I would like to express my disappointment with Garmin and the level
of support offered by your company.

I bought a Garmin product as you were the worldwide brand leader in
consumer GPS units, and I expected I would be able to purchase maps
for use on my unit, a Streetpilot 2620,  as necessary. I bought my
unit in Canada while I was on holiday and needed a way to help me
navigate in a country I was not familiar with.

Now i'm home in the UK I find the unit is widely disliked, not
recommended by dealers, and despite the higher price compared to the
2610 it comes with no map CDs, no “free” unlock for a second Garmin
unit, and the drive (non-replaceable) is prone to failure. While I
may have been ill-advised by the dealer as to the suitability of this
unit (I needed one that worked immediately, so they had little option
other than to suggest the 2620), I feel cheated by Garmin as a company
because of the reliability issues and the lack of supporting software
compared to the functionally identical but cheaper 2610.

On to my next problem – buying maps...

According to your US office, I should be able to buy European City
Select quite easily from dealers over here (which I believe will
autoroute on my unit, although the European City Navigator product
has improved navigational abilities).

Garmin Europe have confirmed that they will not sell it seperately
to european customers unless purchased with GPS hardware.

Garmin Europe have offered to sell me European City Select on its own
as a one-off, but at a price 38% higher* than I can buy the same
software complete with a GPS18 receiver from a dealer. It seems
perverse that you value your hardware so little that customers can
buy such a bundle and throw the GPS receiver in the trash to save
money.

*I can buy a GPS18 bundle with software for £135, and was offered
the software alone from Garmin Europe for £186 – approximately US$99
more

Just to add a final twist of the knife, the week after I bought my
unit, Garmin US started to offer a $100 rebate which is not available
to buyers overseas.

All things considered, I deeply regret buying Garmin and do not feel
I could recommend your products to others, especially given your
position on the sale of map software.

Yours faithfully,

C C Wilson

Copies to: Dr Min Kao, Gary Kelley, Gary Burrell