Putting data on SD card

[NOLA]

I have a 76cx with a 1g card
Is the gps  capable (and how) to store data on the card or do you need a card reader/writer  to
get the info on the card and then use it with gps.
Read manual but was uable to find answer

[brnchbrkr]

I will take a guess on this one, because I have an older 76C with no card.

Look for your sync cable from the GPS / located on the back of GPS a small rubber insert remove and plug into GPS.

On the other end of cable, plug into your puter.

Pull up MapSource on computer and get a Sync going.

Now you will need some sort NEW Software Purchase of MAPS to install into the computer first then load onto GPS/data card.

Something along those lines.

Otherwise you just create new waypoints as you go. But no auto routing will take place without Additional Mapping Software.

Keep asking questions.

[Siskiyou]

#1.  You need to have a Garmin MapSource product.  I will use MapSource US TOPO as an example.

#2.  Install US TOPO on your computer.

#3.  Install Trip & Waypoint Manager, which should have come with your 76Cx, along with a USB cord.  Software installs required USB drivers.

#4. Test the link between your gps and your PC.  Connect the Mini USB connection to the mini connection on the back of you gps.  (Use care the rubber cover may come lose.  If it does remove the retaining screw with a small screwdriver, and replace.)  Have MapSource on the desktop, power up your gps. At the top of the tool bar there is the Utilities option, click, and then select Get Unit ID.  Your unit ID# should show up.

#5.  If you want to select Maps of your State you need to have US Topo-East CD in the drive and selected.  Next go across the Tool Bar to the right of the up and down gps units.  Using your pointer on the next multi-sided symbol.  It is the map tool.  Click on the map tool. Next move the right and click on the magnify glass.  This is used to zoom in and out of your map.  I prefer to use the mileage scale on the tool bar.  In this case click on it and select 50 mi.  Next select the hand symbol on the tool bar. Drop down on the map and drag the map around to an area of interest.  If your are interested in your whole state you might start on the westside and work eastward.  You will notice that the map is broken up by gray lines that represent Topo Maps Click on the Map Tool and bring it down to a  map.  Click on the Map and the selected Map will show in Pink.  On the left side of your MapSource screen you will you will see the data tabs which will keep track of your Waypoints, Routes, Tracks, and Maps.  At the bottom it will show how many you have loaded and how much memory each used. 

#6.  Waypoints.  There are two ways of creating waypoints.  Under the EDIT option in the tool bar you can select New Waypoint, or you can select the Waypoint Tool on the Tool bar.  In most cases the Waypoint tool is the way go, except when you already have a Lat/Long.  Then you can use the New Waypoint option under Edit, and enter your data.

#7.  Once you have created a Map Set select File, Save As, My Documents, and create a New Folder, and name it 76Cx Map sets.  Save your Map set.  Pack a lunch if your are filling up a 1GB card.  And save your invested time by saving your work product.  You can always modify your saved map sets.

#8.  With your powered up gps connected to your computer select the down arrow gps in the tool bar.  A Send to Device screen will appear.  If it does not show your gps, click on Find Device.  In the Device box it should show Garmin 76Cx.

You can then send the Maps to your device. 

Be aware that if you modify your map set at a later time and send it to your gps it will remove the one on the gps.  It is better to modify your current map set on the desktop and then save it as a new file.  After saving it load it on your gps.


Funny I have repeated this operation numerous times and I just ran into a bug, it maybe because I loaded the new Beta update. 

[NOLA]

I have done all this But is an option available to load the maps only to the data card?
I would like to put the street maps on the gps and all the marine stuff on the data card. Or the other way
I put the on GPS the. whole east coast with part of the west and the  Blue chart .is an option available to see if any data is stored on the sd card and that is used on the gps.

[Siskiyou]

If you pull the micro sd card out of your 76Cx the unit will still have the factory installed base map, and any waypoints, tracks, and routes that you have created.  The maps that you have loaded will be removed because they are stored on the card, not on the gps.

You cannot install maps on the unit itself, just the data card used in the unit.  Data cards are cheap.  You can load maps/charts on to the same micro SD card in your unit.  Blue charts are not memory eaters, example Southwest Florida has 77 charts for 9MB, Tampa-New Orleans has 97 charts for 11MB, and Mobile-Lake Charles has 87 charts for 10 MB.  You are only looking at 30 MB’s and covering a lot of water.

Your MapSource Data tab will show you how much space your current map set is using.  The user has a number of options.  One is to install a limited number of Blue Charts on the same chip as the street maps.  The user has a lot of options as the Micro SD chips drop in price.  This morning’s paper has 1GB for $25.00.  I suspect you can buy a 128 MB chip for ten dollars.  Currently I have US Topo, and North America City Navigator maps installed on my 1GB micro SD card.  I can manage the type of maps I need by modifying the map set on my computer and saving it as a new map set.

I also have North America City Navigator and US Topo installed on the 115MB of built in my older 76C.  The biggest difference is that I am more selective, and better manage the available memory in the 76C. 

I have described in an earlier post how to move between map products, if I need to post that again just ask. The nice thing about the 76Cx is that you can put MapSource products on different micro sd cards/chips and change them to fit your needs.

[NOLA]

Thanks for all the help
You sure make things a lot easiier to understand
Thanks again
Bill

[xr650rRider]

The fastest way to save the map sets to the micro sd card is to put it in a card reader if you have it.  I got a Sandisk 2 GB card and it came with a SD card adapter.  Place it in a card reader if you have one and it will appear as a logical drive.  Then in Mapsource when you select "Send to Device" select the drive letter of the SD card.  On my computer this method is 2x faster than using the cable.  I can send a 1.9 GB mapset in approximately 50 minutes.

[Siskiyou]

A while back I was helping a friend out with his new 76Cx.  He also owns MapSource US TOPO.  Because of the ability to store a lot of maps on 1GB  it takes a long time to select 2025 maps and load them on the chip.  To save time we save the mapset from my chip on to his computer and then loaded it on to his gps.

In the future he plans on purchasing City Navigator v8.  At that time he will remove some of the topo maps and load his CNv8 Maps. 

Add for a new 1GB chip this morning was $19.00.

[xr650rRider]

When your selecting maps you do realize that you can window the area with the map tool, you don't have to click on each individual map.

The key to the speed increase is to avoid the cable.  Transferring less than 1 GB using the cable with the GPS set to mass storage device required nearly 40 minutes.  Taking the card out of the GPS and putting in a card reader allows transferring nearly 2 GB's in 3-4 minutes.

I bought a 1 GB card last month for $14.00 from Amazon.com.  I ordered the  2 GB cards a couple of weeks ago and they were $45.00.
I just checked and the 2GBs are $28.99 now.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JLP5UK/104-7171491-1347928

I thought the 2GB card might slow down the route recalculation of the GPS but I've compared it with the 64MB card and can't tell any difference at all.
I have the entire US including Alaska and Hawaii, Canada and Puerto Rico from City Navigator v8 and around 1300 maps loaded from the Topos.

[Siskiyou]

I had tried that with an early version of Map Source and I (it) failed.  But after reading your post I went back and tried it without a problem.  All a user needs to do is fine tune it and add or delete maps to fit his needs.

I have seen cards rated at different speeds advertised, but I have not tried them because I am afraid of getting in to the same situation users are having with the Ultra card, which does not work.

While my friends and I have over done it with US Topo Maps because of the nature of their work on 1 GB cards the time is coming that they can strike a balance between US Topo and City Navigator by using a 2GB card.  The price is dropping rapidly and when using software another software with US Topo one can take advantage of the extra storage.

[xr650rRider]

The latest update says the card reader was updated to support 2.0 cards.  That may be for the Ultra-II, I don't know of any other 2.  I know for a fact that the one listed on Amazon.com works.  Its not an Ultra-II card.

[Siskiyou]

Great price on the 2GB card!  With good map management the user can take advantage of the storage space. 

You must have an amazingly fast computer.  But starting with a clean card/chip will speed up the process.  When a card already contains maps, MapSource, it unloads the old mapset and then builds a new mapset based on the users selection.  My 2.8 GHz processor required five minutes to build a 560 map, containing 119MBs.  An additional 3 minutes were required to load the mapset on the card/chip.

For those MapSource users who have not tried this process you need to select maps from your MapSource product.  As you select maps on the right hand side of the MapSource screen you will have a column with the following tabs, Maps, Waypoints, Routes, and Tracks. Click on the Maps tab and it will be on top.  As you select maps it will show the map name, and state.  At the bottom you will see the number of maps you have selected and how much memory you have used.  For information you cannot store the rated capacity on a chip because it needs space to operate.  A 128GB chip will store approximately 120GB of maps.

The smaller the chip the more closely the user needs to manage his selection.  At this time the ceiling on maps in a Garmin is 2025 maps.  Different MapSource products have different size maps, US TOPO has small maps and City Navigator has large maps.  If you manage the number of maps you can cover a lot of ground because of the design of City Navigator.   If you are using US TOPO and do not plan on using another product you are safe with 1GB.  As pointed out the cost of memory is rapidly falling.  So more may not be bad at the low prices. 

When I switched over to my 1.8GHz laptop the process was much slower then with the faster tower.  So it is difficult to say how fast the process will occur.  The configuration of the computer is a determining factor on how fast the mapsets are transferred. 

Computers have a number of ways of transferring data.  First the user must find the correct hardware to link his computer to his gps.  First there was wire and it is still the most common method.  The old Garmin’s came with a cord that connected to a serial port on a computer.  The downside is that many laptops do not come with a serial port today, so the user may need an adapter.

Then Garmin started using USB.  It is approximately 37 times faster then the serial port.  Serial port is so slow that I can hook it up and transfer approximately 1GB during the night while I sleep.

Card readers are approximately 40 times faster then USB.  I suspect there are faster card readers out there.

There are a lot of computers around that do not have card readers, or do not read all types of memory cards.  Currently there are five computers in this room.  I am currently working on my father-in-laws 3-year-old computer.  It has a built-in card reader that reads five or six types of cards.  It will never get used.  Then there is an old stand by computer that has no card read, and represents a lot of computers out there.  My wife’s five-year-old computer did not come with a card reader, but she bought an external card reader.  It plugs into a USB port and is limited to USB speeds.  My computer has a built-in card reader that will read a number of different memory cards.  When my wife bought me a Dell laptop she bought one with a SD card reader.  The bottomline is that you can go out a buy a low cost USB card reader if you do not have one.  My wife has purchased three or four USB card reads for the grandkids computers.  Just plug them in and the computer recognizes the reader.

BUT none-of-these computers have a dedicated slot for micro-sd cards, which the Garmin gps units use.  Most card readers are setup to read a standard SD card.  To read a MICRO SD CARD, an adapter is needed.  Normally after market MICRO SD Cards come with an adapter.  The MICRO card slips into the adapter and then slips into the SD slot on a card reader.

I just ran into a little problem.  I believe I need to load the Unlock code for my City Navigator v8 into my laptop.  While the US TOPO maps operated great after the download I received a message on my gps that there was no unlock code for the City Navigator maps.  Back when I first loaded the City Navigator software I did it on my tower and not on the laptop.  I will resolve the issue on another day.

From Garmin:


Q. What is the largest size microSD card that I can use in my X-series GPS unit?A. At this time, the 2 GB cards are the largest microSD cards that can be used for the X-series GPS units. However, the X-series GPS units are not compatible with the San Disk Ultra II cards and we do not recommend using the Ultra II micro SD cards with any of the X units.

[xr650rRider]

I didn't mean that the entire process of creating a mapset and loading it on the card took 3-5 minutes.  Whether you use the cable or the card reader is irrelevant until the process reaches the stage of copying the mapset to the device.  Using the card reader shortens this part of the process by at least 50 minutes on my mapset.

You can do a comparison by putting the GPS into mass storage mode.  Then it will appear as a drive letter.  Copy the file from the card using Windows Explorer.  Then remove the card from the GPS and put into a SD adapter then repeat the process in a card reader.  The difference is your speed advantage.

My card reader is a USB 2.0 device.  Garmin must have used a USB 1.0 speed for backward compatibility or the transfer using the cable would be as fast as the card reader.

[Siskiyou]

 
Xr650rRider:  I appreciate your knowledge base.  My comments in regards to your computer were meant in terms of respect.  I am surround by computers that by today’s standard are obsolete.  Good machines but when compared to current machines they are slow.   My wife is currently looking at buying a new machine to replace her 5 year-old computer.  As always the new processors are faster and the machine comes with faster and more ram.  So I was attributing the shorter time period to you having a faster computer.  Without a doubt when you start the clock makes a difference.  My time is based on the time MapSource shows for the different opertions.  As time showed on the screen I wrote it down.

Clearly I have learn some steps from your post, the information you provide is very helpful.  I may expand on the process to help those who are not familiar with the process.  I have a friend who has owned three different gps units for at least 15 years, but when it comes to marrying it to the computer it escapes him, or it is easier to bring in down to my house to be updated.  Hopefully our discussion will help other users.

As a side note my wife’s current computer will become my backup machine.  I might install a wireless card in it rather then run a cable.  My current backup machine will go into the extended family food chain so hopefully the investment will benefit others.

P.S.  Hopefully I will speed up my desktop by adding another GB of RAM.  While the machine is relatively fast I have found that additional RAM speeds things up.  Operating systems and Anti virus software eats up a lot of RAM .  I was told yesterday that some folks returned a new laptop loaded with Vista.  It was loaded with 512MBs of  RAM.  When they went back to the vendor they were told they need at least 1GB of RAM for Vista.  The vendor tried to sell them more expensive laptop RAM, but they just returned the laptop.  Buyer Be Aware.

 

[Siskiyou]

Here is a subject that has been discussed.   Makes sense a USB 2.0 connection will speed up data transfer to the Card Reader.  Then the updated card is put into the USB 1.1 device(GPS Unit).  I believe this  agrees with Xr650rRider.  Any thoughts?

“Q. Is the StreetPilot 2610/2650 a USB 1.1 or 2.0 device? Can I use a Card Reader to download maps to this unit? Will a USB 1.1 or 2.0 Card Reader speed up the transfer of maps to the data card? What method will provide the fastest transfer of data to a data card?
A. The StreetPilot 2610/2650 is a USB 1.1 device. And, yes, you can use either a USB 1.1 or 2.0 Card Reader to speed up the transfer of maps to the Data Card. Using a USB 2.0 card reader will result in the fastest transfer of data to a card reader.”

I just order a 1GB chip to fill the remaining empty slot in my tower.  Using the test at PCPitStop the unit rates 104% of like computers.  The additional RAM should crank it up a little.