Which CF Card for Garmin SP 2610?

Frenchie · Regular Visitor Joined: May 28, 2004 Posts: 136

Hello,

I will certainly go with a Garmin SP 2610, as I do not need all Europe, have a spare 256 CF card and might use this GPS on a motorbike.

I consider buying a 512 MB CF Card.

Which min. speed is required? Which brand(s)? Which origin (country of manufacturing)?

Thanks in advance,

Frenchie · Regular Visitor Joined: May 28, 2004 Posts: 136

Considering TRANSFER RATE, which is CRITICAL for READ/WRITE for DIGITAL CAMERAS,

is it ALSO CRITICAL for GPS (here SP 2610)?

Does a GPS only READ but not WRITE?

In another words,

-> What is the TRANSFER RATE REQUIRED by GPS (here SP 2610)?

Examples of TRANSFER RATE with:

LEXAR Media's patented
1X=150KB/sec
4X=600KB/sec
12X=1.8MB/sec
32X=4.8MB/sec
40X=6.0MB/sec

The new SANDISK Ultra II CompactFlash® cards have a minimum sustained write speed of 9 megabytes (MB) per second and a read speed of 10 MB per second

Frenchie · Regular Visitor Joined: May 28, 2004 Posts: 136

From GARMIN site:

http://www.garmin.com/support/faqs/faq.jsp?faq=209&webPage=Main%20web%20page
Q. Can I load maps for my StreetPilot 2610/2650 to a microdrive card? If so, which brand should I use and do I need a card reader?
A. The StreetPilot 2610/2650 is compatible with the IBM/Hitachi 1 GB microdrive. Detailed maps may be loaded to the 1 GB microdrive while it is in the unit—you do not need to purchase a separate card reader to download maps onto the microdrive. However, GS MagicStor microdrives are not compatible with the StreetPilot 2610/2650.

http://www.garmin.com/support/faqs/faq.jsp?faq=210&webPage=Main%20web%20page
Q. What is the largest CF card or microdrive the StreetPilot 2610 will accept? Will I be able to download the entire volume of North American City Navigator v5 onto this data card?
A. Using a compatible 2 GB CF card, you may download the entire volume of North American City Navigator (1050 maps at almost 1.5 GB). The StreetPilot 2610/2650 is compatible with the IBM/Hitachi microdrive 1 GB card. However, the StreetPilot 2610/2650 is not compatible with MagicStore microdrives or the Hitachi 2 GB and 4 GB microdrives.

Tim Buxton · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 12:22 pm Post subject:

Frenchie,

I've moved this topic to the Garmin forum now that you've actually decided what you're getting. My understanding is that your 2610 comes with a 256Mb CF card in the box. Here is a link to the manual for the 2610 in .pdf format. It might be useful for you to download and read it so that you are familiar with the GPS before you actually get your hands on it, if you haven't done so already. Thumbs Up

Cheers,

Tim
_________________
Tim

Frenchie · Regular Visitor Joined: May 28, 2004 Posts: 136

Copy of email I sent to GARMIN US.
If you can help, any feedback would be much appreciated...

In BLUE, answers from Joe from http://gpsinformation.net

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just bought a Garmin SP 2610 and consider buying a 512 MB Compact
Flash (CF) Card to cover UK and a few other countries.

Could you please provide assistance for these not so easy (for me)
questions that are recurring interrogations faced by users?

1- Which BRAND do you recommend for CF Memory Cards?
(Reports of users mention problems with some BRANDS of CF cards).

Joe: I have only used Toshiba and Sandisk. No problems with either one.

2- Which ORIGIN (COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURING) do you recommend for CF Card?
(Reports of users mention problems with some 'MADE IN CHINA' Sandisk
CF cards).

Joe: I have not personally had any problems with Sandisk.

3- Which TRANSFER RATE (SPEED) do you recommend for CF Card?
-> Transfer rate is CRITICAL for READ/WRITE for Digital cameras.
Is it ALSO CRITICAL for GPS (here SP 2610)?

-> Does a GPS only READ but not WRITE?

Joe: It writes ONLY when you are downloading maps into the CF card..

In another words,

-> What is the TRANSFER RATE REQUIRED by GPS (here SP 2610) for
OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE (Speed of route calculation)?

Joe: For "optimial" performance you always want the very fastest memory you can find. But I am personally not able to tell the difference in the GPS (read) application. As far as I know, CF cards all READ at about the same speed (which is what is mainly of interest in the GPS application.) and WRITE at various speeds. Write speed is only of concern during the initial load of maps..

Thanks in advance for your help, as finding the right information has
proven to be more difficult than expected.

I am in advance very happy of this new purchase of a high-quality
GARMIN unit, but I would not like to SPOIL it with a DEFECTIVE CF
card.

Frenchie · Regular Visitor Joined: May 28, 2004 Posts: 136

-> What is the TRANSFER RATE REQUIRED by GPS (here SP 2610) for OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE (Speed of route calculation)?

In BLUE, answer from Joe and Dale from http://gpsinformation.net

Joe: For "optimial" performance you always want the very fastest memory you can find. But I am personally not able to tell the difference in the GPS (read) application. As far as I know, CF cards all READ at about the same speed (which is what is mainly of interest in the GPS application.) and WRITE at various speeds. Write speed is only of concern during the initial load of maps.

Dale: I have not done any extensive tests of CF card brands. Generally all will work with the unit. Read performance is the only speed issue and the unit buffers the working data so performance is not as big an issue as you might think. Disk drives are much slower and they work fine so CF speed isn't that important.

Thanks again to http://gpsinformation.net

nmi · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 7

I recently bought a Verbatim 512Mb CF card. It DOES NOT work in a Streetpilot 2610.

Although you can download maps, when you switch on the unit, you get a "Map storage error".

The reply from Garmin was :

"The only cards that we support are the cfcrds that are supplied with the
unit. "

I can't understand why different cards don't work, surely that is the reason for having a standard!

In any case, I need to buy a new card and will probably stick with a 512Mb/1Gb SANDISK.

nmi

TKPeters · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 1:52 am Post subject:

I currently have a Kingston 2gb CF Card with the full V7 map set without any problems

nmi · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 7

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