Maps - Download or SD Card if I Want to Unlock

I'm tempted to purchase the TOPO Great Britain v2 PRO 1:25K maps, but I'm not sure if I should purchase this as a Download or SD Card, if I wish to unlock this. Both options have restrictions, hence why I wish to unlock. Having never purchased maps before what is the best medium to buy if I wish to use the Protected Garmin File Toolkit (PGFT) to unlock?

Is the PGFT program still the right program to unlock recent files ?
Your download is an *.img file related to your gps for the gma/unl files, so only usable on your gps. The file on the sd-card is also an *.img but related to the ID of the sd-card. sd-card can be used in differtent gps with a sd-slot. Both *.img files can be unlocked (use gimgunlock-0.04.exe) and be used in an other gps. Maybe it will necessary to patch the software of that specifac gps.

bommelb wrote:Is the PGFT program still the right program to unlock recent files ?

I'm not sure - I'm rather new to this and assumed it may be possible to use this program, but I suspect not now.

bommelb wrote:Your download is an *.img file related to your gps for the gma/unl files, so only usable on your gps. The file on the sd-card is also an *.img but related to the ID of the sd-card. sd-card can be used in differtent gps with a sd-slot. Both *.img files can be unlocked (use gimgunlock-0.04.exe) and be used in an other gps. Maybe it will necessary to patch the software of that specifac gps.

Thanks, in that case I will purchase the SD card and try my luck using gimgunlock.

KuchKuch wrote:
Thanks, in that case I will purchase the SD card and try my luck using gimgunlock.

I would go with the SD card too as there is no price difference, remember if you registered your device, Garmin would have sent you a 10% discount code ,on this worth £27.90

GarmanNuvi wrote:I would go with the SD card too as there is no price difference, remember if you registered your device, Garmin would have sent you a 10% discount code ,on this worth £27.90

Thanks - forgot about this discount code even though I got it a few days ago!

Did you ever buy these any could you please share if you did?

If I purchase a new Garmin enhanced topo map on the SD card and make an image of the card/copy the files off before I put it into my Montana 700i (encrypted firmware - so the unlocker tools do not work on the maps after they are locked) will I be able to use the original file before the GPS modifies it on any future GPS units I buy (and I would copy over the SD card with the original unmodified file from my computer) or is there some communication of the GPS via WiFi with a server where it permanently locks that map image to the device ID and all future attempted activations fail?

sileyok836 wrote:If I purchase a new Garmin enhanced topo map on the SD card and make an image of the card/copy the files off before I put it into my Montana 700i (encrypted firmware - so the unlocker tools do not work on the maps after they are locked) will I be able to use the original file before the GPS modifies it on any future GPS units I buy (and I would copy over the SD card with the original unmodified file from my computer) or is there some communication of the GPS via WiFi with a server where it permanently locks that map image to the device ID and all future attempted activations fail?

The Map and the SD are one single entity.
As long as you use the SD card, regardless of which device you use, you will have no problems.
If you were to use a Copy of the Map instead, the latter must be Unlocked and the Device on which you are going to use it must be able to read Unlocked Maps, perhaps with the use of a Firmware Patch

It is not so important where the map will be loaded, as long as there is enough memory capacity suitable for the map operating system. Map sets Windows and Mac. For the operating system and maybe even the Linux one, I can't remember now. There are 3 different types of map sets. One of them is Disk Image type, which is the type of copy paste directly to the device or memory card by opening the zip file directly. The second type of map is the BaseCamp application that you will install on the computer, and the type map that is uploaded by the system adapts it to the device during the installation itself. The third and last set of maps is like BaseCamp, there are EXE type errors that can be downloaded with Garmin Mapinstall and Mapsource application, no other connection is allowed here, you search, each region has map sets available for free use, including Topo. NOTE. BaseCamp Mapinstall and Mapsource applications are included in the GARMIN EXPRESS application on the computer.

So on the SD card style maps, you're telling me that the SD card itself is locked to the map file on the SD card? How? Is it by volume name or what? Or is it that the GPS unit re-writes/locks the file with the device ID of the GPS unit that first uses the map file (that was my understanding - maybe I'm wrong)? I'm specifically talking about the Garmin Enhanced Topo Map SD cards that are for sale, like this one: [Please Register or Login to download file] and I want to use it in a Montana 700i.

sileyok836 wrote:So on the SD card style maps, you're telling me that the SD card itself is locked to the map file on the SD card? How? Is it by volume name or what? Or is it that the GPS unit re-writes/locks the file with the device ID of the GPS unit that first uses the map file (that was my understanding - maybe I'm wrong)? I'm specifically talking about the Garmin Enhanced Topo Map SD cards that are for sale, like this one: [Please Register or Login to download file] and I want to use it in a Montana 700i.

If you order an SD card with maps, the maps are unlocked to the SD card with an .unl file containing a 25 digit unlock code & associated .gma based on the SD card Serial number.
If you use the download option the map will be unlocked to the device(your Montana 700i) with an .unl file containing a 25 digit unlock code & associated .gma based on the device ID number.
I would go with the SD card option as your device has an SD card slot and if you upgraded/damage your device you could use it on the next device.
Obviously your location is another story for delivery.

What do you mean by the serial number of the SD card? Is this like a hardware serial number from SanDisk or whoever makes the SD card that is permanently written in the hardware or is it some software/file system parameter like a volume serial number?