Anyone know of a way to connect there laptop to the radio to transfer files? I want to transfer my stored favorites from one Garmin to the Garmin in the 430N (current.gpx). Maybe there is a sport on the radio someplace with a USB connection that makes the radio look like a flash drive to the laptop? I tried to just put a Garmin directory onto my update disk with the GPX folder and the current .gpx file inside of that, but get a PND Update failure noice on the radio, so I'm missing something. Any thoughts? This would also enable us to add things like new vehicle icons, and even different voices.

-Pat

 

I found the answer on a Jeep Forum, and it worked like a champ for loading all your points. Here they are if anyone else want's to know.

Step 1 - Download a POI database file from the web or create your own
Step 2 – Using POI Loader from Garmin (www.garmin.com/products/poiloader) create the POI.gpi file from the database file you have gotten from the web or created
Step 3 – Save the POI.gpi file to your computer as a file
Step 4 – You will now need a USB Stick to load the custom POI to so that it can be loaded to the vehicle system. Create a folder on a blank USB stick entitled Garmin, example; if your USB Stick is listed as drive D by your computer, then the folder would be D:\Garmin
Step 5 – Create a folder within the Garmin folder named Poi, example; if your USB Stick is listed as drive D by your computer, then the folder would be D:\Garmin\Poi
Step 6 – Copy the POI.gpi file to the Garmin\Poi folder on the USB Stick, example; if your USB Stick is listed as drive D by your computer, then the file location would be D:\Garmin\Poi\POI.gpi
Step 7 – Insert the USB Stick to the radio and the Garmin navigation application will display a message that the custom POIs are ready to be copied, select yes.
Step 8 – To view the custom POI list select WhereTo, Extras, Custom POIs and you
will see the list.

 

Great information. Its always easier when somebody else does all the work.

 

Pretty cool. Can this operation work in reverse? I would love to backup my POI's I have created in my car. I had to have my 430 unit replaced once under warranty and I lost all of my customer locations I created over time in the unit. I would hate for that to happen again.

 

Unfortunately it does not work in reverse, it would be nice if there was a usb port on the radio that allowed you to connect to it with your laptop so you could see the actual files and back them up.

-Pat