Nuvi 885

I have a Nuvi 855. I forgot what the issue was but I have a note on mine that says it has the Northwest US Map 2024.1 and that no more updates can be made to it.

I imagine your 885 is similarly affected.

My last update says CN North America NT 2025.10 And I forgot how I did it

Micro SD.

You need to install the map directly to the micro SD by putting the Nuvi config file on first. Disconnect the Nuvi and install to the SD,

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=FbLi6qISMH8vJG5A1p9tW5

The 885T is no longer supported by Garmin and therefore will not receive any further map updates. I don't know what would make the non-traffic version any different.

Now, to actually answer OP's question, removing the map data on the device and installing to a SD Card, as Box Car suggests, should work IF Garmin still supports the device.

The Garmin nuvi 8x0 and 8x5 series are very odd compared to their other On the Road devices. Besides having removable batteries, I think they are the only Garmins based on some Linux system.

Our cloning guru has specifically had to offer advice when cloning a map to these series:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/39231

and more specifically, this and several later replies in the thread:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/34914?page=7#comment-531683

Since I've already filed my 2024 fed and state income taxes, maybe I'll try to update my nuvi 855 as today's project. It does sound like I will need to find an old GarminDevice.xml file and that may be a problem.

The last map update I was able to install with cloning on my nuvi 855 was 2024.1 which was released in February 2023. I have tried to update a couple of times since then but without success. Garmin Express would not offer an update when this device was connected. I am therefore curious what model of 8xx Steve620 has and what method was used to update to the 2025.10 map.

See this Garmin article for reference: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=FbLi6qISMH8vJG5A1p9tW5

Well, as expected, my nuvi 855 did not show any update. My last update to it was the 2024.1 NW USA map. The 2024.1 map was also the last update alandb was able to make on his nuvi 8x5 device.

Steve620. if you were able to update your nuvi 885 to 2016.1, can you explain your method? Even if not, can you explain how you updated the 885 to your 2025.10 map which failed for alandb and me? Thanks.

I've been thinking about this while updating the four devices I chose to keep out of the many I found at thrift stores, were gifted, or bought. Using less than legal software it is possible to generate an unlock file using the SD Card's serial number instead of the device's.

Definitely not legal, and because of hardware restrictions there is no guarantee it will even work. But the entire point is that because the map is not using the GPSr's serial number it is theoretically possible to get the map to display on a "terminated" device.

Realistically, the easiest way to go here is to use OpenMapChest maps, as I've repeatedly mentioned for terminated devices. I guess I should be fortunate that I don't have any devices that have been "terminated".

This is really the first time I've read of some units not being able to be updated and are abandoned by Garmin.

I know Garmin had said in the past that this may happen.

Sadly, I have several of the listed units. They were considered Top of the Line" units in their day.

It's sad..... :.(

Even if your device can still have its maps updated, if it's an essential-series device (nüvi 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x) it most likely has been stripped of its junction view file. Other devices prior to the introduction of the Drive and DriveSmart lines may also be impacted.

If anyone out there has a Drive series unit, has upgraded to 2026.10, and has the junction view file would you please extract it from your Drive unit and post a link to it? I'd like to see if it's possible to get the Junction View working again on my 57LMT or 65LMT, both impacted devices. Success would mean that someone would have to be willing to post their file, but these devices won't be saddled with lost features.