Be Careful selecting a GPS

[johnk]

About 18 months ago, I bought a Garmin nuvi 1350 car GPS, as I was planning a trip to Melbourne & have been challenged by their roads in the past. I chose the Garmin brand on Choice’s recommendation (they suggested Garman or Tom Tom, but not Navman) & this model was being remaindered with lifetime maps included – of which more will be said later.

I soon learned to use the device as a more accurate speedometer, & with it window mounted beside the rear vision mirror in my van, it was a great, safe, eyes up speed display.

However, it developed a couple of faults. Occasionally it would refuse to acquire satellites on start up, necessitating it being turned off & restarting & when programmed to an address, the numeric displays (speed & altitude with this model) would freeze up if I were tardy starting my journey or stopped for a time at lights or congestion. The retailer suggested that I refresh the software (firmware?) & for a time this worked, but the fault recurred again after I had owned the device for 15 months. I’d bought an extended warranty, which JB HiFi honoured by offering a replacement of equal value, or a more expensive model if I wanted to kick in the difference. As it happened they had the nuvi 2455LM available & with a fresh 2 year warranty & lifetime maps again, I was on the road for a measly $16.

I updated my software & maps via my existing Garmin login, registering the device at the same time.

This unit has a great enhancement over the old one, offering a split screen with map & picture image to assist through difficult intersections, but it has issues too:

(i) A number of streets (eg Logan Road & Venner Road) are designated by numbers, the former with the “3” designation of the Gold Coast expressway, even when it’s slipped back to being a just a main road running through suburbs.

(ii) Roads that were named on the 1350’s mapping (the internal roads on the Belmont Shooting Complex) are described on the new maps as “driving on tracks”.

(iii) Standard speed limits in Brisbane (all those 50 km/h roads) no longer have an ascribed speed limit, so there’s no warning if that limit is exceeded, the very facility I cherished the old unit for.

(iv) School zone limits are 40 km/h 24/7, not according to time & day of week as was supplied previously.

I phoned the Garmin support who advised me that the reason for the differences was that they had changed map provider from Whereis to Navteq, but they assured me that Navteq had promised to correct each & every map anomaly once it was reported to them, but here’s the crunch! The reporting needs to be done by addressing a map on the Navteq web site (Navteq.com) & tagging the fault by using one of 4 prompt keys. Garmin won’t do it, those poor old Pontius Pilates. You have to do it each & every time - & I’m buggered if I can find a way to tag every road in Brisbane, save by tagging them one by one.

I believe that Garmin has sold me a pup, two actually. This pale excuse for the robust Whereis maps is obviously provided at lower cost to Garmin & consequent greater margin. Stuff the user. Let them eat shit if they can’t get cake any more. But as well, if my memory of the conditions of the map download that I agreed to with my initial GPS are correct & you better believe that they are, then lifetime maps facility was only valid while they used the same supplier, Whereis. The change to Navteq relieves them of the obligation to upgrade maps on older GPS. My 1350 had been languishing with obsolete maps for how long, I wonder.

Thank you, Garmin. You offered me mo apology when I spoke to you today, no offer to facilitate the upgrading of the substandard maps yourself, just the snake oil salesman’s admonition of sucker beware.

Well, Garmin, I may be the sucker, but you are the company that sucks!

[Triplejim]

good research and article, send it to the major newspapers, JC

[Southcape]

I used one in NZ. Lucky I knew where I was heading, I just needed it to find the address in the city.

We are driving on the hwy to Wellington, and I get "in 200 meters turn right"

200 meters there was a river! Told the GPS... sorry, I forgot my floaties.