Garmin GPS Chartplotter Question

[SS-342]

We own a 740s Garmin GPS Chartplotter and a friend owns a Garmin 541s GPS Chartplotter.

Can I down load my data on an SD card and load it into my friends GPS?

I think the 541 came loaded with Coastal Chart and mine came with the Blue Charts.

Thanks for the help.

[lonesouth]

should be able to load your numbers/way points, but not the maps.

[Steve Stinson]

Yes, but be sure the format and datum settings in both machines are set to the same values. Datum should be WGS 84, coordinate format is normally DD.MM.MMM but can be any format as long as both machines are the same.
If both of these settings are not the same, you will unintentionally move your waypoints.

I have a software on my computer that does all sorts of datum / format / software conversions due to owning a land surveying business. If you need some help let me know.

- Steve Stinson

[SS-342]

Thank you for your responses.

Steve, I may have to get back with you on a PM. Thanks again.

Having different maps caused me to question the procedure. I did (finally) get through to Garmin Customer Service and their answer was a "yes" but didn't mention the format. Steve, you would make a better service employee that the representative I got my answer from.

[Good Tidings]

I have a older model Garmin GPS (188) in black & white no less....I know I'm cheap! But it works for me. A buddy of mine & myself went to the Keys a couple of years ago to fish a Maverick Boat Co owners Tournament. He has a Garmin 740 I think...anyway, he is a Techy, not like me. He was able to pull all the waypoints we marked in the Keys off of my unit & put them on his without much trouble...He is on BBFN under zload....He might could help you...Hope you get it resolved!

[zload]

I have a older model Garmin GPS (188) in black & white no less....I know I'm cheap! But it works for me. A buddy of mine & myself went to the Keys a couple of years ago to fish a Maverick Boat Co owners Tournament. He has a Garmin 740 I think...anyway, he is a Techy, not like me. He was able to pull all the waypoints we marked in the Keys off of my unit & put them on his without much trouble...He is on BBFN under zload....He might could help you...Hope you get it resolved!

Guilty as charged...

SS I would highly recommend downloading the Garmin Homeport software for a PC I think it is around $30, you can download your 740s map to it via SD card and it makes copying and backing up your chartplotter waypoints very easy and EVERYONE needs to have a backup of their waypoint cause those plotters have a way of walking off the boat or just dropping dead... it will also let you enter new waypoints via keyboard vs. the screen/buttons and you can play with the map with all of your real data on the PC when you can't get on the boat. Transferring waypoints is much more visible with the Windows interface than just sticking SD cards into plotters. Steve nailed the potential problem but I would guess most guys have their units set to the same settings just check before you get started.

The biggest issue is to make sure when you load your numbers into his machine that you merge not replace, merge will add the waypoints from the SD card to the existing waypoint database, replace deletes all of his waypoints and replaces them with yours... Had a buddy of mine that I gave a data card to and told him to merge it, he said he did, 5:30 the next morning in the breakers at Mexico Beach and he has nothing but the new numbers I gave him on his GPS everything else was deleted when he replaced instead of merged, did I mention how important it is to back-up your chartplotter???

I would suggest backing both units up to individual SD cards and then lock them in a drawer somewhere so you don't mess them up, that way if you really get fouled up you can always go back to the way things were before you started with no data loss. Then using a different SD card save your data, take the card out of your machine, put it in his machine and merge it to his unit. I've personally moved data from my 740s (or Homeport) to some really old Garmin machines including some older handhelds and specifically to a 440s series so shouldn't be a big deal especially if you backup everything BEFORE you start messing with it

The funny part of the my Buddy's story related to our Keys trip was the morning we got in the boat to fish our first day... I turned the GPS on and all of the waypoints were right there in front of me... just no MAP. He never bought the map back in the day they were extra and he usually fishes at Keaton and knows it like the back of his hand so he just uses the GPS to record his best spots (which I stole when I updated his GPS). NO channel markers, depths, warnings etc. and neither of us had fished the Keys before. We spent the next 3 days with him at the wheel and me with a Hot SPOT map essentially navigating by heading and mileage... that's not fun when they charge $250 for every foot of grass you tear up hitting bottom... but we caught some fish even if we did have to whip out some Taylor County Popping Cork action on those fish

[SS-342]

WOW….very good advice everyone.

Thanks to ALL