Garmin GPS V, new vs. used, locked, unlocked

Hi,
Following another group member's advice, I've been looking at the Garmin GPS
V for my delivery job in Marin County, California. Cheapskate that I am,
I've been on Ebay and looking at used ones. My question is: If someone used
the City Maps in another part of the country, will I be able to use it here?
Also, what does "Locked" or "Unlocked" mean?
Thanks,
Tom

Tom Joyce wrote:

Probably, as long as they include the CitySelect-NA CDs with the GPS V.
But there are some caveats.
When the GPS V first came out Garmin delivered it with the
CitySelect-NA maps on CDs that covered the US and Canada, but the user
was only allowed to pick one region to "unlock" and therefore be able
to download maps to the V. So a customer in Florida might have picked
the SE region of the country to unlock and if he later wanted to
download some California maps he'd need to pay Garmin for an additional
unlock code to let him do that.
Within about a year Garmin changed their policy and sold the GPS V (now
designated as 'Deluxe') with an unlock code that let you download any
maps on the CDs. So if you're buying a used unit make sure it was
bought with the full unlock of all regions.

Another thing to check is what version of CitySelect-NA is included.
These come out about annually every summer and the current version is
7. Version 6 should still be ok, but if it's much older than that
you'll probably find lots of missing streets and businesses due to the
age of the database.

Finally, Garmin allows you to get up to two unlock codes for their
software products so you can use them on up to two GPS receivers. One
of those would be used for the V, but the previous owner may also have
used the other for another model GPS. In that case you wouldn't be
able to get a second unlock for any other Garmin GPS you might buy in
the future.

To reduce software piracy, Garmin gives you a code with some of their
software map products. You register this code along with the
electronic serial number of the GPS with Garmin and they generate an
unlock code that lets you download the map data to your GPS. This lets
you install the software on multiple PCs, but you can only do downloads
to the specified GPS. As mentioned they let you repeat the process one
more time to get a second unlock code if you have two Garmin GPS
receivers.

Note that I've seen deals for GPS V units with factory warranty and
incl. the current CitySelect-NA maps for around $200, so don't pay too
much for a used one.