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Garmin, either fix it or don't sell it please.Full disclosure: if I had done an online search before I bought the map, enough people have complained about this that I would have known not to buy it. Whatever.
Nothing to do with Amazon, they're selling it in good faith, but Garmin have been aware for at least two years that there is a substantial and unpredictable offset when using the Garmin Beijing map in a fully up-to-date, OEM Garmin GPS product. Would recommend against buying this product from Garmin.
People who have successfully gotten a response from Garmin, were told that this offset / problem is built into the software on the instructions of the Chinese government. Garmin do not provide a workaround, do not respond to submission of concerns or even complaints to the support address, and (of course) can't be contacted real time by telephone.
There is no explanation in the Garmin packaging that this map does not work without a offset which makes it not just useless but fairly suicidal for navigation. Garmin produces and sells the product.
A $200 lesson I have now learned :-)
Then the map seems to be off-set with the GPS by several meters. Tried using this map while travelling in China -- it was useless. First, the addresses are impossible to find. For example, while travelling in Hangzhou, while we were driving on the road, the map showed us as being inside the lake. The problem is with the map because we use Garmin device all the time at home with the North America map.
With this kind of lack of detail makes this the worst Garmin product I have seen. While tour travelling with marginal internet connections there is little hope of troubleshooting major product failures.Even if the map had worked, there was a serious lack of detailed roadways.
I had previously used my Garmin very successfully in europe. I purchased this map to use in my Garmin Nuvi 370.
If there was a fix it was not in the packaging or on the website. I purchased the map just prior to my departure for China in June of 2009.
The map was totally useless as it was significantly offset which made navagating in Shanghi, Hangzou, or any of the other 9 cities we visited unworkable. On the first day in Shanghi it was evident that the major 6 lane street that travelled in front of the Holiday Inn downtown next to the northern major railstation was not on the map.
My sons and I own many Garmin products with great success.Even corrected this is a very poor product.
Because of the language, it's very easy to get going in the wrong direction in China so I always checked the GPS to verify where we were and what direction we were heading. My wife and I almost ended up on a train to Chengdu instead of Zenshou because they sound similar. My wife and I backpacked for 29 days in China at the end of 2008. If you travel in China and you aren't fluent in the language, you'll want to take advantage of any opportunity or tool to double and triple check where you're going. My unit is 100% up to date with the software updates on the Garmin website.Be advised that the Chinese government isn't keen on foreigners carrying GPS devices but if you just don't go waiving it around everywhere like a freak, you'll probably be fine, I didn't have any issues. I also used the maps to find a place to stay in Xi'an since it has a bunch of food, hotels, etc on the maps. practically no one speaks English in China, and if they do, they are probably to shy to talk to you.
The language is so complex, they don't even understand each other sometimes. This map pack was invaluable for confirming that we were going in the right direction. and that was a misunderstanding between two Chinese people, not between me and a Chinese. The maps are less detailed in the rural areas, as would be expected. It's not so easy that you can just ask anyone for directions. The GPS is adds peace of mind.I'm not sure why the NUVIs are having such problems but these maps worked flawlessly on my 60csx handheld. As a point of reference, tourists aren't supposed to even bring tourists books with maps into China.
This map product is not only out of date on what roads and expressways exist, but there exists a shift from real location. If tracking on a long stretch of road, it can be seen clearly because the track created by the GPS unit runs off to one side by a 100 meters or more. Makes it tough to navigate in a city.
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