Garmin 1400 Series and Memory Cards.

Yes, up to 16GB.

I use an 8GB micro SDHC in my 1490.

You can use up to a 16GB SDHC Card and it will work.

You must format it Fat32 NOT NTFS for the Nuvi to recognize.

Keep in mind SD cards are rated in "Class" which is the speed it will read & write. A class 2 reads/writes at 2MB per second, a class 4 reads/writes at 4MB per second.
I suggest you get a class 4.

They do have higher speeds but I've never tried them, both my cards are 8GB class 4 Sandisks.

Maybe somebody using a higher speed than Class 4 can give more advise on their compatibility and their experience using these higher speed cards.

PS Sorry for duplicate information, I was typing when others replied.

If the question is to make the decision of buying a 1400 then the cost of an 8gig class 4 should be taken into consideration, perhaps there is an 8gig Nuvi that is closer to the combined price of the 1400 and the card.

I use 4GB Sandisk that cost $5.00. How can I find out if they are class 2 or 4 whatever?

On the card, you'll see it with a number inside a 'C'. Pretty small usually, so get a magnifying glass.

Mine are all class 4. I'm going to investigate why my unit takes so long to boot up.

If you think that's small, ever try to get the serial #'s off the micro cards to register them?

I always buy the micro cards and have a couple of adapters so I can use those cards in my older Garmin units that use the standard SD Card.

Big difference from the Class 2 to Class 4 in speed.
Still curious if other users have higher speed cards and how their Nuvi's perform with them.

The class of cards is usually stated as a minimum write speed, but it does vary greatly between makers. I have a class 4, 8 GB that writes @11MB/ second, giving it the characteristics of a class 10.

Who is the manufacturer of your card and what software did you use to test the speed?

That card was made by Dane Elec, a brand I bought at The Source here. I used h2testw to test it, and other cards. However, I choose to stay with that one SW as to get a baseline for all of my cards.

Thanks for advising theat Dane Electric is the manufacturer, I assume you bought this card:
http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&c...

I downloaded the h2testw test program and tested one of my two Sandisk 8GB Class 4 cards. The card was half full with files, so I only tested half. I will need to format the card and test the full card for a thorough evaluation.

The half card test results were disappointing,
it showed write speed at 3.67 MB, far less than your 11 MB write speed. however, the read speed was 10.3 MB. I was under the impression that the read & write speeds on a class 4 card were 4MB, so the 10.3 results are puzzling.

Yes, that's the card I have.

Classes are for write speeds only. Video, and continuous pictures (think motor drive for an old SLR) are a prime example of why it is weighted to write speeds.

My SanDisk cards are around what you posted as well. My Dane Elec card was the shocker when I tested it. Maybe I got a mislabeled card, or they have a better read/ write speed, I don't know. I only have the one from them.

Not only test from the nuvi, but test from the computer as well. Typically, the computer will be (show) faster write speeds. Just a better baseline for future comparisons!

@Juggernaut
I stand corrected, you are indeed correct, after further searches, only the write speed is what's listed under class speeds.

So if my test showed the Sandisk read speed at 10.3 MB, I am very pleased since the GPS will be reading the card, not writing to it. If I send a 2GB map to the card it takes about 7 minutes, that's quite acceptable, damn sure beats the time in downloading it from Garmin, their servers must be archaic.

But, also take into account your card doesn't have 10,000 users (or more) at any one time DL'ing a file, right?

Also, the transfer time is indicative of your USB port speeds, i.e. 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 etc.

And yes, I think you can rest assured your card is up to snuff for reading maps, JCV, and POI's during it's use.

My USB port speed is USB 2.0.

Just completed the full test with no errors so I'm satisfied with the card Here are the results:

Test finished without errors.
You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.
Writing speed: 3.65 MByte/s
Reading speed: 10.3 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

Here is a sample result from my 4GB, Class 4 SanDisk card in the 3790T:

--------------------------------------
Warning: Only 500 of 3770 MByte tested.
Test finished without errors.
You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.
Writing speed: 1.22 MByte/s
Reading speed: 2.72 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

Wow, those are lousy results.
One would think the 4Gb opposed to the 8GB should have nothing to do with the read speeds when both are class 4.

Maybe the card is a counterfeit, plenty of those floating around Ebay from what I've read.

Whenever I buy a Sandisk card I go to the Sandisk site and register it for warranty purposes. If the card was counterfeit with a bad serial # I would think the registration process would fail.

Like I said, this was IN the nuvi when tested. I didn't test via a card reader.

My apologies, should have read more carefully.

Never heard back from jcg4550 the OP.
We must have bored him|her and they gave up.
Thanks for the education I think we can put this to rest now.

My Nuvi 350 accepts a 16 GB SDHC card. Why would newer ones accept only smaller cards?

Fred

Here's my test using a card reader:

Warning: Only 500 of 3778 MByte tested.
Test finished without errors.
You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.
Writing speed: 6.75 MByte/s
Reading speed: 18.2 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

See:

Updated by Garmin 10/15/2011 so it's very current. Nuvis all can take a 16GB card:

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