[OSM-talk] Which entry level budget garmin

[D Tucny]

2009/1/5 Tanveer Singh <tanveer1979 at gmail.com>

> I am getting a garmin in car unit(<$200)
> Needless to day the following two functionalities are needed
> 1. Read OSM maps(all nuvi can read from SD card)
> 2. Write gpx data with altitude and timestamp info
>
> The second point has gotten me stumped a bit, and I am torn between 3
> models
> 205, 260 and 265T.
> the 205 is the cheapest, and apparently some sites say I cannot dump
> GPX tracks to SD card. Is it true?
> Moreover I want to know if there is an auto option for dumping tracks.
> I don't want it to dump tracks every second or so(which causes points
> to be dumped even when stationary).
>
> Are there any users here of the 205?
> What is the longest log you have dumped?
>
> I do a lot of mountain roads through foliage, will the nuvi 205 have
> problem getting signal in trees and all, if so what else should I be
> looking at.
>
> The budget -> Lower the better!
>
>

PS: I chose garmin because OSM->garmin is the least painful and most doable.
>

Hi,

Point 1 should be easy enough to do with all 3 models thanks to the tools
available (mkgmap and osm2mp)...

Point 2 is indeed a difficult one... There are certain models in the 200
series where there was apparently the functionality to save tracklogs at one
point by enabling a debug mode, this was apparently removed in later
versions of firmware, but, there are some sites giving details of how you
can revert these specific models back to previous firmware where this
functionality was still present...
I contacted Garmin about this recently as I too am in the market for an in
car unit for navigation and will only buy one that will also allow for
saving tracklogs...

My specific question was:
"Hi, I currently have a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx which I think is great for most
things I use it for, however, I'm looking to get a separate unit for the car
and want to get another Garmin unit, so I'm looking at the nuvi's. One of
the features I like with the 60CSx and feel important to have in whichever
unit I choose is the option to enable trip/track logging to the MicroSD card
which I can then transfer to the computer to analyze. Reading through the
available documentation on your site I can't find information about which
nuvi units support this functionality, so my question is, which, if any,
nuvis allow saving of tracking information? Preferably to a removable
storage card as GPX, in the same way as the 60CSx, as I wouldn't want to
loose information at 10000 points which could be a problem if only internal
memory was used."

The response I received from Garmin was:
"Thank you for contacting Garmin International.


There are several units that may fit your purpose:

nuvi 500 (you get to see 1:100,000 scale Topo Maps)

nuvi 775T

nuvi 765T

nuvi 755T

  With Best Regards,

<snip>

Product Support Specialist

Automotive Team

Garmin International"
Unfortunately, where I am, none of these models are available, the 200
series models that are available are expensive enough (the 205 being
equivalent to 215 British pounds, amazon US price of $136 equivalent to 93
pounds), the nearest model, a 700 series, but, not a 5 suffix model so
presumably not suitable either is more than double the price (equivalent of
550 British pounds, amazon US price of $250 equivalent to 172 pounds)... So,
for here, there is apparently no model that fits the bill and if there was,
it would likely be too expensive, the lack of local language support makes
an import not practical...

d
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