This question has been one that I have been interested in. there are many posts about this on the site. I have a garmin colorado 300 and an Oregon 400t. So, I asked Garmin support two questions: 1. can garmin devices use both SD and SDHC cards? The answer is below:
"The SDHC cards are more common for cards larger than 4GB. You can find regular micro SD cards at a lower cost. There is not a difference in speed of how the unit access the data. Our devices will work with any card up to the 4GB size."
Question #2: is there a size limit for SD/SDHC card for garmin devices? The answer is below:
"the units were designed to only read up to 4GB cards. The device has to read through the card each time it is turned on. So there is a hardware limitation on the device itself. As our technology for the Outdoor handheld devices continues to grow. The units created in the future should have more memory capabilities."
What my question is now to the forums: there are some posts that folks are using much larger SD/SDHC cards, like 8gb or larger (which are all SDHC cards). so, are you sure that your unit is reading all that space or are you just wasting everything above 4gb (per the garmin support response above)?
thanks...g
I am using a 16GB card in my Oregon 400t, it is full of BirdsEye Imagery with only a few hundred MB free. Everything works fine.
I have an Oregon 450 with a nearly full 8GB MicroSD and all maps ready properly.
My GF has the Oregon 550t with a 16GB MicroSD, and also has no trouble reading the maps installed, which amount to much more than 4GB :)
well, that is what I thought. Seems that Garmin support is not that well informed, which is strange. I just did not want to buy a larger SDHC card due to the expense if it did not work fully on my gps!!
thanks...greg
I think the only reason to get a card larger than 4 GB would be if you're using BirdsEye imagery. More likely than not, you will hit the limit of 4,000 map tiles before filling both internal memory and a card if using traditional Garmin vector maps.
Boyd, yes, I think you are right. The 2-4 gb cards seem more then enough for any area of interest , plus they are on sale and cheap!!!!. g