garmin oregon 400c

purchased new in april 2009 the marine chart version 400c.

ordered the invisible shield screen protector from zagg.com. expensive but worth it in my opinion. a bit difficult to install and very visible bubbles and bumps but it seems okay now and zagg stated that is would smooth out after a few days.

Finding the usb drivers for the usb cable was somewhat difficult, though it isn't actually
necessary just for the software updates.

In the past 2 or 3 weeks there have been three software updates from garmin and I have installed all of them. On linux the sw update is particularly easy. plug the unit in and the drives are automatically mounted. unzip the download from garmin and copy the update file to the gps.

I have been doing quite a bit of searching and reading on adding maps to the gps. Naturally I was wondering if there were free maps available so I could see what they would look like.

after about 2 weeks of fumbling around trying various software packages I found this site

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/

Here is my synopsis

01. download and install garmin training center software
http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=835

02. download and install garmin mapsource update
http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=209

03. at gpsfiledepot.com go to the link custom maps. select a state and if there is a free
map download it. Note the california map was over a gigabyte and the download took
multiple hours to complete.

04. The california topo maps download was an executable that automatically installs
the files in mapsource.

05. Open mapsource load the map and then tranfer the map to the microsd
card in a card reader. Also after transferring the map to the sd card it will
be called mapsupp.img. Save the file with a new name on your hardrive
probably a new that identifies the map, then you can quickly change the
maps on the microsd card.