But it's designed to take the vibration of a motorcycle, it says so right in their advertising!!!

 

The Garmin updates also include all the poi updates. New businesses open everyday and some close up for good everyday. I have used the free udates on my other gps units in the past, nothing wrong with them, but all pois updated four times a year along with the map updates is a good thing for me.


Dennis

 

I think you only get your first map update free. I got a free update six months or so after purchase. Now it's time for another and I need to pay for it if I want it.

 

Don't get me wrong, I LIKE my Garmins, but 60.00 for a single map update, or 120 f lifetime of updates tells me they are just ripping folks off, and thats something I hate. I won't update the maps for that price. I can make due with what I have.

 

I respect your opinion that you feel that $120 is a ripoff so you choose not to update. I hear too many times of guys knowing the price of a non-necessity up front, thinking they're being gouged and pulling the trigger anyway.

I, on the other hand, feel a lifetime of up to four annual updates for $120 is a pretty good deal. That amounts to about one chrome trinket for the Harley and is cheap insurance that the Garmin will direct me to a gas station that's still in business when the low fuel light comes on.

(The Garmin 550 gas gauge program is pretty cool too, by the way.)

 

Now remember that's the lifetime of the unit, not your lifetime. The odds of me keeping that for more then a few years is slim. And that's $120 toward the next one.

 

I had my 550 freeze up when loading software and got a new one under warranty w/o any problems. The soft reset usually fixes any problems when out on the road imho.

 

You haven't said wheather you have connected to Garmin's Webupdater website. Many times a glitch in the software is fixed by downloading the free updates.

 

The maps are created independently and Garmin must pay for them, so it they may not be making a killing on these map upgrades.

 

My Zumo 450 failed to the point of requiring battery removal after every use. Long out of warranty, it cost $140 for a reconditioned replacement unit. Within two months the new unit began to do the same thing. I'm working with Garmin Tech Support via email; not sure where that will lead.