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I've run an Edge 2 for years but have just upgraded to an Etrex 3 and bought the City Navigator UK and Ireland maps on SD-Card.
The maps come on a nasty (possibly recycled) slow, 2GB card so I thought I'd copy them across to my 16GB card. Now I'm new to Garmin maps but it turns out that Garmin have some vicious software protection that means that the maps on work from the micro-SD card they come supplied on. There's nothing on the package and it takes a fair bit of hunting down to find anything on the website.
So it looks like I'm going to have to buy a download version to actually get in on my micro-SD card!
I'm rather cross about this and will be pursuing Garmin for a refund but I thought that it would be worth mentioning here for others that aren't aware of Garmin's policy!
Note the download and DVD versions of the maps also have copy protection. So they will only work with one Garmin device (but will work on any memory card in that device).
Or just search a torrent site for the "JetMouse Garmin Keygen"...
At least the downloads are tied to a particular unit rather than a specific micro-SD card. The eTrex 3 will take a 32GB card so it stands to reason that people aren't going to want their maps stuck on a 2GB card.
If it had been obvious whilst buying that this was the case I wouldn't be so cross but it's not.
This is precisely the reason I refuse to buy Garmin maps any more. I got stung trying to move my GB maps from an old eTrex unit to a new one. Garmin weren't interested in helping at all. There's no way I was going to spend another few hundred pounds on a replacement, so I just downloaded the Open Streetmap files from [url= http://talkytoaster.info/ukmaps.htm ]here[/url]. They're excellent - Garmin can get stuffed.
As above, they are way too restrictive with their drm. The other nice thing about the osm maps is that it is easy to add to the data so you get even better maps. Osm all the way 🙂
Get my OSM maps from here...
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
tend to grab just a few tiles for specific trips, and for round this way, rather than a whole country.
Surprise surprise Garmin aren't interested and can't offer a refund as the packaging has been opened but since there's nothing noted on the packaging about the maps being tied to the card (and nothing on the website I bought it from) using it was the only way to find out.
Well that's £30 down the drain; I shall be avoiding Garmin maps in future!
Try googling: garmin img unlocker
I'm just looking round for the bit of info but after researching mapping when I got my 810 it was really obvious that the maps could not be copied.
I've got several Garmin maps on disc and I'm told the keygen works quite well 😉
Have a look on gpsunderground you'll find plenty of unlocked maps on there..
FWIW, I just took delivery of a Garmin Oregon 600 bought with the 30% offer they had before Christmas. I popped the card containing the OS 1:50K mapping out of my Dakota and into the Oregon and it just worked fine. It's the original card and hasn't been through any special hacking or anything.