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Colorado Hardware Changes?


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I'm on the fence about getting the 400T. I am fine with them working out the bugs with the software, I'm fairly confident that will be worked out in the next few months. My concern is if the Hardware itself will change considerably. From reading the forums so far I guess the 400 has had one change, less memory. Just wondering if I wait a while longer if they will make improvements to the actual hardware over the next 6 months. I wasn't into this stuff when the 60csx released, did any big hardware changes happen with that?

 

Thanks.

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I'm on the fence about getting the 400T. I am fine with them working out the bugs with the software, I'm fairly confident that will be worked out in the next few months. My concern is if the Hardware itself will change considerably. From reading the forums so far I guess the 400 has had one change, less memory. Just wondering if I wait a while longer if they will make improvements to the actual hardware over the next 6 months. I wasn't into this stuff when the 60csx released, did any big hardware changes happen with that?

 

Thanks.

 

I can't really answer your question, but we just got our 300 and the meager amount of built in memory is enough for topo maps covering the entire state and our GPX file with 500 caches in it which still leaves over 50% of the memory free. Keep in mind we don't live in the most dense state around and only have topo maps loaded, so your mileage may vary...

 

-Robert

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I'm on the fence about getting the 400T. I am fine with them working out the bugs with the software, I'm fairly confident that will be worked out in the next few months. My concern is if the Hardware itself will change considerably. From reading the forums so far I guess the 400 has had one change, less memory. Just wondering if I wait a while longer if they will make improvements to the actual hardware over the next 6 months. I wasn't into this stuff when the 60csx released, did any big hardware changes happen with that?

 

Thanks.

 

I can't really answer your question, but we just got our 300 and the meager amount of built in memory is enough for topo maps covering the entire state and our GPX file with 500 caches in it which still leaves over 50% of the memory free. Keep in mind we don't live in the most dense state around and only have topo maps loaded, so your mileage may vary...

 

-Robert

 

You can load more than 500 caches if you want to, right? And place topo maps on the sd card? It would be great if you could place all your data and access it on the SD card.

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I'm on the fence about getting the 400T. I am fine with them working out the bugs with the software, I'm fairly confident that will be worked out in the next few months. My concern is if the Hardware itself will change considerably. From reading the forums so far I guess the 400 has had one change, less memory. Just wondering if I wait a while longer if they will make improvements to the actual hardware over the next 6 months. I wasn't into this stuff when the 60csx released, did any big hardware changes happen with that?

 

Thanks.

Why not use the GPS you have now and wait for the bugs to be worked out, In some cases the prices of new items comes down afer a few months.

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I'm on the fence about getting the 400T. I am fine with them working out the bugs with the software, I'm fairly confident that will be worked out in the next few months. My concern is if the Hardware itself will change considerably. From reading the forums so far I guess the 400 has had one change, less memory. Just wondering if I wait a while longer if they will make improvements to the actual hardware over the next 6 months. I wasn't into this stuff when the 60csx released, did any big hardware changes happen with that?

 

Thanks.

Why not use the GPS you have now and wait for the bugs to be worked out, In some cases the prices of new items comes down afer a few months.

 

That's what I originally intended to do. Then I got an Amex Rewards brochure. So I went online and there I saw the 400T. 96,000 points, which works out to $480 shipped, since I cold use 100,000 points to get $500 cash instead. The problem with the AMEX rewards system is that some stuff comes and goes, so in 3 or so months it might not be there.

Edited by sanramonhunter
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I'm on the fence about getting the 400T. I am fine with them working out the bugs with the software, I'm fairly confident that will be worked out in the next few months. My concern is if the Hardware itself will change considerably. From reading the forums so far I guess the 400 has had one change, less memory. Just wondering if I wait a while longer if they will make improvements to the actual hardware over the next 6 months. I wasn't into this stuff when the 60csx released, did any big hardware changes happen with that?

 

Thanks.

 

I can't really answer your question, but we just got our 300 and the meager amount of built in memory is enough for topo maps covering the entire state and our GPX file with 500 caches in it which still leaves over 50% of the memory free. Keep in mind we don't live in the most dense state around and only have topo maps loaded, so your mileage may vary...

 

-Robert

 

You can load more than 500 caches if you want to, right? And place topo maps on the sd card? It would be great if you could place all your data and access it on the SD card.

 

Yup, it will go up to 2000 caches with the 2.40 version of the firmware and you can load the maps on the SD card like you said. For my needs I haven't had to bother with the SD card yet.

 

I thought about the 400t as well, but decided that the 4.5GB of capacity (512MB builtin and 4GB SD Card) would be enough...

 

-Robert

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I'm on the fence about getting the 400T. I am fine with them working out the bugs with the software, I'm fairly confident that will be worked out in the next few months. My concern is if the Hardware itself will change considerably. From reading the forums so far I guess the 400 has had one change, less memory. Just wondering if I wait a while longer if they will make improvements to the actual hardware over the next 6 months. I wasn't into this stuff when the 60csx released, did any big hardware changes happen with that?

 

Thanks.

 

I can't really answer your question, but we just got our 300 and the meager amount of built in memory is enough for topo maps covering the entire state and our GPX file with 500 caches in it which still leaves over 50% of the memory free. Keep in mind we don't live in the most dense state around and only have topo maps loaded, so your mileage may vary...

 

-Robert

 

You can load more than 500 caches if you want to, right? And place topo maps on the sd card? It would be great if you could place all your data and access it on the SD card.

 

Yup, it will go up to 2000 caches with the 2.40 version of the firmware and you can load the maps on the SD card like you said. For my needs I haven't had to bother with the SD card yet.

 

I thought about the 400t as well, but decided that the 4.5GB of capacity (512MB builtin and 4GB SD Card) would be enough...

 

-Robert

 

I chose the 300 because it sounded as though once it came down to it, it was going to have more usable internal memory than the 400.

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400t's are advertised for $487.63 shipped at PCNation.com but they won't get them for a couple more months. Might work out fine for you but I couldn't wait.

 

The 60Cx & 60CSx went through the same kind of debut. I didn't buy one for about 4 months because it was full of bugs. There were no hardware changes that I can remember. That's why I didn't hesitate for a moment to buy a Colorado because I remember very well what the 60C(S)x series was like and how Garmin was able to straighten it out.

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You can load more than 500 caches if you want to, right? And place topo maps on the sd card? It would be great if you could place all your data and access it on the SD card.

 

I have both maps and geocaches on the SD card. As far as I know I can put pretty much anything I want the unit to use on the card. I just wish I could set it to place the field notes on the card instead of on the unit (then I could just pull the card to do everything instead of connecting the unit).

Edited by Quackin' Up
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You can load more than 500 caches if you want to, right? And place topo maps on the sd card? It would be great if you could place all your data and access it on the SD card.

 

I have both maps and geocaches on the SD card. As far as I know I can put pretty much anything I want the unit to use on the card. I just wish I could set it to place the field notes on the card instead of on the unit (then I could just pull the card to do everything instead of connecting the unit).

 

If that is the case then internal memory should not be an issue. I had heard caches could not be accessed on an SD card. I guess I heard wrong, or an update changed that.

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I can also confirm that Geocaches can be stored on the SD card.

 

I found one reason to buy the 400t over the 300. I haven’t seen it directly addressed on this forum. The Colorado allows you to install 2 separate maps, one internal memory and the other SD memory. Here’s how I do it on my 300. The SD map is the big one, about 2gb, and took several hours to load. This map has about 1/3 Eastern USA in City Navigator and Topo. The internal memory map is limited to about 300mb of remaining memory and takes less than an hour to compile and load. The internal maps are for other destinations. Say I want to go to the West coast. I can take less than an hour to put a map in the internal memory for the West Coast and leave my big map alone. Now if I had the 400t, I would have the whole USA Topo preloaded and could load the whole USA City Navigator on the SD. No need to load maps until I upgrade to a new version. That’s my only regret for buying the 300 instead of the 400t. I had a 400t ordered but allow myself to be swayed by these forums since I already had Topo US 2008.

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I can also confirm that Geocaches can be stored on the SD card.

 

I found one reason to buy the 400t over the 300. I haven’t seen it directly addressed on this forum. The Colorado allows you to install 2 separate maps, one internal memory and the other SD memory. Here’s how I do it on my 300. The SD map is the big one, about 2gb, and took several hours to load. This map has about 1/3 Eastern USA in City Navigator and Topo. The internal memory map is limited to about 300mb of remaining memory and takes less than an hour to compile and load. The internal maps are for other destinations. Say I want to go to the West coast. I can take less than an hour to put a map in the internal memory for the West Coast and leave my big map alone. Now if I had the 400t, I would have the whole USA Topo preloaded and could load the whole USA City Navigator on the SD. No need to load maps until I upgrade to a new version. That’s my only regret for buying the 300 instead of the 400t. I had a 400t ordered but allow myself to be swayed by these forums since I already had Topo US 2008.

 

Correct me if I am wronger here, but say in 2010 when you still have your 300 because you love it so much :blink: , you will be able to upgrade and those with a 400 will still have topo 2008. Also, couldn't uou have an sd card with both maps or an sd card with topo and another with city navigator for a trip you might be planning.

 

Thanks for the info on storing the caches. I suppose here you could store virtually an unlimited number of caches on the gard but only have so many active at a time. Are the cache icons on the map yet?

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The 400t preloaded maps will be completely updateable just like the preloaded maps on nuvi’s. Since the 300 is the 50th GPSr that I’ve owned, I can almost guarantee I won’t still have it in 2010. The Colorado looks for the map file named “gmapsupp.img” in the “Garmin” folder. Since you can’t have 2 folders with the same name on the SD card you can only put one gmapsupp.img map file on it. You can compile several map files and put them on several different SD cards. Remember these map files take a looooooooooooooooooooooooong time to compile and load. I’ve been trying to put all Topo US 2008 on a 4gb SD card. I keep interrupting it because it takes like 18 hours! That's with a 2.8gig processor. The City Navigator maps would take several hours to compile and load for a 400t but once it’s done you wouldn’t have to do it for at least a year when the next version is released.

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The Colorado looks for the map file named “gmapsupp.img” in the “Garmin” folder. Since you can’t have 2 folders with the same name on the SD card you can only put one gmapsupp.img map file on it. You can compile several map files and put them on several different SD cards. Remember these map files take a looooooooooooooooooooooooong time to compile and load. I’ve been trying to put all Topo US 2008 on a 4gb SD card. I keep interrupting it because it takes like 18 hours! That's with a 2.8gig processor.

 

Is there a tool or method to allow you to compile the maps and generate a gmapsupp.img file on the PC for manual loading onto the SD card? I've seen the tool for joining the map segments and was wondering if that generated the file as well. If all else fails I guess you could load it on the GPS and then pull it back of and store it in a directory on the PC for later use.

 

Can you reformat the SD card into multiple drives and store different maps on each one?

 

Haven't bought maps yet as I want to figure out if the topo or NT maps are what I want.

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Is there a tool or method to allow you to compile the maps and generate a gmapsupp.img file on the PC for manual loading onto the SD card? I've seen the tool for joining the map segments and was wondering if that generated the file as well. If all else fails I guess you could load it on the GPS and then pull it back of and store it in a directory on the PC for later use.

You should be able to plug the SD card directly into the PC (assuming you have a card reader) and assemble the map there - in theory (I have not tried it myself) it should work as long as you already went through the unlock code process for NT... I assembled the maps (old City Select 2004 and Topo 2008) onto the SD card (is assigned a different drive letter in MapSource) while the Colorado was plugged in, about 1500 segments with 1.5GB for the east coast and it basically ran from evening until the next morning. I then copied the img file back to my PC for backup purposes - this way I can easily create a region when traveling load it to the GPS and then just need to copy the east coast file back without having the computer churn all night...
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I suppose here you could store virtually an unlimited number of caches on the gard but only have so many active at a time.
You can't currently do this. It currently loads all the GPX files it finds. I'm guessing that an update or two from now, we'll have this capability. The current work around is to have different SD cards with different set(s) of GPX file(s).
Are the cache icons on the map yet?
Yes Edited by Marky
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