I recently bought a Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS sat nav online at Amazon, but when I started using it in the car, I noticed that there were some new roads in my city that weren’t on it. This did strike me as odd, because I always assumed that the maps came down direct from the satellite, but apparently that’s not the case. The maps are pre-loaded onto the Garmin Nuvi, and the satellite just serves to help you show your position. So, given that I’d just paid out for this Nuvi GPS, and the maps were already out of date I was quite disappointed.
However, after some web searching I discovered that it is possible to download free Garmin GPS maps, which were compatible with my Garmin Nuvi 255w. It took me a little while to find the best option for me as there are loads of websites online claiming to offer free Garmin maps, but I actually soon discovered that because I was a new customer and had only owned by Nuvi 255w for a couple of weeks, I could actually get new maps for free from Garmin themselves.
To download free Garmin map updates all I had to do was visit Garmin.com and on there they have a mapping section. I chose the free map updates option which they call the nuMaps Guarantee. What this means is that Garmin will guarantee free maps on your GPS product within the first 90 days of a customer registering it and it receiving a satellite signal. I can understand why Garmin do this, because potentially a sat nav product could have been sat in a shop for maybe a year before it’s purchased – and just think how many new roads, directions, and junctions might appear in that time?
The download process of getting the free Garmin GPS maps was very simple. All I had to do was connect my PC to the Nuvi 255w using the USB cable that came with it. My PC recognised the Nuvi GPS and when I was on the Garmin website, instructions came up on screen taking me through the whole process.
I am not very good with computers at the best of times, so having an easy install process and everything about free Garmin map updates explained to me and made simple was really helpful. I have nothing but praise for Garmin – I’ve got a great GPS sat nav in my car, and have the latest maps on it. I know when I drive that I won’t be getting lost, and perhaps next year I will go back and download a new map upgrade from them.
I think after the 90 day period you have to pay a small charge for a Garmin map update, but having checked out the prices recently, the start at under fifty dollars – which to me is a great deal considering how accurate and reliable the maps are. I hope to use my Garmin Nuvi 255w for many years to come and would recommend not only the product, but also the free Garmin GPS maps that you can download for it.
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