Transferring Lowrance iFinder H20c Data to Computer

[Lake Trout]

I want to have a back-up of all my waypoints on the computer in case my GPS ever crashes. On my old GPS, I hand copied all my waypoints to the computer via Word and it was a pain. Good thing I did, because my old GPS crashed and I had to manually reenter all the positions-yuck! I've read in the manual that data can be transferred via an SD card and another type, but I am slightly confused. I don't want to remove the data, just copy it to the computer as I said. Once copied, is it easily returned to the GPS if it ever crashes and the waypoints are lost? Do I need special software like Map Create from Lowrance to do this (I hope not)? If anybody has an easily understood process, I would be humbly grateful.

[Valv]

I believe you can buy a SD card ($ 20.00 for a 1/2gb or more), insert it in your H2O and save all the waypoints to it, then take card out, and using a card reader (you can use Lowrance or ANY SD card readers, sometimes even a camera or mp3 player will work) copy the content to your computer in a folder called eg. Lowrance (or whatever you'd like to call it).

This will not let you modify or change anything, it's just a backup of the waypoints, which you can also keep in a safe compartment as backup, this way you'll have 2 backups one in your PC and one on the actual spare SD card.

You will not be able to copy your Navionics or Lakemaster maps to it, but you can save the waypoints.

It might sound tough but it's actually very easy, it takes me 30 seconds to do it.

[Hookmaster]

If you need to delete or edit a lot of your waypoints, copy onto an SD card and upload it to one of the free gps programs available. I use EasyGPS. Then when your done, save them back to the card and upload them to the gps. It is very easy to do.

[Lake Trout]

Thank you for the reponses. The one thing that concerns me is in the manual it talks about "transferring" the data from the GPS to the computer. I don't know if that means it will remove it from the GPS to the computer or just copy it which is what I want. I don't want to remove the data from the GPS, just copy it.

[Hotspotter]

Lake Trout:

It won't remove the data from your H20, only copy it to the SD card. Then save the data to your computer and you have a back-up.

I've been tinkering with the data transfer, along with a few other things lately. Check out: Transferring Waypoint Data - Google Earth

Good luck!

Joel

[Lake Trout]

I put the SD card from my digital camera in the GPS and did the transfer. Then I put the card back into the camera and tried to transfer it to the computer but it didn't work. I guess I need a card reader. I don't know what these are, but I'll look on line. Any suggestions for a cheap reader? Thanks again for all the help. I'm sure it will work out sooner or later.

[DEADhead]

they have a cheap $20 USB card reader at walmart. mine is clear green plastic. works like a champ.