Best way to load Topo 2008 and CN 2008 NT

[Oregon*Trail]

I purchased a Vista HCX, Topo 2008, and CN 2008 NT. We are taking a trip soon from Oregon to Idaho, Utah, and Colorado. We want to use CN to find fuel, food, etc., and our way there and back. We will be doing some hiking and moutain biking so we might need the topo too. I have tried loading a bunch of topos for Oregon and the state of Oregon from CN into a map set and transfered it. It took forever! I need to turn off City Navigator when we are out on trails to see more detail. Seems like it would be a real pain to have to turn off the topo maps as there are so many! What would you all recommend for loading before our trip. Should we just take the maps near where we are going? Should we use two cards? I have two 2GB cards but it's kind of a pain to switch. I'd love to just have the whole U.S. topo and CN on one card if I could figure out how to manage it. Any advice would be appreciated.

[+Team Typowiz]

First go to the 'Setup Map' screen - either by going through the main 'Setup' icon, or by pressing the Menu button when on the map screen, then choosing 'setup map'. Then click over to the 'Map Setup - Information' screen (fifth icon from the left). Then hit the Menu button again - the resulting popup menu will give you the option to Hide or Show any of the mapsets you have loaded. You can hide all the Topo maps at once, or all the CN maps at once, whatever you prefer. You're right- the topos add up to a LOT of maps!

[Oregon*Trail]

First go to the 'Setup Map' screen - either by going through the main 'Setup' icon, or by pressing the Menu button when on the map screen, then choosing 'setup map'. Then click over to the 'Map Setup - Information' screen (fifth icon from the left). Then hit the Menu button again - the resulting popup menu will give you the option to Hide or Show any of the mapsets you have loaded. You can hide all the Topo maps at once, or all the CN maps at once, whatever you prefer. You're right- the topos add up to a LOT of maps!

 

Thanks! Didn't realize I could do that. So how much can I put on one 2GB card? All of both products?

[dogwalkers2]

I don't know how Topo US 2008 is broken down, but I've got all of CN NT plus about 1400 segments of Topo Canada on my 2 GB card and it takes up about 1.5 GB, leaving lots of room for track logs, custom POIs, etc. The area covered by the Topo that I have on the card would be probably equivalent to the North-West states from North Dakota down to Kansas, over to California up to Washington and back, so you shouldn't have any problem fitting what you need on one 2 GB card.

 

It sure does take a long time (a few hours) to load it all, though, with the time being divided between building the map set and transferring the data. The Vista HCx does run off the computer power while connected, though so you don't have to worry about burning out batteries. Set it to transfer and go do something else...

[BelchFire]

TypoWiz and dogwalkers2,

 

Those are both EXCELLENT, informative posts. I've spent the better part of a week reading these forums and subforums trying to educate myself so I don't have to ask stupid questions. Many, many people make posts under the assumption that everyone is intimately familiar with the topic at hand. That's great for someone who is, but it isn't useful for learning purposes.

 

Thanks for such straightforward, top-the-point posts! I'm learning........

[Glenn W]

 

So how much can I put on one 2GB card? All of both products?

 

 

The current limit for the 60CSx is approximately 2GB (largest card that will work) but you are also limited to 2,025 map segments. Therefore, you cannot load all of both products on one card (too much data and too many segments). However, you can upload all of CN 2008 NT and all the topo for the states west of the Dakotas (certainly all the states you are visiting). Someday the 60CSx may be able to use 4 GB cards and handle more than 2025 segments, but Garmin has not yet figured out how.

 

Tip: You can speed your map transfers by uploading to the card directly through a USB 2.0 compliant card reader instead of uploading through the USB 1.1 limited 60CSx. An SD card reader can be purchased for about $10 these days. Also, not using the computer for anything else during the transfer helps speed the compilation process, especially on older computers.

[+Thrak]

Remember:

 

You MUST load the CN maps and the TOPO maps during the same upload. If you do them one at a time the second upload will overwrite the first one and you will end up with only the second set of maps you sent.

[+George1]

To be sure I understand this. I can make up the map set, save it as a file, then drag that file to the card reader and it will put all the topo maps I need on the card. With the limitations for maps sets of course.

 

I tried to do this in my 60 CX but it was taking forever so I stopped it. I guess I'll do this transfer when I go to bed. When I wake up it should be done.

 

This was a very informative post. Thanks

[Glenn W]

To be sure I understand this. I can make up the map set, save it as a file, then drag that file to the card reader and it will put all the topo maps I need on the card. With the limitations for maps sets of course.

 

 

No, you do not manually transfer the file.

 

Remove the card from the GPS and plug it into the card reader. It will now show up as a removable drive. Take note of the drive letter and the available storage on the card (it will be less than 2GB).

 

Launch Mapsource as usual.

 

Select all the street and topo maps you want to transfer. Make sure you do not exceed the available space on the card or the 2025 segment limit. The system will not warn you, but the transfer will fail.

 

From the transfer menu, select send to device. In the pop-up window, select the removabale drive identified above.

 

Make sure the maps box is checked, and click send.

 

Now it's time to be patient. This is the fastest way to transfer maps, but it will still take a long time.

 

GW

Edited September 5, 2007 by Glenn W