[aprssig] NUVI-350 Map update question

[Rich Mulvey]

On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 12:09 PM, Stephen H. Smith <wa8lmf2 at aol.com> wrote:

> On 3/7/2012 8:20 AM, Rich Mulvey wrote:
>
>> I have a 350 with a lifetime map subscription, which means that I get
>> updates every 6 months or so.
>>
>> Never had any issues with losing APRS functionallity.
>>
>>
>>
>
> Just beware that the Garmin online update routine requires the
> installation of several highly-invasive software additions including
> Microsoft DotNet 4.0 before it can do the updates.  Play safe and back up
> your system in case all this software "sludge" breaks something else on
> your system.
>
> Further, the download is not just an incremental update.   Rather it is a
> download of the ENTIRE latest version road data base from scratch.  If you
> opt for all of Mexico (new as of the last year or so) as well as all of the
> US and Canada, you are looking at 1.5-2.0 GB of data that can take the
> better part of a day to download.   I.e. it's almost like Bit-Torrenting an
> entire movie.    The latest downloaded update also provided a nice color
> 3D-looking shaded-relief effect when zoom the map out to an area over
> 50-100 miles across.     Looks neat in the western US, although not much to
> see in the mid-west....
>
> (I've updated an Nuvi 855 with lifetime maps twice now with no problems,
> except waiting for huge downloads.)
>
>
Another good reason to use OSX.  ;-)    The map updater doesn't install
anything else.  Plus, with a 50Mb net connection, the download takes about
20 minutes.  ;-)

Also, I don't know if this can be done on the Windows version, but updating
the SD card directly is approximately 1 gigafractillion times faster than
doing it over USB with the card still in the GPS.
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