I am a TomTom user but I also gave a Garmin Nüvi 7X5 that I only use when I travel abroad. I am going to Panama in April and I have two maps that I want to use at the same time. One is a GPS map of Panama (version 3.3.4) the other is the newest Garmin map for South America (2012.40). The reason to use both is that the South America map mostly covers the two large cities (Colon and the metropolitan area of Panama City) while the other has a better coverage of the entire country.

This is my dilemma? How the Garmin system can use both at the same time? In the TomTom system that is not feasible but I have read that Garmin maps that are "transparent" can be use simultaneously.

I know very little about Garmin software (most for Windows) and I work with an Apple IMac. I can run Windows in something that is called BootCamp and when I need to run Windows software I do that. There is any software that tell you if the map in question is transparent?

Other questions:

1. How can I find if the maps that I want to use are "transparent"?
2. What is the logical structure of Garmin selecting maps? I have one of the maps named gmapprom1 and the other gmapsupp in the same Garmin folder. Which one would be selected first?
3. Other than merging both maps (I don't want to do so) what is the strategy to follow to use both? I know that I can selected or unselect one or the other in the device.

Thanks for any info or hints,

FP