Garmin is flat out lying in its sales material. I have one, I like the unit. A lot. But Garmin no longer updates its software for free forever. You will get about 10 years of updated maps at most. TomTom still seems to provide lifetime updates for as long as the unit itself works. TomTom does not have the fine print that Garmin does and I updated the one I bought over 10 years ago until it died last summer.

I have to note that I don't get free updated maps on any other GPS I own. Certainly not in any of my cars units. Charts for my marine unit (SIMRAD Northstar) are updated annually. But they come from a third party company that takes government charts worldwide, coverts them to the right format for my unit, and charges me about $70 a year as a subscription. This gets me an updated map for part of the world each year. If I take my boat to another part of the world, I can get another SD card for a few months, and return it when I get back (or I can add to my subscription and keep it). Updating maps each year costs money. Someone has to pay for this work, The data doesn't get into that thing by itself. Garmin has probably figured this cost into their prices, and I'd bet they guess that 10 years sitting on a bike handlebar is about all it will last, on average.