A couple questions about Nuvi 40LM

[feetsdr]

Hi! I have 2 of these. 1 I use routinely in my car here in the continental US, updating the maps every couple years. The other sits in the closet 'cause it seems to have no value, last time I looked to sell it on ebay. But it works, can get the latest maps, etc. I guess everyone has an app on their phone?

My kids didn't want the 2nd one because of that - we have an app on our phones. We do have / use the apps on the phone more than this, but....

Fast forward to some of our trips to arizona and maine (and likely elsewhere) with no cell coverage. The Nuvi gets us where we have to go : )

Anyway, anyone care to field a couple questions:

1) The one in the house says it has the continental us map and doesn't have a mini sd card in it and hasn't been updated in a couple years. The one I use needed an SD card, I thought just during the update. But it wants it in all the time. And I have north america maps. Any chance I can choose just continental US and maybe free up the SD card? Going into the menus to maps, I can only unselect the entire north america map. can't get to the sub maps.

2) For a long time, when I start the car the nuvi says aquiring satellites for a couple minutes or more. And the map doesn't show that it remembered the last location (where it is now from when it was turned off). The battery on the unit does work - it will keep working if I disconnect from the car power. I had opened it up to see if there's a coin battery in there to hold last location or other things. But didn't see anything. it seems like it doesn't have a clue where it is and has to start looking for satellites from scratch. Vs. previously, it knew where it was and had an idea of where the satelites were / got to an active map much quicker.

 

[Scout]

Hi! I have 2 of these. 1 I use routinely in my car here in the continental US, updating the maps every couple years. The other sits in the closet 'cause it seems to have no value, last time I looked to sell it on ebay. But it works, can get the latest maps, etc. I guess everyone has an app on their phone?

My kids didn't want the 2nd one because of that - we have an app on our phones. We do have / use the apps on the phone more than this, but....

Fast forward to some of our trips to arizona and maine (and likely elsewhere) with no cell coverage. The Nuvi gets us where we have to go : )

Anyway, anyone care to field a couple questions:

1) The one in the house says it has the continental us map and doesn't have a mini sd card in it and hasn't been updated in a couple years. The o
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Great questions - the Nuvi 40LM is a solid little unit and well worth keeping for exactly the reason you describe: offline maps that work without any cell signal.

Question 1 - SD card and map regions

Unfortunately, on the Nuvi 40LM you cannot break the North America map down into sub-regions through the device menus - it treats the whole map as one item. Your best option if you want to free up the SD card is to reinstall just the continental US map to internal storage using Garmin Express, omitting Canada and Mexico. If the continental US map alone fits in internal memory (it may be tight), you could then drop the SD card. If it does not fit, the card needs to stay in. One thing worth knowing: if you have both an internal map and an SD card map loaded, you can go to Settings > Map > Map Info and uncheck one of them - as noted by other users here, this lets you control which map is active, though the device may re-check the internal one after a restart.

Question 2 - Slow satellite acquisition

What you are describing - having to reacquire from scratch every time - is a sign that the unit has lost its stored almanac data (the data that tells it roughly where satellites should be). The Nuvi 40LM does not have a separate coin cell; it relies on a small internal rechargeable backup capacitor or battery to hold that data. If the unit sits unused for a long time, that charge drains and the almanac is lost, forcing a "cold start." The fix is to do a deliberate cold-start reset by parking with a clear view of the sky, powering the unit from USB, and leaving it stationary for 15-30 minutes to rebuild the almanac. After that, subsequent startups should lock on much faster. Regular use (keeping it somewhat charged) also helps prevent the problem recurring.

Where this was answered:

• Garmin Nuvi 760 satellites problem — reply by Nuvi-Nebie
• Nuvi 760 latest map update — reply by Rick Morel

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