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Garmin Express not for handheld units


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The only Garmin hardware I use these days is an Oregon 550T (I don't have an automotive unit). I also own a Garmin nüMaps Lifetime North America subscription.

 

For many months, a Garmin program (whose name, unfortunately, I can't remember right now) ran in the background on my PC. Every time I restarted the PC, the program hailed the Garmin mothership and checked for map updates. A bit over a week ago when I restarted the PC, a message popped up that a program called Garmin Express was replacing the older program. OK, I thought, let's hope Garmin knows what it's doing. It led me through the process of uninstalling the old program and installing the new one.

 

After the program was installed and launched, I was notified that a map update (2013.40) was available. It asked if I wanted to download it. Sure, why not? It took the usual 45 minutes or so to download the update; when the download completed, I received an error message that no device was attached, and the update was aborted. I found this interesting, since I didn't remember seeing any message that I needed to attach the device (my 550T).

 

I found a "Reinstall" option in Garmin Express, so I tried that. I was confronted with an error message stating that "An unknown transfer error occurred. Please try again." Harrumph.

 

I tried "Reinstall" again. This time, I was notified that the update was already installed. Well, no, it wasn't, as confirmed by 2013.40 not being listed in either MapSource or BaseCamp.

 

At that point, I decided to e-mail Garmin tech support. It was late in the evening (this all went down last night), and there was no point in trying the phone call approach. I figured if they didn't get back to me by this (Friday) afternoon, I would call them.

 

I was very surprised to find a response to my e-mail waiting in my in-box about 8:15 this morning. Here's the relevant part of the response:

 

----

 

Unfortunately, Garmin Express was designed for automotive use and not for outdoor product use. Please, visit this website to download the latest version of City Navigator mapping to your Oregon 550t:

 

http://download.garm...nMapUpdater.exe

 

----

 

I'm not positive, but I think that's the program that was replaced by Garmin Express. I downloaded and installed Garmin Updater, and that did resolve the problem. The program downloaded the map update and installed it on my PC. It's now listed in both MapSource and BaseCamp.

 

Two bottom lines from this:

 

* If you're asked to "update" Garmin Updater with Garmin Express and you don't have an automotive unit, don't do it.

 

* Garmin apparently is capable, on occasion, of responding quickly to e-mail support requests.

 

--Larry

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Your sequence of events exactly mirrors mine! I also had Garmin Express appear on my computer and prompt me to update, even though my GPS is also a 550t and not one of the devices that later Internet research showed work with Express. This all led to the same error you received, and I was able to get the update by looking around and running Garmin MapUpdater.

 

The "old" application for maintenance of lifetime map updates is/was "Garmin Lifetime Updater". I'm not sure it has been working properly, though, as it has failed to provide me with updates since 2013.20.

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I was using WebUpdater for years on my Nuvi....but yeah, this Garmin Express thing, I just started using it within the last month on the Nuvi.

 

My husband does all the handheld stuff. I'll have to ask him how he updates the firmware on the handhelds. He does it on his computer.

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I was using WebUpdater for years on my Nuvi....but yeah, this Garmin Express thing, I just started using it within the last month on the Nuvi.

 

My husband does all the handheld stuff. I'll have to ask him how he updates the firmware on the handhelds. He does it on his computer.

At least for handheld units, as far as I'm aware, WebUpdater should still be used for firmware updates. Garmin Lifetime Updater is only for keeping the maps up to date on these units.

 

--Larry

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I just ran into this new program today when I updated my two Nuvi's. It was a lot quicker than the old Lifetime updater was and somewhat less of a hassle to use. The one thing I don't like about it though is that it didn't ask me if I wanted to store the maps on my HD too. I always to this with one copy so I have it available in Mapsource and BaseCamp.

 

I looked through all the options and couldn't find one that allowed me to do this. If this feature is gone, I'm gonna be unhappy.

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They are promising to fix it... It is best to keep track of these thing on Garmin's forums. One of the guys on the Express team showed up last week to answer questions...

I gave up on the Garmin forums a while back simply because the folks at Garmin weren't particularly responsive there, and we wound up just talking amongst ourselves. Maybe I need to find out what's been going on there more recently.

 

--Larry

Edited by larryc43230
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I gave up on the Garmin forums a while back simply because the folks at Garmin weren't particularly responsive there, and we wound up just talking amongst ourselves. Maybe I need to find out what's been going on there more recently.

 

--Larry

Really? It is the ONLY company I have ever seen with closed source software where the actual developers participate.

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The only Garmin hardware I use these days is an Oregon 550T (I don't have an automotive unit). I also own a Garmin nüMaps Lifetime North America subscription.

 

For many months, a Garmin program (whose name, unfortunately, I can't remember right now) ran in the background on my PC. Every time I restarted the PC, the program hailed the Garmin mothership and checked for map updates. A bit over a week ago when I restarted the PC, a message popped up that a program called Garmin Express was replacing the older program. OK, I thought, let's hope Garmin knows what it's doing. It led me through the process of uninstalling the old program and installing the new one.

 

After the program was installed and launched, I was notified that a map update (2013.40) was available. It asked if I wanted to download it. Sure, why not? It took the usual 45 minutes or so to download the update; when the download completed, I received an error message that no device was attached, and the update was aborted. I found this interesting, since I didn't remember seeing any message that I needed to attach the device (my 550T).

 

I found a "Reinstall" option in Garmin Express, so I tried that. I was confronted with an error message stating that "An unknown transfer error occurred. Please try again." Harrumph.

 

I tried "Reinstall" again. This time, I was notified that the update was already installed. Well, no, it wasn't, as confirmed by 2013.40 not being listed in either MapSource or BaseCamp.

 

At that point, I decided to e-mail Garmin tech support. It was late in the evening (this all went down last night), and there was no point in trying the phone call approach. I figured if they didn't get back to me by this (Friday) afternoon, I would call them.

 

I was very surprised to find a response to my e-mail waiting in my in-box about 8:15 this morning. Here's the relevant part of the response:

 

----

 

Unfortunately, Garmin Express was designed for automotive use and not for outdoor product use. Please, visit this website to download the latest version of City Navigator mapping to your Oregon 550t:

 

http://download.garm...nMapUpdater.exe

 

----

 

I'm not positive, but I think that's the program that was replaced by Garmin Express. I downloaded and installed Garmin Updater, and that did resolve the problem. The program downloaded the map update and installed it on my PC. It's now listed in both MapSource and BaseCamp.

 

Two bottom lines from this:

 

* If you're asked to "update" Garmin Updater with Garmin Express and you don't have an automotive unit, don't do it.

 

* Garmin apparently is capable, on occasion, of responding quickly to e-mail support requests.

 

--Larry

 

Well, here it is almost 3 months later and the same problem still exists when updating the maps on my new Oregon 650t. The website tells me to use Garmin Express but I get the same error described in this post. I even tried it on two different computers. You would think after constant phone calls they would fix Garmin Express so it works properly. I am trying the old updater now which is the same one that came on my Map DVD and it worked fine when installing the maps from the DVD. It looks like I saved myself a call to Garmin. Thanks

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Ensure you're running the latest version of Express (2.2.13). It allows for maps to be saved to your PC. Also works fine with my Etrex 20.

 

I just used it this morning, and there was nowhere that told me I could save the maps to my HD. Where is this shown?

 

 

Also, Express will in fact update your Montana. I've updated from 4.70 to 5.00 and then to 5.10 on my 600 using Express without any problems.

 

I don't know if it will work with any other handheld, but it sure works with mine.

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Also, Express will in fact update your Montana. I've updated from 4.70 to 5.00 and then to 5.10 on my 600 using Express without any problems.

 

I don't know if it will work with any other handheld, but it sure works with mine.

 

I believe you are talking about updating firmware on your handheld. The issue brought up in this thread has to do with trying to install map updates using Garmin Express on a handheld. I was not able to install an update for CN using Garmin Express but it worked fine with the older Garmin Map Updater.

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Ensure you're running the latest version of Express (2.2.13). It allows for maps to be saved to your PC. Also works fine with my Etrex 20.

 

I checked my version and it is was 2.1.13.

 

Where did you get 2.2.13? I uninstalled the version on my PC, d/led the version on Garmin's website, installed it, and it is 2.1.13. It still doesn't show me the ability to save the maps to my HD.

 

I checked the version on CNet and theirs is 2.1.13 also.

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