micro SD card size

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/14354

I was just told by Garmin the other day my 1490T could go to 32gb but 16gb would probably be more than enough for the average user. I was thinking about getting a 4 or 8. My unit does not have an MP3 player so the most I would use it for would be pictures and POI's.

POI files wouldn't take more than 1/2gb and your not going to use the unit as a picture viewer, so why than would you need larger than 2gb.

May want to add additional maps at some time. I figure if you are going to spend the money for a card for a few bucks more get a bigger one for possible future needs. To much is better than not enough....

I am not 100% sure about the micro SD card for your unit but my nuvi 255W takes a regular SD card and a maximum is 2GB. I tried 4GB and it would not work.

I would suggest that if you go for a 16 or 32gb to get a Class 6 (usually more expensive). At that size, a class 2 or 4 would be awfully slow.

I will probably go for a 4or 6...

Asked and answered when I got my Nuvi 500:
"Thank you for contacting Garmin International. The largest SD card that you can put on the unit is a 4 gig MicroSD card. It will not hold anything bigger."

Also keep in mind that this unit has only one map that it can see:gmapsupp.img
You can load any amount of maps up to that limit (4 gb)by using MapSource. MapSource will build gmapsupp.img for you and then you can transfer it to the SD card or internal memory.
Note: you cannot inadvertently delete the base map City Navigator with Topo.

My understanding is that Class 6 offers faster write speed. It makes more sense if you use it in a digital camera (especially a DSLR camera) where you'd write data onto it most of the time when taking pictures.

GPS device reads data from SD card most of the time. The only time you write a gigantic amount of data is when you do map update or copy MP3 files, photos etc, a procedure already slow as it is. Saving a few minutes when updating maps isn't worth the extra bucks you spend on the flash memory.

Currently have a 16gb microSD card installed in a Nuvi 500 and working fine.

See: http://www.toshiba.co.jp/p-media/wwsite/sd/sd_speed_class.ht...

The MP3 files on my 16 Gig (Class 6) seem to load faster than the ones on my 4 Gig (Class 2) SD card. But the latter is a chepo one... And the songs play fine with both.

With out a MP3 player, I can't imagine a need for anything much larger than a 2 or 4 Gig card. IMHO

I've got a 16GB Sandisk Class 2 in my Zumo 665 and it works fine. Almost 4GB of mp3s and it indexes them in 15-30 seconds. $30 + shipping from amazon.com

Someone quoted Garmin as saying the 16GB is the largest recommended.

I prefer the larger one to a few smaller ones, as the microSD is so small that I wouldn't want to lose track of one changing it while on my motorcycle at a pitstop. 16GB will hold over 100 hours of music.

There is SD cards and SD HD cards... NOT the same thing!

I don't know about GARMIN, but TOMTOM devices only understand SD cards, and many places where you might buy them don't distinguish between SD and SD HD... even the package labeling isn't clear.

SD HD have higher memory capacity, but if the unit only reads SD, you are out of luck.

I rarely see SD cards more than 4GB or 8GB.

...also, most units will not read them correctly unless you format them with FAT32. Many are already formatted this way, but some aren't.

SD cards only go up to 2GB. SDHC (high capacity) start at 4GB up to 32GB and SDXC (brand new)are 64GB. Most new electronics will read SDHC but not to sure about the SDXC. My computer has a card reader and it would only read SD cards. I went to the Dell website and there was a firmware update and now it will read the SDHC cards up to 8GB.

Is that the SD card is the optimal choice for extras as they get "read" on request, doing searches for nearby places, "where to"s, load a song or "audible" (betcha it loads and then plays, so other than a few seconds delay, no issues with playing them) or view a picture...

And what I want as my fastest I/O (input-output) would be the map segments as I drive and navigate from place to place.

So my preference is maps on the unit and everything else on the SD card(s).

What ever you would like and works best for you is the way to go.....

ive used a 4 gb micro sd in mie since the day i got it.
mike

Yes, most all Garmin devices will read cards over 4GB. And windows will show over 4GB available.

But according to Garmin's website, a whole lot of their devices will not access any more than 4GB of data on that card which is larger than 4GB.

So no matter how many GB of data windows shows remaining, only 4GB can be read and used by theose GPS devices. Hence no point using cards over 4GB on those devices.

I've just starting using a 1490T and have installed a 2 GB micro SD card. How does one access the micro SD card from the Nuvi? Is there an icon somewhere to show the card is installed and available ? Windows Explorer show the card so it apparently is installed property.

I've loaded unlocked maps to my Adata 8GB Class 6 Micro SDHC, it won't read on my 1490T, but the same card works on my sister's 1390T. Am I missing any step with 1490T??? Any help? Thanks.

When you say "works", what happens that tells you it is working on one device and not the other.

Can you read the SD card directly on your computer (ie. do you have card slots)?

I do not think there is any way on my 765t to tell that I have a SD card installed. If I go to the Help Icon in my 765t and type in "card" I do find some help entries but all they are saying is that I can load things from my computer into the Nuvi or the (optional) SD card.

I can read & write on my 8gb microSDHC card from the computer. When I put the card into the 1490T, go to tools-settings-map-info, you cannot see the map set. When I put the same microSDHC card into my sister's 1390T, I can select the map set on the card. It must be the card slot doesn't support certain type of Micro SDHC cards, or I'm missing a step with 1490T. Thanks for your help!

If you've installed another map on your Micro SD, you can go to tools-settings-map-info, and select the map. Only with your micro sd card is working with your 1490T. Based on Garmin accessories for 1490T, it is only selling Micro SD cards up to 4GB, not any micro SDHC cards. It can the card slot doesn't support micro SDHC at all. What a liar, when Garmin support forum said it will support up to 16GB Micro SDHC cards. Now I've to shop for the old 4GB micro SD card. HTHs!

Question: What is the largest Secure Digital (SD) card that my nuvi, zumo, or Streetpilot can accept?
Answer:

As long as the unit has the latest version of software, your unit can use the following maximum card size from the table below. You can use the WebUpdater program to download the latest unit software.

Unit Series Maximum Size of SD card
nuvi 16 GB
zumo 16 GB
Streetpilot c500 2 GB
Streetpilot c300* 2 GB
Streetpilot 7200 / 7500 2 GB

Depending on the model of your unit, it may use either a full size SD card or a microSD card. If you are not sure which your unit requires, please refer to its documentation.

*Note: Streetpilot c300 and i-series units do not currently support the SDHC (High Capacity) cards.
Last modified on: 01/27/2010

I have a 4GB and 8GB micro SDHC cards and both work with no problem in my 1490T. A 4GB only comes as a SDHC format. SD format only goes to 2GB according to the Sandisk website. A couple of reasons why I don't put POI's on the card is each time you start up the GPS it asks you if you want to put them on the unit and they take up very little space on the unit. I only use the card for pictures and maps.

Go here for Garmin products and you will find a table

https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?...

That table should be a Sticky!!!

We probably need to somehow highlight this better because it comes up so often.

However, there already are these links

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/14354

and

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/14205

Angela would be open I am sure to suggestions as to how to accomplish this. I will give one. Since the link occurs at "Garmin Memory Size | ..." maybe she could like to the same place but start with "SD Card (Garmin) | ..."

She is working very hard to make questions easier to answer. Her problem is that you and I will not necessarily scan the FAQs the same way.

Now that's odd. The above link used to be found via POI Factory's Garmin faq list. It still looks like a faq since it's not a forum post allowing replies. It seems to have been removed from the faq list.

Which brings up the question--how did you find the above link to post it today?

[Update] I see that the first reply to the Original Poster was from me with this same link. I'm sure I found it from the faq list. I've checked the current faq list and the Getting Started lists but it seems to have disappeared.

under

Garmin Memory Cards | What is the largest SD (Secure Digital) card that my nuvi can accept?

I have noticed on the FAQ index that if you select the Garmin category, you don't get a complete list. To get a complete list, you need to go back to the main FAQ page and select "•All FAQs (alphabetical list of questions)". I don't know if this is intentional or an oversight by JM/Globe Turtle.

Thanks, jg and alan. Now I'll try to remember to go to the "all faqs alphabetically" list for now when looking for something.

I know for certain that Angela has been working on this because she and I have been in communication on this. I wrote her hoping to get the Beginner FAQ both in the Alphabetical list (others have been confused because they disappeared from there) as well as in the Getting Started links.

What she has done is a big improvement because it used to be that finding a FAQ you remembered reading earlier sometimes required working down the alphabetical list until you came to it. That was because members who created FAQs came up with their own names - which sometime began with a question (how do I...?) or was a statement (like Charlie's "Custom POI file along a route"

I think JM is investigating a better search feature, but what I usually do is a CTRL-F search for a word I think is in the title to find them. One of the reasons I used the Starting Tags "Beginner Education" for some very basis stuff new members needed was that it sorted to the top of the Alphabetical list and was, thus, easy to find.

We are particularly blessed that our moderators have such a clean looking and helpful site. AND, they keep improving it.

Bigger is always better. More memory the easier storage will be down the road.

We are busy working on suggestions from members and making various changes to help optimize our website.

Speaking of... if any of you have written FAQ's or other tutorial type material, can you check your profile page and let me know if your work is now reflected there.

If it's not, let me know. We can also start another thread on the topic if needed since this one got a little off track.

~Angela