Garmin Nuvi 500 tracklog

[+IntrepidXJ]

Interested in picking up a Nuvi 500 to use in my Jeep and replace my Magellan Crossover, and was looking for a little first hand experience.

 

I'm assuming the unit keeps a tracklog....but does it allow you to manage it on the devie at all? Can I save portions of the track?

 

Also, can I add GPX tracks that I already have....any idea how many can be displayed at one time?

 

I have an Oregon, and it handles tracks just fine....kind of curious if they are handled the same way on the Nuvi 500?

 

Thanks for any info you can provide

[MtnHermit]

Can't give you a direct reply, only a Nuvi 2x5W reply.

 

 

I suspect that you can have any color tracks you want so long as they're black (Colorado) or cyan (Nuvi). You can of course save the track file to your PC and open it in Mapsource. Given the vast memory of current Nuvi's you won't run out of room to save your track(s).

 

Unless you need the waterproofing or replaceable batteries, the Nuvi 500 is not a good value compared to various 2x5's.

 

I suspect, given the many Nuvi 500 threads here, that your answer lies in one of those posts.

[Bob Morphew]

.... I'm assuming the unit keeps a tracklog....but does it allow you to manage it on the devie at all? Can I save portions of the track?

 

Also, can I add GPX tracks that I already have....any idea how many can be displayed at one time? ...

 

I have a Nuvi 550 (same as 500 except City Navigator instead of Topo) and I'm dissapointed in it's tracklog capabilities.

 

The only control you have is whether the track displays or not. No colour changes from cyan. No mangaing tracks on the GPS. So far no evidence of anything except the Active tracklog, but I read on another Forum that someone mentioned an Archive folder, so I'm thinking that I haven't been using it long enough to fill the Active log and need an archive.

 

I tried uploading tracklogs along with routes and waypoints. The waypoints go straight to Favouites (i.e. to Current.gpx), the Routes stay in Temp.gpx until you use Settings / My Data / Import Routes, but the tracklogs do not show up at all. I tried creating a Current.gpx file in Mapsource with a mixture of my 60Cx tracks and some Nuvi 550 tracks, and then overwriting the Current.gpx in the GPS. The tracks created on the Nuvi will display, but it ignores the 60Cx tracks (I was trying to fill up most of the 10,000 point Active log to test if it did start archiving tracks (like the Zumo 550 does).

 

I tried my standard workaround for exceeding the tracklog limit on my 60Cx by converting the tracks into a Garmin Map, but the 550 doesn't like custom maps. They work in Walking & Cycling modes, but not in Driving or Scootering modes.

 

My conclusion is that it doesn't handling tracks well enough - a major concern for me - so it's going back to Costco soon.

 

Bob

[+IntrepidXJ]

Thanks for the info Bob, that's what I needed to know. Doesn't sound like the 500 will work for me then (unless Garmin updates the software sometime down the road).

[+EScout]

The Nuvis that do a Trip log have the tracks in the current.gpx file, under the GPX folder. This file contains your Favorites and your tracks. The tracks are in segments based on when you turn your Nuvi off and on. The current.gpx file holds about 10,000 track points until it creates a new file called: 1.gpx in the Archive subfolder under the GPX folder. It will create 2.gpx and so on.

 

The tracks in the current.gpx file shows on the Nuvi in cyan. You can work with this file using programs such as G7toWin. You might want to look at the link below for more info on using Nuvi track logs.

[+IntrepidXJ]

The Nuvis that do a Trip log have the tracks in the current.gpx file, under the GPX folder. This file contains your Favorites and your tracks. The tracks are in segments based on when you turn your Nuvi off and on. The current.gpx file holds about 10,000 track points until it creates a new file called: 1.gpx in the Archive subfolder under the GPX folder. It will create 2.gpx and so on.

 

The tracks in the current.gpx file shows on the Nuvi in cyan. You can work with this file using programs such as G7toWin. You might want to look at the link below for more info on using Nuvi track logs.

 

I'm looking for a device that I can easily manage my individual GPX track files on, and not have to mess with only one GPX file to get them to show up.....I'm just not really interested in that. I want to be able to upload my GPX tracks to a folder and have them show up like they do on my Oregon and Crossover