- Displays nearly 6 million points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, parking, entertainment, fuel and shopping
- Includes highways, interstates, and business and residential roads in metropolitan and rural areas
- Includes turn-by-turn directions, turn restrictions, roundabout guidance, speed categories
- Contains traffic data for compatible devices with traffic receivers
- Includes MapSource, Windows software that lets you plan trips on your computer and transfer waypoints, routes and tracks
Product Description
With nearly 6 million points of interest and road coverage for the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, City Navigator North America NT gives you everything you need to travel North America. Powered by NAVTEQ, a world leader in… More >>
Garmin City Navigator North America for Detailed Maps of the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico
The software is OK, but not great. Other reviews mention its limitations and shortcomings. The main problem is that the unlock process is complex and has draconian restrictions. You don’t get an unlock code with the product. Instead you get a certificate with an 8 digit code. Then submit this 8 digit code, in combination with a serial number for a GPS unit, to Garmin in order to obtain a 25 digit unlock key. Finally you enter the 25 digit unlock key. (Got all that?) Since you can’t use the maps on a PC unless you also enter the serial number for a portable device, you can’t buy this software just for PC use.
Garmin makes good products and I’ve been a longtime customer. Between work and home I own 7 of their units. But I’m losing my loyalty to them because they’re constantly nickel-and-diming us for updates and making us jump through crazy hoops. Avoid this product unless you REALLY need the updated maps (which are not truly up-to-date, as others have mentioned). Instead try finding the old MetroGuide, which was much more user friendly.
Being a software developer myself I can sympathize with Garmin’s concern for piracy. But they need to weigh that against the burden they are putting on honest users. I regret buying this product and will start looking at other vendors for my home and business GPS applications.
Rating: 2 / 5
I guess other people don’t mind being forced to register before being allowed to use a product. I don’t think even Microsoft does that. I got so frustrated trying to get the software unlocked that I felt like throwing the thing away and just taking a loss. As the other guy wrote, it’s clear when there isn’t much competition.
I found the instructions vague. All Garmin had to do was provide an unlock key with the product and ask for it to be entered, like everyone else does. Instead, they forced me to register, and hinted very strongly that I provide an email address if I wanted my unlock code. They provided an 8 digit code in order for me to apply for my 25 digit code. I couldn’t see the whole setup as anything but a process to squeeze me into registering and providing and address, email addy, and full name. I spelled my name in a way that I’ll know what junk mail comes from Garmin. So, we’ll see if they lied about selling the info or not.
If I can find a GPS unit as functional as Garmin, I’ll try them out for any future buys. I don’t like being forced to jump through hoops after a company already has my money, but won’t deliver the promised product until I do so. I guess it doesn’t bother some people to have their info constantly circulating about.
Rating: 2 / 5
I don’t normally write product reviews, but I feel like this product has been over harshly criticized. While the price is high, I think it is reasonable for what you get. I can’t get an ADC map of my county for less than $20, so a complete, routable map of the entire US (and Canada) for this price is a good deal. You’ll also get discounts on future upgrades which I don’t get with paper maps.
The installation process was fairly easy. It forced me to install an update immediately after installing, before allowing me to unlock. I had to manually find and download the update rather than the software doing that for me, but it wasn’t too bad.
The unlocking process was flawless. I had to create a myGarmin account, then plug my GPS in using the USB connection. I entered my code that came in the package when prompted and the maps were unlocked for the device. If you have the USB connection you don’t need to enter the UID of the device or anything as others have suggested.
Once the maps were unlocked for the GPSr, I selected all the regions and transfered them to a 2GB microSD card I put into my 60Csx. The transfer took about 2 hours but I was transferring about 1.1GB of maps over USB2 so it sounds about right. So in about 3 hours (15 minutes of actual work) I had the product installed, updated, unlocked, and transferred to the device.
I haven’t had much time to use the maps on the road, but the product delivers what is promised. If you aren’t comfortable with the price, you might want to avoid a GPSr all together and go for paper maps. For me, not having to buy a $20 map for every city I travel to makes it more than worth it.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is the correct, and most recent, version. I have a eTrex Legend HCx and with these maps, the GPSr is now infinetly more useful.
Installation was a snap, once I found the 8-digit coupon code (it is between the cardboard in the plastic clamshell). Just followed direction and it went right in. At the end of the installation a dialog did come up saying that there was an update, but there didn’t actually seem to be an update.
Downloading the maps to my GPSr was a breeze, once I figured out how to select the maps I wanted to install (I only wanted the West US right now).
I would give this a 5, but the price it real high. Amazon has this a lot cheaper that Garmin, but still this software is expensive.
Rating: 4 / 5
Several fundamental problems have brought me to giving this program one star.
First off, the install went smoothly but Garmin’s piracy prevention strategy really sucks *AND* blows. The worst I have ever seen in any major software product in many years. A big headache and very intrusive about demanding lots of personal information before it will let you complete the install and unlock the program. An active Internet connection is mandatory during the install process. This point alone may lead me to never buy another Garmin mapping software product. You can feed it some bogus information but do so at your own risk, since your access to customer service will be based on that personal data, which immediately gets saved on Garmin’s corporate servers. And if you don’t give them a valid email address, you can’t complete the install. Delorme is a MUCH friendlier company in all of these regards.
Anyway, I purchased this product based on the belief that it would export map files to my Obscenely expensive Garmin Rino 530 GPS+GMRS radio. I read everything I could find on the Garmin web site about which mapping programs were “compatible” with the Rino 530. I now know that there are degrees of “compatibility” that would have been nice to know about in advance! I can import/export waypoints and tracks but not maps! ARGH!!! Money wasted!!! And you don’t find this out until you have registered and unlocked the product and locked it to the electronic serial number of your GPS!!! A warning about limited compatibility would have been very nice.
Thirdly, now that I have City Navigator NT installed on my PC, I see that it is a rather pathetic, limited, error-riddled mapping program with old mapping data that is a complete joke when compared to Delorme Street Atlas USA. The difference in quality is so striking that the comparison that comes to mind is the sibling contrast in the movie “Twins.” Delorme lets you use all kinds of GPS’s with their programs without any absurd ESN locking although map export files are limited to Delorme GPS’s and PDA GPS programs. I do wish Delorme had a lot more waypoint/track/route import/export file format support.
In conclusion I wish that I had not wasted money on this program and further, I am beginning to feel the same way about my Rino 530.
Buyer beware
Rating: 1 / 5
**YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEWS ON THE HOTTEST ELECTRONICS OUT**…
#1 SITE FOR THE LATEST REVIEWS ON THE HOTTEST TECHNOLOGY HITTING THE MAINSTREAM!…
**YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEWS ON THE HOTTEST ELECTRONICS OUT**…
#1 SITE FOR THE LATEST REVIEWS ON THE HOTTEST TECHNOLOGY HITTING THE MAINSTREAM!…