SD Card for Garmin 255W

The 255W accepts the standard SD card so you shouldn't have any problem inserting it. It should only go smoothly into the GPS one way. Once inserted correctly, to remove it just press lightly on the card to push it farther into the Nuvi and then release your figure. The card should then pop out of the device enough for you to pull it all the way out.

Sounds to me like you have a micro SD card. The regular SD card does not seem to be too small for the slot on my 255W.

I purchased the card at Best Buy and asked the "expert" there if that is the type of SD card for the Garmin. He confirmed it was.

I inserted the card into the slot. Now it appears to be stuck there. There is no movement either way.

Anyone know how I can get it out?

The micro-SD cards I've seen usually come with an adapter so you can use it in devices that take the regular size SD card.

If you stuck the inky-dinky SD card all the way into the standard SD card slot, I'm not sure how you will get it out without damaging the slot.

I do not believe it is a mini. I specifically asked the person who sells Garmins at Best Buy whether it was the correct SD Card for that. I held it up close to his face when I asked him.

I suppose he didn't bother looking and gave me the wrong advice, but I don't think so.

Assuming you have a STANDARD SD card (no small card in a regular size adapter) then it sounds like you may have put the card in upside down. If you attach the Nuvi to your PC with the USB cable, does Windows see the SD card as a removable disk drive? If it does the card is in properly. If it doesn't then it's probably in the Nuvi wrong.

If pushing it in slightly doesn't pop it out then about your only option maybe to pull it out. Can you grip it with small needle nose pliers or tweezers and pull it out?

Got it out. We used a dental pick to pull on one side; then the other. It fell out.

It is a Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo Card 2 GB. It shows a small "cut" or angle on one end. On that corner, it shows 2GB and an arrow. I assumed it had to be inserted in that direction. Looking at the back, inserting it that way would leave the contacts on the outside edge of the Garmin.

I did not see anything on the Garmin indicating that the disk was inserted. However, I did not think to look.

Having temporarily solved that problem, could someone tell me a brand name and type and perhaps even a store that would sell one?

There are 3 sizes of SD cards: standard, mini, and micro. All of them are "the type of SD card for the Garmin" GSP devices, but different Garmin units will use only 1 of the sizes.

When I go to my local Best Buy I always take my unit inside. I stop at the front desk and ask for "the salesman most knowledgeable about GSP units". So far I have had excellent service.

Not once has the salesperson answered my question or made a recommendation without first looking at my GPS. A good salesman will know his stock ("Yes, that SD card will work with Garmin GPS units.") but a great salesman will know that each GPS brand and model is different ("This is the SD card you need for your Garmin 255W.").

EDIT: So glad to hear you got it out!!!

That is not an SD card (of any size).

It does not matter what brand it is as long as it says SD on it(and does not have the word "micro".) I prefer Sandisk but also use others.

Sony memory stick is a proprietary memory card that only works with Sony devices which use memory sticks. That's not an SD card. AFAIK not a single Garmin device uses memory stick. I hope you didn't ruin the pins in your Nuvi SD slot.

Take it back to the store and ask for the manager and explain exactly what happened and that their salesman gave you the incorrect card.

You just need a standard SD card and they are readily available at a very cheap price.

Here are some cards which will work in your unit:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/SanDisk+-+2GB+Secure+Digital+%28...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/PNY+-+2GB+Secure+Digital+%28SD%2...

Thanks everyone. Now I know that I cannot trust employees of Best Buy to give the right information.

I am making a note of the ones that will work and will go find them myself.

Thanks all very much.

I would say to buy a MicroSD card with an SD adapter simply so you can use the card on a future unit that only uses MicroSD. But at the same time, by the time it's necessary to replace the unit, 2GB microSD cards will be obsolete.

As to the Best Buy flunkies, you were simply an annoyance to them because you weren't buying a computer or TV or some other big ticket item. So they gave you something just so you'd go away.

N_b_ king

I have a 255w and the SD card I have in it is a PNY Optima 2gb SD card and it has worked well with no issues. I got it on sale at Staples. Like many others here have said just make sure it says SD on it not micro or mini and you should be fine. There are also tips on this site as to different ways to use the SD card to keep data on the SD card only so your gps unit doesn't get full on pictures or other data.

Best of luck!

I took the advice of rjrsw and returned the card to Best Buy. I then, looked for the one indicated by GadgetGuy 2008 and bought that one. So one problem solved, thank for your assistance on that.

Now I tried to download to the SD Card, by inserting the card into the Garmin. The computer apparently does not recognize that the Card is there, although the Garmin screen shows it.

Do I have to reformat the SD Card first or do I insert the card into the computer and try to download that way.

Sorry for the problems, but we old people find computers confusing.

See https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId={6629ab20-1b51-11dc-eb67-000000000000}

iu have a 255w. the largest sd card you can use is 2 GB. Anything larger is not recognized by the 255W. You can format the card on your computer and download your files. I use 2 cards which I swap as I update files. That way I always have a spare.

I also have a 255W and use a 4 GB card without a problem.

The following is from Garmins website :

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 at the following link to download the latest unit software version: http://www8.garmin.com/products/webupdater/howtoinstall.jsp

Unit Series Maximum Size of SD Card

nuvi series 16GB
zumo 400 and 500 4GB
zumo 220 and 600 16GB
dezl series 16GB
StreetPilot c500 4GB
StreetPilot c300* 2GB
StreetPilot i-Series* 2GB
StreetPilot 7200 / 7500 2GB

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. When using a card with a larger capacity and when the files on the card are large in number and/or size, the unit's ability to draw mapping may be slowed.

If you have an OEM dealer device, please refer to the series above that fits your device.

*Note: StreetPilot c300 and i-Series units do not currently support the SDHC (High Capacity) cards.

I use a 4 Gig Transcend brand card i got off Amazon for really cheap. Works great.

I have used several different brands of SD cards and did not have to format them in order to use them in my 255W. I notice that they are formatted as FAT32.

I am not sure what you mean by “the Garmin screen shows it”. Are you referring to the 255W screen or do you mean a screen on your computer that you see while you are running Garmin's POI Loader?

Please describe what procedure you are using to “download to the SD Card”.

Whatever method you use, the way to start is to turn off the 255W, put in the card (if it is not already in), and then attach your usb cable to your 255W and then to your computer. In a short time you should see signs of your computer recognizing your 255W and the card in it as separate drives.

The drives will appear in My Computer (XP) or Computer (Vista and 7).

Then the card will show as an available drive in POI Loader or you can manually create a garmin folder with a GPX subfolder on the SD card and copy gpx files to the GPX subfolder.

If your computer has a SD card slot or you have a USB card reader, you can also work directly with the the card and put the card into the 255W after you have the POIs on the card.

Thanks Charles45. That appears to be what it needed. I reformated from the website you provided, and then downloaded the files to the SD card with the card in the slot in the computer rather than the Garmin.

Now, if I downloaded correctly, how do I find those POIs on my Garmin?

I know, questions, questions. But I am completely new at this and know that I am completely lost most of the time.

Assistance provided so far has been great.

Are you using POI Loader to install the downloaded POI files to your GPS? If not, here's some help:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/85

Touch where to,extras and touch custom pois last and you will see them.See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25721 for more info.

Note with the custom pois you will get message do you want to load them to gps every time you boot up.See (link no longer available) .To get rid of that annoying message.

I tried to download the POIs using POI Loader. The computer tells me it cannot find a device. I know it is connected. I even changed USB Ports; checked every connection. Still shows cannot find a device.

It also states that I may have to set the interface option to Garmin or Host?????? Can't find any place to do that.

I also tried to load the SD Card with the computer and it seems to have downloaded, but when I insert the card into the Garmin, there are no Custom Options icon.

Confusinger and Confusinger by the minute.

At a quick glance, the Sony Memory Pro Duo Card looks similar to the SD card, but they are not the same and definitely not interchangeable. When placed side by side, the differences are obvious.

My camera uses the Sony card and I always have to make sure I'm not trying to plug it into the SD slot on the PC.

Did you try this?

Why doesn't my computer detect my unit when I connect with a USB cable?

01/13/2011

Your computer uses USB Mass Storage Mode to detect your Garmin unit. If your computer does not detect your Garmin unit, you can try these troubleshooting steps:

Unplug the USB cable from the computer
Turn the unit off and then back on again
Plug the USB cable into your computer
The unit either should automatically go into USB Mass Storage Mode or displays USB Mass Storage Mode as an option on the screen.

Note: If your computer still does not detect the unit, make sure that you plug the USB cable directly into the computer USB port and not a USB hub. If the cable is already plugged directly into the computer, try plugging it into a different port. You will also need to ensure that you are using a compatible USB cable. For more information on compatible USB cables, visit the article What kind of USB cable do I need to connect my Garmin GPS to a computer?

If your device is going into USB Mass Storage Mode but does not display in My Computer, please try changing the drive letters:

Plug your unit into your computer via USB cable
Right click on My Computer
Click on Manage
Click on Disk Management
Here you should see a Garmin drive
If so, right-click the Garmin drive, and click Change Drive Letter and Paths
Click on the Change button
Click on the small drop-down box and choose a letter that is not already in use
Click Ok
Click yes/ok to any software/change message you receive
Back out to your desktop and see if it will recognize the device
If you still experience problems, please contact Product Support.

If you've not ever been able to load POIs to your GPS with POI Loader, let's try starting with something simpler. Very many of us here load our POI files directly to the GPS memory with POI Loader. For most folks, loading POIs to a SD card is not needed and may never be of use to us. Even if you want to eventually use the SD card for POIs, we first need to get you to load POIs to be usable by your GPS by whatever method may work.

Remove the SD card from your GPS. Connect your GPS to the computer. (This should have your computer recognize the GPS as a new drive--if not, this needs to be resolved before doing anything else!) Run POI Loader now and see if your GPS is recognized and can load a POI file from your created-earlier directory containing a POI file downloaded from the POI Factory.

Does this work? If not, where and how does it fail?

Other info we may have forgotten to ask so far:

Mac or PC? What operating system?
What version of POI Loader?
What POI file(s) have you downloaded from the Factory and where are they being stored on your computer?

I did as Craig W suggested. I removed the SD card and downloaded the files directly to the Garmin. It indicates I downloaded it successfully. Now I just have to try it.

Assume there is something wrong with the SD Card, because when I tried to download to that , it says There is a problem downloading Device is not ready - or words to that effect.

Any ideas what may be wrong with the SD Card?

I guess I spoke too soon.

The computer said I successfully downloaded the files, however when I touch Where to and looked for Custom Files, there was no such icon.

Anyone know what happened. At this point I am prepared to just give up, because nothing seems to go right, even with your expert assistance.

I assume it must be me that is the problem.

Don't give up. Custom POIs will appear in the Extras tab.

Touch WhereTo/Extras/CustomPOIs and they should be there. And don't worry when all you see is the line "Custom POIs." You need to touch the Custom POIs to see the ones you've loaded. Good luck.

When you downloaded the csv files from the site and downloaded from the computer to sd card.Did you make a folder called my pois and put the csv files in that?Then when you ran poiloader did you select the my pois folder when you got to browse?Here is some info on custom pois http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25721 .

Sorry you've been having this problem and everyone here has overlooked the simple fact your SD card has to have a Garmin folder with a POI folder inside it. Do this and it will work.

Poi Loader automatically puts a garmin\POI folder on SD cards in which it places the filename.gpi files it creates.

That is correct.The Garmin folder is created on the sd card once you run poiloader.
1.Make a folder on computer and call it my pois and put all the csv files you downloaded from site into that folder.
2.Put Sd in card reader that is connected to the computer.
3.With sd card connected to computer run poiloader.
4.When you get to browse select the my pois folder you made.
5.Continue poiloader and once completed you will get message so many pois loaded.
6.Put Sd card int gps and boot up.
7.On gps touch where to,extras and touch custom pois last.

POI Loader 2.6.1 automatically creates the garmin\POI folder if you select the SD card as a “Garmin Device”.

It does not create any folders on the SD card if you select “Computer” instead of "Garmin Device" and then browse to the SD card. And in this case it does not matter if the SD card is in the 255W slot or in a card reader. It does require that there is a folder but does not care what the name is.

I found that I can name the folder on the SD card as “Junk” and POI Loader will put the .gpi file directly in the Junk folder (ie does not add a folder named POI). My 255W will read the POIs with no problem.

In other words, on the 255W one does not have to have the .gpi files in a folder named \garmin\POI in order for .gpi files to work. That is true on the Garmin and as well as on the attached SD card. The .gpi files will even work if they are at the root of the 255W or the root of the SD card.

I got it. I got it. I got it.

Craig W solved the problem.

I could not find the Custom POIs on my Garmin.

I just touched Where To - Extras - Custom POIs and they were there. I had not been aware of the Extras step.

Thank you very much. I will stay with this website for a long time.