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REI full of win, Garmin rates a fail
I had that wonderful experience returning the GPS, then I tried to load the software I'd previously purchased.
No dice. Seems they follow the "lease not purchase" model of sales. To be fair, I think this only applies to the street maps, but still. Because I didn't actually register the previous unit Which came a surprise to me, I thought I had, when I sent its data [S/N, unit ID] to Garmin, and then unlocked the software. When I had some problem which required proving I had the license, it said, "this has been unlocked" and the "retrieve unlock codes" button worked fine.
With a new unit, not so much. They wanted me to fax, or scan, the receipt for the new one. Only I'd not kept it. REI doesn't care, and I'd registered it with Garmin, so...
We did some back and forth in e-mail (they were prompt) and I said that, as things were going, I'd probably return the software. They said that would be best. I pointed out that didn't mean swap it for a new copy, but a straight return for someone else's maps.
Then I looked into DeLorme, and discovered they have what look to be better maps (1:24,000 US, 1:50,000 Canadian, plus streets) for half the price. When I'd given them a good three hours to say, "wait, we'd like to keep you as a customer," and they made no reply, I took the disks back to REI, and REI swapped them for the Topo 9.0 (I'd link to REI, but it's not available online).
It's actually less than half the price, because I'd have to buy three, or four, sets of maps to get that same scale of maps from Garmin; for just the US. I also got a $40 credit for online maps (aerial imaagry, NOAA charts, etc.) and 30 bucks a year gets me unlimited access to downloading from those databases). So I seem to be ahead of the game, monetarily.
So, Garmin got my business, on the grounds of having a really good GPS. I was willing to spend a fair bit of money to have maps I knew would be no hassle to install. But they blew it, with a business model that made me feel like they saw me as a cash cow (or perhaps a thief).
We shall see what I think of the DeLorme, but the features, as described, look to be a lot more bang for my buck.
No dice. Seems they follow the "lease not purchase" model of sales. To be fair, I think this only applies to the street maps, but still. Because I didn't actually register the previous unit Which came a surprise to me, I thought I had, when I sent its data [S/N, unit ID] to Garmin, and then unlocked the software. When I had some problem which required proving I had the license, it said, "this has been unlocked" and the "retrieve unlock codes" button worked fine.
With a new unit, not so much. They wanted me to fax, or scan, the receipt for the new one. Only I'd not kept it. REI doesn't care, and I'd registered it with Garmin, so...
We did some back and forth in e-mail (they were prompt) and I said that, as things were going, I'd probably return the software. They said that would be best. I pointed out that didn't mean swap it for a new copy, but a straight return for someone else's maps.
Then I looked into DeLorme, and discovered they have what look to be better maps (1:24,000 US, 1:50,000 Canadian, plus streets) for half the price. When I'd given them a good three hours to say, "wait, we'd like to keep you as a customer," and they made no reply, I took the disks back to REI, and REI swapped them for the Topo 9.0 (I'd link to REI, but it's not available online).
It's actually less than half the price, because I'd have to buy three, or four, sets of maps to get that same scale of maps from Garmin; for just the US. I also got a $40 credit for online maps (aerial imaagry, NOAA charts, etc.) and 30 bucks a year gets me unlimited access to downloading from those databases). So I seem to be ahead of the game, monetarily.
So, Garmin got my business, on the grounds of having a really good GPS. I was willing to spend a fair bit of money to have maps I knew would be no hassle to install. But they blew it, with a business model that made me feel like they saw me as a cash cow (or perhaps a thief).
We shall see what I think of the DeLorme, but the features, as described, look to be a lot more bang for my buck.