Garmin GPS - Change US software by EUR software.

Author

Change US software by EUR software.

Antonio Cordeiro

2006-10-22, 4:33 am

I will be traveling to USA in a near future. I intend to buy a Garmin 76CSx
as there they are cheaper than in Europe.
Will it be possible to replace all the US software by European software,
firmware included, without sending the receiver to the factory?

Thank you all in advance for your answers.

AC

Donald Lancaster

2006-10-22, 10:33 am

Antonio Cordeiro wrote:
> I will be traveling to USA in a near future. I intend to buy a Garmin 7=
6CSx=20
> as there they are cheaper than in Europe.
> Will it be possible to replace all the US software by European software=
,=20
> firmware included, without sending the receiver to the factory?
>=20
> Thank you all in advance for your answers.

No, buy a cheap map package like Metroguide Europe for =A310 of=20
www.ebid.co.uk.

Jack Erbes

2006-10-22, 10:33 am

Antonio Cordeiro wrote:

> I will be traveling to USA in a near future. I intend to buy a Garmin 76CSx
> as there they are cheaper than in Europe.
> Will it be possible to replace all the US software by European software,
> firmware included, without sending the receiver to the factory?
>

You have two type of maps, the basemap (built in, not replaceable at the
user level) and detail maps (loaded at the user level).

You can't replace the basemap in the U.S. model with the basemap for the
European model or vice versa. And as far as I know, Garmin will not do
that for you either.

But there is an optional software you can buy (MapSource WorldMap) that
will let you load basemap level detail for other parts of the world:

http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/WM.jsp

You can use the MapSource Map Viewer from that link to see the detail
you could get for a given area.

When I look at the area I live in, the level of detail on the WorldMap
is much inferior to the level of detail I see on the basemap built into
my 76Cx. But it has the major highways (Interstate and U.S. highways,
and a some of the major state highways). I could probably use the
detail on a WorldMap map to navigate from one major population center to
another but would need additional detail to continue to navigate on
local highways and to street level addresses.

If you have an optional mapping package for an area, and have loaded a
detail map, you do not really need to have a basemap for the same area.
The detail map will contain the roads that would have been on the
basemap and the additional detail too. If I were going to travel to
Europe with my U.S. model 76Cx, I would buy the European mapping
package, a number of microSD cards, and preload the cards with mapping
for the areas I'm going to travel.

When I got to Europe, I would turn the basemap in the 76Cx off and use
the microSD cards for navigating.

I have City Navigator North America V8 and use that on my 76Cx, with
that I can turn the basemap off because CN8 has all the same detail and
more. The 76Cx (and all the "x" series for that matter) give you good
control over the maps on the microSD card, you can turn them on and off
to control which are used or not used.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

Carl Heinz

2006-10-22, 10:33 am

On Sun, 22 Oct 2006 09:42:11 -0400, Jack Erbes <jackerbes@adelphia.net> wrote:

>I have City Navigator North America V8 and use that on my 76Cx, with
>that I can turn the basemap off because CN8 has all the same detail and
>more. The 76Cx (and all the "x" series for that matter) give you good
>control over the maps on the microSD card, you can turn them on and off
>to control which are used or not used.
>
>Jack

I have CN NA NT loaded on a 2GB microSD and a major part of CN Europe loaded
on a 1GB microSD and just swap them out as needed. My 76Cx has the US base
map but it's not used because the CN map products have been loaded and I have
them turned on. As far as I can tell, the Garmin Mapsource products I've used
are turned on automatically when loaded and you have to turn them off as
needed. I've never loaded multiple Mapsource products for the same area so I
have no experience in dealing with that.

Carl
--
Carl Heinz
cfheinz57@charter.net
(Remove number)

Jack Erbes

2006-10-22, 10:33 pm

Carl Heinz wrote:
> On Sun, 22 Oct 2006 09:42:11 -0400, Jack Erbes <jackerbes@adelphia.net> wrote:
>
>
> I have CN NA NT loaded on a 2GB microSD and a major part of CN Europe loaded
> on a 1GB microSD and just swap them out as needed. My 76Cx has the US base
> map but it's not used because the CN map products have been loaded and I have
> them turned on. As far as I can tell, the Garmin Mapsource products I've used
> are turned on automatically when loaded and you have to turn them off as
> needed. I've never loaded multiple Mapsource products for the same area so I
> have no experience in dealing with that.
>

Thanks for the details, now I know it will work the way I thought it
would.

I load CN8 and also some BlueNav maps for the same area and use the
BlueNav on boats of course. When I do that I usually turn the basemap
and the CN8 maps off to prevent the 76Cx from using those in close
inshore channels or around ports.

There is a programmed sequence or pecking order for using multiple maps,
it is explained somewhere because I have read it. I looked for it in my
owner's manual and could not find it, maybe it was explained on this
group or somewhere on the Garmin pages.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)

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