Garmin's Homeport Management Software is

[RaySea Lady]

Originally Posted by rwidman

Yes, but do they work in your plotter? Someone else's plotter?

I have not tried that since my boat is in storage. As long as my other chips are back from garmin in the spring then I don't even need to try as long as it works on my desktop.

[gerg]

Hmm, that's interesting. Remember I said it wasn't particularly difficult to clone these? Well, it's entirely possible someone is.

Because the result of doing what it takes to clone the cards leaves the files completely unlocked. they would work on your pc, and they would work if copied to another sd card.

Where did you buy your chip? If it wasn't from Garmin, or a Garmin distributor like BOE, then it could be someone in a fairly dicey sideline.

Look, the motivation is certainly there. Blank chips are $10/each, and the chips retail for $325 and sell on the street for $250. There's a lot of incentive there. It's illegal, but that doesn't matter to a lot of people.

[RaySea Lady]

Originally Posted by gerg

Hmm, that's interesting. Remember I said it wasn't particularly difficult to clone these? Well, it's entirely possible someone is.

Because the result of doing what it takes to clone the cards leaves the files completely unlocked. they would work on your pc, and they would work if copied to another sd card.

Where did you buy your chip? If it wasn't from Garmin, or a Garmin distributor like BOE, then it could be someone in a fairly dicey sideline.

Look, the motivation is certainly there. Blank chips are $10/each, and the chips retail for $325 and sell on the street for $250. There's a lot of incentive there. It's illegal, but that doesn't matter to a lot of people.

I bought them from our local Garmin distributor who contacted garmin to get me a boat show discount and I had to send in my receipts to Garmin to get the refund, so I don't think that is an issue.

The copied one may work on MY plotter and not on anyone elses and that MAY be how they control it. It is licensed to ONE plotter.

I will let you know when I try it out.

[gerg]

Interesting. I thought it was only the bluechart chips that were licensed to the plotter. That's what you would buy to get local maps for a 40xx or 50xx plotter to be equiv to a 42xx or 52xx.

The G2 vision chips shouldn't be "open" to the point you can copy the files between chips or pc's and have them work.

Live and learn...

sorry for taking the thread sideways.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by gerg

.........The G2 vision chips shouldn't be "open" to the point you can copy the files between chips or pc's and have them work. .

Well, I'll bet they're not, but if they are, I have a buddy who has one for my area ................

I suspect if they were, we would be seeing them for sale on e-bay already.

[Birdman]

Hey Searay lady, sounds like you need to send me airline tix to come up their in the spring, so you can teach ME how to use HP, instead of the previous plan!!

Would love to try all this out... my HP crashed after importing my data from MS4, and I can't get it to run anymore. Haven't had time to remove and re-install everything....

[Gone Fishin' Too]

1) I have a 545s with the g2 vision card. When I put the g2 vision card in it reads and downloads the data on homeport, is there a way to keep this data on the PC without having to reinsert the g2 vision card each time?

2) With the 545s and g2 vision card, I can only get the "navigational chart view" - why will it not let me get the fishing chart or both under the "View" - "Chart Views" tabs?

[rebel112r]

After having worked since install, today HP decided it did not want to recognize any maps, not blue chart, or dwnlded maps from 4212..All I get is basic map..What a PIA..Will try and reload HP

[ElyseM]

just rec'd an email from garmin. as expected, you CANNOT upload the maps to the pc and bypass the continual use of the sd. i replied that that was not a good solution and that they need to rethink an option to redirect hp to maps on the pc, which is done with the bluecharts i already have up and running (after all, at least for the g2 charts, you can copy them to the pc -- just can't do anything with them). ron

[RaySea Lady]

Originally Posted by Birdman

Hey Searay lady, sounds like you need to send me airline tix to come up their in the spring, so you can teach ME how to use HP, instead of the previous plan!!

Would love to try all this out... my HP crashed after importing my data from MS4, and I can't get it to run anymore. Haven't had time to remove and re-install everything....

That WAS the previous plan. However, it seems like you should send me the tix now...

I should be at the east end of Lake Ontario in July next year with the boat, Maybe we can get together?

[bluewaterpirate]

You didn't setup the feature to see the Fishing Charts under the Tools menu then Options Menu>Chart Features>then check Shaded Relief.

[Birdman]

Sounds like a plan, see ya in the lake!

I'm back up and running... but crashed again, and removed and re-installed a 3rd time and back up running again.

What I have learned which may foreward others:
1. Once you start HP, and have the SD card inserted with data from the plotter, you can never ever again open Mapsource and try and import that data (from USERDATA.ADM). Mapsource no longer see's anything in the file any longer.

2. Once you start HP, and have inserted the SD card, do not attempt to rename the *.ADM files on the SD card via file Explorer(as most of us did with MS). HP will CRASH, get corrupted and you will be doing the remove and re-install happy dance.

Off to import all my old MS files, and merge the new data in my USERDATA.ADM file from this past weekend I can no longer get into MS.

Garmin,
If your listening, I think you need to add back the tabs above the data points/tracks/routes box like in Mapsource. So we can easily select and list JUST Tracks, Routes or Waypoints instead of seeing them all togehter all the time. And also allow us to sort via the different heading by clicking on the heading in the properties/details box at bottom, instead of having to go to the menu View, Sort By, ...

[Birdman]

DONE!! Once ya get the hang of this, it's VERY slick software!! A few tweaks here and there, and Garmin will now have the Best planning software to go with the best MFD.

Man, they are running away with it!!

[RaySea Lady]

You're getting the hang of this now ! You're on a roll !

Way to go Birdman !

I never had MapSource so I had none of those issues.

[markb8608]

Hi
I read thru the posts and re-triedthe transfer of waypoints and tracks via the userinformation/transfer data with a new 8gb sd card. ( I have about 32 waypoints) After the transfer the 545 unit says Waypoints 'database error" . Could it be that most if not all of my tracks are not named.( I don’t think they are saved) I am using 45% of Garmin 545 memory with un-named tracks.
When I take the SD to my pc and homeport- I get a message that the userdata is not (I think) readible.
Am I the only one with this 545 problem?
kind regards
Mark

[gerg]

He's just so darn cute when he gets excited.

[tonybanco]

I'm having a problem as I cannot get Homeport to start/load.

Initially I downloaded the online software to my Notebook, HP started normally and seemed to work fine as I toyed around with it for a while which included loading the Vision chip from the 4010 and importing some Mapsource data.


Here's where it comes off the rails.....I also have a desktop PC so I wanted to use Homeport on both units however, when I loaded the software on my desktop (2nd) PC, Homeport would now not start on the Notebook but was working on the (2nd) PC.


Now I cannot get Homeport to start on either machine although there is the 34mb Homeport program appearing on both machines, so I removed the software, downloaded and re-installed Homeport again but it still won't start, the software is on my hard drive and the HP icon appears on the quick start but it just won't start.

I've contacted Garmin support, they suggested that I contact my local (Australian) support centre however they tell me they haven't even heard of Mapsource and will need to contact Garmin in the US for advice!

Any suggestions on how I can get HP to get going?

Thanks, Tony

[Birdman]

The Backup and Restore functions work very nicely. Had to use the restore already! DO BACKUPS OFTEN!! And don't just keep overwriting the same backup file, make new ones all the time. So if you crash in the middle of a backup, and both the backup file and the program data gets corrupt, you can fall back to a previous backup.

QUESTION:
Anyone using their G2 Vision SD card to store the exported Built in Charts, and Userdata on for transferring from HP to plotter device? Reason I ask is, it seems we need to do a BUNCH of SD card swapping now. On boat, put in userdata SD card, load needed WP's, routes and tracks onto plotter. Remove userdata card, insert G2 Vision card, Go fishing. At end of day, remove Vision SD card, insert userdata card, transfer the track and any new WP's back to userdata SD card. Remove userdata SD card and bring home. Fire up laptop/homeport, insert userdata card, import new WP's and the days tracks. Remove userdata card, insert Vision SD card, do planning..... remove Vision card, insert userdata card, save a new set of userdata for use on plotter next day....... You get the picture!

So I say, why not put my userdata files/folders onto the G2 Vision SD card itself. It has 2 GB free on it. And, copy the built in charts to it as well. Now I don't have to swap the SD cards. Great idea, but 2 problems:
1. With the built in charts on the vision SD card, Homeport only sees the built in charts on the SD card, and does not recognize the Vision charts. So I deleted the built in maps, and then HP sees the Vision charts again. hmmmm.....
2. If if #1 gets solved, I worry I will end up killing the vision card some day. IT either gets corrupt or I format it or delete the vision chart file off it somehow... Will Garmin fix it? Or will I be spending another $350 to replace it....?

Any of you try this? What's Garmins stance on writing to the Vision chip cards?

[Birdman]

Tony,
I had the SAME problem on my laptop, several times. Not sure of the cause, other than something in it's database gets corrupt, and once that occurs you ned to remove HP completly, then re-install. FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST!!!

To remove completely:
1. Control Panel, Add Remove programs, find Garmin Homeport, click Remove.
2. Now DELETE the Garmin/Homeport directories under Documents and settings\your_username\AplicationData\Garmin\Homep ort AND under Programs\Garmin\Homeport. If you see it anywhere else, DELETE IT.
3. Now the delicate part: run "Regedit", and delete any Homeport Keys in the registry: there should be 2, one under Local Machine\Software\Garmin\Homeport and the 2nd under CurrentUser\Software\Garmin\Homeport. Delete both of those keys.
4. Reboot
5. Re-install the Homeport install program. No need to re-download, just click on the file you downloaded already.
6. If you had data backed up already, do the restore and yoru back in bidness.

The same issue has occured to me a few times already. Runs fine, then I close it. Go to restart HP, and nothing happens. Click icon and notta. Check task mngr and notta. Do the above dance and it runs again. Obviously Garmin has a small bug somewhere...

good luck!

[gerg]

Originally Posted by Birdman

T

QUESTION:
Anyone using their G2 Vision SD card to store the exported Built in Charts, and Userdata on for transferring from HP to plotter device?

Any of you try this? What's Garmins stance on writing to the Vision chip cards?

The primary reason I would caution against this is that you risk corrupting your G2 data source. Now if you have backed up your G2 files, they should work if restored to your original G2 chip, but what if they don't?

That's $350 (for the wide chip) down the tubes. Why take that chance?

Now you have the added risk of using them in your home PC to run HP. Very clever on Garmins part. People will be losing them on a regular basis. And if a virus decides to trash your attached removable storage, your screwed there also (some viri will target loaded removable media because it is a threat to the viri).