Garmin Etrex 20 - recording tracks to external card

[dondelion]

I love my Etrex 20 but still can't get it to automatically record gpx tracks to the external XD card. My maps are on the external card and they work as they should. I have duplicated the file structure from internal memory to external card as I believe I should but gpx is still being recorded to the internal memory instead. What have I missed?

Any advice to this long time lurker is very gratefully received.

[skicat]

Have you been specifically told it is possible to record to the SDcard? I have an Oregon 650 which is a newer design and has more features than the Etrex range, and I'm fairly sure that can't record to the external card. It will recognise routes, waypoints and tracks that have been placed on the card (using a computer), but won't record to the card itself.

[LollyKat]

The Etrex 20 can't record to the card. Not sure about the 30....

[dondelion]

That would certainly explain why I am having problems! I've just finished a long tour and experienced problems numerous times with faulty mini USB cables and OTG cables that would not allow me to read the device's internal memory. A nice chap in Turkey even replaced the entire USB port for me but the problem turned out to be 2 defective cables. I was hoping to prevent this happening again...

[ubert767]

I would be grateful if someone could explain the relationship between the Etrex 20 internal memory and the removable SD card, also their functions. I understand that downloaded OSM maps are best stored on the SD card but am unsure about the specific function of each memory, does the onboard memory have priority over the removable memory?
I've recently completed a tour of the Tuscany coast and, with it's poor direction signage, found the Etrex to be a saviour.

Thanks

[tim-b]

Hi

My Etrex30 has a slow connection if you plug it via USB into the PC
The separate memory card can be plugged directly into the PC (you may need an adapter) which is much faster for data transfer, e.g. large maps

The internal memory will record and store anything (within its capacity)
The internal memory seems to be exclusively used for certain functions, e.g. I can't find a way to automatically record the current track directly to external memory.
You can transfer the current track to the external memory card in BaseCamp

Regards
tim-b