SD card for Garmin chartplotter 556

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Enya

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I want to update the chart on board this recently purchased Chartplotter. I cannot find out what size SD Card I should buy. Indeed I am confused by the range of cards that seem to be available. I have tried Garmin but received no answer. The retailer says as big as possible. The card is I guess for standard Garmin Charts. Anybody Know?
 
Enya said:
I want to update the chart on board this recently purchased Chartplotter. I cannot find out what size SD Card I should buy. Indeed I am confused by the range of cards that seem to be available. I have tried Garmin but received no answer. The retailer says as big as possible. The card is I guess for standard Garmin Charts. Anybody Know?
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Do I understand that you have inherited the plotter and there is no card with it? or by 'update' do you want to 'revise' the existing chart?
The plotter takes the standard size ( large) SD card rather than the 'mini version'
 
I bought the plotter from new and it has a chart of the UK on board but not on an SD card. To update it I will need an SD card but do not know what size in giga bytes I need. And I cannot find this info on the Gramin website.
 
Just been through this and it was a bit of a nightmare. Firstly if the operating system hasn't been updated (our 555s was V3.2) it won't be able to read cards bigger than 2Gb, so update this first. I think its currently V5.6 and the Garmin has to be running and then the card inserted before it will read the update. The existing V2 card was 256mb which was too small for the latest version of the chart so couldn't be used.

Next the new card you want to use to store the new chart has to be entered into the GPS which downloads a file onto the card and then you can download via the internet the latest version of the chart and Garmins updating software. You also need to register the SD card on your "My Garmin". You will eventually end up with a card with I think 5 files on it which includes the updated chart.

It's all doable just a bit of faffing around and a few trips backwards and forwards to the boat.

Pete
 
Enya, once you have updated the Garmin operating system you can then use the card to download the latest chart. You should end up with the following files on the SD card, but note the XML file must be loaded on to the card first by plugging it into the Garmin GPS when its running.

Pete

Garmin3_zps1b2c36f0.jpg
 
I updated my garmin 750 a few weeks ago , was told to buy a 2 to 4 GB sd card only to find my oldish home PC wouldnt handle that size of sd card .
Any how borrowed a computer done the chart update and i noticed it only used 697 MB so i thought a 1 GB card would have been ample and maybe my computer would manage a 1 GB sd card ? .
 
Pete7 said:
Enya, once you have updated the Garmin operating system you can then use the card to download the latest chart. You should end up with the following files on the SD card, but note the XML file must be loaded on to the card first by plugging it into the Garmin GPS when its running.

Pete

Garmin3_zps1b2c36f0.jpg
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I am not sure I understand this bit. Are these files put on the SD card by the PC? If the XML file is put on the card first will it go onto the Chart plotter first also or can one control the order when loading onto the Chartplotter? I am happy to see how it works when I start the process. Only so much I can take in without doing.
 
Enya said:
I am not sure I understand this bit. Are these files put on the SD card by the PC? If the XML file is put on the card first will it go onto the Chart plotter first also or can one control the order when loading onto the Chartplotter? I am happy to see how it works when I start the process. Only so much I can take in without doing.
Click to expand...

You plug the card into the Garmin device and turn it on. Wait a while then turn it off and take the card out. The device will have written the XML file on to the card. This file contains the type and identity of the device. Now move the card to the PC, and browse to the MyGarmin Updates site. The Garmin site will read the XML file from the card and tell you what updates are available. If you choose to buy an updated chart or download a software update, the site/PC will copy the files to the card. Put the card back in the plotter and the update takes place.
 
From a blank SD card, you need to put it into the Garmin GPS and it will automatically load the XML file on it. The XML file contains the GPS serial number and some other stuff. You then use a PC to download the actual chart plus other files onto the card. This is almost automatic as the Garmin updating software goes and finds your SD card and checks the XML file. You can see by the dates I went down to the boat on the 9th and loaded the XML file and then on the 11th downloaded the rest from the Garmin website.

Oh one other point, you can't actually update the built in GPS chart, what you have to do is permanently leave the new SC card in the slot. When you boot up the Garmin it sees the later chart and loads that instead of the old built in one but it's no great shakes.

Pete
 
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