installed, unlocked, downloade to StreetPilot 2720. So far, so good.
>
> And then I decided to invest on a GPSMAP 60CSx to connect thru a Garmin
> serial cable _and_ a Nikon MC-35 to my D300. The GPSMAP 60CSx, as probably
> everyone here knows, comes with no maps preinstalled - just the basemap.
>
> So I called Garmin and spoke with a very nice lady which explained to me
> they would be thrilled to send me an additional activation code so I could
> load the v7 on the 60CSx. When asked about an additional unlock code so I
> could also install the 2008 update on the 60CSx too - things came to a
> screeching halt. No deal.
>
> It looks like there has been some change to the licensing agreement
> between Garmin _and_ NAVTEQ (no clue if it has anything to do with Nokia's
> acquisition of NAVTEQ or was already in the works). If you got a
> pre-new-agreement map, Garmin will happily send you a 2nd activation code.
> But if you have a new map/map update, post new deal, you're out of luck -
> will need to bay one full version/one update for each device you own.
>
> And no - Garmin isn't offering discount codes, nor coupons, nor anything
> to make it less painful.
>
> So considering I had to shell out about $60 for yet another update, I
> followed up over email with a simple question - when was the 2008 Update
> originally made available, what is the release cycle for Garmin? The
> answer was that Garmin tries to release updates every 12-15 months - so
> the "2009 Update" should be released on or about summer this year. But
> with that information came a slightly ominous phrase: "we can't make any
> commitments at this time about how much future upgrades will cost".
>
> That can be read any way you want - either they expect for upgrade pricing
> to go down, or go up. I'm pretty sure if the news were "it's going to go
> down", they would share it with the community - who doesn't want to share
> good news and price cuts with your customers? Not sharing which way it
> might go smells to me like "get ready for a significant RAISE in the cost
> of both upgrades and full versions".
>
> Maybe I'm just wrong and full versions are going to cost $60, while
> upgrades will be $20. But somehow I don't think so ;)
>
> Sharing this for the benefit of the whole community.
>
> Thanks,
> Dario
>
Back a few years ago, Garmin was selling CN North America NT for about $150,
which included two unlock codes. Garmin has changed so that each unlock is
sold separately, and is nominally $75. These upgrades can now be purchased
at stores like Circuit City, Best Buy, and online at dealers such as
TVNAV.COM, at considerable discount to that price.

I've watched these map upgrades for nearly 10 years and it seems that Garmin
is hitting a good stride in making annual updates, and doing it in the
$60-75 range. I suspect that this will continue well into the future.

I seriously doubt that there is any conspiracy to raise prices here.

JB

Dario Ciccarone

2008-02-21, 7:33 am

JB:

> Back a few years ago, Garmin was selling CN North America NT for about
> $150, which included two unlock codes. Garmin has changed so that each
> unlock is sold separately, and is nominally $75. These upgrades can now
> be purchased at stores like Circuit City, Best Buy, and online at dealers
> such as TVNAV.COM, at considerable discount to that price.

I must be missing something - or age is showing. If BEFORE you could buy the
full product for $150 and get two activation codes, but now each product is
good for one activation and costs

$109 - Amazon - full City Navigator NT
$ 58 - Amazon - Map Update 2008

How is the situation actually better? Specially if we consider last year you
could buy the full product, activate two devices - and would come down to
$55 or $29 per device?

>
> I've watched these map upgrades for nearly 10 years and it seems that
> Garmin is hitting a good stride in making annual updates, and doing it in
> the $60-75 range. I suspect that this will continue well into the future.
>
> I seriously doubt that there is any conspiracy to raise prices here.

I would have to agree - conspiracy implies secrecy. It is very clear that
there's no secret here - Garmin (according to them, due to NAVTEQ changes on
the license/use agreement) has RAISED the prices for those with more than
one unit. And easy enough - if they already changed the rules for upgrades
(and probably for full products bought this year too) - what makes you think
that the new agreement with NAVTEQ doesn't also mean new licensing costs,
which Garmin will surely transfer to the end user?

2008-02-21, 10:33 pm

"Dario Ciccarone" <dciccaro@cisco.com> wrote in message
news:1203600286.500177@sj-nntpcache-3.cisco.com...

> I must be missing something - or age is showing. If BEFORE you could buy
> the full product for $150 and get two activation codes, but now each
> product is good for one activation and costs
>
> $109 - Amazon - full City Navigator NT
> $ 58 - Amazon - Map Update 2008
>
The $150 (2 updates) and $75 (1 update) that I quoted were from Garmin, and
these were updates only. The Amazon price of $58 is the current discounted
price of the 2008 update.

What I was trying to say was that I believe that Garmin and NAVTEQ have
found the "sweet spot" of upgrade pricing, and I would be very surprised if
prices are increased significantly in the near future. NAVTEQ is
experincing exponential growth in upgrrades, and this money grows much more
quickly than costs to upgrade maps.

Dario Ciccarone

2008-02-21, 10:33 pm

Well, guess we'll have to wait and see - Update 2009 is "just around the
corner" :)

Maybe the tech support guy tried to scare me into buying the 2008 update -
who knows ? ;)

Dario

"JB" <jhbrand@cox.net> wrote in message
news:wcqvj.6400$097.1358@newsfe21.lga...
>
> "Dario Ciccarone" <dciccaro@cisco.com> wrote in message
> news:1203600286.500177@sj-nntpcache-3.cisco.com...
>
> The $150 (2 updates) and $75 (1 update) that I quoted were from Garmin,
> and these were updates only. The Amazon price of $58 is the current
> discounted price of the 2008 update.
>
> What I was trying to say was that I believe that Garmin and NAVTEQ have
> found the "sweet spot" of upgrade pricing, and I would be very surprised
> if prices are increased significantly in the near future. NAVTEQ is
> experincing exponential growth in upgrrades, and this money grows much
> more quickly than costs to upgrade maps.
>

TVNAV.com

2008-02-22, 3:33 pm

I've told many customers what the update price right now is but I don't
know what it will be in the future and I have no expectation that the update
price will go up. I'm guessing it will stay the same or go down.
--

Darrel Goheen
GPS@tvnav.com
http://www.tvnav.com

"Dario Ciccarone" <dciccaro@cisco.com> wrote in message
news:1203652528.37098@sj-nntpcache-3.cisco.com...
> Well, guess we'll have to wait and see - Update 2009 is "just around the
> corner" :)
>
> Maybe the tech support guy tried to scare me into buying the 2008 update -
> who knows ? ;)
>
> Dario
>
> "JB" <jhbrand@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:wcqvj.6400$097.1358@newsfe21.lga...
>
>

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