GPS

A friend of mine works for an insurance company and lots of time on inspections has to do a quick drive by on maybe 12 to 15 houses in a 3 or 4 county area. She can generally punch in the addresses and get all of them done by 1 or 2 oclock. Her co-worker does the same thing with the folding map method. he get 4 or 5 a day.

And she just started doing field work, he has been doing it 20 years. The boss is gonna start looking at their output one of these days.

Gene

The original software was inexpensive. Was state wide sale package that the state purchased. Now every year we are supposed to send the software company $300.00 plus to update. Seems like a sweet deal for the software company.

It is called salesmanship.

The only reason to do an update is to get the latest map. Obviously, they're going to try to sell you an update, but it certainly doesn't need one to function. Mine is two years old & I've never bothered to update the map. Unless you're in an area with a lot of new construction, why bother?

Think of it as buying a paper map. Would you replace the map every time something in the area it covers changed? If not, why should you update the electronic map. If I were going on a long trip, it might be worthwhile to have the latest info, in which case I'd spring for an update.

I suppose there could be software updates occasionally, but I would suspect those should be free. Reminds me, I should check & see if mine has the latest software.

Just use it as it came. Once you get used to having it, you'll use it a lot.

Keith

I did not feel it was fair for me to have to buy a new map because my 4 month old unit did not have a few streets that have been there for years. So I called Garmin, and their customer service people sent out the new map update at no charge.

My guess is Magellan will do the same thing for you. These things are very helpful, I think you'll enjoy it.

It should be loaded- the updates are only required down the road as hiway systems change, etc.