Added memory eTrex 20

[whoof]

Just thought I'd give an idea of how much space is on my eTrex with one just 100 km route loaded. Of the 3.63 Gb total capacity the free space is 314 Mb.
garmin.jpg

Soothing is wrong there I’ve have had nearly a 1000 km on my 4Gb card the whole of the UK 2 different version of openstreet maps and the card has barely registered. thats on a 4Gb SD card.

I deleted all the rides in the archive as suggested by Vantage and the available memory went up from 314 Mb to 316 Mb so the memory is still virtually full.
From memory (which it's much better than the Garmin one) I think it was like this straight out of the box.
Mine's a eTrex 20+ which comes with mapping for Western Europe so perhaps it's this that's taking all the memory and it's just sold with very little extra capacity. Similar to some digital cameras that used to come supplied with a memory card that was full if you took 16 photos.

[Sweep]

I think I may have missed a step
I'd planned on using both the GPX folder on the etrex alongside the GPX folder in the memory card. This apparently doesn't work.
I've now deleted all the tracks I had on the etrex and moved them to the memory card and so far appears to be working.
Both GPX folders still exist and the current track subfolder is remaining by default in the etrex GPX folder. I've not yet had a chance to take the bike out and so don't yet know if the archived folder will also default to etrex or memory card. I'll discover that soon enough.

Any more news on how this went vantage?

Have you done any moving of waypoints/POIs?

By the by, I noticed on doing some more probing into my Etrex 20 that although all of my created waypoints are filed in
Internal/Garmin/GPX
(and a whole load of separate waypoint files, most of them dated)

My card has a garmin/gpx folder with a waypoints.gpx file as well - though it has no content.

Presumably this file system was created by the Etrex20 itself when I inserted and formatted the new card.

I still don't really understand why I am apparently reaching plus 90 per cent capacity on my waypoints list on the Garmin's internal storage as I am pretty sure there is actually a lot of room left on it.

Also, I found a largish file which was "birdseye demo" and deleted that - and that didn't seem to lower the waypoint percentage used log at all.

Have those devils Garmin deliberately crippled the amount of storage that can be dedicated to waypoints in order to make us buy the Etrex20x?

If I get braver I may start shifting storage/tinkering but would appreciate experiences from anyone who has previously done this.

[Vantage]

Any more news on how this went vantage?

Have you done any moving of waypoints/POIs?

By the by, I noticed on doing some more probing into my Etrex 20 that although all of my created waypoints are filed in
Internal/Garmin/GPX
(and a whole load of separate waypoint files, most of them dated)

My card has a garmin/gpx folder with a waypoints.gpx file as well - though it has no content.

Presumably this file system was created by the Etrex20 itself when I inserted and formatted the new card.

I still don't really understand why I am apparently reaching plus 90 per cent capacity on my waypoints list on the Garmin's internal storage as I am pretty sure there is actually a lot of room left on it.

Also, I found a largish file which was "birdseye demo" and deleted that - and that didn't seem to lower the waypoint percentage used log at all.

Have those devils Garmin deliberately crippled the amount of storage that can be dedicated to waypoints in order to make us buy the Etrex20x?

If I get braver I may start shifting storage/tinkering but would appreciate experiences from anyone who has previously done this.

Ah, yes indeed there is.
Archive folders were created inside the GPX folders of both the etrex and the card however, recorded tracks have only been stored in the etrex's folder.
This has also been the case with 'current tracks'.

I've not yet played about with waypoints storage but I've a feeling they'll default to the etrex's own memory as I only make waypoints on the unit itself.

One thing I do wonder about is if my etrex has less bloatware type c**p on it than other folks units. Mine once locked itself solid and my solution at the time, was to wipe the entire system and reinstall what I could from one of those stored updates sites. Wiki something. It is I believe, running on the bare essentials.

[Vantage]

My trusty old etrex 20 has bit the dust and refused to load any tracks at all. After several months of watching it turn itself off midride and other bugs that were bugging me, I've decided to retire it.

The delivery man brought round my shiny new etrex 20x this morning.
And upon poking around inside I've discovered why @whoof has so little spare memory. The Garmin topo map takes up 3.26GB . That's pretty much all the awesome 4GB that Garmin bragged about.
Sheesh.

[Sweep]

Do please report back on the Etrex20x vantage. And how you find it after the 20.

Am particularly interested in how you find the screen - I have heard the odd report that its higher resolution screen is harder to read than the 20's.

My Etrex 20 does turn itself off now and again but to tell the truth I can live with it.

My next one will be an Etrex 20x I think - unless your report back is poor.

Are you going to take those mega Garmin maps off and just use a variety of free openstreetmaps?

I must say I find it hard to believe that the Garmin maps are better than those.

The Etrex 20x I know has the bigger onboard memory and that higher res screen.

I would be interested in any other differences.

Is the processor faster? The 20 definitely needs a quicker brain at times.

[Vantage]

From what I've read of other reviews @sweep,the processor is exactly the same as the older 20. USB speed is also the older 1.1 version so still slow as ever.
I've not really studied the screen that much but so far through setting it up, nothings really changed.
I'm in the process of moving Garmins topo map from the main unit to the memory card in an attempt to free up memory. Hopefully it'll work. I'll find out for certain tomorrow after I've gone for a ride.
3.26GB for a GPS map is the biggest I've ever seen though. OSM ones are around 700 - 900mb.

edit: DOH! The Garmin topo includes Europe. That's why so big.

[Vantage]

Well here it is...
The difference.
Not much really.

[Sweep]

Hard to tell from photos bill.

Do you notice much difference in the display at your end?

Have you ridden with the new one yet?

Assume you are keeping the old one - i would as a backup.

[Vantage]

The only differences I've noticed are what you'll see in the photo sweep. Almost none.
The newer 20x has a slightly brighter display and the text and black border lines which outline roads etc are a little less contrasty.
In all other aspects aside from onboard memory, the two units are pretty much identical.
Yep, I'm keeping the other one.