Groves Cooke
Active Member
I just updated. Map version was 2020.0.
Remember that your Clarity comes with 5 years of GPS updates, here is how to update!
- Thread starter Duxa
- Start date
- Replies 38
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What year is your car? If its 2018 then yeah 2023 would be 5 years and I guess its cut off now depending on when you did your first update.
How much does it want?
It wants a lot (call me a sucker; I paid it even though I own a phone).
Perhaps knowing the price will prompt owners of younger Claritys to update their maps while the updates are still free.
I probably would pay up that $75 once after like 10 years or something, or if I actually noticed changes in the roads. We have had some major developments a few years ago, and I was literally driving what GPS thought were fields (since there were new streets laid out), luckily I was still within the 5 years so next update put in the streets there. But otherwise I wouldnt worry about updating. For an unlikely change you will need to navigate down some new street you could use as you said, the phone.
I think the main goal here is to get that very last update before the subscription expires. So that you have the latest.
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
@Duxa ,
You had previously posted an update history (which is now outdated):
https://www.insideevsforum.com/comm...pdates-here-is-how-to-update.8049/#post-90530
Where did you find that, and would it be possible to post another list that brings it up to the present?
A best I can tell, this is the 'current' version that is available:
And, based on the past history, we might expect 2 more updates this year...
One should be very soon, and the next one in the October / November time frame.
The 5-year free update period is defined by Garmin as:
specifically, will it not allow you to update at all, or will it always allow you to update to the last one you were entitled to?
You had previously posted an update history (which is now outdated):
https://www.insideevsforum.com/comm...pdates-here-is-how-to-update.8049/#post-90530
Where did you find that, and would it be possible to post another list that brings it up to the present?
A best I can tell, this is the 'current' version that is available:
- Current Map Version: 2024.10 (North America) as of February 1st, 2023
And, based on the past history, we might expect 2 more updates this year...
One should be very soon, and the next one in the October / November time frame.
The 5-year free update period is defined by Garmin as:
- Map Care Entitlement period begins approximately once the vehicle reaches 200 miles.
- Depending on age and purchase date of vehicle – the free entitlement period may have ended.
specifically, will it not allow you to update at all, or will it always allow you to update to the last one you were entitled to?
There's no last-update "entitled" concept in Garminville after 5 years. My Clarity PHEV hit 200 miles in November, 2017, so I was definitely beyond the 5-year free-update period. Last night I decided to upgrade my map software for my first long-distance trip in 4 years. After having my Clarity deposit its Garmin info on a thumb drive, plugging it into my computer, and requesting a map update from Garmin Express, my only option was to purchase the update for $75 (see my screen-capture above). The software version my Clarity displays is now 2:08.
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
That seems unfair...
I wonder if you pressed them (good luck reaching a person though) if they would allow you to do a final update to the most recent within your 5 year window?
This just emphasizes the importance of doing an update maybe a month prior to the 5th anniversary to be sure you get what you deserve !
I agree with most, that these updates are not 'worth' $75. I only kept up because they were free.
Going forward, I would only consider it on an infrequent basis (after 5 more years, if Garmin even bothers to keep producing Clarity upgrades).
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I dont think Garmin makes specific 'Clarity' updates, they are updates for the type of Garmin device built into the Clarity, many cars will have same hardware so they would be producing them for those. But generally Garmin has been pretty good, my 15 year old portable Garmin still gets map updates.
As far as frequency of updates, it seems like for Automotive sector there is now only 1 update a year, around December/January.
petteyg359
Well-Known Member
That "type of hardware" being an Android app; hardware is irrelevant beyond allowing the app to access location data.
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
The update procedure is 3 steps...
- Plug a 16G USB flash drive into the vehicle (driver's side). On the head-unit, tell it to update the maps. This will write some vehicle information to the drive.
- Install Garmin Express on a Windows PC, insert the flash drive into the PC. It will download the proper new maps onto the drive (this takes maybe 15 minutes).
- Plug the flash drive back into the vehicle, and again tell it to update the maps. It ill install the new ones. This takes maybe 15 minutes. You must leave the car ON during this process.
I coughed up the $75 to update my Clarity's Garmin maps just before leaving on my in-progress vacation in Canada. Yesterday, the maps got us around Toronto and Montreal without serious traffic jams. Unfortunately, today's experiences were not confidence-inspiring.
Today's destination hotel is in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I pushed the voice button and tried to give the address. Try after try was unsuccessful. It tried to send me to the Yukon. It tried to send me to Critter Control. On the 10th attempt it tried to send me to Fredericks of Hollywood!
Understandably, I gave up on the voice recognition. Then I discovered the system wouldn't let my wife enter the address manually while the Clarity was in motion.
We knew the hotel was on a road just off Route 2, the Trans-Canada Highway, in Fredericton, but decided to keep trying to let the nav system guide us. When we stopped for dinner in Woodstock, NB, my wife entered the address. Rather than take us back to the expressway, the nav system sent us to a narrow two-lane road that had been patched so many times it nearly knocked out a few of our dental fillings.
That tiny road was, admittedly, a shorter path to Fredericton, but the road was so bad, it would have taken much longer to get to Fredericton. After a few miles, we turned around and returned to Woodstock to get back on the Trans-Canada Highway. I left the nav system on, expecting it would figure out we were on the Trans-Canada and get with the program.
Nope. At every single exit on the 60-mile trip it tried to make us leave the Trans-Canada and get on some small road that would eventually take us to Fredericton. This continued right up to the last exit before the one marked with the street name where our hotel is located. We were certain the voice of the nav system was getting frustrated as it uttered "Recalculating!" over and over and over while we followed the Trans-Canada road signs to Fredericton.
Our MINI Electric has a nav-setting that avoids expressways. I wonder if the $75 update came with avoid-expressways as a default? I'll have to dig into the settings tomorrow and see if I can fix this thing.
Today's destination hotel is in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I pushed the voice button and tried to give the address. Try after try was unsuccessful. It tried to send me to the Yukon. It tried to send me to Critter Control. On the 10th attempt it tried to send me to Fredericks of Hollywood!
Understandably, I gave up on the voice recognition. Then I discovered the system wouldn't let my wife enter the address manually while the Clarity was in motion.
We knew the hotel was on a road just off Route 2, the Trans-Canada Highway, in Fredericton, but decided to keep trying to let the nav system guide us. When we stopped for dinner in Woodstock, NB, my wife entered the address. Rather than take us back to the expressway, the nav system sent us to a narrow two-lane road that had been patched so many times it nearly knocked out a few of our dental fillings.
That tiny road was, admittedly, a shorter path to Fredericton, but the road was so bad, it would have taken much longer to get to Fredericton. After a few miles, we turned around and returned to Woodstock to get back on the Trans-Canada Highway. I left the nav system on, expecting it would figure out we were on the Trans-Canada and get with the program.
Nope. At every single exit on the 60-mile trip it tried to make us leave the Trans-Canada and get on some small road that would eventually take us to Fredericton. This continued right up to the last exit before the one marked with the street name where our hotel is located. We were certain the voice of the nav system was getting frustrated as it uttered "Recalculating!" over and over and over while we followed the Trans-Canada road signs to Fredericton.
Our MINI Electric has a nav-setting that avoids expressways. I wonder if the $75 update came with avoid-expressways as a default? I'll have to dig into the settings tomorrow and see if I can fix this thing.
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coutinpe
Active Member
That is probably the cause. Just out of curiosity, since I had some cell coverage hiccups on the way in, I tried the (non-updated) Garmin while trying to leave Phoenix, Arizona to head back to Vegas. It routed me through every narrow street on those suburbs, carefully avoiding the 303 loop freeway, which was only a block away. I had to stop and check the settings, and found out that the last time I used that navigator, many many moons ago, it seems that for some reason I set it up to avoid freeways and then forgot about it...
And she sounds very snarky when telling you that she is "Recalculating"
Curious why you don't just use Waze for your trip?
I'm considering the Garmin as my backup, Waze will be primary.
I do use Waze near home, but after 5+ years waiting to take our first big trip in our Clarity, I wanted the Clarity to be the star.