Well for me this is a serious problem. According to the last person I spoke to at garmin they up date mapsource about 4 times a year and to have to keep going through a complicated procedure to keep a gps up to date isn't acceptable. Yes I understand the reason for the secondary memory, to be able to add minor additions, routes, waypoints etc., but there should be an easy way to update the primary mapping.It only needs the program to ask if you're sure that you want to proceed to overwrite the primary memory before it allows you to do it. Even if you did accidently erase the primary memory the information is:-, a/ still on your pc and b/ still on your original cd. I don't think many people would pay £1000 for a Bmw gps system if in 3 months the info on it would be out of date and not easily updated, or am I on my own in thinking this.
Silverfox, I think you need to go back to basics and start from scratch.....I suspect you're confusing yourself
Mapsource is not installed on your GPS.....Mapsource doesn't have any mapping (other than a very very basic 'base map' that pretty much only shows the main motorways, 'a' roads and so on, and which you can pretty much ignore in terms of functionality)
Mapsource is simply an interface programme that you use to load points of interest, waypoints and mapping onto your GPS with, or use on the PC to view and manage that information, create and tweak routes and so on before uploading it to the GPS .
Mapsource is, as Garmin appear to have told you, updated several times a year.....not the mapping though, these updates are to the interface, the functionality of Mapsource and you do not need to update your GPS at all....in fact, you can use the update wizard on the Garmin site to change and update Mapsource and it's dead easy and automatic.
The mapping itself tends to only be updated once every year or so and there are lots of different products, CN (City navigator) and so on....and even when they come out, they're 'out of date' as new roads spring up all the time.......short of having a new fangled GPS that has live updates as you drive (ie the mapping is held on a server elsewhere and is provided and downloaded to your GPS as you go) you will not ever get fully up to date maps.
In your case, I think you really need to understand this crucial difference between 'Mapsource' and whatever mapping product you're using....it'll put a whole new slant on you saying
According to the last person I spoke to at garmin they up date mapsource about 4 times a year and to have to keep going through a complicated procedure to keep a gps up to date isn't acceptable.
Hope that helps