Can I update a 50lm with 8 gb memory SD so it has the entire US and not just one region?

Welcome cessna,

First make sure your SD card is formatted FAT32 and then download Map Updater http://www.poi-factory.com/node/39873 .

Look for the option screen on the lower left hand side on one of the screens to choose a region that your entitled to have.

Please let us know if you encounter any problems and be advised that Garmin should be releasing a new map update (version 2015.10) sometime next week.

Cheers & good luck

Cessna, your nuvi 50LM is one of the majority of vehicular Garmin GPS devices that will automatically be offered the SD-map-update if the largest map your unit is entitled to receive will not fit in the nuvi's internal storage:

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

I'm therefore confused when you say Garmin Express only offers you a limited map to be installed to the nuvi itself. Is it possible that you overlooked an update choice of installing the full map to a SD card?

If Garmin Express is not giving you this option, try GarminMapUpdater instead:

PC:
http://download.garmin.com/lmu/GarminMapUpdater.exe

Mac:
http://download.garmin.com/lmu/GarminMapUpdater.dmg

One last note. The nuvi 50LM came in two flavors: 1) Lower 48 states and 2) all of the US and Canada. Your map update will offer you an update only to the version of 50LM you bought: Lower 48, or US/Canada.

If you bought version with only 48 states area only solution to get bigger map is to buy US/Canada map and install it as CraigW wrote above. If you are not sure what map you have just log in on your Garmin account and check what is original map assigned to your device. It will be map with oldest version number.

Correct, and honestly, for someone with the 48 State version who wants all of North America, you'd probably do better by buying a new nuviLM or LMT that comes with all of North America rather than spending the $80 or so for the full City Navigator North America NT map.

Thanks to all of you. I seem to remember on my first update a year or so ago that I was told by Express that the map was too large. I didn't have an SD card at the time and the choice between my device and device & computer didn't make much sense. Not sure what I ended up doing, but when I got the 8 gig card (and it is a FAT32) Express only gave regional choices. Express still only gives regional choices, but I tried the web updater and then advanced option when selecting a region, and got the choice to do device and computer. Not knowing where it would lead me I tried it and came to something called Base Camp. Before I knew what was happening it was downloading NW lower 48. I don't know if it actually installed Base Camp, but when it was through I could spell any state into it and it recognized them from Florida, Washington, Arizona, and New York...states from all regions. I even put in a trip that would take me from the East Coast to Seattle...and except for getting the message it was too long and the last instructions, etc would be available as I got closer to the destination, it worked. So, maybe I now have it all. Time will tell. I'm not sure how it all happened because the only thing it ever showed me that was being downloaded was the NW region, but the "Info" under Maps in Settings now shows [1] Lower 49 states and [2] Lower 49 states NW. Thanks again to all. I have 587 MB of 1.76 GB free on my 50LM, and 5.73 gig free of the 7.67 gig total on the card--if that helps anyone know what I actually have.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/42542

I had the same question when I tried to update a 50LM a couple of weeks ago. Then I did something different trying to determine if the Nuvi cared what class SD card I needed. I was then offered the option to delete all non-English language files. I did and the lower 48 map then fit. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the exact details. But the upside is there is an alternative to buying a new SD card if you look in the right place.