430w Data cards

I got past the credit card problem by paying with PayPal. The next challenge was getting it to get past its demand for the terrain card which mine does not have. It got to a point where I thought my green Navdata card was bad. A friend put it in his Jepp programmer and loaded it no trouble so it was not a bad card.

I tried reaching Garmin Support twice. They indicated a 45 minute to 1 hour 7 minute wait TWICE. The first time I waited a few hours then left my number a second time. When they finally called me back I tried to get to the computer before taking they call, but they only gave me about 30 seconds before cutting me off and making me start over. Pitiful support.
 
Okay, I want to post my findings as of now in hopes that it will be helpful to someone in the future.

The Jep Navdata card that my friend updated is sill in the unit although outdated as of April 22nd. I wanted to leave that card as in so I will at least have something for training and practice approaches. I bought a Garmin programmer and a used Jep Navdata card off eBay. I got my Windows machine at home working and fumbled with the old, terse, manual Garmin utilities and I think I have the used card loaded. The terse old utilities never confirm that they have loaded data, but going back to the Devices page now shows that it is current. Will confirm this when I get o the hangar in the morning. If it is good I will try to write some instructions for the process. It’s not pretty.
 
I was wrong. It did not work.

After getting in touch with someone knowledgeable at Garmin technical support, I learned that the early 420 non WAAS units were loaded with terrain data at the factory and is not updated. These units have a blank plastic card in the right slot. These units can not be updated with data from Garmin. They can only updated with Jeppeson Navdata.
 
IK04 said:
Yet another reason to not use Garmin products.
Click to expand...
Well, maybe a reason not to use a Garmin product that was first released in 1997, like the GNS 430. As several others have already mentioned in the thread, Garmin products from the current century, like the GTN series, use standard off-the-shelf microSD cards.
 
The Garmin Service Advisory from 2014 posted earlier in this thread saying that the orange label cards only work with a Jepp writer and a Jepp subscription is not quite correct. It was and remains correct that in order to use the newer orange label cards, the unit had to be running software version 3.3 or higher and the old black label Jeppesen data writer would not work for the new orange label cards. The inference that the Garmin programmer is not compatible is not correct. The reason the service advisory doesn't mention the Garmin programmer being compatible is because Garmin wasn't offering it's own NavData plan until 2016. According to Garmin (and several people with GNS units) cards with either silver or orange stickers work in all WAAS GNS units and can be programmed using Jepp or Garmin writers, but to use the orange sticker card, the unit must be running software version 3.3 or higher. If you have a Jepp subscription, you have to use the Jepp tool and if you have a FlyGarmin subscription, you have to use the Garmin tool. You can get new cards from Jeppesen for $215 and use either subscription or through your Garmin dealer and use either subscription. They must be programmed using the appropriate tool based on which NavData subscription that you have (for dual GNS units, the FlyGarmin bundle is not only cheaper, but it also includes terrain and obstacle updates, so the one time $70 charge for the Garmin USB Aviation Data Card Programmer pays for itself for those of us who made the switch from Jeppesen).
 
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