Hello all.
Firstly excuse my ignorance, but as you will see, I have tried the usual ways of finding out information, but without success.
I have just got a Garmin nuvi 250w. I found it to be excellent value, and I would have a very good opinion of it, even if it is not perfect (as it sometime tries to send me up a one way street the wrong way!)
BUT … the paper work for it is v poor, most inadequate..
only a 'quick start' manual.
I called GME with my query and they were very helpful but could not completely answer all my queries.
In this month's 4X4 magazine, (page 26) they refer to the shonkymaps site,
http://shonkylogic.net/shonkymaps/
which are free (ie a free download) and are apparently much better on outback tracks etc (they say they are so good that they have been pirated and are then sold on eBay!!)
Now, while I find that the 250W is pretty good around the cities or in the populated country side, eg Dubbo, I am not sure how good it would be in the bush, and I am about to go from
Melbourne to
Darwin. I understand that the Garmin software is based on the whereis software, and it apparently has any of the maps which are on whereis.com which, having had a look at their website, seems a bit inadequate in the outback. It doesnt seem to have the
oodnadatta track for example.. and only the major roads in the Macdonnell ranges.
On one level this probably doesnt matter much as there is usually only one road in the outback, and with the Garmin (which will give you the latitude & longitude coordinates of where you are at any time) and a good Hema map then you can calculate where you are on that map. However, it would still be better to have decent maps on the Garmin, rather than a lot of blank desert on the screen.
I have now downloaded the shonkymaps and want to know how do you go about putting them on the 250W.
• Can I backup the existing garmin software (ie the whereis maps)? and if so how? (the manual is silent)
• I understand that I do not wipe the existing maps off the 250W but I put the downloaded shonkymaps from my PC onto a SD card (with a usb card reader) and then put it into the Garmin card slot. Do I need additional software or is the built-in software on the Garmin sufficient.
• How do I get the 250W to read the maps on the SD card? Do I use the “settings” function?
• Can I then switch back and
forth between the shonkymaps and the whereis software (eg when I get to say,
Alice Springs, the whereis software is going to be better).
• If it all turns out to be a failure, can I just pull the SD card out and go back to where I am now?
• Can this process of loading on maps via a SD card damage or in any way disable my 250W?
I would appreciate any help you can give.
arnie