(If that's possible)

I install the Blue Charts. It asks for the serial number of my GPS which it
says is either on the bottom of the unit or the box.

No number on the bottom of the unit. No number on the box.

Over on the right are instructions for displaying the unit ID. No choice
for GPSmap76cx but a line listing all the other 76 units. I select that.
It says, "Click Menu twice then System Info".

I do that. There is no System Info choice. I look in setup and a bunch of
other menus and places. There is no System Info anywhere.

I open up the case. There is a sticker in the battery compartment with the
right number of digits. Its the only number anywhere in the packaging or on
the unit that is the right length and isn't molded into the case. I get my
unlock code.

The web page and email that send me my unlock code list the GPS as "unknown"
and with a different serial number! I load some charts on a data card and
stick it in the GPS.

When I turn the GPS on, I get a message saying it can't unlock the charts.
Sure enough, there's nothing there except the base map.

I look back at the email with the unlock code. It says, "If you are having
trouble, contact us here." I click.

It says, "WEB PAGE UNAVAILABLE!"

I've seen all the warnings that there are no refunds for unlock codes.
Wadda you bet that, after spending an hour waiting on the support phone line
tomorrow, they tell me I'll just have to purchase another unlock code?

Now that I've spent all this money, is managing this thing going to be the
never ending nightmare of frustration that Micro$oft has beaten us into
accepting as the human condition?

--
Roger Long

I got it.

I registered the GPS which I hadn't done the first time. The information on
finding the serial number in that site section is more complete but still
wrong. It says it is on the back but it is inside and is the sticker I
first used. I also appeares on a very small sticker on the top (not the
bottom) of the box that doesn't look like the sticker they show a picture of
on the web site.

Anyway, I went through the routine of unlocking for a second GPS (you are
allowed two) and it worked. I have my GPS working but now I have to call
Garmin and find out whether they think I have two units and see if I can
pursuade them to delete the first, ghost, unit so I can load the charts on
the backup GPS I have yet to buy.

--
Roger Long

Roger ,, my Lowrance H20 C GPS is sitting on the desk. No unlock code.

All I do is turn it on, insert the little card with the navigation charts ..
and these charts cover everywhere on the east coast, west coat, everywhere.

The reason I went with Lowrance was the unlock code setup from Garmin..

A sailor on the newsgroup recommended the Lowrance to me.

I bought mind from Tiger GPS.. and internet store.. total was under $300.

If you are really upset with Garmin bring the GPS back and go Lowrance.

===
"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
I got it.

I registered the GPS which I hadn't done the first time. The information
on finding the serial number in that site section is more complete but
still wrong. It says it is on the back but it is inside and is the
sticker I first used. I also appeares on a very small sticker on the top
(not the bottom) of the box that doesn't look like the sticker they show a
picture of on the web site.

Anyway, I went through the routine of unlocking for a second GPS (you are
allowed two) and it worked. I have my GPS working but now I have to call
Garmin and find out whether they think I have two units and see if I can
pursuade them to delete the first, ghost, unit so I can load the charts on
the backup GPS I have yet to buy.

--
Roger Long

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:21:23 GMT, "NE Sailboat"
wrote:

If you are really upset with Garmin bring the GPS back and go Lowrance.

Good advice in my opinion. I helped a neighbor set up his Blue Charts
and felt the same level of frustration. CMAP and Navionics chips can
be plugged into any compatible GPS unit, or read on your PC with a USB
adapter. The new NT Max chips are quite nice.

Well, that's the price of inertia. I was given a Garmin with Blue Charts to
use as Harbormaster and became familiar with it and built a nice mount for
it on the steering pedestal. As a result, I didn't do the kind of
comparison shopping and research I would normally do when I decided to get
my own. The unlock codes are non-refundable so I'm in too deep now and I've
been using if for road naviagation since Christmas so taking it back isn't
an option.

I've got it figured out now so it will work for me but, even without having
seen a Lowrance directly, I'd urge anyone to look very carefully before
leaping into the "blue".

--
Roger Long

I feel a little better. My adventure into Garmin world left me with two GPS
units registered. One was a ghost with a unit ID matching the serial number
of the real one and a serial number that came from God knows where. Since
you can only get the charts to unlock with two units, this meant that I
wouldn't be able to load them into a back up GPS when I purchase one.

I wrote and email to technical support asking them to please kill the ghost
GPS. Immediately after, I went back to the Garmin site and my account to
look around some more. The ghost GPS had already disappeared! It clearly
wasn't a case of the fastest technical support response on the plant becaust
it was less than a minute since hitting the sent button. The Garmin system
must have automatically checked, figured out that something was bogus, and
killed the record.

Cool.

(I'd still buy something else though)

--
Roger Long

On Apr 22, 8:21 pm, "NE Sailboat" wrote:
Roger ,, my Lowrance H20 C GPS is sitting on the desk. No unlock code.

All I do is turn it on, insert the little card with the navigation charts ..
and these charts cover everywhere on the east coast, west coat, everywhere.

The reason I went with Lowrance was the unlock code setup from Garmin..

A sailor on the newsgroup recommended the Lowrance to me.

I bought mind from Tiger GPS.. and internet store.. total was under $300.

If you are really upset with Garmin bring the GPS back and go Lowrance.

==="Roger Long" wrote in message

...



I got it.

I registered the GPS which I hadn't done the first time. The information
on finding the serial number in that site section is more complete but
still wrong. It says it is on the back but it is inside and is the
sticker I first used. I also appeares on a very small sticker on the top
(not the bottom) of the box that doesn't look like the sticker they show a
picture of on the web site.

Anyway, I went through the routine of unlocking for a second GPS (you are
allowed two) and it worked. I have my GPS working but now I have to call
Garmin and find out whether they think I have two units and see if I can
pursuade them to delete the first, ghost, unit so I can load the charts on
the backup GPS I have yet to buy.

--
Roger Long- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have the same Lowrance and like it very much for the same reason -
the simplicity of just snapping the memory chip in for the maps, not
only no unlock codes, no cd's and no computer.

richforman

"Roger Long" wrote in
:

I've seen all the warnings that there are no refunds for unlock codes.
Wadda you bet that, after spending an hour waiting on the support
phone line tomorrow, they tell me I'll just have to purchase another
unlock code?

Now that I've spent all this money, is managing this thing going to be
the never ending nightmare of frustration that Micro$oft has beaten us
into accepting as the human condition?

--
Roger Long



In your position, Roger, I would not HESITATE to ask them if they'd seen
you on the Titanic programs and use that position to get your GPS
unlocked....subito!

If I were a marine electronics manufacturer and a marine architect,
especially one involved with finding the truth of Titanic, called to
complain about his little handheld GPS...knowing the people he even may
know in the marine community, I would be sending out a NEW GPS already
programmed with the MASTER unlock code to ALL the charts so this person
could use it while he is at sea on the next TV voyage.

To do otherwise would be just SUICIDE, not to mention really STUPID!

Larry
--

"Larry" wrote in message
...

In your position, Roger, I would not HESITATE to ask them if they'd seen
you on the Titanic programs and use that position to get your GPS
unlocked....subito!

If I were a marine electronics manufacturer and a marine architect,
especially one involved with finding the truth of Titanic, called to
complain about his little handheld GPS...knowing the people he even may
know in the marine community, I would be sending out a NEW GPS already
programmed with the MASTER unlock code to ALL the charts so this person
could use it while he is at sea on the next TV voyage.

To do otherwise would be just SUICIDE, not to mention really STUPID!

Larry
--

Yeah but....then they would expect him to hold up that Garmin GPS every
close shot Roger was in and give a blurp about how he couldn't have done
anything without his trusty tool.

"Don White" wrote in message
...

"Larry" wrote in message
...

In your position, Roger, I would not HESITATE to ask them if they'd seen
you on the Titanic programs and use that position to get your GPS
unlocked....subito!

If I were a marine electronics manufacturer and a marine architect,
especially one involved with finding the truth of Titanic, called to
complain about his little handheld GPS...knowing the people he even may
know in the marine community, I would be sending out a NEW GPS already
programmed with the MASTER unlock code to ALL the charts so this person
could use it while he is at sea on the next TV voyage.

To do otherwise would be just SUICIDE, not to mention really STUPID!

Larry
--

Yeah but....then they would expect him to hold up that Garmin GPS every
close shot Roger was in and give a blurp about how he couldn't have done
anything without his trusty tool.


Heheheh -- He said "trusty tool."