Montana 600 map question

[sviking]

How many individual maps can you have on the SD card for a Montana 600?

 

I'm trying to use these maps:

 

Arizona TOPO

Florida TOPO

City Navigator

 

US Northwest

US Southwest

US Northcentral <---- These are Garmin TOPO 100K broken up into 5 maps

US Southeast

US Northeast

 

Every single map works perfectly when it's loaded by itself. However, there are huge areas of "non-coverage" when some (or all) of them are installed/enabled. Disabling the maps doesn't seem to help.

 

Another issue is, with them all loaded, one or two don't even show up in the map setup screen where you'd enable/disable them. Is there some sort of overall limit to the number of individual maps? I thought you could just load 'em up on the SD card as long as there was room. I know you have to pay attention to the individual map size (4GB/4000 tiles). None of these maps are even close to that. Thanks...

 

I do have this into Garmin via email, so I'll post what they say. Just thought someone here might know.

Edited November 8, 2012 by sviking

[+HHL]

The 4000 tiles limit is an absolut unit's limit - valid for all installed maps.

 

Hans

[sviking]

The 4000 tiles limit is an absolut unit's limit - valid for all installed maps.

 

Hans

 

Yes, dang it...bummer... I just got off the phone with Garmin and they told me the same thing. It just reads all of the maps, regardless if they're disabled or not, and stops when it hits 4000 tiles. That explains why some of my maps wouldn't even show in the map list and the random "blotchy" areas of no coverage.

 

So, I'll just create another folder in the Garmin folder and put the other maps(s) in it so the Montana won't see/load them. Much easier to move them when I need them instead of trying to rebuild them all over again. Or, I'll just get a second SD card and keep it in the battery compartment like I did with my 60CSx. You'd think they could have just removed that 4000 tile limit and made it "seamless" with this new über unit. This isn't 2005 anymore.

[+Walts Hunting]

I doubt it would be that easy to remove the limit. It must be limited by something in the operating system. What I did was install each state 24K TOPO on the device and then move it to my computer renaming it in the process. Did this also with the US CN set. Then I just put the ones I will be using in the next month or so on the device.

[+Atlas Cached]

Sviking, Lots of Montana related Map information here.

[sviking]

I doubt it would be that easy to remove the limit. It must be limited by something in the operating system.

 

Seems like more of a hardware limit to me. Still, I don't see it being really that hard to have a prompt pop up when you disable a map. Something like "Do you wish to delete this map from internal unit memory?" If "yes", then it would free up all the taken tiles and allow another map to be loaded up into internal memory (or wherever the 4000 tiles go) when the next desired map is enabled. Even if you had to restart the unit to load the new map, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. It would be NICE to access all the maps on the unit without needing anything other than the unit itself instead of having to use a computer/USB cable to do the card shuffle trick with multiple maps. Or carrying extra SD cards in the battery compartment...

 

What I did was install each state 24K TOPO on the device and then move it to my computer renaming it in the process. Did this also with the US CN set. Then I just put the ones I will be using in the next month or so on the device.

 

You did EACH state separately? That sounds like a major PITA. Why not just group them into regions and keep them in separate folders on the card itself? That way you always have everything all the time with you. I ended up with 9 maps on my card. 6 for TOPO 100 K (East and West US each broken up into 3 maps), two individual state TOPOs and City Navigator. I'll just move them in/out of the Garmin folder on the card as necessary. Only takes a few secs and, again, I always have them all with me. I'd just need access to any old computer and a USB cable. You could probably do it on some smart phones, too, if you can get to the directory structure on the card.

Edited November 9, 2012 by sviking

[sviking]

Sviking, Lots of Montana related Map information here.

 

Thanks for the link!