Garmin drive 52m

kuri77 · Jul 10, 2023

Hi All
Just bought this gps
Not sophisticated gps user
My question is can I buy a foreign map thru Garmin on an sd card and download it without involving my Mac? I’m not interested in mapping out anything just to have the gps map on my handlebars while I’m riding thru the country so I can verify where I am and scope out possible locations to explore

Nuvi-Nebie · Jul 12, 2023

I'm guessing you want to install maps to your Drive52 without the use of any computer, you can purchase maps on microSD card and simply insert the microSD into the slot of your Drive52, if you already have maps on a microSD card you would have to remove the old card to insert the new one and switch between the two, if you could use a computer you would be able to combine all maps onto a single microSD

kuri77 · Jul 12, 2023

Thanks for the useful info

Do the maps I would want to put on my own SD card have to be loaded in a certain format in order to put on the Garmin

Nuvi-Nebie · Jul 12, 2023

If you purchase Garmin maps on microSD they are already in the correct format, they are intended to placed directly into your GPS

kuri77 · Jul 12, 2023

Thanks but that’s not my question what I’m asking is if I put a bunch of maps on a micro SD card to load into my GPS do I have to do it in a certain format or away?

Nuvi-Nebie · Jul 16, 2023

How are you going to put a bunch of maps onto a microSD card without a computer?, If you have a computer you can install Garmin Basecamp, have all maps on your computer and then send them to your Drive 52m using Map Install in Basecamp.

To answer your question, some satnavs have a single file on the microSD card that can hold multiple maps BUT, you can only have one file, others like your Drive 52 have maps stored in the /Maps folder on the microSD like this :-

So wil you be using a computer ?

kuri77 · Jul 20, 2023

Thanks again for the info
Yes I am using my Mac mini for this.