GPSBabel supports a wide variety of Garmin hardware via serial on most operating systems and USB on Windows, Linux, and OS X. 20 character names) to exactly match. Try entering the product name or serial number again and selecting a product from the list. Too many matches. Help us find your specific model by entering the product name or serial number again and selecting a product from the list.
Note: This page describes an obsolete version of GPSBabel that may substantially differ from the current or development version.
Garmin serial/USB protocol (garmin) | ||
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Prev | Chapter 3. The Formats | Next |
This format can...
- read and write waypoints
- read and write tracks
- read and write routes
This format has the following options: snlen, snwhite, deficon, get_posn, power_off, erase_t, resettime, category, bitscategory, baud .
GPSBabel supports a wide variety of Garmin hardware via serial on most operating systems and USB on Windows, Linux, and OS X.
For serial models, be sure the GPS is set for 'Garmin mode' in setup and that nothing else (PDA hotsync programs, gpsd, getty, pppd, etc.) is using the serial port.
Supported Garmin GPS receivers with USB include
Astro | Forerunner 205 | GPSMAP 60CSx | StreetPilot 2650 |
Edge 205 | Forerunner 301 | GPSMAP 60Cx | StreetPilot 2720 |
Edge 305 | Forerunner 305 | GPSMAP 76C | StreetPilot 2730 |
eTrex Legend C | Foretrex 201 | GPSMAP 76CS | StreetPilot 2820 |
eTrex Legend Cx | Foretrex 301 | GPSMAP 76CSX | StreetPilot 7200 |
eTrex Legend H | GPS 18[1] | GPSMAP 76Cx | StreetPilot 7500 |
eTrex Legend HCx | GPSMAP 195 | GPSMAP 96 | StreetPilot c310 |
eTrex Summit Cx | GPSMAP 276C | GPSMAP 96C | StreetPilot c320 |
eTrex Summit HC | GPSMAP 295 | Quest | StreetPilot c330 |
eTrex Venture C | GPSMAP 296C | Quest II | StreetPilot c340 |
eTrex Venture Cx | GPSMAP 378 | Rhino 520 | StreetPilot i2 |
eTrex Venture HC | GPSMAP 396 | Rhino 530 | StreetPilot i3 |
eTrex Vista C | GPSMAP 478 | Rhino 520 HCx | StreetPilot i5 |
eTrex Vista Cx | GPSMAP 496 | Rhino 530 HCx | |
eTrex Vista H | GPSMAP 60C | StreetPilot 2610 | |
eTrex Vista HCx | GPSMAP 60CS | StreetPilot 2620 |
the following Bluetooth Garmin products:
GPS 10[1] |
and most serial Garmin GPS receivers including:
eMap | eTrex H | GPS 12 | Rhino 110 |
eTrex Camo | Forerunner 201 | GPS 12XL | Rhino 120 |
eTrex Legend | Foretrex 201 | GPS III | Rhino 130 |
eTrex Summit | Geko 201 | GPS III+ | StreetPilot III |
eTrex Venture | Geko 301 | GPS II | StreetPilot III+ |
eTrex Vista | GPS 12CX | GPS II+ | |
eTrex (Basic Yellow) | GPS 12Map | GPS V |
The following Garmin GPS receivers are supported, but they do notsupport Garmin communication protocol and don't work with the
garmin
option. To use these receivers, read or writeGPX files from the mass storage device as mounted on your computer.eTrex 10[2] | Nuvi 255[2] | Nuvi 770[2] | Nuvi 1690T[2] |
eTrex 20[2] | Nuvi 250W[2] | Nuvi 775T[2] | Nuvi 3750[2] |
eTrex 30[2] | Nuvi 255W[2] | Nuvi 780[2] | Nuvi 3760T[2] |
Colorado 300[2] | Nuvi 260[2] | Nuvi 785T[2] | Nuvi 3790T[2] |
Colorado 400c[2] | Nuvi 265T[2] | Nuvi 880[2] | Oregon 200[2] |
Colorado 400i[2] | Nuvi 265WT[2] | Nuvi 885T[2] | Oregon 300[2] |
Colorado 400t[2] | Nuvi 260W[2] | Nuvi 1200[2] | Oregon 400c[2] |
Dakota 10[2] | Nuvi 270[2] | Nuvi 1250[2] | Oregon 400i[2] |
Dakota 20[2] | Nuvi 275T[2] | Nuvi 1260T[2] | Oregon 400t[2] |
GPSMap 62[2] | Nuvi 300[2] | Nuvi 1300[2] | Oregon 450[2] |
GPSMap 62sc[2] | Nuvi 310[2] | Nuvi 1350[2] | Oregon 450t[2] |
GPSMap 62stc[2] | Nuvi 350[2] | Nuvi 1370T[2] | Oregon 550[2] |
GPSMap 78[2] | Nuvi 370[2] | Nuvi 1390T[2] | Oregon 550t[2] |
GPSMap 78s[2] | Nuvi 465T[2] | Nuvi 1350[2] | StreetPilot c510[2] |
GPSMap 78sc[2] | Nuvi 500[2] | Nuvi 1490T[2] | StreetPilot c530[2] |
Montana 600[2] | Nuvi 550[2] | Nuvi 2250[2] | StreetPilot c550[2] |
Montana 650[2] | Nuvi 600[2] | Nuvi 2250LT[2] | StreetPilot c580[2] |
Montana 650t[2] | Nuvi 650[2] | Nuvi 2350[2] | Road Tech Zumo[2] |
Nuvi 30[2] | Nuvi 650FM[2] | Nuvi 2350LT[2] | Zumo 220[2] |
Nuvi 40[2] | Nuvi 660[2] | Nuvi 2360LT[2] | Zumo 450[2] |
Nuvi 50[2] | Nuvi 670[2] | Nuvi 2405[2] | Zumo 500[2] |
Nuvi 200[2] | Nuvi 680[2] | Nuvi 2450[2] | Zumo 550[2] |
Nuvi 205[2] | Nuvi 750[2] | Nuvi 2450LM[2] | Zumo 660[2] |
Nuvi 200W[2] | Nuvi 755T[2] | Nuvi 2450LT[2] | Zumo 665[2] |
Nuvi 205W[2] | Nuvi 760[2] | Nuvi 2450LMT[2] | Surely any Garmin product that Garmin actually sensibly designed after 2006 or so.[2] |
Nuvi 250[2] | Nuvi 765T[2] | Nuvi 2505[2] |
None of the GPSBabel developers has access to every model on that list, but we've received reports of success and/or have reasonable expectations that the above models work. If you succeed with a model that is not on that list, please send a message to the gpsbabel-misc mailing list with the details so that we may add it.
Not every feature on every model is supported. For example, while we do extract data such as heart rate and temperature from tracks on the sporting models like Edge and Forerunner, GPSBabel is not a fitness program at its core and does not support features like workouts or calorie/fitness zone data. Furthermore, sporting models don't support track upload. When trying to upload tracks to these devices, GPSBabel converts them to courses on the fly and uploads these instead. When uploading waypoints at the same time, these are converted to course points by mapping them to the nearest track point on the track/course (no matter how far away from the track they are). Since course point creation requires time stamps for the track points, they are created automatically assuming a speed of 10 km/h for tracks that lack them.
To communicate with a Garmin GPS serially, use the name of that serial port such as
COM1
or /dev/cu.serial
. To communicate via USB use
usb:
as the filename on all OSes. Thus, to read the waypoints from a Garmin USB receiver and write them to a GPX file:gpsbabel -i garmin -f usb: -o gpx -F blah.gpx
If you have multiple units attached via USB, you may provide a unit number, with zero being the implied default. So if you have three USB models on your system, they can be addressed as
usb:0
, usb:1
, and usb:2
. To get a list of recognized devices, specify a negative number such as:gpsbabel -i garmin -f usb:-1
When reporting problems with the Garmin format, be sure to includethe full unit model, firmware version, and be prepared to offerdebugging dumps by adding
-D9
to the command line, like: gpsbabel -D9 -i garmin -f usb: -o gpx -F blah.gpx
Custom icons are supported on units that support that.Neither GPSBabel nor your firmware know what is associated with anygiven slot number. They don't know that the picture you placed in thefirst slot is a happy face, they only know they're in the lowestnumbered slot. GPSBabel names the them consistently with Mapsource,so they are named 'Custom 0' through 'Custom 511'.
For models where the connection on the GPS is a serial interface, be sure the GPS is set for 'Garmin mode' in setup and that nothing else (PDA hotsync programs, gpsd, getty, pppd, etc.) is using the serial port.
For models connected via USB, we recommend use of the
usb:
filename. For this to work on Windows, you must install the Garmin driver. For Linux, this will fail if you have the garmin_gps kernel module loaded. See the Operating System Notes for details.This module also supports realtime tracking which allows realtime position reports from a Garmin GPS receiver over USBor serial.
Important
The following Garmin units do not follow the standard Garmin communications protocol and are not supported by GPSBabel.
Marine plotters:
GPSMap 420 | GPSMap 450 | GPSMap 530 | GPSMap 545 |
GPSMap 430 | GPSMap 520 | GPSMap 535 | GPSMap 550 |
GPSMap 440 | GPSMap 525 | GPSMap 540 | GPSMap 555 |
The PDA products
iQue 3000 |
iQue 3200 |
iQue 3600 |
iQue M3 |
iQue M4 |
iQue M5 |
Length of generated shortnames.
This option overrides the internal logic to figure out how manycharacters an addressed Garmin GPS will support when using the '-s' smartnameoption. This should be necessary only if you have a receiver type thatGPSBabel doesn't know about or if you want to 'dumb down' one unit to matchanother, such as wanting waypoint names in a StreetPilot 2720 (which supports20 character names) to exactly match those in a 60CS (which supports 10).
Allow whitespace synth. shortnames.
This options controls whether spaces are allowed in generated smart names when using the '-s' option.
Default icon name.
This option specifies the icon or waypoint type to write for each waypoint onoutput.
If this option is specified, its value will be used for all waypoints, notjust those that do not already have descriptions. That is, this optionoverrides any icon description that might be in the input file.
Value specified may be a number from the Garmin Protocol Spec or a nameas described in the Appendix B, Garmin Icons.
This option has no effect on input.
Return current position as a waypoint.
This options gets the current longitude and latitude from the attached GPS deviceand returns it as a single waypoint for further processing. For example,to return the current position from a USB Garmin to a KML file:
gpsbabel -i garmin,get_posn -f usb: -o kml -F myposition.kml
Command unit to power itself down.
This command forces an immediate powerdown of the addressed Garminreceiver. It is ignored on hardware that does not support this command.Obviously, further processing once you have sent a 'power off' command toa unit that supports it is rather futile, so place this option carefullyin your command.
gpsbabel -o garmin,power_off -F /dev/ttyS0
Erase existing courses when writing new ones.
By default, GPSBabel makes effort in order to keep courses already present onthe device, if any. This option allow to replace courses already present. Ifyou don't mind to keep old courses, this option is recommended because itallows a faster transfer.
This option applies only to Garmin devices that support courses such as the Edge 305 or the Forerunner 305.
Sync GPS time to computer time.
This option is experimental and was added to solve a very specific problem. Certain Garmin units (the original black and white Vista is known to have this) will sometimes scramble their clock crazy far into the future (like 2066). When this happens, the GPS itself may or may not work and later conversations with GPSBabel may fail as the time overflows the documented range. The use of
resettime
brings the GPS's internal clock back close enough to reality that the GPS itself can then 'fix' it when it has next a lock. Category number to use for written waypoints.
This numeric option will force waypoints to be written with thatcategory number when sending to a Garmin receiver that has categorysupport. It is ignored on receivers without that capability.
Bitmap of categories.
This option is closely related to the 'category' option. While category allows you to choose a single category that waypoints should appear in, this options allows you to specify a bitmask to be used for the category. Options may be specified in either decimal or hex.
Example 3.11. Example for garmin bitcategory option to put all waypoints in categories 1 and 16.
The following two commands are equivalent. They place a the point in both the first and last of the sixteen available categories.
gpsbabel -i gpx -f PocketQuery.gpx -o garmin,bitcategory=32769 -F usb:
gpsbabel -i gpx -f PocketQuery.gpx -o garmin,bitcategory=0x8001 -F usb:
Speed in bits per second of serial port (baud=9600).
Sets baud rate on some Garmin serial unit to the specified baud rate. Garmin protocol uses 9600 bps by default, but there is a rarely documented feature in Garmin binary protocol for switching baud rate. Highest option is 115200.
Download track log and waypoints 12 times faster than default:
gpsbabel -t -w -i garmin,baud=115200 -f /dev/ttyUSB0 -o gpx -F garmin-serial.gpx
At the end of the transfer, baud rate is switched to back to the default of 9600. If connection breaks, the unit stucks at high baud rate, a power cycle reverts to original state.
This option does not affect USB transfer.
Because this feature uses undocumented Garmin protocols, it may or maynot work on your device. The author reported success with eTrex Vista, GPSMAP 76s, and GPS V, but it seems likely to be problematicon older units and may be more problematic for writing to the device thanreading data from the device.
[1] This model does not support transfer of waypoints, tracks, or routes, but may be used with the realtime tracking feature.
[2] This unit uses GPX format, not Garmin protocol. Therefore one should communicate with it by reading and writing GPX files instead of using this format. Members of this class of products do not support realtime positioning protocol.
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(this page created 5/27/08) | Enter your 25-code, which Garmin won't give you! |
Garmin's Unlocking Maps is Difficult (and that's an understatement)
Garmin maps has the WORST unlock code license key experience of any product EVER in the history of time. Garmin's UI designers and programmers are clearly incompetent and should be fired immediately and then sued for fraudulently presenting themselves as professionals capable of building a product. This web page documents how very bad their GUI is, and documents the nooks and crannies of the license key process.
My main issue is that I can't even understand the METAPHOR the Garmin map unlocker is shooting for. The CD Package and my GPS provide me with 7 numbers of varying lengths and NONE of them is the number it wants. Not only that, but to get the number it wants, I have to create an online account with Garmin (16 more fields to fill out) and then I'm not allowed to use that online account to license the GPS! It's like the designers of this UI flow (Garmin engineers) have never built an installer before. No, wait, scratch that - it is as if the Garmin UI designers have NEVER USED ANY INSTALLER BEFORE! It's that profoundly bad. Really. See the screen shots below.
Oh yeah, if you think I'm alone in this opinion, check out these links:
http://www.mischel.com/diary/2006/06/29.htm - Jim's Random Notes with the quote 'Garmin's... attitude towards customers is insulting.'
http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/000664.html - 'Stupid Garmin MapSource Installation' by Jeremy Zawodny
http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.geo.satellite-nav/2006-05/msg00041.html - 'More MapSource unlock madness...' in a discussion group
http://www.buzzillions.com/dz_504884_garmin_mapsource_24k_topo_national_parks_reviews - 'Bad Experience so far.... The instruction manual says in the box there will be either a 25 digit 'unlock code' or a trifolded paper with an 8 digit 'coupon' code. My box didn't contain either one.'
http://www.mininova.org/com/1097618 - large discussion trying to figure out how to use the Garmin unlock manager. The FUNNIEST comment is suggestions on how to use illegal software keygen crackers to get the Garmin maps to work -> BECAUSE IT IS EASIER than using Garmin's installer!!! Garmin, are you awake? Does this bother you?
http://www.gpsdiscussion.com/garmin-gps/2563-unlocking-maps.html - More discussions around how hard it is to unlock Garmin maps and how bad Garmin support is.
http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/000664.html - 'Stupid Garmin MapSource Installation' by Jeremy Zawodny
http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.geo.satellite-nav/2006-05/msg00041.html - 'More MapSource unlock madness...' in a discussion group
http://www.buzzillions.com/dz_504884_garmin_mapsource_24k_topo_national_parks_reviews - 'Bad Experience so far.... The instruction manual says in the box there will be either a 25 digit 'unlock code' or a trifolded paper with an 8 digit 'coupon' code. My box didn't contain either one.'
http://www.mininova.org/com/1097618 - large discussion trying to figure out how to use the Garmin unlock manager. The FUNNIEST comment is suggestions on how to use illegal software keygen crackers to get the Garmin maps to work -> BECAUSE IT IS EASIER than using Garmin's installer!!! Garmin, are you awake? Does this bother you?
http://www.gpsdiscussion.com/garmin-gps/2563-unlocking-maps.html - More discussions around how hard it is to unlock Garmin maps and how bad Garmin support is.
What Am I Doing?
I'm travelling to Australia, so I'd like to load my Garmin Rino 530 GPS with detailed street maps. So I went to Amazon.com and bought the 'City Navigator Australia 2008', and I want to do is load it into my Garmin GPS.
Who is Brian, and why is he qualified to configure GPS units?
First of all, it shouldn't take a computer expert to load a map into a GPS. That being said, I know a lot about computers. I have a Masters degree from Stanford in Computer Science, and I've been a full time software engineer for the past 20 years, working up to my armpits in technology every day. I've formed several startup companies including my current one that is anetwork based online backup company called Backblaze. I personally have written several installers, including the completely custom one for my current product. I also like GPS units, I own 5 GPS units, each for a different task. I've motorcycled through Europe, through Canada, and all over the USA using GPS to guide me. Now it's time for Australia, so let's get to it....
Hey Garmin, WHICH NUMBER SHOULD I USE?
I bought 'Garmin MapSource City Navigator 2008 map' from Amazon.com and want to unlock it. Here are the numbers I found on the package (slightly modified so you can't use them):
Back CENTER of CD Jewel Case: A271000296 (Promising! 10-digit, In a big white square highlighting it as my City Navigator Australia important!)
Back of CD Jewel Case: 007-00157-04 (small, in the lower left corner of the case)
Back of CD Jewel Case: 171-00075-04 (small, in the lower right corner of the case)
Front of CD Jewel Case: 007-00336-04 (small, in the lower left corner of the front case)
Front of CD Jewel Case: 171-00149-04 (small, in the lower right corner of the front case)
INTERESTING: L2XPVZ7A -> (8 character code) This sounds very
plausible, and was hidden between two layers of cardboard in the shrink wrap!!
Not near the jewel case! I missed it for much of the time I tried other things, then went
back looking and found it! Unfortunately there is no location in the Garmin installer to enter it,
or is there?!
AND THE MAGIC GPS SERIAL NUMBER: 29415006 - not having to do with the maps, but hidden under
the battery inside my GPS to uniquely identify my GPS. This was important!
Back of CD Jewel Case: 007-00157-04 (small, in the lower left corner of the case)
Back of CD Jewel Case: 171-00075-04 (small, in the lower right corner of the case)
Front of CD Jewel Case: 007-00336-04 (small, in the lower left corner of the front case)
Front of CD Jewel Case: 171-00149-04 (small, in the lower right corner of the front case)
INTERESTING: L2XPVZ7A -> (8 character code) This sounds very
plausible, and was hidden between two layers of cardboard in the shrink wrap!!
Not near the jewel case! I missed it for much of the time I tried other things, then went
back looking and found it! Unfortunately there is no location in the Garmin installer to enter it,
or is there?!
AND THE MAGIC GPS SERIAL NUMBER: 29415006 - not having to do with the maps, but hidden under
the battery inside my GPS to uniquely identify my GPS. This was important!
Attempt #1: Clearly I do not have a '25 Char Code':
Read the screens below from left to right (use your horizontal scroll bar on your browser). They document my first attempt. Clearly I DO NOT HAVE a 25 character code, so choose the bottom Garmin unlock option 'No, I need to get a 25-character unlock code'.
What is strange about the screen below is that I have an 8 character code, this was one of the clear choices on the PREVIOUS screen, but now we are going in a new direction to go online with Garmin. Ok, fine, I can live with that. Just get it done Garmin! | Ok, the screen below cracks me up. So I don't know my Garmin 25 character code, so now they are asking me to login to my 'my garmin' account with a username and password. Formerly I needed one code, now I need 2 more codes (username, password) to get the 3rd code (25 character code). But I'm holding an 8 char code THEY DO NOT WANT anymore even though it was one of the choices!! | I hate Garmin. Utter failure. Again, I bought this product retail for about $100 from Amazon, I have an 8 char code, but Garmin won't accept anything I have, they wanted a login to their site, which I supplied, THEN THEY FAILED ME. They led me down this rat-hole and they failed me. | Yes, after logging into my 'online Garmin account' like the software asked me to, it says 'no coupon for you'! Garmin Rat Bastards! The Garmin website now knows who I am, I've successfully logged in, and I've been through this before several times in the past, but Garmin STILL can't get their online 'my garmin' accounts to work. So WHY do they push people to sign up to it? At this point I've provided several usernames and passwords and paid honestly for the product, I've got an idea for you Garmin-> LET ME USE THIS PRODUCT!! Garmin must hate their customers to put them through this kind of hell. |
Attempt #2: Maybe I do have a '25 Char Code'? Or maybe '25 chars' is approximate?
Ok, so if the above path failed, I'll try anything! Let's pretend I do have a '25 char code', I'll try all my codes above...
My 'Garmin MapSource City Navigator 2008 map' came with lots of numbers (see above), but no 25 digit ones. But I thought maybe the installer was out of date (it CLEARLY is totally UI broken) and maybe one of my 10 digit or 8 digit numbers will work. So I select this option below and give a bunch of them a try. | After typing every number I could find, it would not accept any of them. But that makes some sense, none of the numbers were 25 digits long. Let's keep cranking on this, we can defeat this Garmin installer and get our map out! |
Attempt #3: Maybe I do have a '25 Char Code', but it's hidden away in my GPS?
I noticed another path through the installer worth trying, maybe my GPS has the code hidden inside it?
Maybe my Garmin GPS telepathically picked up my license key when I bought the Australian map? Let's let the installer connect to my GPS, maybe it can figure it all out. | After connecting my Rino 530 GPS and letting the Garmin unlock software sniff for a minute, it popped up a dialog saying this device was not valid or did not have a key! My Rino has $900 worth of already licensed maps running in it, downloaded from this same computer, using the same software. And remember, I'm connected the internet and have logged into the Garmin online account with my information. What more could Garmin want? Garmin installation and unlock software just fails at every turn! Who tests this software at the Garmin headquarters? When it is so horribly broken yet they ship it out anyway?! Somebody needs to be fired. |
Attempt #4: Call Garmin Technical Support
Ok, at this point I gave up and called the 1-800 number the installer suggested 'if I'm having problems'. Problems? You bet I'm having problems. So next I navigated a phone tree at Garmin, and the Garmin message said 'Call back during regular business hours M-F 9-4, we laugh at you!' and then they hung up. Ok, I added the part about 'we laugh at you', but it feels like it. I'm getting pretty frustrated at this point. I have a job M-F 9-4, I'm installing this software I got in my SPARE TIME which is at 7pm on a Tuesday.
Attempt #5: Success against the *WORST* *INSTALLER* *EVER* by Garmin.
So I've got nothing to lose, might as well look around through the crazy Garmin hard to use installer for other options. And wow, I found a working path!! Here is the successful path through this terrible Garmin unlock wizard: an astounding 9 steps through Garmin crazy land:
Wandering along through crazy land... | Again, I've seen this screen before, it looks like the wrong path. To enter my license key, Garmin wants me to login to their website. So I log in to make them happy..... | Now I've gone down the more sane (less insane?) path before, so now I'm going to try every last other option!! Look below, I'm actually claiming I've never been a Garmin customer before, even though I have had a 'My Garmin' account for several years and this particular GPS has 5 other Garmin maps installed and loaded into it and legally licensed: 'WorldMap', 'MetroGuide USA 5', 'City Navigator Europe v8', 'US Topo West', 'US Topo East'. But hey, I'll try anything to get past the *WORST* *LICENSING* *MODEL* *EVER* from Garmin GPS!!! | This next screen proves Garmin engineers have had a psychotic break but were still allowed to continue on working at Garmin. EVEN THOUGH I'm logged into an account at Garmin, they want me to re-enter in all my info-> and they want me to claim I'm new and have never used Garmin products before. I've tried everything, and THIS INSTALLER NEVER ENDS, it just goes on and on for no apparent reason. Garmin, you SUCK! | Wait, what is this? After entering in 22 fields of information, plus my user login to 'my garmin', plus a rejected phone call to Garmin technical support, they are asking for something new, something amazing, something called the 'External Serial Number' of the Unit. Hey, it's psycho user interface world built by Garmin. I have found the crappiest user interface on the planet, now I'm actually getting curious on what happens next. | Ok, after trying several things, I found my Garmin Rino's serial number UNDER THE BATTERY COVER. Yes, I removed the battery, and there it was. The correct number of digits. We're not done yet, because Garmin is a hateful, evil company, but I'm getting excited, this seems promising! I enter my Garmin Rino's 'hidden under the battery' serial number in the space below: | Oh my goodness it keeps on going! Below I am prompted to enter YET ANOTHER 8 digit code (not to be confused with the previous 4 codes?) But this one was a breakthrough -> it *FINALLY* allowed me to enter the Garmin 8 digit code FROM THE GARMIN SHRINK WRAP MAP SOFTWARE I BOUGHT. This comes hidden in the cardboard in the shrink wrap packaging of the Australian CD. Not in the CD Jewelcase. Not taped to the CD. Not printed on the front of the CD. But hidden in between this non-obvious brick of card board. But hey, I found it, and I entered it, and.... AND...... | I have successfully defeated Garmin's licensing scheme! Or got through the labyrinth. And so, my dear readers, I leave you with this conclusion -> Garmin makes good GPS unit hardware, but their Map Unlocking wins the award of being the hardest to use licensing system I've ever seen in my whole professional career of being a software engineer. Garmin -> you are terrible at installers! I'm serious, and I don't mean that in a small way. |
That was hard. In a way that it shouldn't have been. I'm a networking and computer professional and IT WAS HARD to figure out, what does the average non-technical customer do?! I'm ready to abandon Garmin in favor of easy to use products. Garmin needs to be punished for that kind of horrid user experience.
Post-Mortem: Garmin Support gets back to me after 9 DAYS!
On 6/4/08 I got the following email from Garmin Tech support, an amazingly slow response for my rejected support request from earlier:
------------ START EMAIL --------------
Date: 6/4/08
Thank you, Brian Wilson, for registering your Garmin product. Please check the information below to ensure it is correct. This is your registration confirmation. To make corrections, please send an e-mail to [email protected]. If everything is correct, you do not need to reply..
Name: Brian Wilson
Address: PALO ALTO CA
Product Name: Rino® 530
Serial Number: 29415006
------------------ END EMAIL ------------------
Name: Brian Wilson
Address: PALO ALTO CA
Product Name: Rino® 530
Serial Number: 29415006
------------------ END EMAIL ------------------
So really Garmin NEVER RESPONDED to my pleas for technical help! Their incredibly slow automated system sent me a welcome email after 9 days, with information that would not have helped me navigate the installer! Garmin sucks so hard they blow.
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