GPS and Mac

[+reodor09]

I did have a Montana 700. With the cable I connected the GPS to my Mac, and the GPS came up as a volume in Finder. As did the extra micro SD-card with maps.

For some reasons I sent Montana to Garmin, and back came an upgrade model: Montana 710. Big surprise when this GPS did not show up in Finder. The only difference as far I could see, was that the USB-cable contgact at the GPS changed from USB micro to USB-C.

The strange thing is that the GPS shows up in Garmin Express, but not in Finder.

This is crucial for me, as I need to export/import gpx-files to and from my  cache database (iCaching), and also for importing maps to the SD card.

Garmin will not do anything as they can see that the GPS turns up in Garmin Express, and therefore "nothing wrong with this GPS, this must be an Apple problem..."

Any out there with the same experience? What is the way out?

May be this is not the right forum, but I have to start somewhere

[JaVaWa]

The Montana 710 (and other new Garmin models) uses MTP for communication with a PC or Mac. There are some restrictions regarding MTP and MacOS: the device will not show up in Finder and only one program can connect to the device at a time.

So it can be accessed with BaseCamp and Express, but not both at the same time. However,  Garmin Express starts up automatically by default and connects to the device. You can prevent this: open settings of Express and uncheck both options. Close Express using Cmd-Q.

You can use OpenMTP to access the file system on the Montana directly, but again, not when BaseCamp or Express is running.

The interface of OpenMTP is not quite according to Apple standards, but it works.

Edited March 25 by JaVaWa

[brass999]

Hi Reodor,

I have a similar problem with a Nuvi 550. MacOS (Macbook Pro Intel i9 + Sequoia OS) complains that both the device and the internal microSD card are cannot be accessed/are not visible in Finder. I tried several solutions offered at the internet, including the solution offered by Javawa without success (OpenMTP did not provided a solution for me). 

The strange thing is that the Nuvi does show up on a windows computer, a linux computer and on my old MacBook pro with High Sierra installed.

It seems that the problem is related to the newer MacOS versions (MacBook pro Intel i9 & Sequoia).

I tried other (new formatted on MacOS) microSD's without success. The only solution that made the device and SD card visible was the following:

a) Remove the internal microSD from your device

b) Connect your device to the mac (without battery, otherwise your microSD slot is not accessible)

c) Device starts up automatically and the Nuvi is visible in Finder!

d) Insert the internal microSD card again with the device still connected, and the microSD card will show up in Finder as well.

e) Both the device and the internal microSD card will be visible in Finder and BaseCamp. Device is also visible in Garmin Express.

 

If you find another solution, I am highly interested.

Apparently MacOS has a problem as long as both the Garmin and MicroSD are attached simultaneously.

 

For the time being I will use a Windows computer or my old Macbook pro with High Sierra to access the Nuvi, not ideal but workable for me.

 

Regards,

Brass999.

 

 

[JaVaWa]

Actually, it is a completely different problem, it is not related to reodor09's case.

The nüvi 550 does not use MTP at all, so OpenMTP cannot access your device.

More Sequoia users have problems accessing Garmin devices with SD cards. Another working solution is described here: 

But again, this doesn't solve reodor09's problem.