Garmin Data Cards

Does is say for certain what format the cards are? If they are SD cards,
they are smaller than anything available nowadays, but since they came out 7
or 8 years ago, that might well be true. A 16 meg SD card only costs $20 or
so, that would be a big savings for us.

Brad

"Frank Ch. Eigler" wrote in message
...

"Brad Salai" writes:

[...] I was just trying to find cards for less than the $130 each
that Garmin charges for them. If they are 256 meg SD cards, that is
way higher than they can be gotten for elsewhere. [...]

According to the Jeppesen Skybound USB card writer thingie,
modern 430/530 data cards have a mere 4- or 8-MB capacity.

- FChE

"Frank Ch. Eigler" wrote in message =
...
=20
"Brad Salai" writes:
=20
[...] I was just trying to find cards for less than the $130 each
that Garmin charges for them. If they are 256 meg SD cards, that is
way higher than they can be gotten for elsewhere. [...]
=20
According to the Jeppesen Skybound USB card writer thingie,
modern 430/530 data cards have a mere 4- or 8-MB capacity.
=20
- FChE

Interesting.
My CNX80(GNS480) cards are 32MB, with only about 2.5MB unused.
But some big changes are pending for the 430 and 530 units.

FWIW, my basic MX20 used 32MB cards also, but with ChartView,
that expanded to 128MB cards.
Charts for the continental US fit in 128, with only a few MB to spare.

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 18:55:48 +0100, Peter
wrote:

The database key (which changes occasionally) is linked to the card,
not the unit. If you have multiple cards for one unit, you need to be
careful which DB key you use - write the wrong one to the card and
it's useless. Ask me how I know.... But you can take a valid card
and shove it in any KLN94 and it'll work just fine. Anyone who could
successfully duplicate the entire card, including the DB key storage
system, would have a fully functioning card for any unit.

I have not seen this stuff about DB keys written down anywhere.
Doesn't this mean that one could easily render a database card
unusable while writing it with the Sandisk writer? How can I avoid
this?

They do mention being very careful about transcribing the key on the
website pages you navigate through when generating your database.
Having an incorrect key doesn't make the *card* useless, but it won't
properly download and validate when inserted into the GPS. You will
then have to call customer service and ask them to add a download back
to the account (at their discretion about whether the error was
intentional and thus not eligible for reversal, no cookie for you if
they think you're trying to wangle a free download), or use one of
your remaining download credits and generate a new download file with
the appropriate key instead of using it against a later download.

John,

I just bought a plane with a GNS480 in it. I would like an extra card.
Where do you purchase them?

Thanks,

BJ

John R. Copeland wrote:

"Frank Ch. Eigler" wrote in message ...


"Brad Salai" writes:



[...] I was just trying to find cards for less than the $130 each
that Garmin charges for them. If they are 256 meg SD cards, that is
way higher than they can be gotten for elsewhere. [...]


According to the Jeppesen Skybound USB card writer thingie,
modern 430/530 data cards have a mere 4- or 8-MB capacity.

- FChE



Interesting.
My CNX80(GNS480) cards are 32MB, with only about 2.5MB unused.
But some big changes are pending for the 430 and 530 units.

FWIW, my basic MX20 used 32MB cards also, but with ChartView,
that expanded to 128MB cards.
Charts for the continental US fit in 128, with only a few MB to spare.

BJ:
If you are in the U.S., call Garmin AT sales at (800) 525-6726 ext. =
3995.
(Their telephone menu gives you an early opportunity to use that =
extension.)
They are in Salem, Oregon, and therefore keep West Coast business hours.

Have you signed up with Jeppesen for a NavData subscription yet?
By agreement with Jeppesen, Garmin AT cannot supply the data for your =
card.
HTH.

"B. Jensen" wrote in message =
...
John,

I just bought a plane with a GNS480 in it. I would like an extra =
card. Where do you purchase them?

Thanks,

BJ=20

John R. Copeland wrote:

Have you signed up with Jeppesen for a NavData subscription yet?
By agreement with Jeppesen, Garmin AT cannot supply the data for your card.
HTH.

John,

That was going to be my next question. I have not signed up with
Jeppesen yet. Can I use the same phone number to do that, or is there a
separate number?

Thanks,

BJ

"B. Jensen" wrote in message =
...
=20
=20
John R. Copeland wrote:
=20
Have you signed up with Jeppesen for a NavData subscription yet?
By agreement with Jeppesen, Garmin AT cannot supply the data for your =
card.
HTH.

John,
=20
That was going to be my next question. I have not signed up with=20
Jeppesen yet. Can I use the same phone number to do that, or is there =
a=20
separate number?
=20
Thanks,
=20
BJ


Definitely a different number. But Garmin AT can explain the process =
for you.
NavData is through Jeppesen's Skybound subscription service, (800) =
621-5377.
When I bought my CNX80 from Garmin AT, they paid for my first two =
months.
Garmin probably won't offer to do that for your situation.

Navigating the Jeppesen website can be frustrating sometimes,
but you may wish to look through their "Charting and Navigation" area =
for
"GPS NavData Services", then "Skybound" for Garmin AT (formerly UPS AT).
The out-of-date web page says little or nothing about the GNS480.
You'll probably want "The Americas" database.

If you have a broadband internet connection, you can download each
28-day update of the NavData, whether or not you get the CD-ROM.
I think you can now elect to not receive the 28-day CD-ROM,
and save a little money on the subscription price.
I get the CD-ROMs, but I've never yet used any of them.

If you already have a USB CompactFlash adapter on your computer,
you won't need to buy a different one to program the GNS480 data cards.
The card will show up in Windows as an ordinary removable drive.
Remember to logically "Eject" it before physically removing the card.
Probably no harm will occur if you forget, but it's neater that way.

Thanks John...that is very helpful!

Best,

BJ

I have a KLN 89/B and I put the wrong DBkey in the first time I used it.
I called Honeywell and they gave me a free extesnion to my subscription
and I just downloaded a new request using the correct DBkey. I didn't
wind up having a useless card. Now if I could only take the card and
program it and not have to take a laptop to the plane.


Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

Peter Clark wrote:
snip


The database key (which changes occasionally) is linked to the card,
not the unit. If you have multiple cards for one unit, you need to be
careful which DB key you use - write the wrong one to the card and
it's useless. Ask me how I know.... But you can take a valid card
and shove it in any KLN94 and it'll work just fine. Anyone who could
successfully duplicate the entire card, including the DB key storage
system, would have a fully functioning card for any unit.


snip

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 11:58:11 -0500, Ross Richardson
wrote:

I have a KLN 89/B and I put the wrong DBkey in the first time I used it.
I called Honeywell and they gave me a free extesnion to my subscription
and I just downloaded a new request using the correct DBkey. I didn't
wind up having a useless card. Now if I could only take the card and
program it and not have to take a laptop to the plane.

I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't reprogram the card with a
working database having a proper key.

And you can take the card and program it - get the reader from
Honeywell and flash it at home. Course, going to airport, get card,
go home, flash, go back to airport, install, watch it download for 15
minutes gets old. Spare cards are pricey. It would be much easier if
they just made a way for people to initialize their own cards from
scratch, but there's no profit in that for them.