Despite the world-wide recall of all the new Bluechart BlueChart g2 and BlueChart g2 Vision chart cartridges, Garmin is reasonably confident that most of the USA and Europe (including the UK) is not affected.
Laura Tomei -- Garmin's head of European cartography -- assured me that the problem only affects areas where there is an exceptional quantity of cartographic detail, such as amongst the islands of Sweden (where the problem was first discovered) and possibly around Vancouver and Alaska. Charts are being recalled from the rest of the world "purely as a precautionary measure".
The problen is not that data is missing, though that is how it appears to users in affected areas. "It is on the cartridge" Laura explained to me "but it is just not appearing on screen.
Having isolated the problem, however, is only the first step, and she admitted to me that "we are definitely not days away from a solution."
"Maybe weeks" she said. "Possibly a few months".
The best guess at the moment seems to be the last quarter of this year.
Until then, Garmin are offering last year's July cartridges as straight swaps for anyone with a Bluechart BlueChart g2 or BlueChart g2 Vision cartridge purchased after April 2009
www8.garmin.com/bluechartrecall
