Just bought maps from the USA

dude100 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 22, 2006 Posts: 9

I thought I would post this for information....

I am visiting the USA in June (Florida) then again (lucky me) in October to relatives in Iowa so decided to look for maps of the USA for my Nuvi 300. I took the plunge and ordered the City Navigator NT v8 from Provantage on Tuesday pm ( uk time) and it was delivered this morning (Thursday) by DHL. Amazing. The cost delivered was $142.56 which came in at £72.00 and there was no import duty or VAT to pay.

Fantastic price and service.

There was no problem unlocking the maps through Garmins web site, nor transferring them to an SD card. Navigation works fine on the simulation....

rlisanti · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 6

Hi Dude100,

I'm trying to do the same thing on a Nuvi 310. Do you know if this will work if I ordered the same disk from Provantage?
My Nuvi came pre-loaded with UK and Ireland maps and when I tried to order the disk directly from Garmin I got the following message after netering my serial number:

There are no MapSource products with regions available for you to purchase for the GPS unit serial number you have entered (i.e., you have already unlocked all the regions for all the MapSource products for the unit with this serial number).

Any thoughts?

Thanks

swing · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:26 am Post subject:

rlisanti - Garmin's website is setup to only provide map updates, so all Garmin are saying is that you already have the latest maps. Purchasing of the US maps is a separate situation.
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rlisanti · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 6

Hi Swing, thanks for your reply.
I think the penny has dropped with me finally!

So I can add maps to the 310 but I need to order them from partners like Provantage. To unlock them though I need to go to the Garmin site when I receive the disk or SD card.

Is this correct?

Sorry if this sounds like a really basic question but I couldn't find this process described anywhere and it is different to the way it works for comapnies like TomTom.

swing · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:10 pm Post subject:

Yes, that's pretty much it - if you buy from a reputable seller, the cost you pay will include a registration code in the DVD box which will give you a free unlock code via Garmin's website. Some (eg on ebay) will just be selling you the DVD itself, and you will still need to purchase the unlock code, so please do buy from a reputable source (if it looks too cheap, it probably is!).

It's a bit similar to TomTom where you have to register the maps to use them via the www.ttcode.com website (although this may not have applied to you in the past).
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rlisanti · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 6

Thanks Swing for clarifying.

The difference I experienced with TomTom is that I could buy the maps from TomTom themselves.

But now I know how it works here I'm happy :D

dude100 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 22, 2006 Posts: 9

Hi rlisanti,

Swing has explained this exactly as it happens. When maps are currently as cheap as they are from authentic dealers in the USA I would avoid ebay like the plague. It really is a painless process and as the £ has just broken the $2 barrier, ( yes I know the "tourist" rate is slightly lower), they are better vaue than ever.

Buy DVD - install on PC - register in My Garmin (something you would already have done with your Nuvi) & put in registration code on yellow paper supplied with said DVD - recieve unlock code - put unlock code in PC (mapsource) and lo, maps are unlocked and transferrable to your Nuvi 310.

Only one thing...but a 2GB SD card and make sure all your addditional maps go onto it, not the internal memory of the Nuvi.

rlisanti · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 17, 2007 Posts: 6

Excellent dude100. That's what I wanted to hear.

Interested that you got yours VAT and duty-free. Hope that I'm as lucky!

Cheers

dude100 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 22, 2006 Posts: 9

To be honest, I was surprised I got away with paying anything here. Many years ago we bought a Kyosho nitro monster truck and had a bit to pay to the Parcelforce bloke who delivered it. Perhaps I was lucky or the cost was below that which attracts duty. If you decide to buy let me know how it goes....

georgemac · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 27, 2006 Posts: 42

I got City Navigator v8 dvd last year in Canada for £80. You get 2 unlock codes with the dvd which can be used to unlock units owned by yourself. I liked using the maps loaded on the laptop for finding POI's in the area I was visiting. THe maps however remain locked to the units, and as my maps were unlocked to 2 x i3's, I now find myself wanting to upgarde to a nuvi, but not wanting to have to buy the US mapping again - in this respect TomTom work out cheaper as you can buy only the parts of the US you need.

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