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Post by davemeister on Aug 29, 2012 19:34:18 GMT -9
I have a friend who has an Oregon and really hasn't used it yet. I suggested getting Northwest trails to him since he goes hiking a lot. Does anyone know if there is the same issue with most GPS's....(you can't load just Northwest trails or it will erase your map) I assume you have to load Northwest trails into your mapsouce/top maps and then reload both the Northwest trails AND Alaska maps at same time together.
If anyone can confirm my suspicion I would be most grateful.
Thanks
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Post by SSO JOAT on Aug 29, 2012 19:59:13 GMT -9
You are correct. A mapload to any Garmin is a one-shot procedure. So, you have to install NW Trails to your computer (and thereby into Mapsource) and then select all the map sections you want to load to your GPSr. I recommend that once you've picked all the map sections you want to put on your GPSr, that you save that selection in Mapsource. NWTrails is constantly being updated, so you will have to reload it to your GPSr on a fairly regular basis (every couple months or so). Might as well make it easy. Procedure: Go to www.switchbacks.com/nwtrails/ and download the latest verison of the NW Trails application. Open and install the file on your computer. Open Garmin's Mapsource program and then open your saved mapset file (or use the map tool to select all the regular Garmin map sections you want). Go to the top left of the window and change the current mapset to the NW Trails set. Using the map tool, select the NW Trails states that you want included in your loadout. Turn on your GPSr and connect it your to your computer via the supplied USB cable. Start the upload to device process and select only the maps checkbox. It's best to deselect all other data transfers (waypoints, tracks, etc.) during a map upload. Click the start button and go have a cup of coffee or do something else. Do not run anything else in the background on your computer, or attempt to minimize the GPS transfer process. This is how errors occur. Just let the transfer happen and stay out of the way. Depending on your mapset size, the process can take anywhere from a few minutes up to an hour. Back in the days before USB, a map upload via serial port could take 3-5 hours. I recall connecting the old Garmin to the serial port before going to bed and having it chew on 24MB of map data all night long to have about 15% of Alaska's topo maps in there. I can't imagine doing that with the 2GB card in my modern GPSr which will hold the entire state of Alaska, plus most of the C48. BTW, plan on attending our EduVent session on October 18th as we will be going through all the finer details of GPS Operations and loading, using, and contributing to NW Trails. Bring your friend and his GPSr.
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