After market memory cards

[gypsy]

Since I am planning to do some much longer trips this summer I need to buy another memory card for my 276C. I am wondering if anyone knows if you can use cards other than Garmin?

Thanks

gypsy

 

[Rogue]

Nope. :angry:

What size are you looking for?

AutoNav has good prices, I have a 128mb I don't use that I could make you a deal on if thats large enough (I upgraded to a 512).

 

[Fencer]

are they not SD cards? If so I'll give a great deal on a 1 gig NIB

 

[gypsy]

are they not SD cards? If so I'll give a great deal on a 1 gig NIB

Rogue it was the 512 I was looking at. I got a 256 a couple years ago from Garmin but at the time that was the largest. I still have the ever useful 16 mb card it came with!! :sarcasm:

Fencer I can't answer that as I don't know what an SD card is. Maybe someone else knows? Anyone?

gypsy

 

[Fencer]

sandisk

 

[Rogue]

are they not SD cards? If so I'll give a great deal on a 1 gig NIB

 

[mindtrip]

sandisk

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt. Wrong Answer.

SD = Secure Digital. It's a format (not a manufacturer) common to older digital cameras, PDA's, and some cell phones. SD cards were fairly large, almost the size of a stick of gum (not as long, but a bit wider). Newer devices use miniSD or, for the hella-cool, microSD.

Now, to answer the Garmin question: Yes, it IS just SD. But it's packaged in a proprietary shell with a special connector to make the connection to the GPS. So No, you can't just use any brand of SD. Instead, you get to pay Garmin's RIDICULOUSLY inflated prices for what is, after all, mega-cheap flash ram. Sux, huh? But Garmin chose this format because it allows them to put their BlueChart maps for boats on a mega-cheap flash ram, then sell them for inflated prices to people who have to buy a Garmin product to read them. Regardless, I've been quite happy with my 276c. And I have a 128MB card, a 256MB card, and a 512. I'd be happy to sell one (or both!) of the smaller ones!

 

[twowheelnut]

That's the rub with Garmin's older units and some current ones: You have to use their cards. When faced with buying the $200 512 MB card or upgrading to the new Zumo, the fact that the Zumo uses a common SD card, with 2 - 4 gig cards readily available available for 20 bucks, well, I could no longer justify the 276C for my needs.

 

[bramfrank]

That's the rub with Garmin's older units and some current ones: You have to use their cards. When faced with buying the $200 512 MB card or upgrading to the new Zumo, the fact that the Zumo uses a common SD card, with 2 - 4 gig cards readily available available for 20 bucks, well, I could no longer justify the 276C for my needs.

Pretty lame excuse for an upgrade, but when you get the hots for somethng new I guess anything works. You can route NYC to LAX in 128 megs, so 4 Gigs is a waste as far as navigating is concerned. And you can always get the 478 with a full load of roads AND U.S. water..

The 276 and it's cousins displays are THE BEST in the business of automotive NAV units, bar none! Highest resolution, sunlight readable and LED illuminated to boot - no fluorescent tubes (Zumo also uses Leds, but the 2000 series do not).

 

[twowheelnut]

Pretty lame excuse for an upgrade, but when you get the hots for somethng new I guess anything works. You can route NYC to LAX in 128 megs, so 4 Gigs is a waste as far as navigating is concerned. And you can always get the 478 with a full load of roads AND U.S. water..

Excuse? Not really. Combine the fact that the entire US is loaded in and I basically can store unlimited maps, routes and waypoints, plus my tunes and other stuff for 20 bucks, the Zumo pretty much rolls right over the 276C. Plus your 128 meg route is pretty limited to a narrow, little corridor that would exclude areas that I might otherwise wanna go check out if I wished to deviate from the route while on the fly. I will give you that the screen clarity is indeed superior on the 276.

 

[mindtrip]

Pretty lame excuse for an upgrade, but when you get the hots for somethng new I guess anything works. You can route NYC to LAX in 128 megs, so 4 Gigs is a waste as far as navigating is concerned. And you can always get the 478 with a full load of roads AND U.S. water..

Excuse? Not really. Combine the fact that the entire US is loaded in and I basically can store unlimited maps, routes and waypoints, plus my tunes and other stuff for 20 bucks, the Zumo pretty much rolls right over the 276C. Plus your 128 meg route is pretty limited to a narrow, little corridor that would exclude areas that I might otherwise wanna go check out if I wished to deviate from the route while on the fly. I will give you that the screen clarity is indeed superior on the 276.

I'm with TWN on this one. It's a cost vs benefit ratio; the reasons I'm sticking with my 276c (for now) are a) I bought the 512MB card off eBay for less than half of what Garmin was charging, and I got it before the Zumo ever came out, so I already have all my memory needs (and with the 128 and 256 cards, I can carry most of the US maps with me and change as I need to); B) I really love both the size and the clarity of the x76/x78 screens, especially the transreflective feature that makes it brighter in direct sunlight; and c) I already own it--I paid a premium for it 2 years ago, and I got the little purse for it, and it's in excellent condition--I simply can't justify an upgrade for another $700+ to the 550. But if I was looking at spending $200 on more memory, or selling the whole kit and the auto nav kit (that was like $200 by itself!) and buying a Zumo, I think the cost/benefit analysis would favor the Zumo.

The only reason I'm still considering upgrading: I just installed a StarCom unit, and when I connect my phone to it with a cable I get horrible electrical interference when the engine revs past 2.5k rpms. I've completely isolated the unit from the bike and unplugged everything except the power cable going to the battery, and it still does it. I called StarCom, and the technician said he thinks it's the phone--some phones use the headset cable as an extra antenna, and this would cause such interference. Wouldn't have that problem if I got a 550 and used bluetooth....

I'm looking for my own excuse to upgrade

 

[twowheelnut]

I'm with TWN on this one. It's a cost vs benefit ratio; the reasons I'm sticking with my 276c (for now) are a) I bought the 512MB card off eBay for less than half of what Garmin was charging, and I got it before the Zumo ever came out, so I already have all my memory needs (and with the 128 and 256 cards, I can carry most of the US maps with me and change as I need to); B) I really love both the size and the clarity of the x76/x78 screens, especially the transreflective feature that makes it brighter in direct sunlight; and c) I already own it--I paid a premium for it 2 years ago, and I got the little purse for it, and it's in excellent condition--I simply can't justify an upgrade for another $700+ to the 550. But if I was looking at spending $200 on more memory, or selling the whole kit and the auto nav kit (that was like $200 by itself!) and buying a Zumo, I think the cost/benefit analysis would favor the Zumo.

Had I bought the 512 card prior to the Zumo's release, I'da done the same thing. I really liked the 276C, but now Heidi gets to enjoy it (if she ever gets her bike back from tick repair!).

 

[bramfrank]

Excuse? Not really. Combine the fact that the entire US is loaded in and I basically can store unlimited maps, routes and waypoints, plus my tunes and other stuff for 20 bucks, the Zumo pretty much rolls right over the 276C. Plus your 128 meg route is pretty limited to a narrow, little corridor that would exclude areas that I might otherwise wanna go check out if I wished to deviate from the route while on the fly. I will give you that the screen clarity is indeed superior on the 276.

276 and Zumo are very diffrerent classes of navigator - though today you would more likely compare the 478 with trhe Zumo I guess. - note the differences . . . 276 has the extra I/O and Marine modes. 276 has the higher resolution display. 276 has the 16 hour batery life. Zumo does music and connects to your phone if we're discussing the 550 (the 450 doesn't have Bluetooth). But I have a luetooth interface on my Autocom and my iPod plugs into my Autocom and so does my passenger.

I prefer to carry my iPod over having to synchroniise several MP3 devices, so I don't need or want my navigator to be my multimedia center. I also don't like the new dumbed-down displays that Garmin ported to the 'consumer' models.

I want my navigator to navigate. Masters specialise. Generalists seldom excel at any one thing.

And you get no more routes or waypoints with more memory - just more map.

My reference to routing to LA from NYC was simply to illustrate that you really don't need all THAT much memory to get reasonable coverage..

Unless you are a long range tourer there is not much you can do to outride what a 512 meg card stores. You HAD the 276 - $120 or so would have got you the 512 and you'd have kept the awesome screen and longer battery life of the 276.

Then again, I like the tracklog (I've gotten out of several tickets because of it, among other things) and I like to record my travels so I'd need to bring along a laptop on a long trip to extract the track anyway - so loading new map chunks wouldn't be a hardship if I was to take another 'round the continent tour'.

 

[twowheelnut]

Excuse? Not really. Combine the fact that the entire US is loaded in and I basically can store unlimited maps, routes and waypoints, plus my tunes and other stuff for 20 bucks, the Zumo pretty much rolls right over the 276C. Plus your 128 meg route is pretty limited to a narrow, little corridor that would exclude areas that I might otherwise wanna go check out if I wished to deviate from the route while on the fly. I will give you that the screen clarity is indeed superior on the 276.

276 and Zumo are very diffrerent classes of navigator - though today you would more likely compare the 478 with trhe Zumo I guess. - note the differences . . . 276 has the extra I/O and Marine modes. 276 has the higher resolution display. 276 has the 16 hour batery life. Zumo does music and connects to your phone if we're discussing the 550 (the 450 doesn't have Bluetooth). But I have a luetooth interface on my Autocom and my iPod plugs into my Autocom and so does my passenger.

I prefer to carry my iPod over having to synchroniise several MP3 devices, so I don't need or want my navigator to be my multimedia center. I also don't like the new dumbed-down displays that Garmin ported to the 'consumer' models.

I want my navigator to navigate. Masters specialise. Generalists seldom excel at any one thing.

And you get no more routes or waypoints with more memory - just more map.

My reference to routing to LA from NYC was simply to illustrate that you really don't need all THAT much memory to get reasonable coverage..

Unless you are a long range tourer there is not much you can do to outride what a 512 meg card stores. You HAD the 276 - $120 or so would have got you the 512 and you'd have kept the awesome screen and longer battery life of the 276.

Then again, I like the tracklog (I've gotten out of several tickets because of it, among other things) and I like to record my travels so I'd need to bring along a laptop on a long trip to extract the track anyway - so loading new map chunks wouldn't be a hardship if I was to take another 'round the continent tour'.

Why are you arguing? GPS envy? :bleh:

I'm just relating my experience. 276C is past it's prime for me. I'm onto new horizons...

 

[bramfrank]

Actually, no envy.

My best buddy is a Garmin distributor - I get to try them all when they are released and to buy whatever I want at cost.

I played with the Zumo when it first was released - I decided that the unit was a bit too cutesy (reminded me of the Nuvi, which is a dumbed-down consumer unit). The case is a bit too rounded for tabletop use and the mount was stupid in that you have to bring all your wiring to the steering head and plug things in - my friend has been through two mounting brackets on his because they seem to mess up at the contacts and the jacks get 'dirty'.

The Sirfstar-III is neat in that it doesn't lose satellite views in places like Smuggler's Notch where other navigators have problems - but it's never been a problem for me and that's all it brings to the table since I don't use the XM or MP3 features of these 'all in one' navigators..

I opt for screen resolution and battery life as two of my key definers. I do NOT like using touchscreens with gloves on or in the rain.

If and when I find something I like better I'll buy it. So far, I've seen nothing I like more than the 276 and it's bretheren - and the 256 meg chip I have in the one on my FJR is overkill for my riding style (the one in my car has a 128) which is why I tend to take issue with people who *must have full map loads*.

Indeed, the 276 is getting a bit long in the tooth (3 years is forever in this business), but that is the beauty - you don't mess with perfection . . . it is still current and if you really must have mapping on board, you can get it with the 378/478 - no chips required.

And, to answer the original question - the best pricing on the 512 seems to come off Ebay, though the cheapest price I've found on the web is here:

https://www.thetwistergroup.com/store/custo...7&source=fr

A 256 can be found here: https://www.chumbo.com/info.aspx?id=218238 or here: https://www.monstronix.com/0101022614-p-321594.html

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