Which is the limitation to the SD/microSD card size for Garmin devices ?

**Neil** · 7th June 2014, 04:26 AM

You're right, now i'm TOTALLY confounded.

I tried the full 2015.10 again in another AU 660, nothing shows. I found a NA 680 in my 'to do drawer' which was bricked. I unbricked it and put the SD into it, again nothing. The card works in every other unit I've tried it in from a 260 thru to a 3597, it show in them np.

There's reports on other forums that ppl had 2014.40 working in 6x0's but can't get 2015.10 working. I've now personally tried it in 4 x 3x0 and 3 x 6x0 without success yet 2014.40 works in all of them.

Not stopping to pick magic mushies on those long hauls between MA & FL are you by any chance. I wouldn't let any fairy, binary or otherwise, touch my unit.

So what's special about your 660 i wonder. Both my 6x0 units are on latest V4.90. What fw version is yours running?

**Mr.Natural** · 7th June 2014, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by Neil

You're right, now i'm TOTALLY confounded.

I tried the full 2015.10 again in another AU 660, nothing shows. I found a NA 680 in my 'to do drawer' which was bricked. I unbricked it and put the SD into it, again nothing. The card works in every other unit I've tried it in from a 260 thru to a 3597, it show in them np.

There's reports on other forums that ppl had 2014.40 working in 6x0's but can't get 2015.10 working. I've now personally tried it in 4 x 3x0 and 3 x 6x0 without success yet 2014.40 works in all of them.

Not stopping to pick magic mushies on those long hauls between MA & FL are you by any chance. I wouldn't let any fairy, binary or otherwise, touch my unit.

So what's special about your 660 i wonder. Both my 6x0 units are on latest V4.90. What fw version is yours running?

System Info says I have Software Version 4.90 (I assume they're referring to the firmware version). Audio is v3.30, GPS is v3.00, and Bluetooth is v3.40. The only other thing I can think of that's the least bit unique about my unit (the 660...) is that I've deleted all the non-English files (voice & help). That frees up a little space on the internal memory, but that shouldn't make any difference (especially since my map is on an SD card).

Oh, yeah - you were half right about my whereabouts: Sanford is in Florida, but Deerfield is in New Hampshire. And after recent challenges with my GPS's, the PCM in my F250 diesel, and trying to straighten out my VPN, 'shrooms sound like a viable escape mechanism.

**Neil** · 7th June 2014, 11:59 PM

Yes, Garmin tend to use the umbrella term 'software' for their unit firmware, which it is in fact of course, just a relatively small and specialised piece of sw more closely associated with the specific hardware than general software may be. Goddam confusing for many users and beats me why they [and others] do that.

The 4.90 fw is the latest version for 6x0, the other minor fw versions don't count for this puzzle, but on a side note some of my 3x0/6x0 units are running 'GPS SW VERSION 3.00' and others have V2.90 and those units aren't offered V3.00 for some reason. However it's immaterial anyway.

Perhaps we should look at the particular card you're using. Have you tried any others apart from the Kingston 8GB Class 10? I've really don't have a clue why this is happening for you. Even the 2014.40 shouldn't work either at 2.10GiB but we know it does on different brand and size cards regardless.

As to the Ford PCM, older ones had a known issue with corrosion to the connecting pins because of a dumb location letting moisture in. PM me if you want the solution. I won't tell you where the MMs grow though seeing you're from NH not MA. Nearly as many freaking' Deerfields in US as there are Springfields i think .....

**Mr.Natural** · 8th June 2014, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by Neil

...
Perhaps we should look at the particular card you're using. Have you tried any others apart from the Kingston 8GB Class 10? I've really don't have a clue why this is happening for you. Even the 2014.40 shouldn't work either at 2.10GiB but we know it does on different brand and size cards regardless.

...

The saga continues...

Things have changed. I previously only had the 2015.10 gmapsupp.img installed, but decided to complete the update and copied over gmap3d.img to the internal memory and D3191130a.jcv (hope that was the right one) to \Garmin\JCV on the SD card. Now, the map isn't recognized. Removing them, the map is still gone. Switched from Kingston 8GB class 10 SD card to SanDisk 8GB class 4. Still no-go. Looks like I should've left things alone - but then, I'd still not have 3-D nor junction view capabilities - although that wouldn't be all that bad, 'cuz the 660 is my spare unit.

Can gmap3d.img be loaded onto the SD card, or does it have to be in main memory?

Guess I'll revert to just the lower states.

Side note: where's the best place to go to find out which gmap3d.img and which .jcv files are the right ones for my map selection? Is there a way to tell by sniffing into the gmap*.img file? I'm thinking I'd like to be able to find this info for future updates, not just this one.

Thanks.

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Edit
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I just confirmed that my 660 supports neither junction view nor 3-D. I think years ago, I tried loading it with both capabilities. Now I remember that it doesn't do either. I'm still curious about the inquiries, though.

They say that with age, memory is the second thing to go. I don't remember the first.

**Neil** · 8th June 2014, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by Mr.Natural

.......... Looks like I should've left things alone............
Guess I'll revert to just the lower states.
................
They say that with age, memory is the second thing to go. I don't remember the first.

Lol. The first is the ability to stay focused on the task at hand ...... Now, ...... umm... what was the second again?

So your investigation killed the magic card. Nice work Sherlock.

If you have the gmap folder loaded to your PC, you can load most of NA except for the tiles which i've selected below [i.e. the reverse]. That will get it down to just under 2 GiB and is the image i loaded to 3x0/6x0 to check it would work when i couldn't get the full NA to show. You actually only need to lose a minimum of 181,993,473 bytes [~173.56 MiB] for it to be 1 byte under 2 GiB:

NA 2015 10 Reduce Below2 Gi B

From memory of previous map versions, contiguous US mainland only will be ~1.5 to 1.6GiB, US + MX will be ~1.8GiB and US + CA + AL + MX northern Border States will be just below 2GiB. Maybe you could get all contig. US + MX + CA Border States under 2GiB as well.

**Deerman** · 12th January 2015, 08:34 PM

Can anyone tell me what is the largest SD card I can use in my Astro 320? I would like to run UK national parks but I have to also run GB discover 1:50k at the same time. Could I load the discover onto the Astro and the national park on the SD card.

For some reason I have 4GB in my head!

**Neil** · 13th January 2015, 02:08 AM

Probably Garmin would say 16GB, or maximum of 32GB anyway because cards larger than 32GB are usually formatted in exFAT which isn't recognised by Garmin devices.

In fact the physical size of the card itself is of no real importance. It's other attributes which must be respected, most important ones: the format of the card [FAT16 or FAT32 only], the size of an individual image file [under 4GiB for the Astro 320] and the total amount of map tiles present on the unit and card in all maps including basemap [probably 4,000 maximum for Astro 320].

Even a 128GB card can be reformatted from exFAT to FAT32 with 3rd party software.

Best not to simultaneously enable two or more maps covering the same area, or even if they only have some overlaps. The Astro has only 1.7GB available for on-board storage but some is already in use, i'm unsure of the OEM Basemap size.

Note: I've moved your post to an existing thread. Another interesting one is here: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].

**fishhard** · 24th June 2015, 11:21 PM

I got a new echomap 75dv and a 64G sd card I cant use coz it only takes a 32

**Neil** · 25th June 2015, 01:14 AM

@fishhard
Reformat the SDXC 64GB card from exFAT to FAT32 and it will work like an SDHC card. Use this:

Code:

Please Login or Register to see the links

Or google for other methods.

**fishhard** · 25th June 2015, 04:49 AM

Ill try it to see if it works but ill probably just use that card for saving trip data. The bluewater vision map is only 32G anyway. Still playing with it as its the first unit like this Ive used.
Really impressed with it so far.
Its super sexy