GPS Users - Garmin Basecamp 4.7 Won't Load Free Maps

[John Hollenberg]

I don't know if this is the best place to post this, but I just wasted 2 hours trying to figure out why I couldn't load non-Garmin maps onto my etrex 20.  Finally found the answer: the new version 4.7 (at least on Windows) has a bug (or "feature"?) such that free maps don't get loaded onto the GPS.  Instead you get a small "partial install" that is a fraction of what it should be.  I'm guessing Garmin must have known about this from beta testing.  Probably they want to make basecamp only work with their products.

Solution: do NOT upgrade to 4.7.  I uninstalled 4.7 and found 4.6.2 (Windows) and installed that and now free maps install just fine.

Link to 4.6.2 (4.6.3 for Mac, I believe) if you need to downgrade:

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6602-garmin-basecamp.html

[Martin Kristiansen]

Oh boy. Garmin and it’s software. Enough to make anyone nuts. I finally came up with a solution. I give the dam thing to my girlfriend. She is a geologist and has it nailed. I just couldn’t be bothered fighting with it anymore.

[FabienP]

Agreed. With my Oregon 650, Garmin needed about 20 firmware upgrades to get a usable & stable device. It took 3 years of development to reach this state. As things stand, I would have a hard time recommending buying Garmin brand new GPS models. Let it settle for at least a year before thinking about getting one.

On the other hand, pretty much every hardware manufacturer only designs bad and buggy software / firmware to use their device. I am thinking about X-Rite, Sony et al. Could they not hire competent people or outsource this job to a different company if this is not their core business?

Cheers,

Fabien

[pluton]

Agreed. With my Oregon 650, Garmin needed about 20 firmware upgrades to get a usable & stable device. It took 3 years of development to reach this state. As things stand, I would have a hard time recommending buying Garmin brand new GPS models. Let it settle for at least a year before thinking about getting one.

On the other hand, pretty much every hardware manufacturer only designs bad and buggy software / firmware to use their device. I am thinking about X-Rite, Sony et al. Could they not hire competent people or outsource this job to a different company if this is not their core business?

Cheers,

Fabien

Yeah, the software side of Garmin devices is annoying...until you try one of the other brands.  Possibly excepting Lowrance (no experience with those), they're all worse.