Official Answer: Nuvi - SD microSD Card Size - Garmin FAQ

I have wondered about that..

June 3, is very new! That's a change since I read the FAQ several months ago. There were specific limits listed. That's great news.

Wow, thanks for the news

Do we know which version this is attached to? Since the info is posted for June 3rd I would assume 5.5 but was it really 5.4 or before that and they just now posted it? Saying "most recent version" is pretty vague because if it gets dropped off in another version (like the currency converter did) then we at least know which version was the true support for it. I wish they listed it in the "what was updated" version list.

Paul,

As it reads one would have to take it at face value and (I hate to say this) assume that it was rolled out across the board for all the nuvi updates. Even though my search was specific to the 760, the FAQ answer will show up at the top level search for "On The Road" products without selecting nuvi or a specific model number. I trust the FAQ versus some no mind on the phone who insists that a 4gb card is SD rather than SDHC, which BTW is SD is version 1.X of the standard and is limited to 2GB. Anything >2GB is SDHC according to v 2.0 of the SD standard.

enjoy,

Use Webupdater to update your GPS to the latest version;

http://www8.garmin.com/products/webupdater/howtoinstall.jsp

I was planning on buying a 4GB card and use the "trial and error" since my 2GB card was listed as the max size on the 360.

Now I am more comfortable trying the 4GB card.

thanks good to know

disregard...misunderstood the question

Thanks for posting this; it's good to know.

If you're going to go over 2gb in a card, and actually use that much space, such as for music or audiobooks, you'll probably want to be sure you have a card reader for your computer that's USB 2, and that your computer has USB 2 ports as well. Even at USB 2 speeds, transferring 4gb of data takes a while!

The good news is that quite a few of the 4gb SDHC cards come bundled with USB adapters.

It is so nice to finally have a link straight from Garmin to answer this perennial question.

Thanks!

It is true, the Nuvi will accept any size card you put into it. I bought a 16GB card however it still only recognizes 1000 songs. They should remove this limit.

SDHC Class 2, 4, 6 also applias as this is the MB/sec write speed to the card.

Could be that there was not enough ample time for the unit to read in all the data.

I'm sticking with 8GB for now as I have favorable results with it and I am sure that there will be further firmware updates to address this proposed issue.

Does Garmin publish what speed SD card is optimal? I would hate to spend extra money on a faster card if it's not needed.

No, but the write speed is much slower than the read speed. That said if the unit supports 4MB/sec (Class 4) write speeds and you buy a class 2 card, you will limit the device to 2mb/sec and your data will take longer to upload to the card. I use an 8GB class 6 card ant it appears to support the class 6 speed. It is much faster to write the same data when using other speed classes in an informal experiment.

Since there is no size limit 16-32GB then one would think that the higher write speeds would be supported, as I do not have all day to dump data onto a card of that size

Did you format and load the data with the card in the nuvi or in a card reader installed to the PC USB port?

If you went the PC route, try putting it in the nuvi with the supplied USB cable, formatting the card, and reloading your data.

Actual read speeds. I am most interested in the read speed for these GPS/SDHC functions. Can someone tell me if a class6 card, spec'd a 20MB/sec, will read near or at that speed on the GPS. Short of the loading of data done via the PC, it's really most important to know what retrieval rate the data is from the card through the GPS, right? Thanks.

class2 = ??? read speed from GPS
class4 = ??? read speed from GPS
class6 = ??? read speed from GPS

I am using a Transcend 16GB card (see http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010Z28XG) and it seems to be working just fine. I have about 13GB of music files, variable bit encoded with base level of 192 bits/sec, done with iTunes. I don't know about the 1000 song limit mentioned above - I haven't COUNTED to see, but I also don't see any tunes missing offhand. The Transcend comes with a small, handy USB adapter, and loading the card took under an hour using XCOPY *.MP3 E:\MUSIC\ /S /V , so even with the /V verify option it was a fast transfer time.

I have a 4 gig card i've been hoping i can use.

According to Garmin - the SDHC size is unlimited.

Thanks for the Info....

Wow that is good to hear.

Thanks for posting this information. I have been wondering about the max size for a while.

Wow, I've been looking for this answer for a while. thanks!!!

Newbie here, just got a 660 and waiting for a 2G card to arrive. I suspect I'll be upping that with a future SD card purchase!
Great to know!

While I'm thinking about it, do the micro SD cards with the adapter work in the 660?
Thanks!

Adorama has a Kingston Technology 8 GB Class 4 Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Memory Card for $34.50 plus probably $5 shipping. I have several of thes cards for cameras and camcorders and that is a lot of memory for the $$$.

The micro SD card w/ adapter should work, but a little slower. I have no idea if speed is an issue with Garmins or not.

c580

I have been using the Sandisk Extreme III 4GB card for over a week and no problems.

thanks this is nice to know

So.....if I wanted to get the 16gb microSD card, I could buy any mfgr's product, and it would be SDHC?

My use would be for Audible.com book downloads.

I might just cancel my order with Garmin for a 512mb microSD card. It would just sit in a box after a brief useful life.

MOST informative topic. Thanks.

I have a 8GB SD card that works fine with POI's. I am trying to load 2 Mexico maps (1) MexicoGPSAtlasV2 and (2) City Navigator MexicoNT v2008. For some reason I installed the city navigator first and it was listed and worked, then I installed the Atlas and now it works but the City Navigator is gone. How should I do this?

I have no performance issues with the 8GB card playing my MP3s over the FM xmitter, with the traffic signal running in the background. The map updates accurately and runs very smooth.

Ahhh, getting closer and closer to the rainbow end.
So, do they show on the packaging what the write speed is? And how do I find out the speed my 880 can read? Do they have to match? Or, does something else have to match in the setup for me to use the SDHC with highest write speeds in my computer or GPS?

Yes - the class number written on the package and the card determines this; e.g. Class 6 = 6mb/sec

The host read speed is determined by how the OEM applies the sd 2.0 standard. Typically they are 10-20 MB/S

You have to load ALL the maps at the same time.

Each time you send maps from MapSource, it overwrites the previous gmapsupp.img file.

Just select all the ones you want from the first product and then use the drop down list to select the next map product and select the map segments from that product.

Then send ALL of the them at the same time.

Just arrived today from Amazon, a "discontinued" (per Garmin, I imagine it's getting a refresh, like the other 6's) nuvi 670, and a Transcend 16g card. I'll be curious to see what directory layout works on the SD card. (SDHC, class 6)

I will format it in the Garmin first, just to be more sure of compatibility, though it is FAT32 formatted at the moment, same as the nuvi itself.

Just got done archiving the original config, going through webupdater now. Wondering what all I can remove from the base nuvi builtin drive to save space. Thus the backup of all the original files

Thats a great find. My 2 gig is almost full. Going to look into getting a bigger card.

Had a 2 gig (donated by my brother), and moved up to a 4 gig. No problems as of yet, considering moving up again to 16. I simply am not sure if it is worth the time. i think I need to limit myself at some point

I am also curious as to what can be deleted from the Garmin internal memory to free up space. Of course the languages that I don't need, but what else?

On mine I took off the help file. and the factory installed jpeg's and cleared out most of the files for the audiobook. Dont know what is on the 260 tho.

Just curious but what would you be trying to do with a 16GB card in a nuvi?

Good to know, thanks!

Load movies to watch while racing down the highway...? Or maybe another 100,000 songs that won't fit on my iPod, iPhone, iMac, jada, jada...

You can watch movies on your 680?

Thanks for the web site.

I usually push the envelope, so when I got my Garmin I also purchased the Transcend 16 GB SDHC to put some MP3's on it.

Well lo and behold, I was told by Garmin support that it will ONLY read up to 1000 MP3 files, undaunted I decided to give it a whirl, I thought as long as it plays all my music- no worries. So when I loaded lots of MP3, I was VERY surprised that it displayed 1200+, so I went ahead and added more songs, so to date I have been able to put at least 2319 MP3's on the card. I think it may not display all of the songs numerically correct, but it does play them all. SWEET..

It does take it the Garmin a LONG, LONG, LONG time to load them all, but HEY Isn't that what weekends are for, right? I believe I still have 3-4 GB still free in my 16 GB card.

I plan on purchasing a 32GB PNY SDHC and see if I can fill it up with all kinds of MP3. Let's see if I can get to 20K MP3 or more..

Hi everybody,

On my side, I found:

Question: What is the largest SD card that my nüvi can use?
Answer:

If your nüvi has the latest version of operating software, you can use the following maximum SD card size:

nüvi 2xx: 4Gb
nüvi 3xx: 2Gb
nüvi 6xx: 2Gb
nüvi 7xx: 4Gb
nüvi 8xx: 4Gb

The nüvi units are compatible with both normal Secure Digital (SD) data cards and Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) data cards.

If you need to update the software in your nüvi, you can do so using our WebUpdater program which can be downloaded from our website: www.garmin.com/webupdater
Last modified on: 08/26/2008

source: http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/cache/offonce/us/support/se...

what is in fact the good answer

Thanks