Topo US 100K loads slow to computer & SD card

[hamilgs]

It took more than an hour to load the "Topo US 100K" DVD to my Intel Core i5, 4 gig RAM, (not new, but no slouch either) notebook, is that about right?  Also I noticed that the DVD had no "readme" file, a bad sign for a satisfied customer experience.

Installing "Topo US 100K" to a micro SD card (via direct USB adapter) was predicted to take 5 hours after it had been going for a few minutes, but at 69% complete (took overnight to get there!), the prediction is still at 6+ hours (prediction has been above 10 hours). I’ve never had S/W take that long to load.  In talking to Garmin customer support, they say that is 4X too long, but that it does takes a while to push 4+ gig of data over a USB interface.  He had no advice about what I might be doing wrong that might cause such a long load time.  Again no “word to the wise” about this will take a long, long time in a readme file.

The Basecamp help file suggests that some S/W products need unlock keys, while others don’t, & suggests looking for “a yellow slip of paper with unlock code on it” in the DVD cardboard sleeve; I did not find the paper.  Garmin tech support reports that "Topo US 100K" does not need an unlock code,  while acknowledging that that bit of info is not easy to find.

I plan to buy City Navigator & load on the Oregon 450, so I asked how much storage "Topo US 100K" takes (4 gig), and then how much CN takes (1.6 gig), so my 4 gig card is too small, but it was handy last night.  Then I ask if I can just copy the files from the 4 gig card to the larger card when installing CN.  Answer “no, you must install all over again "Topo US 100K" and CN to a larger card.  Not the answer I was looking for, after I’ve spent more than all day getting "Topo US 100K" on the card, and its not done yet.

So far I could not recommend a Garmin S/W product to friends & family if asked, because the out of the box user experience has been so poor. I hope that my experiences are in the minority.

Any advice about what I’m doing wrong?

I’m using MapInstall to load maps on the micro SD card, direct connected via adapter to a USB port on the notebook computer.

[mdxix]

I never loaded entire maps, so cannot compare with your experience. Do you really need to? I choose the regions around my intended route, and a bit more for detours. On one 4GB SD card, I have portions of Topo, CN North America, & CN Europe.

I do find it strange that Garmin support did not agree to copying the file from one SD card to another. All it is an image file—I am not aware of any hidden files behind it. I have copied it before with no problems. Give it a try.

[DanE]

My impression of loading maps on a micro SD card for Garmin is, and I will not warrant this to be true but is my impression is that the USB port on the Garmin units is probably USB 1.0 speed. This is probably done to keep cost down or some technical reason. If you put your micro SD card in a card reader like you would use for photo transfers which has a USB 2.0 or 3.0 connection it will go much faster. I loaded the Open Street Maps for my state in about 10 minutes using the card reader.

[hamilgs]

Something obvously went wrong with loading the whole USA  topo 100K on the SD card.  So I tried again, loading only about 1/4 of the US (southeast) on the SD card, took 25 minutes or so.  Works OK now.  I have no explanation (neither did Garmin tech support).  I attribute most of my troubles to "operator error" combined w/ poor "get started" from the company.  I did have a pleasantly short wait to talk to their tech support folks, and that is not very common in my experience- kudos Garmin.