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Hi Boyd,

MANY, MANY, Thanks for your help, in blowing the fog off the playing field here.

So what I've learned:

- through lack of experience, I not only loaded my maps onto my SD card, I loaded same onto my 450.  This explains why when I popped out the SD card, I was still showing maps available on my 450, as they were in fact there.

- I've deleted these maps from my 450

- I've loaded my SD card with, Washington State topo, TopoCanada V4 for BC & Alberta, Nortwest Trails, and City Navigator.

- I loaded each map one at a time, renaming the gmapsupp.img each time to a more meaningful name.

- it was only when I loaded CityNavigator (a CD I had to activate) when the two errant ".gma" files appeared.  It seems these are required for the pairing between the CD and my 450.

- I learned a ton about profiles.  My friend has a Montana, and he uses profiles extensively.  I've been completely blind to them, and it's only in the last 2 days, with this thread that I've understood them.

- I can see all my maps (excluding CityNavigator) using my Geocaching profile.  I cannot see CityNavigator using the Geocaching profile.

- When I switch to the Automotive profile, the only map I see is the CityNavigator profile.  Contrary to what I'd reported out previously, all the geocaches are there, when using the Automotive profile.

- A note on this thread suggests using Automotive while in the car.  Upon parking, and seeking the cache, switch to the Geocaching profile.

Thanks to everyone who has responded so quickly and with such great info, I now know a whole lot more!

Cheers,
SAB

Hi Boyd,

Starting to get clearer.

You're absolutely correct.  I checked out my flash memory on my Garmin, and sure enough I had map info there.  I deleted it, fired up the 450 and sure enuff, the only map info is the default Garmin Germany map.

Much appreciated.

So . . . .

Right now I'm going to burn CN onto my SD card, rename, burn Topo, rename, burn Northwest Trails . . .  and I should be good to go.

Oh, on the Automotive profile, where I'd reported there was no Geocaching go to . . . operator error here.  The default for the Automotive profile, has moved the Geocaching icon about 3 screens to the right.  It's there, and sure enough, with CN in play, I can navigate to a cache.

Learning lots here, and truly appreciate your guidance & patience.

Cheers

Again, thanks for the speedy reply.

I don't purport to be a GPSr expert here, just an old school IT guy.

So in line with your question about installing maps in internal memory, I popped out the SD card, spun up the 450, and with the Geocaching profile, I see my Topo maps.  Switched to the Automotive profile, and sure enough I see the CN maps.  How I managed to load the "internal" memory, beats the crap outta me.  Is there a way to purge the 450 internal memory?  I'm a database guy, and one thing we always strive for is "a single version of the truth".  Seems I have many versions of the truth here.

This has been an eye opener, pls forgive me if my questions are in the "lugnut" category.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

Thanks for the speedy reply!

You've distilled the essence of my issue.

Side issue (the 4 Gig thing), I was told by a Garmin rep, that the 450 will only recognize 4 Gig.  Anything over that, I was told is unusable.

Formatting the card - purely being anal here.  It surprised me, that when I had loaded the SD card with CN, Topo, and Northwest Trails, took the SD card out of the 450, the 450 still showed all three maps as enabled.

However, I digress.

I started to prepare my SD card per your instructions.  Burned City Nav onto it.  However, I don't see the 3 files you mention, to rename (see attached screen shot).  I've got 2 lengthy "GMA" file names.

Suggestions?

Thanks very much.

Hi there,

Sit down and grab a jo, this may be a long question.

I have a Garmin 450 with an 8 Gbyte SD card (didn't find out about the 4 Gbyte restriction until after the purchase).

I have DVD versions of Canadian Topo V4, and City Navigator North America NT 2011.1

In my testing, I format the SD card between map loads.  Interestingly enough, if you load maps onto the SD card, drop it into the 450, power the 450 on and off, remove the SD card, power the 450 up, and look at the maps, the unit will show those map sets as enabled (but I digress).

The problem at hand, was how do I flip from Topo 4 to City Navigator.

While City Navigator shows as being enabled, I just didn't see it on the unit.  You might ask why I want to do this?  Good question.  I'm an avid Geocacher, living in the Lower Mainland of BC.  About twice a year, I head into Washington state for a day of caching there.  My Canadian Topo doesn't cover Washington, but my City Navigator does.

So finally, I decided to strip everything down.  I formatted the SD card, loaded only City Navigator, dropped it into the unit, and with my profile set to "Geocaching" on the 450, I was unable to see any sort of map.

I dropped a note to Garmin's help desk.  The response I received really intrigues me.  The fellow suggested I flip to the "Automotive" profile on the 450.  I tried this, and voila, the City Navigator maps were visible.  However, too bad so sad, the "Automotive" profile doesn't recognize geocaches as destinations.  The caches show up on the map, they just aren't available as destinations.

I reformatted the SD card, and dropped both Topo & City N. onto the card, and switched back to the Geocaching profile on the 450.  Both maps show as "enabled", but it's only the Topo which appears.  If I disable the Topo, I have no maps on the map view.

Is anyone aware of how to toggle back & forth between City N. and Topo, using the Geocaching profile?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers