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20 Jan 2012
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Garstang, Lancashire, UK
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why is everything so complicated
I think I made a big mistake - I bought a Garmin Montana 600 a couple of weeks ago. No maps. This is my first GPS.
I have tried really hard to understand how the thing works. I have been on OSM and downloaded maps. I have downloaded an unzip programme. I have read this thread about 10 times. I have been on the Garmin website and many many others that claim to demystify GPS's.
Yet I still dont understand anything and still no maps on my PC except basecamp and no maps on my GPS. Is it just me being thick or what. Garmin makes it all sound so easy.
All I want at the moment is a UK map with towns, roads, tracks and paths and contours, and some waypoints in enough detail that I can browse on my PC and GPS. That I can ask for directions on my GPS and it routes me along roads, and that I can create routes or tracks on my PC and then follow them using my GPS. WHY IS IT SO EFFING HARD.
I will sell it soon if I dont get it working.
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21 Jan 2012
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: On the border - NE FR
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin
.....All I want at the moment is a UK map with towns, roads, tracks and paths and contours, and some waypoints in enough detail that I can browse on my PC and GPS.
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Don't give up yet!
Take a look at this link and see if it helps you: FREE British Isles, UK and Ireland Maps Home (talkytoaster)
Something you should understand... If you download a GMAPSUPP file, you cannot view that on your PC, with or without Mapsource/Basecamp... not without a LOT of messing and software and knowledge
These files are for use ONLY on the GPS unit.
Download the ????. MapSource.zip version of the files to use in BC or MS. You can then send the whole lot, or a subset, to your device (or you can save it to a file and copy it to the SD card later), from Mapsource/Bascamp - the file generated will be a GMAPSUPP file format. You can rename it on the unit or before you send/copy it.
On the Montana, you can call it what you like - eg. LocalTracks.img
The file must be located in the \Garmin\ directory in the unit OR in a directory of the same name on the SD card and it MUST have the .img file extension .
Let us know how you get on.
Cheers,
John
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21 Jan 2012
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Join Date: Jan 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beddhist
1. Because you bought a GPS without maps.
2. Because a GPS is slightly more complex than a toaster.
3. There is a learning curve.
For maps you have these choices:
Buy maps from Garmin. GB Explorer might fit the bill, because you want contours. City Navigator doesn't have them. Bear in mind that maps will become outdated and updates cost money, too, unless you pay up-front for lifetime updates.
Find and install 3rd party maps. If you look at garmin.openstreetmap.nl you should be able to figure out how to download a map of GB. From the available options choose the Mapsource install file, which installs also into Basecamp. (I understand that you have BC installed.) This is an executable (program) file, so you just double-click it and follow the instructions. You can then send the maps from BC to your GPS.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Redboots
Don't give up yet!
Take a look at this link and see if it helps you: FREE British Isles, UK and Ireland Maps Home (talkytoaster)
Something you should understand... If you download a GMAPSUPP file, you cannot view that on your PC, with or without Mapsource/Basecamp... not without a LOT of messing and software and knowledge
These files are for use ONLY on the GPS unit.
Download the ????. MapSource.zip version of the files to use in BC or MS. You can then send the whole lot, or a subset, to your device (or you can save it to a file and copy it to the SD card later), from Mapsource/Bascamp - the file generated will be a GMAPSUPP file format. You can rename it on the unit or before you send/copy it.
On the Montana, you can call it what you like - eg. LocalTracks.img
The file must be located in the \Garmin\ directory in the unit OR in a directory of the same name on the SD card and it MUST have the .img file extension .
Let us know how you get on.
Cheers,
John |
Thanks guys. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I am learning fast. When I bought the unit I managed to confuse myself and the sales guy over Garmin GB Discoverer and Memory Map Discoverer. I have a regional Memory Map and an offer to upgrade to UK coverage. I thought the products were one and the same. me and the sales guy were clearly talking cross-purposes which is why I ended up with a unit and no maps.
I found talkytoaster just this morning and it looks promising. Will have a go later. I thought I was reasonably OK with computers and probably will be once I really start using the Garmin, but at the moment it seems so confusing.
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22 Jan 2012
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Location: In Ireland, Working to save for the next trip
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Yes, Stick with it.
I bought a Montana with no maps, and it took me a little while to figure out how to load them, and in the end it was easier than I thought. When you plug the GPS into the computer using an USB lead, you see the gps as remote drive, and you can navigate your way around the directories on the gps. From the root directory on the GPS, there is a Garmin directory. Copy any maps you have downloaded to that directory (ignore the subdirectories that are in there), and it then reads them and uses the next time to switch it on.
to be clear, it the /garmin directory that you are interested in.
This is an alternative way to doing it than running mapsource, it's neither better or worse than mapsource, just different.
Merv.
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22 Jan 2012
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Done it. Downloaded some maps from talkytoaster, unzipped them, and copied onto the Garmin drive on the device.  Easy once I got the right unzip package installed and working - that was my main problem I thought the files were unzipping but clearly weren't.
I had a little moment when I installed two maps onto the garmin and it locked up - I had to get into mass storage mode and delete one of the maps. I think I need to rename the unzipped files.
But....... the routing on the map I have downloaded is, umm, interesting and cant seem to cope with anything other than local routing.
Oh, and for the avoidance of doubt I am a very very good navigator with loads of experience in orienteering and adventure racing - maps make me happy and have I never bothered with a GPS as I have never felt the need, but will be travelling in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana soon and was strongly advised to use a sat nav - montana 600 recommended. Its the new technical terms that I dont quite get (yet) that send me into a spin, and frankly I think that Garmin really need to work on their user interface and processes, coz its crap really. I am sure I will get into it soon.
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22 Jan 2012
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Overijse, Belgium
Posts: 18
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Some very useful information coming up now but it's more a problem of not being particularily computer literate. Some of us need to learn one small step at a time - getting there slowly I think.
The Montana will be a fantastic device if I can ever master it and if not I might be knocking on Bertrand's door if you are thinking of setting up school!
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23 Jan 2012
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Cambridge, UK
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I wonder if they will bring one out with bluetooth?
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23 Jan 2012
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Tulsa, OK
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pm1150
Some very useful information coming up now but it's more a problem of not being particularily computer literate. Some of us need to learn one small step at a time - getting there slowly I think.
The Montana will be a fantastic device if I can ever master it and if not I might be knocking on Bertrand's door if you are thinking of setting up school!
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surely someone could post a simple tutorial for us GPS dummies...
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