Just downloaded the Nov 18, 2009 unit software Ver 5.50 update for my 276C. "Changes made from version 5.40 to 5.50: Added support for large NAND datacards Improved power-up processing" This may be very good news. I haven't checked the updates for the 37X and 47X units yet but they had updates released at the same time.
Are the larger data cards actually available? I've only seen 512mb,which runs fine in my 376c. Thanks for the headsup on the update,I had not looked in a while. JR356
Nothing that I could find yet on the Garmin site. I did note that they added some additional nomenclature to the old card identifiers on the site. The assumption is that this will serve to differentiate the older cards from the new cards when they appear. I was hoping that GARMIN would announce the new cards at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week but nothing along that line yet. Just a couple of new Oregons (450 & 450t), a new Nuvi 665 (660 with XM weather & traffic) and a voice application allowing you to customize the voices on certain GPS devices.
I'd like to see a data card holder/adapter that allowed the use of el cheapo $20 4 gig cards instead of the proprietary ones they use now at a rip off price.
Ahh, "to dream the impossible dream...to run where the brave not go" [With apologies to The Man of Lamancha and Andy Williams, too.] That would be the best of many possible worlds - a new Garmin form card which was merely a carrier for the microsd card of your choice.
Now that would be superb if they did it! Incidentally, I also got the new 2.3 usb drivers at the same time as the 5.5 firmware but I can't get the blessed thing to install. Anyone else tried it yet?
It is unlikely that there will be anything larger than 512mb because as recall that is all the hardware interface is able to address. If you go searching on google for how to build your own garmin data cards you can find a guy who soldered a connector on a smartmedia card because the interface is the same... he talks about the address size limitation being roughly 512mb.
I saw the firmware update some time ago and looked into the NAND memory a little. A search on the Garmin site for NAND landed me in the middle of the aviation units. Not sure if this will carryover to the marine units. Bruce
Like this ? ............. Although I must say that I have, so far, had good experiences with Garmin's customer/ tech service..
Man, that would be awesome if we could get at least a 2gig card then the entire US could be loaded on the 376C.
Keep in mind the number of units sold (very few) and divide the development costs by units sold. The price IS high on a per byte basis, but not unreasonable. Garmin still uses this format on their Marine units to maintain compatibility with older units. All of their new stuff (automotive/motorcycle) uses industry standard SD cards - no compatibility issues there..
IIRC the 296/496 updates 5x per second while the non-aviation units only do 1x per second. Since they're marketing driven my bet is they just sped up the clock and didn't change any other portion of the hardware. Those units used to have an automotive mode so I wonder what their track logs look like in comparison to a nonaviation unit over the same ground track. I've never used a 496 in an a/c but I have seen their panel mounts in action --- their terrain database screen presentation is just awsome when you need to make a decision in a hurry and you aren't familiar with the local terrain.