4 GB micro SDHC vs. 4 GB micro SD in Garmin 62s

I think you are mis-understanding the difference between 'SD' and 'SDHC'. It's not a speed designation, it's a capacity designation.

The original 'SD' cards had a limit of up to 2 GB capacity. This was due to the fact that they used the FAT16 file system.

'SDHC' cards are newer cards with capacities from 2 GB to 32 GB. This is because they use the higher capacity FAT32 file system.

An even newer designation 'SDXC' is being introduced for cards from over 32 GB and up to 2 TB. These new cards will be using the exFAT file system.

Garmin GPSMAP 62 series Overview

A comparison between the features of all of the units in the GPSMAP 62 series: 62, 62s, 62st, 62sc, 62stc.

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Official Garmin 62 Mounting

The GPSMap 62 and 78 series are the replacements for the venerable 60 and 76 models which have served us well for many years (and continue to serve well for many people).

I sold my 60 to buy an Oregon when I saw the higher resolution screen on the more modern unit.

Unfortunately it died while on a trip so I ended up getting the 62, and I like it a lot.

It has a more legible screen than the Oregon series, under most conditions, and especially when riding on the bike.

For those who want the 60/76 menu style, the 62/78 has a profile called "Classic" which does the trick.

Mounting the 62 on a bike:
RAM does not have a mount yet for the 62 but the 60 mount works reasonably well. Garmin has gone away from the button on the back which RAM used as part of their mount, so a complete redesign is probably necessary.

But when I bought my 62 I needed something to hold it so we tried the 60 mount and the bottom of the 62 fits snugly into the holder, and a heavy duty elastic band holds the top in very well. In about 1500 kilometers of motorcycle riding so far, it has not come off once. I do have it tethered to my handlebars, though, just in case.

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Comparison between Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx and 62s

Garmin GPSMAP 62s

I bought a new Garmin GPSMAP 62s (currently running firmware 2.40). I already own a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSxso I will use that device as a reference for my evaluation of the 62s. I hereby post my findings with the device and silently hope that they will help improve the 62-serie so it can become the generally acknowledged follow-up to the 60-series.

Why I choose the 62s (and not the 62 or 62st)There are three types of 62-serie devices: the 62, 62s and 62st. I chose the 62s instead of the 62 because I want a barometric altitude meter and a 3-axis tilt-compensated compass which the 62 lacks. Furthermore I choose the 62s above the 62st because the 62st (European model) has a ‘built-in’ topographic map of Western Europe scale 1:100.000, where I strongly prefer the 1:50.000 scaled maps. Besides I like to have the in-device memory of 1,7 GB at my own disposal (which is only 400MB for the 62st with Western Europe map).

Tracks archiveThe 62-serie devices allows you to keep your tracks on the device, and load them back when you want. I like this feature because it would allow me to put all my tracks on the device so I can always get them back and-rewalk a route, or at least that’s what I would think. So when I copied all my walking tracks (more then 100 files) to the device’\Garmin\GPX\Archive folder, it froze indefinitely (on/off button not working any more).

Garmin GPSMAP 62 - Initial Setup - Calibrate Compass - GPSMAP 64

Quick overview of what to expect when you take out your new garmin gpsmap 62s out of the box. Goes over the language selection, electronic compass calibration, unit setup, backlight setup, position format and key layout.

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max microSD size for Garmin 62s model

The low down on file sizes

max microSD size for Garmin 62s model

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?11364-max-microSD-size-for-Garmin-62s-model

Appears that the unit will only use up to 4GB.

The 62s and 62st can use up to a 32GB MicroSD card. Yes, there is a limit to ~4000 map segments, spread across all map IMG files, but you can use the extra space for large BirdsEye files and Custom Map files, amongst other things such as tracks, Geocaching GPX files, Geotagged photos, etc.

As for maps, Here is what I am able to use Simultaneously on a 16GB MicroSD Card:

* City Navigator North America - 148 segments
* Topo Canada v4 - 1224 segments
* Ibycus Topo Canada 3.2 - 947 segments
* TOPO U.S. 100K (Preloaded MicroSD version) - 431 segments

This totals about 13GB in four separate IMG files, and totals 2750 segments - leaving lots of room to add more still under the 4000 limit!

Garmin 62s Walking GPS - GO Outdoors

A video review of the Garmin 62s by Mike & Ollie for GO Outdoors TV asking "if there's an app for that, why would you need a stand alone GPS?"

Speak to Mountain Rescue Teams across the country and you will be bombarded with tales about people who got hopelessly lost rely on technology (like Smart Phone) that designed to help you get to work in the morning rather than taking them of a mountain in a howling gale.

No bit of technology that relies on battery should ever replace your ability to navigate with map and compass, but the Garmin 62s can be a really valuable addition to your outdoor kit.

In this video, we show you that its all layed out in a very logical way and everything is easily assessable and having actual physical buttons, means you can use it without taking your gloves of, not something that you can do with a touch screen phone.

During the filming, the weather obliged us perfectly, allowing Matt (a mountain guide) to show Ollie to show exactly when a GPS is most useful, navigating a tricky descent in bad weather.

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Maximum number of gpx files exceeded - On my GPSMAP 62s | Garmin (Resolved)

Ive been very happy with my GPSMAP 62s | Garmin until now.  Ive got maybe 180 geocaches on the GPSMAP 62s | Garmin and now Im getting this message "maximum number of gpx files exceeded". It doesnt look like anymore caches are showing up on the GPSMAP 62s | Garmin when I press " send to gps", even though it says they were sent. Has anyone else experienced this and what can be done about it other then deleting the found caches?

GPSMAP 62 (series)
    2,000 GPX files
    2,000 waypoints
    5,000 geocaches
    200 routes, 250 points per route
    200 saved tracks
    2,000 archive tracks*
    10,000 points per track
    100 custom map tiles
    250 BirdsEye Imagery files
    Approximately 3,000 mapping segments

ANSWER::

Garmin GPSMAP 62s bike mount

Under the flap and inside

Under the protective weather cap is a mini-USB port and MCX external antenna connection. Just so it doesn’t trigger questions, I’ll mention that the item beside the antenna connection is a screw. Inside the battery compartment is a micro-SD slot for additional map and data storage.

One hardware note here. The battery holders can be very tight with rechargeable NiMH batteries. I actually had to pry the batteries out of one unit I tested, though my wife could remove them with her amazingly strong fingernails! The batteries popped out of the other test units with a good slap, and I expect that even tight ones will loosen up over time.

Carabiner and mounting system

A rail mount on the back of the unit allows the included carabiner to slide onto the device (shown below). This is the same system used on the Colorado, Dakota and Oregon lines so the related accessories are interchangeable. I’ve heard some people say they don’t trust the carabiner mount, but after using it on my Oregon for a couple of years, I can say that I’ve never had any problems with it. Personally, I  really like it and find it very convenient for clipping onto my pack.

Garmin’s bike mount uses the same system, as shown below. I didn’t like this at first, since it’s just a zip tie system, but after a reader suggested using pliers (to pull the zip tie tight) and a screw driver (to press against the base of the zip tie slot), I’ve found that I can get it quite tight. I’ve never had a unit pop off the mount, though it is possible to slide it on incorrectly, so be aware of that. Also, low profile mounts such as this one seem much safer to the rider, in case of a crash, than ones that protrude.

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Auto mount kits that utilize this rail mount connection are also available.

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Garmin GPSMap 62 - Tracks vs Routes - GPSMAP 64

Quick tutorial on the difference between a track & route.

A track or tracklog is a breadcrumb trail of your current activity on your GPS. This could be your day of hiking in a park. You can use the tracback feature on your garmin gpsmap 62 to navigate back using the same track if you are unable to follow the trail.

You can also save the track for future use.

Routes are a little different. Typically they contain less points than your trackfile. So in our example of hiking, we want to save only the trails we hiked to send to our friend or use at a later time.

We can edit the track file in Basecamp, split a single track into 2 or more segments. From there we can save each track as a route. From here, we can save each new route under a new name and send it back to the GPS.

From there, you can navigate the route by using the FIND | ROUTES menu and navigate just like a track. For simplicity, you could also further edit the route so that it only contains the single path and use the reverse route feature to navigate back. Useful for out & back trails.

Garmin/GPX Geocaching files

Caches are loaded to the unit by placing one or more gpx files into the Garmin/GPX folder of the unit. A gpx file may contain information one or more than one cache. The total number of gpx files is limited to 200, and the permitted total number of caches represented in the 'one or more' gpx files varies with the unit model. A unit might handle 2000 or 5000 caches. Filenames can be whatever you prefer so long as they retain the *.gpx suffix.
*********************************
GPSMAP 62 / 78 (series)
    2,000 GPX files
    2,000 waypoints
    5,000 geocaches
    200 routes, 250 points per route
    200 saved tracks
    2,000 archive tracks*
    10,000 points per track
    100 custom map tiles
    250 BirdsEye Imagery files
    Approximately 3,000 mapping segments

Garmin 60csx .vs 62s

These track specs posted on the web are spot on since they address tracks that are logged within the unit.

62
 



60csx

The garmin 62/78 will hold 10,000 trackpoints per track. That alone is worth the extra money in my opinion, 500 points doesn't give you enough resolution for longer trails.

Perhaps they need to publish a spec about the limitations of what can be uploaded on a particular model? Not a word about it in the manual.


As a side note, I looked around Garmin documentation for information about truncating at 500 for the 60 series.

In MapSource help I found the following remark:
"NOTE: Tracks with more than 500 track points may be truncated on some Garmin GPS devices. Check your device's owner's manual for more information."

I checked the manual for the 60csx as they suggested. No information there.

GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) | Garmin Export - GPSMap 62xx

GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife)

GSAK Macro Library Index

http://gsak.net/board/MacroIndex.php

Garmin Export - GPSMap 62

http://gsak.net/board/index.php?s=8777214b59a05b820bfcf30afd896f95&showtopic=7745&st=40&#entry211890

Garmin Basecamp terrible?

I'm a software developer. I know how to use a computer. Complex software doesn't bother me (Final Cut Pro, XCode, etc).

Yet, I've been trying to use Basecamp to plan a ~7,500 mile trip and I find it nearly unusable. It is exceedingly slow on both my i7 desktop with Windows, and my 2013 Macbook Pro w/Retina display. I'm using it with a somewhat older Garmin GPS, but I figure that shouldn't matter too much right?

Is there an alternative? I'd use Google Maps for everything, except it doesn't do everything I need.

ANSWER::

Microsoft Streets and Trips is decent planning software. You can plan routes and then save them as a .gpx file for export to Basecamp which you can then use to load the .gpx file into your gps. Other programs may be just as good or better but I've been using S&T for so long that it's second nature.

ANSWER::

GPSMAP 62/78 (WebUpdater) software version NEW

GPSMAP 62/78 (WebUpdater) software version 5.60

as of July 8, 2014
Use Garmin Express to install this file.

(8.74 MB)

View system requirements
Notes:

    IMPORTANT: if upgrading from a software version less than 3.40 you must follow these steps for future BaseCamp Compatibility:
    If you are a user of BaseCamp now, or plan to be in the future, you must follow these steps to ensure your data is protected during this software update:
        Connect your handheld unit to a computer and launch BaseCamp. Transfer all tracks, routes and waypoints to BaseCamp.
        Delete the /Garmin/GPX folder from the handheld's mass storage.
        Update the handheld's software via WebUpdater and reboot the handheld.
        Reconnect the handheld to a computer and transfer your data from BaseCamp back to the handheld.
http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=4996