Thread: Make a Garmin compatible datacard?

Garmin DataCard is a really simple device. Just standard flash chip on a small printed board. You can buy a low capacity one and replace chips. Or you can find singe-side card and add second chip. I'm not sure how to format datacard, maybe you can do it in Garmin USB card reader?

I think that it could be possible to create passive adapter for XD cards, they seems to be designed like DataCard and have smaller size.

Hi Kanopus,

I think you maybe right about XD cards. The link that I attached earlier shows someone using a SmartMedia card which is wired into a connector. Unfortunately the page referred to earlier in the article which I assume explained how to connect the chip is not available now.

I looked into using SD cards and MicroSD cards but as far as I can see they are serial devices and the SmartMedia card is parallel so that's not a simple swap. XD cards and SmartMedia cards are similar although I haven't looked at the pinout of XD cards yet.

The Garmin datacards are formatted with the Garmin USB card reader (which is also a programmer).