I expect that Garmin will stop issuing software updates at some point, but that you'll still be able to use your 500 without any issues for many years to come. I bought my Garmin eMap back in '99 and it's still what I use on my bicycle and for hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor activities. It was discontinued by Garmin many years ago, but I have no problem using it to connect to the usual websites that support GPS data such as everytrail, ridewithgps, mapmyride, etc. And its performance has steadily improved over the years as the old dithering of the GPS signals (Selective Availability) was eliminated, the number of GPS satellites was increased, and the newer satellites were equipped with better transmitters.