Garmin GPS - 60CSx, what is the best 1 gig micro sd card?

Author

60CSx, what is the best 1 gig micro sd card?

Frank H

2006-05-10, 11:48 pm

Hi everyone,

It is time for me to check around for the best suited 1 gig micro sd
card for my new GPS receiver.
Since I will be travelling to Europe next year, I will have to have a
lot of room for maps and track-logs.
What would you recommend I use.
This 60CSx is a nice unit.
I also have the regular 60CS, the upgrade was worth it.

Thanks in advance to those that might be able to help with some sound
advise.

Frank

Jack Erbes

2006-05-10, 11:48 pm

Frank H wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> It is time for me to check around for the best suited 1 gig micro sd
> card for my new GPS receiver.
> Since I will be travelling to Europe next year, I will have to have a
> lot of room for maps and track-logs.
> What would you recommend I use.
> This 60CSx is a nice unit.
> I also have the regular 60CS, the upgrade was worth it.
>
> Thanks in advance to those that might be able to help with some sound
> advise.

I always had good luck with SanDisk memory and if it goes bad they will
replace it. I just bought (but have not received it yet) a 1Gb microSD
card from this guy on eBay:

http://tinyurl.com/mo2y9

I'll follow up on this post if anything does not go right on the eBay
purchase, I hate to recommend a seller I don't have any first hand
experience with.

Looking at his feedback profile, I don't anticipate any problems with
the purchase. I bought that because of the price ($45.50 shipped) and
because it comes with a SD to microSD adapter.

That will let me use it in my Magellan Meridian now and then keep using
it when I make the almost inevitable move up to the 60Cx.

Jack

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

Frank H

2006-05-10, 11:48 pm

Hello Jack,

Thanks for the info on the card. Sandisk seems a pretty reliable card.
I am already using one in my iQ3600, also a gig.
Just did not know if it had to be a certain speed for all those maps I
am planning to load.

Cheers, Frank

Bob

2006-05-11, 5:48 pm

I don't think that there is anyone else producing 1gb microSD cards
other than SanDisk. It works fine in my 76csx.

I recall reading somewhere that SanDisk also produces an ultra microSD
card which does not work in Garmin units.

Bob

Jack Erbes

2006-05-11, 5:48 pm

Frank H wrote:
> Hello Jack,
>
> Thanks for the info on the card. Sandisk seems a pretty reliable card.
> I am already using one in my iQ3600, also a gig.
> Just did not know if it had to be a certain speed for all those maps I
> am planning to load.

There was a recent thread over on sci.geo.satellite-nav with the subject
"info on speed of compact flash cards for 2610" in which a gentleman
did some test comparing the performance of the standard and Ultra II CF
cards in a 2610. He did it by noting the time needed to calculate a
longer route. The Ultra II card took about half the time (15 seconds as
opposed to 26 IIRC) to calculate the route that the standard card did.

That test seemed to be credible. But I don't find the difference in
speed to be an incentive or create a need for me to pay more (up to
double?) for memory. I'm happy with standard memory.

Probably the most time consuming thing I do on a handheld is to preview
marine routes on the handheld at a fairly close in zoom looking for a
clear/safe route. I do that once generally and that's it. I'm usually
running 20-25 knots at cruise speeds and the time for processing and
screen redraws in actual use is not an issue for me on my Meridian Color.

Jack

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

Frank H

2006-05-11, 5:48 pm

On Thu, 11 May 2006 08:48:47 -0400, Jack Erbes
<jackerbes@adelphia.net> wrote:

>That test seemed to be credible. But I don't find the difference in
>speed to be an incentive or create a need for me to pay more (up to
>double?) for memory. I'm happy with standard memory.
>
>Probably the most time consuming thing I do on a handheld is to preview
>marine routes on the handheld at a fairly close in zoom looking for a
>clear/safe route. I do that once generally and that's it. I'm usually
>running 20-25 knots at cruise speeds and the time for processing and
>screen redraws in actual use is not an issue for me on my Meridian Color.
>
>Jack

Hello Jack,

Thanks for the extra info.
I might not be driving when in europe, mostly planning on using public
transportation. But to have the map redraw at optimum speed is
important when looking things up, or planning trips and hikes.
When I am at home, here in the vancouver area, I use the 2610 for
driving, or the iQ3600. The CSX will have to do everything for me
across the big pond, since I will travel very light, using a
back-pack.

Cheers, Frank

Frank H

2006-05-11, 5:48 pm

On 11 May 2006 04:42:50 -0700, "Bob" < clintonstreet3@veriz
on.net>
wrote:

>I don't think that there is anyone else producing 1gb microSD cards
>other than SanDisk. It works fine in my 76csx.
>
>I recall reading somewhere that SanDisk also produces an ultra microSD
>card which does not work in Garmin units.
>
>Bob

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your reply. I have not heard about this before. And also I
never thought about this possibillity. I will check with sandisk about
this before I make my purchase. Perhaps I should get two smaller cards
instead of the 1 gig.

Cheers, Frank

Bob

2006-05-11, 5:48 pm

Frank H wrote:
> On 11 May 2006 04:42:50 -0700, "Bob" < clintonstreet3@veriz
on.net>
> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Bob,
>
> Thanks for your reply. I have not heard about this before. And also I
> never thought about this possibillity. I will check with sandisk about
> this before I make my purchase. Perhaps I should get two smaller cards
> instead of the 1 gig.
>
> Cheers, Frank

Frank,

I'm not sure what the advantage of using 2 smaller cards would be over
a single large card.

One thing that I keep in mind is about the overall reliability of these
memory cards. I've been using memory cards in cameras for quite some
time without issue. However, the microSD just looks so frail. What if a
card fails on a long trip? Is it worth the investment to have a backup
card loaded with duplicate maps?

Last week, we took out on a hiking trip. I had a route on the GPS with
directions to the trailhead. When I turned the GPSr on in the car, all
I could see was the built in basemap. None of the maps on the card were
visible. After popping the card in and out, the maps did show up. The
unit worked ok until we started hiking, whereup it failed again a half
dozen times during the day. Popping the card in and out each time did
fix it. When we got home I sprayed contact cleaner on the card pins and
its been behaving since then.

For an upcoming one week trip, I think that I'll have the original card
that came with the unit with me, along with a loptop to load new maps
as needed.

With these high capacity cards, it takes Mapsource a long, long time to
compile the file to be transferred. Its dependent on your computer
speed. The actual transfer is fast, but compilation takes forever. I
saved a copy of the compiled file on my hard drive, so that when I need
to change whats on the card it will be much easier to restore my
original maps to the card using a card reader.

Regards,
Bob

Frank H

2006-05-11, 11:48 pm

On 11 May 2006 09:57:37 -0700, "Bob" < clintonstreet3@veriz
on.net>
wrote:

>Frank,
>
>I'm not sure what the advantage of using 2 smaller cards would be over
>a single large card.
>
>One thing that I keep in mind is about the overall reliability of these
>memory cards. I've been using memory cards in cameras for quite some
>time without issue. However, the microSD just looks so frail. What if a
>card fails on a long trip? Is it worth the investment to have a backup
>card loaded with duplicate maps?

Bob,

I went out and got a 1 gig micro sandisk locally. Come to think of it,
I never had a card pack it in as yet. So I will take a chance and not
double up the map-set for my europe stint.

Loading the maps does not take all that long. Pretty fast equipment
here.
Now I will just have to wait for the city navigator europe v8 to get
here, so I can figure out where to go and what to load.
When all is in place, I have a few months to put it through it's paces
to see if everything is ok.

Thanks for all the good help everyone.

Cheers, Frank

Steve H

2006-05-12, 5:48 am

Bob wrote:
> Frank H wrote:
>
>
> Frank,
>
> I'm not sure what the advantage of using 2 smaller cards would be over
> a single large card.
>
> One thing that I keep in mind is about the overall reliability of these
> memory cards. I've been using memory cards in cameras for quite some
> time without issue. However, the microSD just looks so frail. What if a
> card fails on a long trip? Is it worth the investment to have a backup
> card loaded with duplicate maps?
>
> Last week, we took out on a hiking trip. I had a route on the GPS with
> directions to the trailhead. When I turned the GPSr on in the car, all
> I could see was the built in basemap. None of the maps on the card were
> visible. After popping the card in and out, the maps did show up. The
> unit worked ok until we started hiking, whereup it failed again a half
> dozen times during the day. Popping the card in and out each time did
> fix it. When we got home I sprayed contact cleaner on the card pins and
> its been behaving since then.
>
> For an upcoming one week trip, I think that I'll have the original card
> that came with the unit with me, along with a loptop to load new maps
> as needed.
>
> With these high capacity cards, it takes Mapsource a long, long time to
> compile the file to be transferred. Its dependent on your computer
> speed. The actual transfer is fast, but compilation takes forever. I
> saved a copy of the compiled file on my hard drive, so that when I need
> to change whats on the card it will be much easier to restore my
> original maps to the card using a card reader.
>
> Regards,
> Bob
>
Bob:

I recently had to return a bad 128 MB Sandisk microSD card that did not
work in my Vista Cx. I went through some diagnostics with Garmin tech
support and we both concluded that the card was bad inside the Vista Cx.

OTOH, it did work fine inside an SD adapter in both my SD card reader
and digital camera. I got a new card which works just fine. In over 5
years, I never had a bad CF or SD card in a camera.

Soo..., what do you think about this?

Steve

Phil Wheeler

2006-05-12, 5:48 pm

Steve H wrote:
>
> I recently had to return a bad 128 MB Sandisk microSD card that did not
> work in my Vista Cx. I went through some diagnostics with Garmin tech
> support and we both concluded that the card was bad inside the Vista Cx.
>
> OTOH, it did work fine inside an SD adapter in both my SD card reader
> and digital camera. I got a new card which works just fine. In over 5
> years, I never had a bad CF or SD card in a camera.
>
> Soo..., what do you think about this?
>

PMFJI .. when I saw my first MicroSD I was struck by the small size.
Coupled with the way it mounts in my 60Cx (I think the Vista Cx
mechanical interface may be different), that made me conclude that I
would not want to be doing frequent card changeouts (e.g., with my
cameras I use a card reader for SD and CF cards, but will always load
the microSD card while in my 60Cx).

With these small devices, perhaps it takes less unit-to-unit variability
to result in a poor contact between the card and its carrier .. and the
interface to the SD adapter may have made up for that difference. Just
my 2 cents worth.

Phil

Bob

2006-05-12, 5:48 pm

Steve,

Would your card never work in your GPS?

The intermittant issue I had on one day just has me concerned about the
reliability of the card itself. Perhaps the problem was with dirty
contacts and cleaning them solved it. On the other hand, if its
something inside the card or the GPS causing the problem, I could
potentially be in trouble.

Bob

Bob

2006-05-12, 5:48 pm

Frank,

How many mb of maps did you install? It took me about a half hour to
compile a file for 937 mb of maps.

Bob

Frank H

2006-05-12, 5:48 pm

On 12 May 2006 04:23:11 -0700, "Bob" < clintonstreet3@veriz
on.net>
wrote:

>Frank,
>
>How many mb of maps did you install? It took me about a half hour to
>compile a file for 937 mb of maps.
>
>Bob

Bob,

I only loaded about 50 megs of maps, since I have to wait for my
european maps to arrive. I could post here, or send you an e-mail when
I time the full install. Let me know.
Bummer that the 'save tracklog to card' has vanished with the firmware
update. I hope they put this back in, since it would be a real plus to
have on long trips. And, I really miss the alarm clock I have in the
60CS. I have no use for the games, but that alarm clock is a definite
must have back.

Cheers, Frank

Steve H

2006-05-13, 5:48 am

Bob wrote:
> Steve,
>
> Would your card never work in your GPS?
>
> The intermittant issue I had on one day just has me concerned about the
> reliability of the card itself. Perhaps the problem was with dirty
> contacts and cleaning them solved it. On the other hand, if its
> something inside the card or the GPS causing the problem, I could
> potentially be in trouble.
>
> Bob
>
Bob:

I could NOT upload data from my PC to the card in the GPS with MapSource
(with the latest updates and drivers).

I could download data (tracks and waypoints) from the card in the GPS to
my PC with MapSource.

I could upload data to the card in an SD adapter and then in a card
reader with MapSource and then put the card in the GPS and the data
(MapSource maps) could be read by the GPS.

I could download data (tracks and waypoints) from the card in a SD
adapter in a card reader to my PC with the Windows.

I could format the card in an SD adapter in a card reader or in a
digital camera.

I could take pics with the card in an SD adapter in a digital camera and
download the pics to my PC with the Windows.

Each of these tests was tried 3 times.

The new card is working 100% fine in the GPS.

Soo..., what do you think?

Steve

Jack Erbes

2006-05-13, 5:48 pm

Steve H wrote:

> I recently had to return a bad 128 MB Sandisk microSD card that did not
> work in my Vista Cx. I went through some diagnostics with Garmin tech
> support and we both concluded that the card was bad inside the Vista Cx.
>
> OTOH, it did work fine inside an SD adapter in both my SD card reader
> and digital camera. I got a new card which works just fine. In over 5
> years, I never had a bad CF or SD card in a camera.
>
> Soo..., what do you think about this?

I have a two year old Lexar 1Gb CF card that started acting strange. It
could not be seen or used on PDAs running Pocket PC 2002 or 2003. I
would get the error:

"Storage Card Warning - An error occurred while reading the Storage Card
folder. If you are unable to use this storage card, try reinserting it,
or try a different card."

But the card could be seen, written to, and read from on my Windows 2000
PC and in two different digital cameras. After some polite and helpful
discussion of the details Lexar had me send it in for replacement. I
can't understand why the O/S or hardware would let it be seen in some
systems but not all.

I just noticed that Circuit City and/or Best Buy have some specials on
flash memory cards starting this weekend. BB has the SanDisk 2Gb SD
card for US$69.99, the SanDisk microSD 1Gb (with SD adapter) for
US$49.99, and CC has 2Gb Ultra-II CF card for for $89.99.

Jack

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

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