wfcrawford

After I installed the HotFix upgrade it was great having a sat fix when my Colorado booted up in 10-12 sec. But I downloaded a much larger TOPO file to my SD card and now it's taking about 40 sec for the unit to boot. Does everyone experience this... the larger the file on the SD card, the longer to boot? If I rename the gmapsupp.img file on the SD card and download a smaller map to the SD card that lands in gmapsupp.img would that by chance get it to boot up quickly again? Thanks. Bill

Thanks for telling me twice g-o. Sure enough, there's only ~937 MB on the 400c and it was all taken. Deleted half of my Tops maps, freed up 25 MB, got 3.0 and HotFix. Bill

That's not it either. It is seeing the GPS itself -- I'm using the same drive designation that I can successfully upload from and can open and see the files on the GPS. I did have a 4 GB SD card in the unit that only has a very small amount of data on it (less than 50 MB). But I removed the SD card and got the same error. Webupdater will not even attempt to install the HotFix patch either. Is the file gmapprom.img (911 MB) the marine charts data that comes on the 400c and the file gmapsupp.img the 42 MB of Topo 2008 I have loaded? If that's the case I figured it would be useless to delete the 42 MB file since the GPS should already have at least 2 GB of free memory. I was hoping this was just some quirk that I was not aware of but now you guys have me worried. Thanks Bill

Thanks Red90. If it is looking at the computer is there something that I need to set differently so that it sees the correct file space available on my PC? I have 348 GB open free space on my hard drive. Thanks.

Tried to load the Colorado 3.0 software release from Webupdater. Got the message "There is not enough space on the disc." Does not seem right. From what I can see the Colorado has less than 1 GB on it. There are only two folders showing: Garmin -- 937 MB Wherigo -- 835 KB The Garmin folder only has two large files: gmapprom.img -- 911 MB gmapsupp.img -- 42 MB These units seem to have somewhere between 3 and 4 GB so I should have plenty of room for the small 3.0 update file. What am I missing? My Colorado is the 400c. Thanks.

I have a Blackberry 8820 and AT&T service. I'd like to be able to just use my Blackberry as a backup GPSr should my main unit fail me. The free Blackstar Navigation software was noted above as being a good match to the Blackberry. Can you use this combination without paying a monthly fee to AT&T for GPS service? I'm locked in to the BB/AT&T combination through work so it's not an option to do this part differently. Thanks. Bill

Again, thanks. My 4 GB card is a Sandisk SDHC Ultra II. I'll try reformatting if I can find something other than my Colorado to do it in since it will not connect with the card in the unit. MtnHermit -- I foiund the file you noted, gmapsupp.img sitting in the Colorado memory at 41.1 MB, so these are the TOPO maps I thought I placed on the card. Once I get the SDHC card working and put the TOPO maps on it can I just delete this file from the Colorado unit and leave more free space on that unit's hard drive? I've read the rec'd before to backup my marine charts files on my Colorado. Just was not quite sure how to do it. I noticed a file gmapprom.img with 912 MB on the Colorado. My guess is that's the marine charts. Do I just copy that file to a safe place? All the files I see on the Colorado add up to about 1 GB. Does this mean that I have 2 -3 free GB on my Colorado or are there plenty of system files taking up much of the 3 o 4 GB memory that the unit has. In the Wiki there is no information about how much space the 400c marine charts take up like there is for the 400t and 400i. Thanks. Bill

I really appreicate this help. Tried new batteries first, no change. Pulled out 4 GB card -- booted up without problem and worked fine. Connected it to PC and was able to talk to Colorado with Mapsource. Put 4 GB card back in, same problem of fading out during boot up. Remove card again, all is well. So, I guess I get a new SD card and try it? But now I'm confused about where my maps reside on this Colorado. Mine's a 400c with marine charts. Months aga I bought Topp 2008. I had already selected certain sections of Topo, compiled, and downloaded them to my card, so I thought. But now, without the card in the Colorado, I can still select Topo 2008 and all the Topo map data I had earlier thought I placed on the card is still available in the Colorado (with the card out). What is it I'm not understanding? My Topo map I transferred is just 97 maps that total 41 MB -- I guess the Topo data just went into the Colorado memory? While I'm asking questions I'll ask one more. When I first tried to compile a large section of Topp 2008 it took hours to compile. Is this normal? And if I selected too much map to compile, after serveral hours of crunching on it the program would just stop. I'd select less area and it would carry on to the end and have a map ready to transfer to the unit. Thanks. Bill

When I turn Colorado on it gets about 10 sec into boot up and then the screen fades out and it's dead. I pulled the batteries and then tried again, same thing. If I try to connect to the PC the Colorado screen comes up, it starts saving data, then dies and the screen goes blank. Here's what precipitated this. I had connected the Colorado to the USB cable and was trying to access with Mapsource. Mapsource could not see the Colorado drive. Instead of 'safely disconnecting hardware' I just pulled the PC cable out of the Colorado and reseated it (was not all the way in I think). Then Mapsource saw the unit and I transferred files to it from my master file. I disconnected it properly using 'safely disconnect hardware'. Now I have the problem described in the first paragraph. Now what do I do?

Thanks g-o. I removed all the files from the GPX folder on GPSr. Then all my earlier tracks were not showing. I had removed a copy of my data storage file (.glb file). When I transferred this file back to the unit it placed a temp.gpx file on the unit instead of the .glb file that I had removed. Then I could see my earlier tracks. I cleared the archive and tracks are now saving normally -- tracks just saved show up under Tracks when you Where To. I'm sure I inadvertently saved the .glb file to the GPSr. I'm a neophyte at handling files on the Colorado and sometimes Mapsource asks me questions I'm not sure about :-) Thanks again for the help!

Today I ran into a problem saving tracks on my Colorado 400c. When I archive the current track, name it, say I'm done... it looks like it files it (Exporting...). But if I then go to Where To? and select Tracks, the track I just saved is not listed. Now, if I save another track, go to Where To?, Tracks, the earlier track is listed but not the last one I saved. I've saved plenty of tracks before on this unit and never saw this happen before. The last file saved is there in the GPX files when I look with Mapsource but the last track saved cannot be seen on the GPSr. What is happening and how can I correct it.

To just use the BB Curve as a GPSr do you have to subscribe (pay) to a monthly service? Since the unit is a self-contained GPS vs. one that uses cell tower information I would hope that it would function independently and not require a monthly fee. Thanks. Bill

Thanks for the last two replies. I can now File, Open, select the drive that represents my Colorado, and open folder Garmin, and see my manually archived tracks. I can open the these tracks up and save them one by one to my C: drive under the Garmin folder, and open them up in Mapsource. Here's what I can't do: 1) I can't get them to save into the file that has all the other waypoints and routes retrieved from my Colorado. Can I save these under that file into the "tracks" tab? This would put all the data in one place I'd want to transfer back to my Colorado (were I to get a new unit for example). When I did the initial download from my GPS76 it placed all the stored tracks in the file under the 'Tracks' tab. I'm just trying to get the Colorado to do the same thing. 2) I still cannot see the tracks that I downloaded to my Colorado with Mapsource (I pulled these tracks off my GPS76 w/ Mapsource and placed on my Colorado. I can see them on the Colorado under 'Tracks' when I 'Go To'. Where else do I look on the Colorado drive for these tracks? Thanks. Edit -- ok, I guess I overlooked this earlier. But under the Colorado drive, under 'Garmin' I have a folder called 'GPX'. It contains a file called 'temp.gpx' that has the original 133 waypoints I downloaded to the Colorado, and the tracks I downloaded to the Colorado, and 2 other gpx files (2 current tracks). So, now that I see them.... is there a way to make all the tracks transfer along with the waypoints and routes when you pull data from the Colorado? Thanks again.

I also cannot retrieve my tracks from my Colorado. I do have Mapsource 6.13.7. I do not have an SD card installed. I have tracks on my Colorado that I archived manually and also that I downloaded to the Colorado using Mapsource (these were downloaded from my older Garmin GPSr). I can see these tracks on my Colorado when I "Go to". But when I transfer from the Colorado w/ Mapsource I get all the waypoints, routes, but only current tracks -- none of the archived or tracks I transferred to the unit transfer w/ Mapsource. When I select "Retrieve from Device" I get these drop downs: Colorado 400c Removable Disk (f:\) Removable Disk (h:\) When I select Colorado 400c I get to select if i want Maps, Waypoints, Routes, and Tracks. I can put checks in each box. Everything transfers except the tracks. When I select either of the two Removable Disk drop downs it tells me there is no card there. When I try to File, Open I get this Look in Garmin TripWPT5 USB Device 2 files that I have saved 1 Mapsource Tour I can select a "Type of file" as .gpx but there are no file names above it to pull from. I'm new to file management with the Colorado so I would appreciate any help figuring out what I am doing wrong. Thanks.

Thanks for clarifying that the segments are total on the unit and not per each map and that TOPO has over 5000. I don't know how many segments the Bluecharts have but now it seems clear I'd never fill up past a 4 GB card before maxing out on segments. I'll just get a 4 GB card.

I want to load City Navigator NT and TOPO 2008 on my Colorado 400c. This is 5+ GB so I need to try an 8 GB card. I've read others have used 8 GB cards in their Colorados. But between searching the forums and looking at SDHC cards on-line I am not sure which to buy. I see Class 2, 4, and 6 cards, etc. I see cards anywhere from $15 (Transcend) to $60 (SanDisk). Can someone recommend the best 8 GB card and where to get it? Will there be a problem putting both City Navigator and TOPO on my Colorado? It already has the U.S. marine charts in memory. Does the map segment restriction for the Colorado apply to each map or to the total for all maps I would have on my Colorado (Bluecharts for U.S., CN, TOPO). Thanks

I received a replacement Colorado today from Garmin. It was interesting that it showed software version 2.50 (still GPS version 2.60). I may have missed it but I had not seen anyone discussing anything past the 2.51 beta. The serial number is in the 8500's. I have not done much with it yet but it clearly is showing a tighter accuracy that my earlier Colorado. With each of my GPSr's the very first waypoint I enter is my MAILBOX. Before I saved the waypoint it was showing an accuracy of 8 ft. My first Colorado always showed accuracy at that same place in the 13-17 ft. range. After a Go To the MAILBOX, I could repeatedly return to the mailbox and it would settle in on 0-1 ft. when I held the unit directly over the mailbox. My earlier unit would always show something higher, like 6-12 ft. That's as far as I've made it with the new unit. The RocknRoller on my old unit would drive me insane since it would not stop on the shortcut or letter I needed. What a pleasure to now have a unit that stops where you want it!

Here are my main uses: *to mark small patch reefs, ledges, individual coral heads, etc., in the Florida Keys that hold lobsters (we take an annual trip the 2nd week of August to go lobstering in the Keys) *to return from offshore in the Gulf in Louisiana. We spearfish offshore on rigs and in bluewater. Sometimes we go 50 miles offshore. Sometimes we go out of one pass in the Mississippi River delta and come in another pass on the other side of the delta. We have all the passes marked and can just work our way offshore and pick the nearest pass when it's time to come back in. This would be very difficult, almost impossible, without GPS. *to navigate down the Mississippi River below Venice, Louisiana in foggy conditions. The Gulf of Mexico is 30 to 35 miles down the Miss. River from the last road. In winter on calm days before the next front, the river is often socked in with fog. I have a smaller boat without radar and use my GPS to follow a tight track downriver. Get 100 ft. to the right and run into a wing dam, get 200 ft to the left, run into a ship. That's why I like the Colorado 10000 point track log that does not compress the data! I've had some near misses with my GPS 76 when it decides to get poor signal reception and let me get off the track or did not record the track with enough resolution initially. Here's where I don't use it -- backpacking in the Wind River Range. No doubt this probably seems strange to this forum. Each year I take a 10-14 day backpacking trip, usually solo, off trail, to remote high altitude lakes to flyfish for golden trout. I have never taken a GPS and never needed one. I'm an ultralight hiker and just cannot justify the 8 oz. for a GPS. The hiking is mostly near or above timberline and mountain ranges, peaks, clearly defined drainages, and streams make navigation easy. The only place a GPS would come in handy is in the first 10 miles from the trail head to get up to ~ 10,000 ft. But you're on trails this first 10 miles and don't need a GPS. After you break out of the trees you don't really need anything but a map to get around even for a couple of weeks. I got a Colorado a month ago and am looking very much forward to getting City Navigator on it and using it in the car. I think this is going to be the best toy I've got when I get to using it to play in the car!

Yes, that's exactly what I've observed. Hopefully Garmin will make the software changes to allow us to use the Colorado to confidently follow a track in the original direction in addition to adding trackback. When following a route the Colorado anticipates the next route point and cuts the corner so it's curious that it would not handle a track similarly.

Got it now. Thanks Rick!

Thanks for the links. After reading this I'm still not sure about a few things. One FAQ answer said that when you write new map data to the 60CSx the old map data is deleted. Does that mean that if you try to load more data than room left on the card that it will delete map data on the card to store the new download? If you inadvertently delete Garmin map data off your GPS by overwriting it with another downloaded map can you reload it? Or are you screwed because you did not remove it from the GPS and reclaim your unlock? Based on you noting you select he map data you want to display on the 60CSx I guess this Garmin answer below applies to the 60CSx? Question: When I have maps from different MapSource mapping products loaded for the same place, I only see one map in my GPS. To see some maps, I have to turn others off in the GPS unit display. Why? Answer: There is a hierarchy in the MapSource products. Map data often comes from different vendors, and if the vendors blended the data, it would be difficult to use. You can manage maps in your GPS unit so the subordinate maps will show when you need to see them. Last modified on: 08/07/2007

Sorry for quoting you wrong g-o-casher... I was going off memory which has a very large accuracy circle. It appears that auto routing is NOT one of the criteria to use to select one of the other (Colorado vs. 60CSx) as they both handle it well. Thanks to all for the information!

Can the 60CSx hold both a section of marine bluechart and City Navigator 2008 (or Topo and CN) ? Using a 2 GB card can this GPS hold two different products as long as they will fit on the card. I thought I had read that you could but looking at the 60CSx in the store today I did not see a way to select which map to display or load. If you can, how do you control which map system loads or displays?

In the Colorado/60CSx comparison it says the 60CSx "supports a more primitive auto routing capability". But in the reviews of the 60CSx I see that it will autoroute across the base map and CN, will recalculate route, has pop-ups on any screen as you approach a turn, etc. Some of these features are not supported on the Colorado. Which GPS has the more effective auto routing capability?

From all I can tell my Colorado seems to follow the track on the compass display when navigating in the original direction. But it's quirky, I don't trust it, and would not rely on it to navigate me through any difficult situations. When you ask it to follow a track and you are already at the end of the track, it appears to peg the total distance as the straight line distance to the beginning of the track plus the track length. It's useless to try and follow this. Question -- after downloading tracks from the Colorado to your PC, can you upload them to the Colorado as routes? You can't follow a route in the reverse direction, but you can follow it on the compass display with it indexing to next points as you travel. What is the point/route limit on the 50 routes allowed on the Colorado? One more question: I don't understand the max. number of tracks that can be stored or accessed on the Colorado. The documentation says 20 tracks at 10000 points each but the FAQ says >= 180 tracks at the same 10000 points each. Can you only save 20 tracks on your Colorado but you can add many more by transferring them from your PC to the Colorado? Can you actually select a track to follow from this full >180 list?