Garmin map updates bigger than 550 memory !

[Bury_Dave]

Anyone else noticed that the new updates are bigger than the 550 memory ?

I used to be able to get all of western Europe on my 550 but since the latest update, i can now only get either UK, France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal (with a bit oF Switzerland west of lake Geneva), or the Low Countries, Germany etc east.

So now, if i'm travelling to southern Germany, I would need to take a laptop so that i can load a different section of mapping to that which i used to get to Germany ..............

And you can't merge the SD card to increase the satnav's capacity either.

Is this why a few 550's have come up for sale recently ? They are now more trouble to use than they are worth ? Should i upgrade to a more recent unit ?

Or have i got it all wrong ? Wouldn't be the first time

Any Garmin software boffs here ?

Dave

 

[Ash]

Anyone else noticed that the new updates are bigger than the 550 memory ?

I used to be able to get all of western Europe on my 550 but since the latest update, i can now only get either UK, France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal (with a bit oF Switzerland west of lake Geneva), or the Low Countries, Germany etc east.

So now, if i'm travelling to southern Germany, I would need to take a laptop so that i can load a different section of mapping to that which i used to get to Germany ..............

And you can't merge the SD card to increase the satnav's capacity either.

Is this why a few 550's have come up for sale recently ? They are now more trouble to use than they are worth ? Should i upgrade to a more recent unit ?

Or have i got it all wrong ? Wouldn't be the first time

Any Garmin software boffs here ?

Dave

i just put the hole of 2013 10 mapping on a 8GB SD card.
still a pain in the arse,but Garmin are being very clever as you will have to buy new mapping if you buy / get a Zumo with only one region loaded on it and want to go to another region.

 

[jasper]

Hi
Same here, have put new mapping on 16g card, but havn't tried putting on music on same card. Used to have it on a seperate card when all the sat nav info on internal memory.

 

[Kenny Rodkiss]

Or have i got it all wrong ? Wouldn't be the first time

Any Garmin software boffs here ?

Dave

Aye, you have it wrong.

When you download your updated maps choose to load them to your gps and computer.
You are correct that the whole update will not fit on the 550, so choose your region, be it eastern, central or western Europe.
What ever suits you.
After you have done that you can then load the map sections that have not been loaded into your gps onto a sd card.
With the card fitted in your gps you now have full coverage.
You can if you want put the whole update onto the sd card.
No need for a new gps, unless you really want one.

 

[trebor]

I've got most of Western Europe (UK, Denmark, Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, Spain and Italy) loaded on the Zumo 550 (mind you I have stripped out all the unnecessary files). As a test I put Sweden, Norway, Greece and some other parts of Eastern Europe on the remaining 0.5Gb of my 8 Gb SD card, the rest of the card contains music. It all appears to work well together.
I believe there a few people who are just placing the entire mapping on a 16Gb card and not bothering placing any maps on the Zumo. They reckon they work well, and the music continues to work fine.

Bob

 

[Bury_Dave]

That's interesting, thanks for the info gents. I wasn't sure if you could load the rest of the mapping onto an SD card and it was still useable or not. I better get an 8GB card as i have a 2Gb in mine.

It's a shame you can't load by country or by selecting a region on your computer loaded map abd just load that.

I can see i need to do further dicking about on the computer to see what can and cannot be done .

I'm presuming the massive increase in data is not due to teh roads but the other info like hotels and campgrounds etc ?

Dave

 

[John Armstrong]

It's a shame you can't load by country or by selecting a region on your computer loaded map and just load that.

http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3291

 

[Kenny Rodkiss]

It's a shame you can't load by country or by selecting a region on your computer loaded map abd just load that.

Dave

You can.

it can be done by deleting the maps from your gps and then transferring the maps you want into your gps.
They will have a different file name, but it can be renamed the same as the one you originaly deleted.
This way you have your own custom mapset on your gps.

 

[Bury_Dave]

Thanks for that gents. Now I'm on the same page as you smarter ones and my 550 won't be going in the For Sale section !

I'll give the last 2 suggestions a whirl tonight. Being an idiot, I may be back for more help later ........

 

[Kenny Rodkiss]

If you look at the files on your 550 when connected to a pc,

gmapbmap.img is a basic base map covering a large portion of the world.

gmapprom.img is the file that holds your detailed maps.This is the one that gets updated with the Garmin map updates and in total is now bigger than the Zumo internal memory of 2gb.

gmapsupp.img are additional maps uploaded to your gps with mapsource ect.

gmapoem.img is a list of dealers if you have a branded version of gps.

I am led to believe that one can delete the gmapprom.img file, (put it somewhere safe) then choose the map coverage you would like to see on your gps and tranfer it to your gps.
It will show up as a gmapsupp.img file, rename that as gmapprom.img and you have your desired coverage.

If anyone knows different please speak up.

 

[Bumpkin]

That's pretty well it Kenny, though you don't have to rename your new GMAPSUPP.IMG file to GMAPPROM.IMG unless you want to lock it from future accidental overwriting or you wish to retain the original GMAPSUPP.IMG file.

You can, should you wish, so I'm lead to believe, run two GMAPSUPP.IMG files. One on the unit, the other on the SD card.

Before creating your GMAPSUPP.IMG file in Mapsource or MapInstall ensure that the mapping on your PC is fully unlocked to your specific GPS. There are two levels of unlock, one more generic one that enables you to use the mapping in Mapsource, a 2nd specific one that allows the mapping to run on your GPS. This is the way it used to be be, it might all be done automatically during the web update process these days Might be worth writing a small tile to see if it works, will need to be outside of the area that your GPS already covers.

 

[Bury_Dave]

Brilliant gents. Thanks to you all very much

I'm sure I'll not be the only person to benefit from this info'.

Dave

 

[GSTourer]

I have done what Kenny and Bumpkin suggest but there is still not enough room for the latest Western Europe update on my 550. I have 2.05GB available and the last version (now deleted) fitted OK...........how much room does it require?

I have deleted unnecessary text and voice files not sure what else I can do?

How are others getting Western Europe on there 550's?

Thanks for ANY assistance.

Ian

 

[Gazzabart]

At no point was i advised when upgrading my maps and paying £70 odd quid that it wouldn't fit on the existing 550
before i had the whole lot
now i have to fuck around doing the above
if i had had known this i would never have upgraded

 

[GSTourer]

I am really pissed off with Garmin, you would have thought they might have predicted mapping would get significantly more space hungry and installed a more realistic hard drive capacity.

Not sure I will buy from them again after this is put out to pasture.

 

[Wapping]

At no point was i advised when upgrading my maps and paying £70 odd quid that it wouldn't fit on the existing 550
before i had the whole lot
now i have to fuck around doing the above
if i had had known this i would never have upgraded

I am really pissed off with Garmin, you would have thought they might have predicted mapping would get significantly more space hungry and installed a more realistic hard drive capacity.

Not sure I will buy from them again after this is put out to pasture.

Do you really need 24 hour a day access to detailed local mapping for every road (small and large) from the northern tip of Finland, to the most westerly point of Portugal, to Turkey (west of the Bosporus) and all the twiddly bits in-between?

 

[GSTourer]

Do you really need 24 hour a day access to detailed local mapping for every road (small and large) from the northern tip of Finland, to the most westerly point of Portugal, to Turkey (west of the Bosporus) and all the twiddly bits in-between?

Wapping,

You are completely correct I don't......but it still pisses me off that I can't have it on the unit should I choose (silly feeling that way I know)

 

[Gazzabart]

Do you really need 24 hour a day access to detailed local mapping for every road (small and large) from the northern tip of Finland, to the most westerly point of Portugal, to Turkey (west of the Bosporus) and all the twiddly bits in-between?

What we are bring to say here is
before we had full coverage of all countries
now we don't
before we didn't have to change file names every time we wanted to go to a new country
now we do
before we didn't need to buy a 4gb / 8gb SD card to have the same full coverage
but now we do
and the thing that grates is
WE WERE NEVER TOLD ANY OF THE ABOVE
be for we paid the £70 odd quid for the upgrade

 

[The Grey One]

2013 maps hiding?

I'm trying to help a guest with a problem, He has a 550 and has loaded the 2013 maps onto an SD card. I have check that these maps are there and all seams ok but the device does not show the 2013 maps. The old (2008) maps are shown and can be ticked or unticked but either way the device ignores the 2013 maps.

We are full right now with bikers so my time is limited on this one, any ideas or advice would be very welcome.

John

 

[swissrob]

soft reset may cure it... press and hold lower rh corner of screen while powering on

for those complaining about lack of mappiing space, maybe i dont get the complaint but whats the issue with putting the maps on a SD card and running it all from there?