garmin quest and memory

[cba191]

is it possible to increase the memory on a quest? i was wondering if a jump drive or something would work.

[bryanb]

The new Quest 2 has the entire detailed map of North America plus 140MB for other maps, like topos. My Quest is only a year old, but I am seriously considering buying the new one. Hopefully the Q2 will work with the Q1 motorcycle mount.

[pckopp]

Originally Posted by cba191

is it possible to increase the memory on a quest? i was wondering if a jump drive or something would work.

No, the memory is fixed internally. Rumor has it that the European versions have quite a bit more memory then the North American models. Maybe some Quest owner over there who's not afraid to void their warranty will pop the cover and tell us the secret differences.

The Quest 2 does have the entire City Select data preloaded with 140M left over. No downloading when you go from coast to coast. The available memory can be used to load other map sets like TOPO or US Recrational Lakes. The bad news is you don't get any software at all with the Quest 2. No CD's to load on your PC for route planning or sharing with your friends.

[pckopp]

Originally Posted by bryanb

The new Quest 2 has the entire detailed map of North America plus 140MB for other maps, like topos. My Quest is only a year old, but I am seriously considering buying the new one. Hopefully the Q2 will work with the Q1 motorcycle mount.

Both Quest models use the same mounts, whether from Garmin, RAM or Touratech.

[BurnieM]

The North America Quests have 115 MB of internal memory for loading maps and the European Quests have 243 MB.

Australian Quests had 115 MB up until May 05 but now have 243 MB
(increased when City Navigator Australia v6 was released and was 132 MB)


Phil,
Is the external case and the screen on the Quest 2 identical to the Quest ?

[pckopp]

Originally Posted by BurnieM

Phil,
Is the external case and the screen on the Quest 2 identical to the Quest ?

Yes, they are identical. They fit the same mounting hardware, have the same screen and case. No changes on the outside.

[Oilhed]

Originally Posted by pckopp

The Quest 2 does have the entire City Select data preloaded with 140M left over. No downloading when you go from coast to coast. The available memory can be used to load other map sets like TOPO or US Recrational Lakes. The bad news is you don't get any software at all with the Quest 2. No CD's to load on your PC for route planning or sharing with your friends.

How do you route plan then? On the tiny GPS screen? Do any GPS allow you to import a route from MS S&T?

[pckopp]

Originally Posted by Oilhed

How do you route plan then? On the tiny GPS screen??

Yes, that's your only option.

Originally Posted by Oilhed

Do any GPS allow you to import a route from MS S&T?

This is a software and file format question.

Maybe MS S&T will talk directly to Garmin GPS units.

otherwise...

IF the Garmin GPS can accept a route via software
AND you have the software to communicate with the GPS (MapSource commonly for Garmin, there are other choices)
AND MS S&T can 'export' a route in a file format your software recognizes then you can do that. It can get tricky.

The problem for Quest 2 owners is they have NO PC software out of the box, so you have to solve that problem first.

[PhilSpace]

Nope - no route downloads. I haven't fired up S&T 2005 yet, but if it did GPX, you could possibly do an import - I will play later.

The real catch 22 is that with the Quest 2 you don't get Mapsource with the map data to run on the PC, which means no real route planning on the PC which has ruled out the new Quest in my book, as well as any of the other Garmin GPS's that use the "NT" version of the map database.

[FredRydr]

Here is a copy and paste from the GPSpassion forum, posted by someone who must have some savvy and experience.

Fred

Greetings - I just bought a Quest 2 - before the info came out that it doesn't come with the software to plan routes on a computer. A little disappointed, I set out to search the net for a way to plan routes with inexpensive software. (this should work for the Garmin 2620 and 2720 too!

I am proud to report success after only one night of experimentation. I loaded all required programs (S&T plus 2 freeware apps) to my ultra-light Compaq Evo N400c laptop (which I own mainly for the purpose of carrying it along on mc trips)

Required Programs:

Microsoft Streets and Trips (I have 2004)
st2gpx http://www.gpsbabel.org/st2gpx/st2gpx.html (hit "Downloads" and scroll down)
g7towin http://www.gpsinformation.org/ronh/

NOTE: If you end up using g7towin or st2gpx a lot, the polite thing to do is go to the developers site and throw down a donation to make sure they keep developing and supporting these excellent freeware programs.

Do step 1 and 2 of this link (summarized below)
http://members.shaw.ca/pdops/stroute.html

Step 1: Create Route in MS Streets & Trips

Basically, create a route with MS S&T using enough waypoints to define your route. No need to go crazy here - the Quest will be recalculating your route, and routing should be similar in both programs, but make sure to put waypoints on those little country roads you've been drooling over - at least enough to have MS route you through them.

Copy the .est file to the folder you have extracted st2gpx into.

Step 2: Convert EST to GPX

Now we need to convert the Streets & Trips file to something the gps can read.

To make this a little easier for converting future routes, create a bat file called ST2GPX.BAT in the st2gpx folder

(for those who don't remember the wonderful days of MS-DOS, create a notepad file named ST2GPX.txt and paste the following into it:

st2gpx %1 -G %~n1.gpx

Now save the txt file and change its name to ST2GPX.BAT
Don't worry if it complains about changing the file extension.)

Now right click on your BAT file and click "create shortcut"

Now you should be able to drag and drop your .est file onto your SHORTCUT file (this tells it to execute the BAT without having to deal with command line. Lots easier)

You should now have a .GPX file with the same name as your S&T file. If it didn't work, make sure the S&T application is closed. (I did this too and momentarily panicked)

Step 3: Upload to the Quest 2

Now connect your Quest2 to your PC with the included usb cord. You may need to reinstall the included usb drivers - they seem finicky. I saved the contents of hte cd onto my harddrive so I won't need the cd again.

Start g7towin and use the configuration menu to set connect type to "usb" and output type to "mapsource"

Now file-open-(navigate to your GPX file)

Nothing seems to happen...but as long as your gps is connected correctly, you should have a new option under the "Routes" menu. Select "upload route to GPS"

Check your gps. You should now have a new route listed in the Routes Setup menu. Congrats!

It complained that the route was made with differnt software, and had to recalculate the route, but it had loaded my start, end, and vias correctly. I would recommend running through navigation to make sure it does what you intended (possible for some points to be slightly off) but still easier than doing all route planning on the device.

This will work for me...and I am glad to know that I will be able to plan routes on my laptop before the trip.

BTW - If you already own DELORME STREET ATLAS PLUS, you can skip the st2gpx step and just transfer your sa* files via g7towin. I don't own Delorme, so I can't test it, but no reason it shouldn't work.

Comments?
This may look difficult to some users, but after the intial setup, it's really easy. The setup isn't even all that hard. It's not perfect, doesn't load full directions, so the quest has to recalculate, but better than inputting all the waypoints on the device.

[PhilSpace]

Sounds fairly convoluted, not sure why they are using g7towin since Garmin software (Mapsource anyways) likes GPX files.

Also, doing it this way will not guarantee the exact same route that was created on the PC since the GPS will do a recalc of the route the first time you open it, with the routing between the waypoints from the S&T .gpx file being determined by the GPS, depending on how it has been configured (avoid highways etc.).

Seems like it would be easiest to buy a Garmin that uses the map database for both the PC and the GPS so the routes go exactly has you plan them on the PC

[FredRydr]

Originally Posted by PhilSpace

Sounds fairly convoluted,.... Seems like it would be easiest to buy a Garmin that uses the map database for both the PC and the GPS so the routes go exactly has you plan them on the PC

Phil,

I agree, so what I did was buy the Quest2 as well as a separate North America SelectCity CD for the PC. It costs more than the scenario above, but I expect to have fewer surprises or headaches.

Fred

[Whammo]

Originally Posted by PhilSpace

The real catch 22 is that with the Quest 2 you don't get Mapsource with the map data to run on the PC, which means no real route planning on the PC which has ruled out the new Quest in my book, as well as any of the other Garmin GPS's that use the "NT" version of the map database.

Dont' forget the other catch 22 (23?) which is the 5v you've gotta come up with if you're going to power it off the bike.

[PhilSpace]

Originally Posted by FredRydr

Phil,

I agree, so what I did was buy the Quest2 as well as a separate North America SelectCity CD for the PC. It costs more than the scenario above, but I expect to have fewer surprises or headaches.

Fred

Yup, I have City Nav 7, and they said it might work, but I would need to buy yet another license to City Select to do it, so I blew it off. Couldn't justify the extra money, sticking with the 2610.

[JimVonBaden]

You guys know that Mapsource is an unlocked software right?

With it you can do all your route planning and uploads/downloads.

Jim