Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Strictly Sail Show, Money and Garmin BlueChart

I just purchased my tickets to the Strictly Sail boat show in Oakland. When you order online you get to choose one of 4 free magazine subscriptions. I am looking forward to seeing the Catamarans and hopefully taking advantage of the free sail. I will be spending a lot of time at all the vendors learning what I can. I plan to go during the week in hopes of avoiding some of the crowds.

My wife just received a hefty raise and a new position that will allow her to work from home. The fuel savings alone will be around 400 a month. Additionally our 11 year old will no longer need day care as she can come home after school now. With the raise, daycare and the fuel savings we will be that much closer to achieving our dreams. I should receive my raise in June or around there as I recall.

I received the new 2008 Garmin BlueChart Update CD yesterday in the mail. I am attempting to install it on a new laptop that I have so that I can transfer the charts to my Garmin handheld GPS. Slight problem; I only have an update cd. I can’t find the original install CD. I have the version 5 update, but that too is only an update CD. I do have my 25 digit unlock code, but no installation media. Moral of the story is, don’t throw away your old cd’s.

I will have to use my old laptop to update my Garmin, however this is only a temporary workaround. I need to fix this. I will be submitting a ticket with Garmin to see if they have any advice for me. I did try just copying files from the old laptop to the new, but that didn’t work. Must be some registry entries that I am missing. Why doesn’t Garmin include the install media on the update CD’s? Makes sense to me! Don’t get me wrong, I love Garmin products, but their installation media and unlock code scheme is for the birds. I have submitted an issue to Garmin see if they can help me out.

Very interesting trick and potentially a waste of money. Garmin sent me the 2008 BlueChart Update CD but after installing it, it says that I have to unlock it and that none of my units are eligible for an update. Turns out I have to buy the unlock code so I can use the new CD. They send out a Free CD, but then you find out later you can’t use it unless you pay for it. This seems like a way to trick people into buying the software. It just might work, but not for me. At least not now. They want 75.00 to unlock the 2008 BlueChart CD. I am more likely to upgrade my GPS unit before I will pay 75.00 to upgrade the charts.

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