Do I need a SD card for my Nuvi 360?
cs1971
I was recently surprised with a Nuvi 360 and while it seems like a great
unit, my one complaint is that it came with almost no documentation
other than the quickstart manual. I have the following basic question:
I live in the US and the unit came with the North American maps
preinstalled. I was dissapointed to find out that "North America"
included Canada which I have no use for, but not Mexico which I do. I'm
considering buying the "Garmin Mapsource City Navigator Mexico NT
v2008" CD but it's not clear to me if I also need a SD card? In other
words, is there room on the unit for both the currently installed North
American package *and* the Mexico maps or would I have to load the
Mexico stuff onto a SD? Thanks in advance for helping me with what I'm
sure seems like a silly question.
-cs1971
Craig
"cs1971" wrote...
> Hi,
>
> I was recently surprised with a Nuvi 360 and while it seems like a great
> unit, my one complaint is that it came with almost no documentation other
> than the quickstart manual.
Manual (74-page pdf):
<https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/manual.jsp?product=010-00538-00&cID=134&pID=6291>
>I have the following basic question: I live in the US and the unit came
>with the North American maps preinstalled. I was dissapointed to find out
>that "North America" included Canada which I have no use for, but not
>Mexico which I do. I'm considering buying the "Garmin Mapsource City
>Navigator Mexico NT v2008" CD but it's not clear to me if I also need a SD
>card? In other words, is there room on the unit for both the currently
>installed North American package *and* the Mexico maps or would I have to
>load the Mexico stuff onto a SD? Thanks in advance for helping me with
>what I'm sure seems like a silly question.
>
> -cs1971
The Mexico map is too big to add to your GPS internal memory. You will need
a SD card to include it on your nuvi, just as I use a SD card for parts of
Topo USA on my nuvi for traveling AZ's National Forests.
If your 360 is like my 750, the first time to turn on the nuvi with the
Mexican map on SD, both your US/Canada and Mexican map will be loaded but
only the US/Canada map will be visible. To see the Mexican map, you need to
deselect the US/Canada map: Wrench/Settings/Map/MapInfo., then uncheck the
US map. When returning to need the US map, go back and uncheck Mexico and
recheck US/Canada. You can leave the Mexico SD card in the nuvi.
The Mexico map is available preloaded on a SD card or by CD. I'll suggest
you get the CD so you'll be able to load it to your PC as well as a SD card
for the nuvi. However you buy the Mexican map, it'll have an unlock code and
will only work on one Garmin GPS unit, which will be your nuvi. It won't be
movable to another GPS...Just letting you know in advance.
If you buy the Mexican CD, be sure you check for the latest Mapsource
update. Ditto for your nuvi--use WebUpdater to make sure your nuvi has the
latest firmware.
Map info: <http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/citynavntmexico.jsp>
Craig
cs1971
>
> The Mexico map is too big to add to your GPS internal memory. You will need
> a SD card to include it on your nuvi, just as I use a SD card for parts of
> Topo USA on my nuvi for traveling AZ's National Forests.
>
> If your 360 is like my 750, the first time to turn on the nuvi with the
> Mexican map on SD, both your US/Canada and Mexican map will be loaded but
> only the US/Canada map will be visible. To see the Mexican map, you need to
> deselect the US/Canada map: Wrench/Settings/Map/MapInfo., then uncheck the
> US map. When returning to need the US map, go back and uncheck Mexico and
> recheck US/Canada. You can leave the Mexico SD card in the nuvi.
>
> The Mexico map is available preloaded on a SD card or by CD. I'll suggest
> you get the CD so you'll be able to load it to your PC as well as a SD card
> for the nuvi. However you buy the Mexican map, it'll have an unlock code and
> will only work on one Garmin GPS unit, which will be your nuvi. It won't be
> movable to another GPS...Just letting you know in advance.
>
> If you buy the Mexican CD, be sure you check for the latest Mapsource
> update. Ditto for your nuvi--use WebUpdater to make sure your nuvi has the
> latest firmware.
>
> Map info: <http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/citynavntmexico.jsp>
>
> Craig
Craig,
Thanks a lot for all of the information; it's really helpful. It turns
out that I did have the manual (they ship the pdf file on a cd). I
hadn't looked at the disk close enough and errouneously thought that it
was MapSource. Two quick followup questions:
(1) Before I buy an SD card, I just want to be sure that I don't need
anything else to get the data off of my pc and onto the card. Does the
card plug directly into a USB slot?
(2) Thanks for the heads up on the unlock codes, but I'm not sure how it
could work? If I buy a CD, what stops me from installing the maps on
two different GPS units?
Thanks again for your help.
-cs1971
Craig
"cs1971" wrote...
> Craig,
>
> Thanks a lot for all of the information; it's really helpful. It turns
> out that I did have the manual (they ship the pdf file on a cd). I hadn't
> looked at the disk close enough and errouneously thought that it was
> MapSource. Two quick followup questions:
>
> (1) Before I buy an SD card, I just want to be sure that I don't need
> anything else to get the data off of my pc and onto the card. Does the
> card plug directly into a USB slot?
No, the SD card needs either a media reader device (which does plug into a
USB slot) unless your PC already has media slots now. Or you can put the SD
card in the nuvi when you USB the nuvi to the computer. The computer will
see both the GPS internal memory and the SD card. Be aware that a transfer
from your PC to a SD card in a nuvi may be much slower than to a SD card in
a media reader slot. Also, there may be more potential for messing up files
in the nuvi when you do things this way. Others who have done this may have
more to say on the subject. Also, the creation of full map of Mexico from
the CD to the PC to the nuvi may take over an hour so don't start the
process when you have lots of other work to do on the PC.
Here's a link to a cheap SD media reader. If the link doesn't work, just
enter "Sandisk Micromate Reader" into an Amazon search:
Even if you PC has a media reader slot or you have a media reader device
that plugs into a USB slot, many of these devices only work for SD cards up
to 2 GB. For the 4GB and larger cards, the media reader needs to be SDHC
compatible. A check for these items on Wikipedia or Amazon should help you.
Not having a 360, I'm not sure how large a SD card the nuvi can
handle--don't buy a 4GB SDHC card or bigger without first checking to see
that your 360 can handle that size card. PS--given the size of Mexico, I'd
guess that a 1GB card would be sufficient for the City Navigator Mexico map,
but that's only my guess.
>
> (2) Thanks for the heads up on the unlock codes, but I'm not sure how it
> could work? If I buy a CD, what stops me from installing the maps on two
> different GPS units?
I don't know how it works, but you do need an internet connection to
complete the unlocking of a "unlock code" map to a specific GPS unit. Once
the Garmin internet site matches your nuvi serial number with a specific
map's unlock code, the code may not be used again on other GPS units. If you
try, you'll get a message that says that unlock code has already been used
and you need to buy another map CD. Once again, others who have done this
already may have further info for you.
>
> Thanks again for your help.
>
> -cs1971
One last thought for future use. From what I see on the Garmin site, the
Mexico map comes on a CD. But if you plan at a future date to update your
USA/Canada City Navigator to the 2009 or later versions, the map comes on a
DVD, so it's important that your PC have a DVD drive for installation. Also,
if you plan to update your US/Canada map (and the 2009 version is now
available), you will want the City Navigator NT Update 2009 DVD, not the
full non-update version of City Navigator NT.
Craig
"Craig" wrote...
>
> "cs1971" wrote...
>
>> Craig,
>>
>> Thanks a lot for all of the information;>> (2) Thanks for the heads up on
>> what stops me from installing the maps on two different GPS units?
>
> I don't know how it works, but you do need an internet connection to
> complete the unlocking of a "unlock code" map to a specific GPS unit. Once
> the Garmin internet site matches your nuvi serial number with a specific
> map's unlock code, the code may not be used again on other GPS units. If
> you try, you'll get a message that says that unlock code has already been
> used and you need to buy another map CD. Once again, others who have done
> this already may have further info for you.
One last PS: I think I've read from others that it's important to have
registered your nuvi with Garmin before doing map updates that use unlock
codes. If true, be sure to register your unit online now before adding maps.
And if the whole process of making your own map on a SD card seems too much
of a bother, remember that Garmin does sell the Mexico map preinstalled on a
SD card. It'll still have the unlock code process making it work only in one
GPS...and if buying a preloaded map on a SD card, you lose the ability to
have the map on your PC as well. So I stand by recommendation that buying
maps on CD or DVD is better than getting preloaded SD cards with maps.
Craig