Re: Garmin Xs, memory cards, and MapSource licenses

Seagull wrote:

Jack Erbes <jackerbes@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

But, up to now, it has been simple for those who own a MapSend CD-ROM to use MapSend DirectRoute and Topo 3D with multiple GPS receivers. They can do that by creating separate map files for each receiver (the receiver hardware serial number is encoded into the file, that file won't work on any other receiver).


Does Magellan still rquire "registration" of the SD cards (or whatever memory card type they are using these days)? It's been a while since
I've used a Magellan GPS.


Not for DirectRoute or Topo 3D. You can put any SD card in the GPS and if it has a detail map file with a valid serial number on it, the GPS will use it. You can create map files to the SD cards in the GPS (slow), to the SD card in a burner (fast) with the GPS attached, or with some versions at least, the SD card in a burner, no GPS attached, and by entering the GPS receiver's hardware serial number from the keyboard when the map file is created.

You can generate a bunch of detail map files for a specific GPS in advance and archive them on a hard drive or other media. They can be renamed at will and copied to and from SD cards and other media and still work. The key thing is that they will only work in the GPS that they were created for so if you create files for more than one GPS you have to store them separately. But it is a lot faster to copy archived map files to SD cards than it is to make them as you want or need them.

BlueNav (marine charts) on CD-ROMs are different. That requires an "unlocked" SD card. For the purchased at retail version, you do that by going online with a SD card either in a reader or a attached GPS and entering the software serial number that is on the back of the BlueNav CD-ROM case. From that point on, that SD card and that BlueNav CD are locked to each other. Any BlueNav "chart" from that CD and on that SD card can be used in any GPS that will use MapSend detail maps from SD cards.

If you lose of damage that unlocked SD card, you are up a creek. It takes an act of God or something to get around it and it may even be that you cannot get around it.

The BlueNav CD-ROMs that came as part of a Mariner or Traveler Pack (came with a GPS and a SD card) are yet another variation on the theme. Those came with a Magellan branded, unlocked, SD card (64mb, maybe 32bm also?) and the CD-ROMs do not have a software serial number on the back of the CD-ROM case. So you need to have that SD card to create charts, no other SD card will work. But a chart file on that SD card will work in any GPS. If you lose or damage the SD card you may be able to buy a replacement from Magellan as a one time deal, it requires dispensation from the Pope or something like that.

As long as we are on the subject, BlueNav files must be named detail00.img to work. No other name will work. But the files can be renamed at will so you can put multiple BlueNav files on a unlocked for BlueNav SD card as long as they have differing names. I use a PDA to rename chart files to and from the name that works during boat deliveries, otherwise I would have to travel with a PC.

I have a 1GB SD card unlocked for my BlueNav CD and can put BlueNav, DirectRoute, and Topo 3D files on it. It turns my Meridian into a true go anywhere, do anything handheld.

The Card Utilities menu on the Meridians will let you select map files for use or deletion but don't allow renaming or use of subdirs. Also you can load or save tracks, routes, and waypoints to and from the SD card.

The newer eXplorists have USB connectors and see the primary and expanded memory on the GPS as a removable drive with folders and sub folders. I don't have one of those and am not sure if they will have any advantages or disadvantages in use or major quirks over the Meridians, time will tell.

Not hearing much on the Garmin group on the new "x" models. My initial impression is that may Garmin might not have made the expanded memory on the micro-SD cards in the new "x" models as useful to users as it has been with the Meridians. Need to get some more feedback from the new users with those to tell for sure.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)
.

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