4GB MicroSD Required For 2013.20+ Updates?

You may need aa micro SD, but a 1 or2 GB will probably suffice depending on what is placed on the card. The maps themselves are a little over a Gig and the full screen JV file is about 3/4 GB. You'll need a minimum of 2 GB for both so a 4GB isn't too far out of the plausible need but it's not "required."

Not for the 34xx/35xx models. They have plenty of storage for map updates, and use the split screen JCV file which comes automatically with the map update.

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My 3790 has the same size internal memory as they do and with the latest 2013.30 maps, large split screen JV file, Arizona Topo map and my custom poi's loaded it still has 2.30 GB free memory with just the built in internal memory.

Unless you are installing all the European maps in addition to to US map you should not need a SD card.

I might have bin a bit hasty with my comments about space. I have both units, but space on board is different. The 3590LMT reads 7.34GB capacity. The 3790LMT reads 7.28GB capacity. I deleted all help keyboard,languages...etc on both and loaded my poi's and favs. 3590LMT free 2.46GB. 3790LMT free 2.95GB
That's telling me there's an extra .5GB of stuff on the 3590. So..if one were to leave it as is from factory you might end up with storage space problems in the future. As the new Maps get loaded, the old ones get either overwritten or deleted. You need space on the unit for all that to happen. Ever tried to defrag a full h/d in the olden days with fat32... takes forever. These units btw are fat32 not ntsc.

I'm a bit confused, so the internal memory on the 3490LMT should cover all the JV files, etc.?

Yes

For now yes. What i'm thinking, is that most people don't know they can delete all those useless files and free up tons of room. Garmin isn't telling you that. JCV files keep getting larger. So eventually you could end up with no room, unless you delete those useless files.

Micro SD & SD cards are so cheap that it pays to install the biggest one the Garmin you have will take.

Fred

I had to cut out something on my combined maps but got it to work.

Yes, and for many map updates to come. Even with half the internal storage of the 3490, you'd still get North America, the JCV file and most everything else on the Nuvi.

Also remember that the JCV file on the 3490 is only half the size of the 700+MB file that some older Nuvi's get. That's because your unit displays split screen views. Half the picture size equals half the file size.

Personally I have CN, full JCV file, a number of state topo maps, and thousands of custom POI's on my 8GB 3790 and don't come close to filling it up. My 8GB 2460 has all the files on it that the 3790 does, except the topo maps, and has 2.31GB of free space.

I don't agree with that statement. If I had a 265T like
pilothaz...yes, it's the only way. Delete all the language and help file stuff then you don't need a micro sd for a couple of years. I use topographic files on my sd card, they are a lot bigger. Those 2-4GB machines are having problems now. Both mine have close to 8GB. It will take a while.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/34375

Next time I buy a Nuvi, I'm going to make sure it is a model which has 8GB internal memory.

Maps and JV's will grow every update, be interesting if Garmin will address this in new models

When I tried to load the latest, entire North American map, the program told me that it needed an SD card. I had a choice of loading only portion of the map, say Western US, without the card.

Fortunately, I had a couple of 4GB SD cards, so that worked out fine. But I do remember 2GB being insufficient.

So the external card requirement sounds correct. Whether a MicroSD or a standard SD depends on the model.

Must admit, I'm new to Garmins and I went for a Nuvi 2555 earlier in the year. I really kinda wish I'd gone for a 2595 just because it has 8GB internal RAM rather than the 4GB of the 2555. That said, I did pick up an 8GB MicroSD pretty cheaply recently so it's not a big deal.

Feels pretty cheap of Garmin to sell a GPS that is going to require this when it's only around a year old though.

Not just for specific Models, it can be needed for 8gb Units also. My micro usb has 6gb out of 8GB used up in Topo Files and Garmin's lexicon. The topo files are huge. All I have loaded is Oregon and British Columbia. Seems ridiculous.

While on the topic of SD cards I'd like to make a comment.

I only buy the Sandisk brand, I found them to be most reliable. I also ony buy Micro cards since more and more newer electronics use them then the standard cards.

I have two 8GB class 4 SDHC cards, and one 16GB Class 10 card, all are micro cards.

I also have an adapter that I can insert the micro cards into to make it a standard size card, they are cheap to buy.

My Nuvi 660 only takes the standard size cards.
I can put any of the three cards into the adapter and the 660 will read it without problems, even the 16GB class 10 card.

So those of you with older devices, that use standard cards, and you have micro cards for other devices, just buy an adapter and you won't need to buy a new card. Whatever is on the card the Nuvi will ignore and only use the the information that is relevant to the Nuvi models file structure.

As an example, I have a 6gb .mov file (Movie File) on the 16GB card, I can place a POI file in the Garmin\POI folder and the 660 will read it as will my 2460.

I was thinking the same thing. One would assume that the internal memory should be increased in future models unless they are working on compressing these files going forward.

Thanks all for the input!

nice to know

The old adage still applies, "you get what you pay for". The lower end 30-40-50 2012 units still only have 1.76GB memory. This means to increase the size a SD card is a must.

I personally wouldn't buy a unit that has less than 8GB memory to avoid any hassles of updates. Economically speaking, the SD card will do the job at a much lower cost than buying a higer end unit.

All of this seems ridiculous. I remember when having a 40MB hard drive was huge. Software manufacturers started to make apps and games larger. Now we are in the Terra bytes. You want the Game, or the App you're gonna pay the price. Fair? Dunno, its an individual thing. If you can do with out...you will. These Gps's
are no different. New versions will be Larger. If you do not keep up with the times you are going to load your maps on the Micro sd card, until you cannot get free updates. Then you might have to bite the bullet.
It's all a scam....lol

The original IBM PC/XT came with a 10MB disk and 16K of memory.

Smarty pants, i'm a late bloomer. I started as the 286's came out.

Our main frame at work had 10MB hard drive. Data processing guy had to come back to work after supper every night to back up the drive.
I used a Commodore64 for the team softball stats and the football pools for a few years. I actually used AutoCad on the 286 when it came out.
But then technology surpassed my brain power.

I had chance to work on 286 with only floppy drive. No hard drive. And it was working fine, as one 1.2MB 5 1/4" floppy disk can hold whole game or text editor plus some user files. Minus side of one FDD was that from time to time it may be necessary to put disk with operating system into station. So the richer people were buying second FDD to avoid this problem

In school we were using punch cards and the modem was the phone handset to an acoustic coupler at 110 baud. At home, my first PC was a Timex Sinclair with 1KB Ram and a cassette drive to save and load programs. Moved to a Vic-20 and then an Atari 800. Can't really say I miss that stuff!

You could also go into the files and delete the languages and voices that you don't need.

From 4GB MicroSD Required For 2013.20+ Updates?
To "OLD FARTS HANG OUT HERE'

A lot of threads tend to veer off into other directions away from the original topic. Happens all the time with most forums.

I received the same message when updating my 1390. Deleting the foreign language files and other stuff I tried was not enough. A quick check at Amazon found several reputable sellers with 4 GB micro SD cards for under $4 including shipping.

These smaller capacity cards are going out of fashion for smartphone users who want or need larger sizes, but they are perfectly suited for our needs.

Indeed SD cards are cheap, as are computer memory sticks. What I fail to understand is why can't Garmin increase the memory in it's units. I'm sure people wouldn't mind paying a few dollars more for the convenience.

In my opinion, by increasing the memory, I think that would reduce costs for Garmin since fewer customers would be calling & emailing for support when maps won't fit on the device.