Street Pilot c330 by garmin

I have not used an SD card with my c330 but I think you should put it in the slot. Then look it up under My Locations and it should be there. It should also be there when you use your USB cable.

Hmmm, somewhere around the POI Factory here, there is a post explaining the SD card slot on the C330 (and others). Basically, because the C330 is preloaded at the Garmin factory, the SD slot and any inserted card are useless.

Poke around this site and you will find it.

Plagarized from another thread:

The SD Slot on the Garmin 330 and 340 is nothing more than a Garmin Map loader, it will do nothing else. As far as maps goes, I wouldn't use it to load US Maps as Flashing the unit and loading it straight to it's internal memory makes more sense. The SD Card slot is really designed to to load European maps on a trip, that way when you come back home your US maps are still intact just by pulling out the SD Card......

It's has some value but not much.......
--
Orbital
Thanks Orbital!

I believe that is true for the c330 and c340, but not because the maps are preloaded. The c530 also is preloaded, but you can keep your POI's on the SD card and the GPS reads them whether they are in the unit or on the SD card.

and you will find that the 330 will accept custom poi's - only when loaded directly to the unit. The SD card would do you ok if for example you took it to Europe and had the European maps on the SD card.

In the manual for the C330 (download from Garmins site) it states that it is ONLY for additional maps. If not European, then another use could be one of the nautical map products or one of the City Navigator ones. As others have posted though, unfortunately you cannot use the card for POI or any function other than maps.

Thank You everyone for all of your responses. I will just put my SD card away for my camera. Now my question is can I directly d/l custom poi to the unit itself via the USB cable. In some of the responses it says you can. If so, I d/l the red light file, how would I access this file along with all of the campsites in Florida??
Again....thanks for all of your responses.

Inkdaddy of Atlanta

Yes you can. Follow directions under FAQ for loading POI's with POI loader (http://www.poi-factory.com/node/85). On my c530 they show up under Extras, which is accessed under Where to....

From what I've read from several posts from c330 users is that there is no "extras" under "where to"

I couldn't find a picture or any mention of the extras via where to in the manual, at least the online pdf.

There is also no mention in the owners manual (online pdf) about custom poi's. We know it's possible to load them, but, where the custom poi's show up I don't know.
Perhaps an experienced c330 user will respond.

I think the above to be accurate for the C 330

they show up under My locations and then custom PIO's

Thank you jbrady24

Now the rest of us know where they hide.

After you have loaded your POI's
they will show up in this location.

Where To?
My Locations
Custom POIs

You will notice that Custom POI's wasn't
there before but was added after you did
the poi load. It's a display box that's
drawn after you have loaded poi's

Hope this helps

I have almost 10,000 POI's loaded in mu Garmin c330. I don't know how many more I can load. We will see.

I just bought a c330 and want to put some custom POI's on the unit. Can anyone tell me if they can be deleted from the unit if they are not what I want? If so how? This is my first GPS and I'm willing to learn what needs to be done.

Yes you can. When you load the POI files onto your c330, you will be using the POI loader program. Each time you load from a folder on your PC (can contain one or many POI files), all of the custom POI's on your Garmin will be removed and replaced with the new ones. There are many discussions with the best way to do this. Also, see the FAQ's about loading multiple POI's.

To be clear, if you save your POIs to a folder on your PC and then have 1 file in it, (i.e. POI 1.csv) you can load that with POI Loader to your c330. If you now add another file to the folder (on the PC), (i.e. POI 2.csv) and load to your Garmin, the Garmin will have POI 1 and POI 2. Then, if you remove POI 1.csv from the folder and rerun POI loader, your Garmin c330 will have only POI 2 as it will have erased both files and then entered the only one that was in the folder.

Thanks for the reply! I downloaded the POI loader started to play with it. It was simple and I learned what to do. I was able to install and delete different POI's. Thanks again.

The SD slot is for maps only. If you need help getting the file on you unit. You can let me know and I can email you the software, or you can download the POI software from www.garmin.com Dont forget also you will need to download the USB drives. The drivers for USB will get windows to see your unit. The POI software will let you upload or delete the file. There can only be 1 file on your unit. If you have one that you installed and try to send a new file to the GPS it will overwrite the old file.

John

Frys still has it for $199 with free shipping.

This site is a Godsend for people like me who are new to this new technology. This thread really helped me alot because I was totally baffled about how to delete POIs from my unit...and how or if the SD card would work. Thanks all your savy GPS users for you inputs.

Hello everyone,

I would like to valid a behavior I have with my C330 after uploading to it some custom POI. I have uploaded the POI containing all Costco stores in canada, then I tried to locate the nearest from where I am. It appears that the search by "Epelez le nom"/"Spelling the name" (I am using the french version!) was not able to find from the information uploaded in the Custom POI information.

Meanwhile, using the Map browser on the GPS, I could see a black dot where the nearest Costco is located and the name/adress is good. I could select the dot and press the button for directions to that location.

Meanwhile, it appear from my tests, that Custom POI are not considered when we do search by name. They could only be found using the Map browser or the "My positions"->Personnal POI.

Is that what others experiences?

thanks,

- Pierre

The search by spelling name only works on the built in POIs.

Yep, that's how it works.

Great, thanks for the fast feedback. Looking at this, Customized POI seem to be mostly useful when you did it yourself, i.e. when you know what is there.

Let me explain, if I am in a city that I don't know about, I could ask the GPS about nearby restaurant and it will deliver me some suggestion that are close to my location. Meanwhile, if I upload a Customized POI that contains 500 entries for the same city, the GPS will not be able to really help, unless I know the name of the restaurant I want to go to. Still very useful, but requires to scan the list to see what is in there.

With that in mind, I am not sure of the usefulness of the Red light camera POI that is available elsewhere on the web, with what I can see the C330 can do with the POI (so far, I am a new user). What would be the benefit of such POI information if the GPS doesn't warn me about it as I drive... or does it somehow? I haven't (yet) installed the Red Light Camera POI (no entries apparently in my Montreal area), but is the GPS is using such information while you drive?

I am asking the question in this thread since I might suspect that some other GPS might behave different behavior for such type of information.

Thanks again,

- Pierre

Take a look at the POI files on the site. Most of them are categorized. For example, Outback Steakhouse, WaWa, Starbucks, etc. Then if you were looking for Starbucks, you could just look in the Starbucks listing on your GPSr

Lots of them are for the whole country. For example, you could have the entire country's listing of Krispy Kreme stores loaded on you GPSr so that no matter where you are, you could find them.

POI's are useful because we can update them. (Remove old locations, add new locations) We can add things that aren't in the pre-loaded database of locations on our GPSr.

Also, Custom POIs can be set with Proximity and/or Speed Alert which will notify you when you come near them or exceed the speed you set. This allows the Redlight Cameras and Speed Trap type POIs to be extremely useful.

Take a look around the site. Read the Getting Started and FAQs sections, and see what you think.

If you had a custom POI loaded that had 500 restaurants in the US, for example, when you select that POI, you will be presented with the 50 closest, just as if you selected another category in the built in POIs. If you select a custom POI with just Starbucks, for example, you would see the 50 closest Starbucks to your location. It is thus easier to use the custom POI for Starbucks if you are looking only for that type of coffee shop.

If you have proximity alerts set in your POI, these will go off based on the criteria regardless of selection.

Regarding your question on Red light cameras.....these are proximity alerts and work without further input. However, if you select the Red Light POI under your custom POIs, you will see the 50 closest in order of distance.

Yesterday, when posting about this subject, I wasn't aware if my C330 was supporting the alerts nor had much information about how POI are supported. I don't know if this is because I purchased what is called a refurbished device (Looked very brand new to me, appear more than a way to empty the inventory than attempting to sale used device), but there wasn't much documentation in the box, and no information at all about POI and Alerts. I had to go to garmin site to find some kind of information, then the POIEdit one, and finally this useful site to find all I needed to know.

After reading/comparing specs of my device on other ones (I thought that my low end device wouldn't have such feature) I found out enough information to confirm that alerts should be working. Initially I looked at the devices setting for information, but found out that it is actually the POI Loader software that will tell the device if the POI about to be loaded should be considered as normal POI, or alerts one.

I then created faked Alerts POI and tested them while driving to work this morning and they worked just great.

As of the other POI, I didn't know that when looking at a POI folder/category, things will show up ordered by distance from where I am. Now it makes sense to put so many POI in the device.

Thanks to both of you, your reply have been very useful. And my little C330 is still impressing me.

- Pierre

Hi Pierre,
I have the 340 and I can search by name in the Custom POI. I have to be in the folder in the custom POI to search it though. In other words, If I am searching the FOOD category, it will not look in my Custom POI folder. But If I am in my Custom POI Folder and go to my "San Antonio Favorites" subfolder, I can search inside that folder by name.

Dennis

Just bought this model and am loving it. Was never amazed by GPS until I used my cousins last weekend and was hooked... I can across this site about creating POI's and thought I should share...

http://www.gpsinformation.org/penrod/poiloader/poiloader.htm...

Hi - I'm trying to load New Zealand streets to a US new c330 via USB cable and am wondering if there is any practical spare capacity at all.

Managed to load 50 streets (4kB) but not 500 streets.

Something wrong here. Am surprised how limiting this unit is.

Does anyone know how to see the internal memory and determine the space that should be available for POI?

Many thanks - Tony
Christchurch, NZ.

You can go to diagnostics by pressing and holding upper right hand corner from the main screen. Usually takes about 5-10 seconds on my C330. I haven't found my C330 limiting ! I have about 4500 POIs plus 250 (500 max) favorites loaded on mine !
Good Luck ! Remember the POIs only show 50 "closest" !

You only see the 50 closest Poi's to your location at any given time.

Hi, I am planning on buying a new gps, now uncertain bout c330 or c340, but need help. I have been reading some of the threads here and how to load certain poi's a few questions.. Is the C330 capable of voice alerts for the custom alerts (redlights) I read on one Thread their not due to the mp3..and If I understand correctly they can be (confused)..or am I misunderstanding. I also read that I guess its who you talk to at garmin that will allow you to upload the new software on the c330. Also what device would one recommended, to be able to take advantage of all the uploads and the benefits. Need a little lesson, I think this site is extremely helpful, Thx for everyone's time. GRed

You will get an alert on the c330, as a "gong", and highlight at top of screen, but NOT voice, or any other sound, for that you need mp3 capability. I just received my NT2008 update in the mail. I had purchased my c330 on 5/22/07, duly registered, mailed copy of my receipt to Garmin Tech Support.

There is a issue about the update requiring more memory than c330 has, and therefore Canada cannot be loaded or lower 48, depending on your needs. I'm still waiting to learn if it's possible to load lower 48, then later load Canada, and still later load lower 48 again. Since we travel to Canada and throughout the US we would need both. Orginally bought the unit with that in mind and the lower cost. Didn't need all the other fancy stuff (I don't think??). Don't want to start the update without knowing the answer to that issue, as could get along with what I have now. I'm very pleased with the c330, but, of course, would like to update to the newer software. Don't know if this helps with your decision. You really can't go wrong with Garmin, they really stand behind their units as far as I'm concerned...

Every little piece of info helps..Thx,,Just trying to figure out what kind I want to get.I was sold on the c330 now after further research, I was looking at the c340, but that was due to "traffic" but not sure I want to spend 60.00 a yr to subcribe. I mainly would use it in my city for redlights and speedtraps. The c340 goes around 269.00 and c330 for 233.00 Maybe the "ding or Dong" what every it sounds like that gives alert, I can prob be content with. I have a blackberry and have a 60day free trial for gps through "Telenav"(cellphone) till 1st part of sept. But it does use alot of battery, and use it when I was in Baltimore. Mannn I never felt soo free, being from Albuq. NM and not having to rely on my family when I go there to take me places. I just want to buy a unit that will take advantage of most uploads and whats best for the money and last a few yrs. I don't want to get the c330 and not be able to upload due to its low end. Any recommendations Thx again, for everyones help..... GRed

You might want to consider that if you buy from Best Buy, etc., that they will refund your money if not satisfied within 30 days. Be sure to check for sure, but that was the case with my purchase from Best Buy. In fact, I saw on Circuit City web site the price had come down and went to BB and they refunded me the difference plus 10%, which is about the price they go for now. Just another thought...

Both BB and CC have C330 for $250 this week. With $40 coupon, you can have it for $210 from CircuitCity.

I did alot of research before buying my c340. The best part of the c340 is that it speaks to you and tells you what to do. (Turn next left in 300 yards.)I find this great when driving by myself and really have no need to lookup at gpsr.

Extra money well spent.

Alan

My Lila (C330) talks to me - irritates my better half ! But gives turn instructions and road distances also after making a turn. And of course the "recalculating" voice.

I perfer the C5xx series for the following reasons:

1) You are able to see the file structure of the GPSr
2) You can store POIs on the SD card
3) Has better anti-glare screen

Actually the c330 does that also. Maybe you mean it tells street names?? I have to c330 and find I rarely have to look at it.

Sorry about that. I did mean it announces the street names or route numbers.

I looked at the adds at BB this wkend offering that price c330 = 250.00 but I have noticed that the c330 does alot but I am finding out that, now some of the d/l are starting to abit harder to get from Garmin. I don't want to run into this so now I am leaning for the c340 now. Its bout 267.00 online store. I think I will ck more stores..but dont think will get a better price..thx

again, I say taht you can get a c5xx series for about the same amount of money.

I've noticed a few post about not being able to search using spell name for custom poi's loaded into the gps. Well, what I did was choose manual when loading the poi's through poi loaded and set an audible alert when within 500 ft. Unless the dinging annoys you, you will know when you are near a custom poi. I've been adding a few local red light/speedcam/speed trap poi's also and setting the speed alert. Setting the proximity alarm helps me since I can't use the Garmin to route several address... at least I know when I am close. My job requires visiting numerous locations when traveling so I use Mappoint or Street's trip to route the visits and print that or use it with the microsoft gps which is crap cause it says "Arriving at Waypoint so & so" instead of the place.. The address are sent to me in excel format. In order to get the coordinates for my garmin I use the geocoder found here http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/2006/04/excel-geocodin... which is very simple. I can export the file to google maps, save it as kml and convert it to csv with poi edit 2007. In the description box use the formula to combine your address & phone info (=A1&" "&B1&" "&C1) so it will list the location name and info in description field. I added an additional field behind description for phone. Now if only I could figure out how to get the file to keep the description info during conversion. The only thing loaded is the name of the place cause the address info drops off and it's way to much to add to the csv file manually. Google maps (kml) does retain the address & phone info you placed in the description field.

How did you get that many mine says it does not have enough memory after 650 pois

The other day while driving around, my C330 was beeping (more like gonging) and giving me a 1mph speed alert, or something like that.

I did recently download a few POI files (starbucks and hilton hotels), is this why it is making this noise? If so, can I modify the POI spreadsheet to turn off the notification?

I had to truncate the starbucks POI file because POI loader was telling me that my C330 did not have enough memory for both the hilton and the starbucks POIs. Is there a way to get more memory on the C330? Has anyone had success using the C330's memory card for POIs? Or maybe loading the 2008 maps on the memory card and using the internal memory for PIOs?

Thanks so much,
Chris

If you unit is compatible, then u must use the POI loader available on the Garmin web site

its available here:

http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/

Check the file names of any POI that you have loaded. If you have any number (1 - 124) in the file name, it will assume a speed alert of that number. An @ followed by an number in the Name field will have the same effect.

yeah, my c330 talks to me, too. Unlike you, though, I irritate my wife when I ARGUE with it!