2610 Memory upgrade

[ovenpaa]

I have manged to exist OK on 256 meg of memory, but now we are going on a longish European trip I need a bit more, can I just buy any Compact Flash memory or does it have to be something special?

I need around 512meg, even better does anyone have a 512/1024 they want get rid of before I run over to eBlag?

Cheers

 

[goodinr]

memory cards

Try 7dayshop.com they sell a 1 meg card for £16-00.
I have bought and used one of these cards with good results in my 2610.

 

[Taff]

Over the months, I have read that some people have had some problems with CF cards and that their problems disappeared when the changed to Sandisk cards. This could be just a myth, or coincidence - I don't know, but at £54 for a 2GB Sandisk card, I was happy to work on the assumption that if the 2610 was supplied with a Sandisk card, it was good enough for me. Available from E-BUYER

Even though some on here have complained about e-buyers service, I have only only 1 thing from them ever and got it within 3 days. No complaints from me.

 

[Bigmixer]

From experience I tend to favour san disk with Garmin, I've had problems with Kingston. Try www.picstop.co.uk Good prices and prompt service
Bigmixer
PS I bought a 2GB and put all the maps on, no faafing about changing!!

 

[PanEuropean]

...can I just buy any Compact Flash memory or does it have to be something special?

I think that Garmin has determined that pretty much any quality, name-brand CF media will work pretty well in the GPSRs. There are only three things you need to watch for:

1) Don't buy some el-cheapo memory card made by a company you never heard of from a guy who 'has a brother-in-law in the business'.

2) It needs to be FAT or FAT32 formatted - NTFS won't work, nor will other exotic formatting structures. If you buy a new card, this is not a concern, they come pre-formatted, but if you are taking advantage of a second-hand card that was salvaged from, say, an American cruise missile or something strange like that, formatting might be a concern.

3) Try to avoid using CF size hard drives. This is not a concern if you are buying new media (flash RAM is much cheaper today than CF size hard drives are), but can be a concern if you are recycling a CF size hard drive. Most hard drives will work OK, but some won't, and none of them are really intended for use in the rather harsh environment that a motorcycle presents.

Garmin has a good FAQ about exactly this issue - what CF media to use - at this link: Garmin Technical Support FAQ's.

Michael