question related zumo 550 Bike Garmin maps

Hi

I owe a Garmin 550 zumo for my bike.
The default installed map is the

City Navigator Europe NT 2008.1
SN D284057475


Sometime I have to go to France.

Do I have any benefit, if I buy the
special City Navigator BeNeLux - France
which is on a SD Card and will cost 39 Euro?

Or is this card only a subset from my
default Europe card which I have already
in my zumo?

Or is this special BeNeLux - France
more detailed and with more information
than my defauld Europe City Navigator?

Number of the BeNeLux France SD Card is
343-074-08.

Second question:

And if there is any difference, can I transfer
the SW from the SD-card into my zumo without
destroying the default card SW to have the slot
free for an empty SD memory card e.g. for Music.
Or is this SW only working with the SD card plugged
in the slot?

Best regards from Stuttgart
BGE

hi -
our son is over just south of Roth in Hipoltstein,
and I was looking at getting the map for Germany
but stumbled across the same question - Europe vs local slice ?

It seems from my other topic/thread
that the Europe map is the larger 2GB map version
and the "slices" are more like 400MB in size,
but "should/may" contain the exact same map, info, POI - just a slice -

As far as the Garmin SD card goes -
the map is "locked" to the internal serial number of the card,
and therefore can't be copied...

ps56k schrieb:

[NT City Guide Europe vs. NT City Guide BeNeLux France]



Hi

This is also bad in case the SD-card becomes damadged.

But nevertheless, the question is:

Am I able to load an additional card in my Zumo
and plug out after loading this additional card
after the boot of the Zumo, so that i can use the free
SD Slot for other empty cards to hear music etc?

BR
BGE

I'm pretty sure that all the GPS devices
uses the SD card as a "virtual disk drive"
vs loading "all files" like a boot loader.

Therefore - just like a disk -
it accesses the files or portions of files as needed...
and it would not be possible
to remove it and insert another SD card while turned on.

        I don't own no Zumo or Garmin SD map card etc.. but I think I can give you
the very basic general answers to just about anything you need to know about
Garmin GPS.

- NO, you can't not change anything to the original Garmin SD Map (the
special map on SD with copy protection). YES, you can use the SD MAP on any
Garmin GPS with SD slot and map supported.

        -NOTE- Some newer models are using MicroSD memory card. IOW, the regular
         SD MAP won't work with this model, cuz you can't insert the larger size
         card into a much smaller slot.

- If your GPS has memory slot, and the memory card has enough disk space to
hold *more* than 1 map. Then YES, you can install multiple maps into either
Internal or External memory.

        -NOTE- You will need MapSource to select more than one map in order to
         install to memory, and in order to select the map(s) you will have to
         have the map installed on computer.

        The SAD part that in order to save $$$$ Garmin no longer inclue the
         MapSource and Data Map.

- YES, you can install any kind of maps that your unit supports. IOW, you
can install any map from any country in 7 continents.

        -NOTE- Garmin limits the number of BLOCK to 2xxx blocks. QUite afew
members have reported the exact number here (many times), but I just can't
remember the number, so you may have to GOOGLE yourself.

- If you have more than 1 map installed in either internal, external memory
or both, then make sure to select the one you want to use. And ONLY ONE map
is selected else it may not work correctly. IOW, Garmin GPS still working
but may not show the correct direction.

- If your GPS can play music or displaying photo, then sure you can copy
audio and photo to it. But if it doesn't play music and photo, then sure
you still can copy but it won't do what it can't do.

- Size of Memory Card.

        - If it can read 4GB then the chance that it can read larger size

        - If it can only be able to read 2GB and smaller. Then you have 2 options

        a. Check to see if there is a newer firmware with SDHC supported. Or
                 fixing the 2GB limitaion

        b. If there is no newer firmware then you have to live with 2GB max.