Update 2012.2?

Well, the 1300LM comes with the Lower 49 states, not the whole of North America. Did you purchase the North America updates for the 1300LM or are you trying to use the ones purchased for the 260W? If the former, read on. If the latter, map updates can't be transferred between devices.

To do this with my maps, I downloaded them to the PC but did NOT install them automatically to the GPS. I then ran MapInstall and transferred the maps that way, once I moved the old map off the device and on to my hard drive. When done, you should have about 300MB free, assuming you removed all non-essential files such as voices and vehicle files that you may never use.

At some point though, likely by the 2013.10 update, you will no longer have sufficient memory internally to accept the map. So, unless Garmin rewrites MapInstall so it sees one big memory space instead of two small spaces, you'll have to run MapInstall twice in order to transfer maps, picking and choosing which map tiles go onto the internal memory and which go on external memory.

I always learn something in this forum. Thanks for the response. So basically I CAN delete the map manually after the new one is in my PC. I did the install to the PC too, so I already have that. Also, you say I can take a big chunk of the map (yes, it is the lower 49 states I meant) and place it in the SD card so I have more room in the unit?

I already complained to Garmin that their install software is not "smart" enough. Old map+empty space=empty space for new map, is what I suggested, and also to install to SD card. Downloads are already "tied" to the unit with whatever encryption they use, so it shouldn't be an issue.

One other thing that might be messing things up is the name of the map. Remember that Garmin names its maps gmapsupp.img when installed. Yours is likely named gmapprom.img and the update program is too stupid to see it.

But yes, I have in fact moved the maps off the GPS. With my 200W I have to move the map every time I update the 200W's maps in order for the space meter on the right side of MapInstall's screen to read properly.

<off topic>What happened to your 260W anyway?</off topic>

...for the 260W that is...

I put it in a pocket of my jacket, opened the passenger side door and put jacket and briefcase there... decided to get rid of some garbage from the car, so I opened the garage door and took it to the garbage bin outside.

Came back and slammed the passenger door closed, not noticing the nuvi had fallen off the jacket on to the side of the passenger seat and landed on the frame without making any noise. Cracked the screen when the door tried to close.

I am looking for a replacement screen as it seems to be working fine otherwise. The display is useless: big white screen with a black "star" in the middle. I can even "touch" where the buttons are supposed to be and get a reaction.

So far everyone wants too much for a display or they want to fix it for me. I am an electrical engineer, I can do it myself if the display goes for $10~20. I decided to go for the 1300LM as an upgrade, as I won't pay more to get the 260W back to "active duty" since I have seen them in ebay for $40~50. Worst case scenario, it will end up as "parts" for my experimenting

That's it...noticed the name. I'll try all your tips tomorrow morning. Thanks again for the help and I hope you got a laugh out of the 260's death. I'm being a lot more careful with the 1300, as i took the 260 for granted. I dropped it many times and kept on working, although I never intended to slam a car door on it

Just reading your dilemma. I've been emailing back and forth with Garmin for the same problem with my Zumo 550. They had me delete the file gmapprom.img which allowed me to update finally but only a smaller section, not the total map update. Now I have another issue not present before starting. My "Extras/Custom POI's" won't accept individual folders anymore. The custom poi folder's I had installed from poifactory before now only install as the list of the last poi I download to the unit. Now they say I'd have to send it in for repair at $150 after the webupdater (another Garmin suggestion) didn't work. Anyone have any ideas?

If I understand your POI problem correctly, I think it's always worked that way. Whenever you use POIloader it will create a file called poi.gpi and place it in the POI folder on the Nuvi/Zumo.

What I need to do to create individual folders is to use POIloader and create a poi.gpi file for each of my categories. For example, if I want a category called Hotels I use POIloader to create a poi,gpi file on my Nuvi that contains just POI files for Hotel sights. Once the .gpi file is on the device I rename it to Hotels.gpi. You always need to do this rename before creating a new poi.gpi file as the new one will overwrite the current one.

I then create a new poi.gpi file for restaurants and rename it. Then for Fuel, etc. until I have separate .gpi files for all my categories.

Thanks but after I wrote this I started messing with possibilities. Before, I would just pick the pre-built poi file off my computer and the poiloader would put it in the "Extras" icon auromatically named as I built it. After all this update stuff it would only put the list in of the last folder I downloaded to the device. How I fixed it to load numerous folders again for "Custom POI's" I picked custom folder on the poiloader instead of the garmin device and then the garmin folder on the device. It is loading folders again instead of the listings when opening "Custom POI's" of the device.Like I told Garmin, don't know why or what changed from before but it's loading my poi folders again for use. Hope this helps someone with the same problem after the 2012.20 map update. That was the start of my problem.

This is exactly what I had in my 1300. The update program is too dumb to figure out the last map update came in as a gmapprom.img and reported only 726MB free after I got rid of everything, including all vehicles (it keeps the blue triangle somehow), all voices (mute nuvi). The old map was almost 1.3GB, so after backing up everything (just in case) I loaded Mapupdate as you said, the 2012.2 map was there (along with the old 2011.4) so I deleted all maps from the nuvi, re-detected the 1300 and it gave me over 1.7GB of free space. Loaded the 2012 map and sent it. Then restored everything to the nuvi (except old maps) and everything I had fit, including voices, pois, vehicles, etc. and have 273MB left.

I hope Garmin figures out a way to solve this problem as this whole process takes over an hour including all the manual involvement. It seems as if the 1300 has a USB 1.1 interface because it is soo slow! Thanks again for all your help. Everything is back to normal and I have the full 2012.2 map in the unit Might have to do this again for 2013... I hope the "incremental updates" until then recognize the gmapsupp.img which is what I have in the unit now.

After trying my discovery I noticed it would only let me load 2 files. I came back and read your post closer and wala! Thank you very much. I'm loading all my poi's again. I love this site. Garmin should come here for help. They're no where close to helping with any of this.

I just reread your original response to me. You asked about splitting maps between internal memory and the MicroSD card. Yes, you can do that and I do it all the time for the 200W since my 200W only has 1GB of internal space. The portions that don't fit on the internal memory I have to put on the SD card. When the nüvi boots, it will note that there are two different sources in the map info (Wrench, Settings, Map, Map Info/Info) for the current map, but otherwise functions seamlessly.

Splitting the map between internal memory and SD/MicroSD card is something that cannot be done with Garmin's automated map update program. Thus you have to run MapInstall twice to get the entire map onto the unit. Once for the internal memory and once for the SD/MicroSD card.

Transferring to the nüvi is slow, even though the 1300LM has a USB 2.0 interface. I found a modified version of the MapInstall executable that allows me to send the maps to any drive I want. Using the modified EXE, I figured I saved about a half hour's worth of time by sending the map image to a hard drive and then transferring the map image to the nüvi. Since the hard drive is much faster than the USB when it comes to creating the map image in the first place, that is where the time savings comes into play.

You would think that Garmin would have the program check for the old file (regardless of name) and allocate that space for the new map. What bugs me is that it wouldn't update when I deleted the map, but it would try and fail when the map was there, for lack of space. Too much copycrap protection if you ask me. I have a registered unit, they encrypt the file and marry it to the unit, they have my personal info, yet they keep the process so tight it is ridiculous. At least the software should be better than what they have.

And as usual, I found answers and learned a few things AND quicker than a Garmin response in the forum. Garmin has not replied yet and my problem is fixed. Thanks again, I know now that I can keep the rest of the file in the memory card if it keeps "growing".

Can you post the location (or PM) of the modified exe?

http://www.multiupload.com/ELPKIWJBRS

If you have all the map files on a folder on your computer, then I think you can just put the entire map on your SDHC card in a folder named \garmin

This is something you will eventually need to do, as future maps will keep growing and will not fit on your internal memory.