Which 4gb cards work with Garmin Etrex Vista HCX

[+ras_oscar]

After much pondering and research I finally made the plunge and ordered a brand new shiny Garmin etrex Vista hcx. Question: I have seen in the forums that *some* of the 4gb cards work and some don't. Question: what brands of cards have been found to reliably work?

[NordicMan]

Non-SDHC 4 GB cards should work. although I'm not sure if the Vista HCx can "see" the whole thing.

[+Prime Suspect]

SanDisk and Kinsington have been recommended by Garmin.

[+ras_oscar]

any idea how big a card the unit can address?

[eaparks]

2Gb unless Garmin has released a software update in the past 6-8 months. You can check on Garmin's website to see what the last updates were for.

 

edit: Garmin's update 3.0 increased the size to 4Gb.

Edited October 28, 2009 by eaparks

[+eflyguy]

What on earth do you need 4GB for?

[+Prime Suspect]

What on earth do you need 4GB for?

It takes more than 2GB to load all the CN and Topo maps. I currently have a 2GB card, and have all the continental US CN maps, but only about half the Topo maps for the US loaded. While I don't need all the US maps all the time, I'd rather just load them once, rather than have to reload if I'm going to an area that I don't have maps loaded.

[+ras_oscar]

slightly off topic, but I'll claim OP priveleges:

Is it true that POIs loaded into the memory card cannot be seen in the unit, only those loaded directly into unit memory?

Edited October 29, 2009 by ras_oscar

[+eflyguy]

Got it. I only load what I need as more seems to slow the unit down..

 

Never messed with POI's.. that's for my car GPS..

..a

[eaparks]

slightly off topic, but I'll claim OP priveleges:

Is it true that POIs loaded into the memory card cannot be seen in the unit, only those loaded directly into unit memory?

No, Custom POIs loaded into the memory card can be seen on the GPS. Just like any other waypoint or Garmin map POI. You just can't edit or make any changes to the Custom POI using the GPS.

 

POIs loaded to the memory card are called Custom POIs and can be loaded using Gamin's free POI Loader software on their website. Custom POIs serve a very useful purpose and are very easy to obtain and load to the GPS. There are literally hundreds of categories containing millions of individual custom pois that are free for downloading. One such site is POI Factory http://www.poi-factory.com/poifiles .

 

1. Custom POIs must be loaded using a PC and can only be deleted using a PC, therefore no accidentally erasing in the field or when doing a hard reset in the field if all else fails

 

2. Any waypoint can easily be converted to a custom poi with Mapsource.

 

3. Number of Custom POIs that can be put on the memory card is virtually unlimited. I just put 27 categories containing 49,700 custom pois on a memory card.

 

4. POIs that come on street maps such as City Navigator are usually very out of date by the time the software is marketed. Most Custom POI files on POI Factory are hosted by someone that keeps the files updated with the latest changes.

 

5. Custom POI files / categories can be assigned their own unique symbol.

Edited October 29, 2009 by eaparks

[+Prime Suspect]

slightly off topic, but I'll claim OP priveleges:

Is it true that POIs loaded into the memory card cannot be seen in the unit, only those loaded directly into unit memory?

Custom POIs can only be loaded onto the card, so that's obviously incorrect. Custom POIs are not mixed in with the Garmin POIs, and are accessed from a separate menu icon.

[+eflyguy]

Never mess with a geocacher. We know all the best places to hide a body.

 

Just have to say, I *love* this!

..a

[+bjb670]

What on earth do you need 4GB for?

It takes more than 2GB to load all the CN and Topo maps. I currently have a 2GB card, and have all the continental US CN maps, but only about half the Topo maps for the US loaded. While I don't need all the US maps all the time, I'd rather just load them once, rather than have to reload if I'm going to an area that I don't have maps loaded.

 

Arent you near the map segment limit?? i cant fit all of my TOPO maps because i go over the 2025 or whatever the limit is.

[+Prime Suspect]

What on earth do you need 4GB for?

It takes more than 2GB to load all the CN and Topo maps. I currently have a 2GB card, and have all the continental US CN maps, but only about half the Topo maps for the US loaded. While I don't need all the US maps all the time, I'd rather just load them once, rather than have to reload if I'm going to an area that I don't have maps loaded.

 

Arent you near the map segment limit?? i cant fit all of my TOPO maps because i go over the 2025 or whatever the limit is.

Not even close. I resegmented my topo maps. It took about 80 hours of computer time, but since you can stop and start the process, and it picks up where it left off, I just let it run at night for 8 or 9 nights. The result is the entire continental US topo in just 107 map segments.

Edited October 30, 2009 by Prime Suspect

[+eflyguy]

That *has* to slow it down?

[+Prime Suspect]

That *has* to slow it down?

If I have both CN and topo turned on, it does slow down the redraw. But that's a pointless thing to do, since CN will completely overlay topo, and you get no benefit of having topo turned on. So I keep topo turned off until I need it. Then I turn off CN and turn on topo. There's no slowdown when just topo is turned on, despite the mega-segment size.

[+eflyguy]

Good to know. Might be because there's so *few* segments in use.

..a