C.R, bought a Navigon GPS unit a few years ago, and also paid for a service that allows him to download fresh maps every so often. When he went to install the latest map, he discovered something irritating: the memory that came with his unit wasn’t enough, and he would need to go out and buy an 8 GB microSD card to fit all of the map goodness. Is this fair?

A couple years ago I bought a Navigon 7200T (over $300!). Shortly after I purchased their “freshmaps” offering which allows me to download and install new versions of the maps. Well, after a year or so I was finally able to download the maps from them, but wasn’t able to install it because their software, well basically, sucks. Recently I decided to try again since my subscription was coming to an end soon. I was finally able to get the software installed and talking to my GPS correctly. But it still wouldn’t install the updated maps. Why? Because the update was bigger then the available space on my GPS! I contacted Navigon about this and all they could suggest to me was to purchase a micoSD card for the GPS which is at least as big as the update file. The unit came with a 2GB card.

So, to summarize, I’ve spent about $400 total on this GPS and Navigon wants me to now spend even more for a new microSD card because their update is too large for the one they included with the unit? Do they not know how much space they have available on the units they sell? This just doesn’t seem right to me. I’ve spent a ton on this thing already and they want me to spend more! They should know what space they have available and create their updates accordingly. Right?

P.S. I know an 8GB card is pretty cheap now. It’s just the principal of the matter seems wrong to me.

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