# what type of SD should I put in my Garmin Dakota 20??



## Devastazione (Dec 16, 2009)

I will buy soon a preloaded map ,but in the mean time I wolud like to store some self discovered trails and be sure to have them in the SD card.

So here are the questions:

-Any SD card would work ?? 

-How do I make myself sure I can store stuff into it rather than into the device memory ?? Does the system let me choose this at the moment ??



Cheers
Andrea,Italy


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## smilinsteve (Jul 21, 2009)

Devastazione said:


> I will buy soon a preloaded map ,but in the mean time I wolud like to store some self discovered trails and be sure to have them in the SD card.
> 
> So here are the questions:
> 
> ...


I have purchased a lot of SD cards and never had a problem with buying the cheap brands or whatever is on sale. 
You have to be sure that you stay within the capacity limits of the device.

And just to be clear, its a micro SD card you need. 
I'm not sure what Garmin recommends, but I've read that the 4 gb cards work fine, and that is a lot of capacity.


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## Devastazione (Dec 16, 2009)

Thanks Steve.

Does the screens somehow let you know the Micrdo SD is inside or the system just uses it for it's intended use ???


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## slocaus (Jul 21, 2005)

Devastazione said:


> I will buy soon a preloaded map ,but in the mean time I wolud like to store some self discovered trails and be sure to have them in the SD card.
> 
> So here are the questions:
> 
> ...


Look at these two sites for free maps before you buy a preloaded card.
GPS File Depot for Topo and Street Maps
Free routable maps for Garmin brand GPS devices for Street Maps


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## jkmacman (Mar 5, 2009)

i have 2 gps's that use the san disk.

the droid has a 2 gig mini. i use about 75% for mp3, and yesterday reached capacity filling up w/jpg. I have saved gpx files that i created but the files are small about 300k.

on my delorme, i loaded the states that are nearby to me on the sandisk. on the pn-40, you can save only gpx of waypoints files ( available w/ firmware upgrade last month ) regular gpx files are saved on the unit itself. 

i have 2 garmins, but they don't use san disks. the disks cost a few bucks at staples blank. it might be cheaper to buy blanks and subscribe online for downloads. i need basemaps myself for my droid, since sometimes it drops the signal and the screen comes up blank


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## smilinsteve (Jul 21, 2009)

Devastazione said:


> Thanks Steve.
> 
> Does the screens somehow let you know the Micrdo SD is inside or the system just uses it for it's intended use ???


I haven't put maps on my SD card lately so I can't remember exactly how it works. I think the Mapsource software guides you to the SD card when you want to download a map to it. Once its on there, the Garmin doesn't differentiate between the internal and card memory for maps. there are some things that don't go on card memory however. IIRC, tracks and waypoints are only stored on internal memory and the number is limited. I can't remember if you can save tracks to card memory or not. I think you can, but the garmin doesn't access it.


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