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OpenStreetMap on Fenix Watches- 3rd Party Maps

Sonnshine
over 5 years ago

Hi All

DC Rainmaker recently posted a walk through on how to install 3rd party maps ( OpenStreetMaps) onto compatible Garmin Watches (https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/08/how-to-installing-free-maps-on-your-garmin-fenix-5-plus-forerunner-945-or-marq-series-watch.html ) and I am interested in doing the same on my Australian model watch as we are looking to travel the US- California next year. I have had a look through the base maps on the watch and it does show major US cities but not in detail. 

Activities we are planning are 

  • Navigating cities: SF, LV, SD, LA
  • Outdoors/ hiking/ sight seeing: Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Death Valley 

My questions are: 

  • Has anyone had experience with using 3rd party maps on the Garmin watch?
  • Are there any issues with maps clashing / crashing with the current maps? 
  • How well does it work in terms of turn by turn navigation? 
  • Does it void my warranty? 
  • Do OpenStreetMap maps show topography? 

The alternative is to purchase the Maps from Garmin directly ($30 AUD- Cycle Map North America)  but I am unsure if the mapping detail will be enough. Looking into the fine print it also looks like the data is taken from OpenStreetMap? 

Thanks in advance 

S

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

    You missed the most important part of that FAQ entry:

    "For support of third-party map products or software, including setup, usage, and error messages, please contact the manufacturer of the map or software program."

    This indicates that as you would expect Garmin will not offer support for third party maps, that is not unexpected, but it doesn't state that they forbid the use of them.... after all it is simple enough to remove them from a Garmin device.

    I think that Garmin would have a tough time legally refusing warranty for a hardware or firmware fault (as neither of these can be blamed on third party maps, as these do not change firmware or damage hardware), most third party maps are also in the exact same file format that Garmin themselves use...

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

    Could you be more exact in the app you're referring to with "Android File Transfer", there appears to be several that fall under that search parameter. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to DBR

    This is the program/app you need to see the Fenix 6 (all models) as a mountable filesystem on a Mac: https://www.android.com/filetransfer/  There are instructions (step by step) on my site.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to Talkytoaster

    Yes good catch and I agree it is simple enough to delete map once in the file system unless, like with mine for a time, the device will not boot up.

    That last part you pointed out  at first sounded like they are talking out of both sides of their mouth but re-reading it i think they mean (legally anyway):

    1) Yes you can install unsupported 3rd party apps

    2) If your device breaks because of the unsupported third pary app, you warranty will not cover that damage and

    3) If you do have a problem of any kind with a 3rd party app, don't come to Gamin for support, go to the app developer.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

    But point 2 will never happen as a map file (in exactly the same file format as Garmin's own maps) cannot change or modify the firmware or physically damage the hardware... Hardware fails due to physical failure or inherent faults in it, not due to data files that have no executable code in them... If 2 was valid, then Garmin's own maps (the ones they supply) could also cause hardware damage? I have never seen this occur in over 20 years of using Garmin devices and maps (Garmin's or a third party map).