Comments on: Garmin wants $70 for a… map!?

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:33:06 +0000

I just picked up a $150 tomtom this past weekend. They do one free update within 30 days of purchase so that you have the newest maps. After that it is $99 for North America and Canada maps. At that price I figure a year from now I’ll just pickup the upgraded cheap-o model that includes free maps and sell the outdated one I just bought on eBay.

You can still get good value for a GPS on eBay. I sold a 5 year old Garmin (old school) for $75 last week to put toward the purchase of the $150 tomtom.

By: Ed Kohler

Ed Kohler — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:40:36 +0000

They have to figure out how to make updates close to real-time rather than holding back changes until they have enough to justify $70. A subscription service makes so much more sense.

By: sparky42

sparky42 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:41:04 +0000

Garmin offers one free map update with the nuvi line. Just call them. Complain in a year.

By: Jeremy Toeman

Jeremy Toeman — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:19:42 +0000

Good observation. I guess the way I look at it is that $70 could either go to update my Nuvi, or be 1/3 the price of a new device, which MIGHT NOT be a Nuvi… In subscribing to the “open is beating closed” theory, the argument would be Garmin should find a way to encourage usage of new maps, as opposed to what feels like price-gouging to me…

By: tivoboy

tivoboy — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:57:27 +0000

Howdy!

Wow, I hadn’t noticed they had LOWERED it to 69$, from 99$ or 119$ which is where it was a few years ago. I know Garmin is hurtin (stock down about, oh, 70% this year alone) but maybe they need some cash flow.

that said, FMV and RMV (a tivoboy term) are differant. I think that FAIR MARKET VALUE is reasonably 69$, at least. You’re right, there is a royalty and data fees to NVT, but there is also configuration, integration, software dev, distribution, marketing, etc. You know this as well as anyone. RMV, RELATIVE MARKET VALUE is much lower, since there are alternatives in the marketplace. But, there is NO alternative for THIS SOLUTION (okay, you could hack it and load some alternative OS or warez data) so the FMV value is the only one you can use. Granted, I think one of the clear reasons to keep the price stable for the SW/DATA updates is to drive business to NEW PURCHASES. Which, in this case might seem to be working.