Adventures with my GPS

Back in April, I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS system. Radio Shack had it on sale, and I had a gift card, so it was time to bite the bullet and get one.

Now I do love my gadgets, make no mistake. But as I had a need for one, it was not just an impulse buy.

I have used it on several short trips and to find things around town. I used it to find places I already knew how to find, but was interested in its accuracy. It found all the places I wanted to go with no hiccups. My only problem with the system started when I tried to register it online, and thus begins the adventure.

My trip began on Garmin's web site. Find the "register your Garmin page" and follow the directions. However, half-way through the registration process, Garmin wants you to hook the system up to the computer so it can install the necessary soft ware updates, and your free map update. This wouldn't be a problem, but the system didn't come with any way to do so. No USB cables were included. This is a major oversight on Garmins part. Why wouldn't they include the necessary cable so you can update your system and register it with them? But not to worry, I should be able to find the necessary cable in town, right?

So, on my next trip, we stopped off at a local Circuit City. I went in search of the car GPS systems and found one of the sales people for that area. Since they carry the same model as I had, finding the cable should be a piece of cake. But wait, I'm told that the only cable that will work comes from Garmin itself, so sorry Circuit City doesn't carry it. Sigh. Well all is not a loss, I can always order one online and get it in a few days.

Well yesterday, I was out with Angela and decided to stop by the local Radio Shack and see if they might have the Garmin cable. I spoke with the salesman, showed him the unit and he took me right to the digital camera replacement cables. Hmmm, looking closely the ends do seem to mate up to the unit perfectly. Now six feet of cable might be a little long for the job, but as it was the shortest on the rack it will do. I take the system home, and hook it up to the laptop (Gateway Supercow, just recently upgraded to a full 2 gig of memory), and start to register the unit.

Now comes the time to download the software updates, and finish the registration and the second part of the adventure. The download starts, gets to a 1% completion rate and restarts the process all over again. And again. And again. Clearly what we have here is a failure to communicate. Sigh. What can the issue be? It's not the cable, for Supercow recognized that I had attached something to her. hmmmm. Wait, I am using Firefox and the latest version. Maybe Garmin doesn't play well with Firefox and wants to play with the Big Blue E. OK, switch from Mozilla to Internet Explorer, and voila! Communication difficulty resolved.

Yippee! Now I can finish this off and get it all behind me. The software update downloads like a champ. Garmin tells me to turn off the GPS, turn it back on and follow the on-screen prompts. I do so, but no on screen prompts appear, promptly (sorry, couldn't resist). Ok, I'll assume that the software is correct and no further action was needed on my part.

Now for the third part of my little adventure. Downloading the latest and greatest map updates!
I follow the instructions and when the download begins, it tells me that there is a 2+ GB download about to happen, good luck and see you in the morning cowboy. Wow! 2 GB worth of download. I am glad I started this in the late evening when it would be the least disruptive to the house. OK, start the download and check it before going to bed and hope for the best.

Upon waking this morning, I find the the download has completed successfully and I follow the onscreen prompts to download my new maps to the GPS. Hurray, I'll soon have the latest and greatest maps! But wait, what is that screen telling me? Grrrrr. The GPS is 37 MB short of memory to download the maps. Why in heaven's name would Garmin send out a fresh map update that is larger than their base model system? This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

I suppose to finalize my quest for updated software and upgraded maps, I will be forced to check various websites for a work around. I am quite certain that I'm not the only one to suffer through this problem.

More when I have finally realized my quest for the updated GPS.