Garmin Nuvi 500 And City Navigator North America 2024.20 Update

The nuvi 500 is one of the models that Garmin has discontinued for map updates: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=FbLi6qISMH8vJG5A1p9tW5

Thank you for the reply. That does make sense. Ironically, I tried both my Garmin Nuvi 350 and 360, too. The 360 would not update, but the 350 did! Go figure.

I don't think I have anything else on this list, either.

GVN™ 52 Remote GPS Sensor

GVN™ 53 Remote GPS Sensor

GVN™ 54 Remote GPS Sensor

nüvi® 295 GPS navigator

nüvi® 300 GPS navigator

nüvi® 310 GPS navigator

BMW nüvi® 350 GPS navigator

BMW nüvi® 360 GPS navigator

Honda nüvi® 350 GPS navigator

Toyota nüvi® 350 GPS navigator

nüvi® 350 GPS navigator

Hyundai nüvi® 360 GPS navigator

nüvi® 360 for Ford Cars GPS navigator

nüvi® 360 GPS navigator

nüvi® 370 GPS navigator

nüvi® 500 GPS navigator

BRP nüvi® 500 GPS navigator

nüvi® 550 GPS navigator

nüvi® 550 for Nissan Cars GPS navigator

nüvi® 600 GPS navigator

nüvi® 610 GPS navigator

nüvi® 650 GPS navigator

nüvi® 650 for Ford Cars GPS navigator

nüvi® 660 GPS navigator

nüvi® 670 GPS navigator

Mazda nüvi® 680 GPS navigator

nüvi® 680 GPS navigator

nüvi® 750 for Nissan Cars GPS navigator

nüvi® 760 for Nissan Cars GPS navigator

nüvi® 850 GPS navigator

nüvi® 855 GPS navigator

nüvi® 860 GPS navigator

nüvi® 860 for Volvo Cars GPS navigator

nüvi® 865 GPS navigator

BMW nüvi® 880 GPS navigator

Mopar nüvi® 880 GPS navigator

nüvi® 880 GPS navigator

nüvi® 885T GPS navigator

nüvi® 5000 GPS navigator

zūmo® 450 GPS navigator

BMW Motorrad zūmo® 550 GPS navigator

Can-Am Spyder zūmo® 550 GPS navigator

Harley Davidson Roadtech zūmo® 550 GPS navigator

zūmo® 550 (Honda) GPS navigator

zūmo® 550 GPS navigator

Harley Davidson Roadtech zūmo® 665 GPS navigator

zūmo® 665 GPS navigator

zūmo® 665LM GPS navigator

I was hoping to update this one, too, but I think I am out of luck.

Did you try Garmin Express?

Garmin Express won't help. Once a device makes it onto Garmin's list of devices no longer eligible for updates nothing will allow the map to be updated. Not even cloning will help.

At this point maps from OpenMapChest are all that will work.

You can find all the info here. Instructions, FAQ and etc. https://www.openmapchest.org/

I use open street maps for my phone and so far no big problems . Per info on the site the maps on this site are updated weekly so that everyone can benefit from the fixes and updates in the OpenStreetMap data without too much delay.

Thank you for the reminder. I have used them on some of my other Garmins and I need to install them on my Garmin Nuvi 500.

I just installed the fourth full map update of the year, usually on the first of the month but haven't had the ute in the garage so it didn't hit wifi
1 Jan
1 Apr
1 Jul
1 Oct
every year
minor corrections every day or so
other cars n bikes updated on the 1st
sometimes the changes between maps are pretty minor
the October version usually has an absolute sh-ton of summer roadwork changes

I am so disappointed when companies no longer support their older products.Apple is the biggest culprit in doing this and that is why I do not buy Apple products.

In this case, I don't think it's planned for a lot of these units. I believe the vast majority are formatted as FAT16, which limits file sizes to no more than 2GB minus 1 byte in size. The old limitations in map naming compounds the problem, since you are limited to "gmapsupp.img" and "gmapsup1.img". In simple language, the current map is too big for these devices to support it.

There may be hardware reasons behind the loss of support, especially as alternative map sources do still work. Or it could simply be Garmin not expecting these devices to still be working in 2024. I just don't know.

I don't like planned obsolescence either. I expected this to happen at some point though because of the improvements in file systems. I don't expect it to happen at all in devices that aren't limited in the naming structure of the maps. Which means I don't expect a scenario like this to happen again unless Garmin suddenly chooses to use NTFS instead of ExFAT.

I was able to download a Garmin Cycle (Latin 1) map from BBBike.org. I know there is a limit of 2 GB. I am not sure if I can download and install others from BBBike.org. These are on a micro SD card and the folder is named Garmin.

My old 660 — 2-3 years ago would update but the screen was not properly supported by those updates, so all roads were blocky texts. I could call up older maps and they would display correctly.
At that time I contacted Garmin Support who originally thinking it was an issue on their end, but a day or two later, contacted me to explain it was a screen size issue that would not be fixed.
I did update the 660 with next 3 maps, THAT STILL DOWNLOADED & INSTALLED, but they all reacted the same way.
I disposed of the 660, as we have 2x 2689 LMT’s.

That site uses OpenStreetMap data so, just like OpenMapChest, it will work on the device. I just pointed out OpenMapChest because it's arguably the most full-featured of the alternative maps available. This test kind of obscures my point, which is that if the map comes from Garmin's servers it will not work.

As to your map, I believe you are limited to just the one on the SD card.

Thank you for the reply. I have a 32GB micro SD card in my Garmin Nuvi 500, but that is bigger than it needs to be if it can only use up to 2 GB of it. I was also wondering about the one map limit, too. Based on my experience, I can download other maps, but it will only work with one.

I had hoped to get a bit more use out of my Garmin Nuvi 500 as a bike navigator. What I am finding is that the screen simply isn't bright enough to see on very sunny days.

I did also have the issue of the Garmin Nuvi 500 going into Garmin Mass Storage Mode when I connected it to an external battery pack.

This procedure did overcome that issue, however:

1) Disconnecting the Nuvi from the charging cable.

2) Press and hold the battery meter icon for 8 seconds. This puts the Nuvi into "system test" mode.

3) Plug in the power cable.

4) Click "Exit." The Nuvi should now reboot, but remain in GPS mode!