SD Card Use?

The maps get larger with every update. For many units, the internal memory is almost full. Garmin Express waits until the last minute to ask for an SD card.

How did your map update go with the new SD card?

dobs108

Appears to have worked, I can View Maps

Getting ready to do the same. Glad to here it works okay.

32 GB may be the max so if something like a 64GB is on sale, don’t necessarily buy it. You can also use an 8GB or 16GB.

I have a Nuvi 3490 and finally had to use the card for the maps too. I couldn't recall, is 32GB the limit for most of these models? How about the newer Drive series....is that also 32GB or is that higher now (not to say I need it for that model yet).

The limitation generally is that Garmin devices need cards formatted FAT32, cards larger than 32Gb aren't FAT32 by default. No On the road device should need a card larger than 32GB unless someone wishes to add lots of additional maps, or for Zumo users music etc.

muell9k wrote

To the best of my knowledge the maximum SD CARD for Garmin GPS automobile units is 32gb.

The maximum INTERNAL memory is 16gb is (14.6gb)actual displayed in Windows.The Drivesmart and Driveluxe series are the only units having the maximum internal memory available.
DriveLuxe 51 -> 14.2 GB reported in Windows
DriveLuxe 61 -> 14.2 GB reported in Windows
Drivesmart 61 LMT-S -> 16 Internal, 7 available
Drivesmart 65 -> 16

See the post by member bear007 LAST UPDATED - 04/01/19
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/34375

A list of maximum sizes for various devices can be found at https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=UsL6MuMMCM8PpgAhUUCqp7

FYI, these micro SD cards are often used in phones for extra storage so if you have an old phone ready to be trashed see if you used a card with it. If so the card may be useable in the GPS device.

Use SD cards, digital cameras use them, as well as some in-car navigation systems. Some will use micro SD cards. Phones have already been mentioned. One of the first things that I do when purchasing something is check to see if it takes a card; if it does, I go ahead and buy one.

Memory is cheap these days and sometimes that can get you in trouble. Someone here a few months back purchased a 64GB card from Best Buy. It was a few bucks less than a 32GB because the 64GB was on sale. Unfortunately it didn’t work in their device which a max of 32GB.

So know the device and the maximum size you can use. In most cases you are safe with 32GB or 16GB which are getting hard to find in box stores. Also, it should be noted that many devices use the microSD card, not SD. They are different in physical size.

From Floppy (3.5Mb) disks to memory cards many times bigger than the 270MB HDD drive my first IBM PC had to at least 128GB memory cards.

I remembered we had 720 double density floppy if that is not earliest storage media.

But I think "TAPE"on big reels was before those big floppies, which were before my time.

In the old days (80s) we had a disc almost the size of a pizza box. It was portable and held an amazing 10 MB.

Now you can have 1 TB on a thing that is the size of a regular stamp.

The factor of evolution in information storage is greater than the speed of the computers.

/JCA

The first time I ever used a computer, it used Magnetic Core memory.

That was a "Mainframe" type computer at Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, VA in the 70's. You used "Punch Cards" to enter the data you wanted to run.

I never tried it, but why wouldn't you be able to partition a 64GB drive into 2x 32GB drives and format each one Fat32? Will Nuvi then see 2 SD cards?

See https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=Fhbvkb1ccLA06I7MdtsHH9

Thanks for the info

OK thanks. Seems like that list can't be right on some. Only 7GB for Drivesmart 50? Either way, memory has come down so much you'd think they'd start off the new units with 64GB internal these days but who knows. Guessing that's overkill for the map data.

Thanks.

You meant PAPER tape?
That was even before paper punch card...

Just make sure it is a legit one. Some on Amazon and other places can be fake so buy from a reputable supplier. I needed to get one for my Dezl 770 about 2 years ago and got a Sandisk 32gb Ultra for under $15. Since using have noticed no difference in speed. I would get one and install it before you need it if your memory is close to be full.

Don’t buy from any place that ships the product to you, except for possibly the two large camera stores in New Yorrk, Adorama and B&H.

We are not talking big bucks her, just go to a Best Buy. They are reliable and non counterfeit and often soething is on sale. Just don’t go more than 32 GB.

I have a couple of nüvi 760s. I have cards in both of them. In addition to map information they also hold audio books and music. If the audio book is from audible.com then it plays in the dedicated Audible app. With that app I can set bookmarks. I love it. Otherwise, I have audio books and music in .mp3 format which the 760 also plays. Either way the directions and book pause work great.

There is also an "audio out" port on the 760 so I can plug it into the vehicle audio. I can drive down the road listening to my book and when there are directions, the nüvi pauses the book, gives the directions, then resumes the book a second or two before the pause point so it's a seamless transition.

No wonder I've kept these old models going. They do things that the new models don't offer.

You're right; it's not the total device size that will soon to be a problem, it's the maximum FILE size that could be the issue. There are available windows FAT32 format programs which will format greater than 32GB. FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4GB. My latest install of Full NA 2022.20 had a gmapprom.img 3,942,580,224 bytes long. If the map keeps growing, the 4GB limit could be exceeded. Not a huge problem to solve, but would probably require new firmware (and orphan older devices) Just a thought.
Mark

Garmin already solved that problem with the Europe maps a few years ago. They split the Europe map into two regions and download as two files, keeping each file less than 4 GB. I am sure they will do the same with NA maps. You are probably right that some older devices will be made obsolete when this happens, at a minimum allowing only a partial NA map on some devices.