Garmin serial/USB protocol (garmin)

This format can...

GPSBabel supports a wide variety of Garmin hardware via serial on most operating systems and USB on Windows, Linux, and OS X.

For serial models, be sure the GPS is set for "Garmin mode" in setup and that nothing else (PDA hotsync programs, gpsd, getty, pppd, etc.) is using the serial port.

Supported Garmin GPS receivers with USB include

AstroForerunner 301GPSMAP 60CSxStreetPilot 2620
Edge 205Forerunner 305GPSMAP 60CxStreetPilot 2650
Edge 305Foretrex 201GPSMAP 76CStreetPilot 2720
eTrex Legend CForetrex 301GPSMAP 76CSStreetPilot 2730
eTrex Legend CxGPS 18[1]GPSMAP 76CSXStreetPilot 2820
eTrex Legend HCxGPSMAP 195GPSMAP 76CxStreetPilot 7200
eTrex Summit CxGPSMAP 276CGPSMAP 96StreetPilot 7500
eTrex Summit HCGPSMAP 295GPSMAP 96CStreetPilot c310
eTrex Venture CGPSMAP 296CQuestStreetPilot c320
eTrex Venture CxGPSMAP 378Quest IIStreetPilot c330
eTrex Venture HCGPSMAP 396Rhino 520StreetPilot c340
eTrex Vista CGPSMAP 478Rhino 530StreetPilot i2
eTrex Vista CxGPSMAP 496Rhino 520 HCxStreetPilot i3
eTrex Vista HCxGPSMAP 60CRhino 530 HCxStreetPilot i5
Forerunner 205GPSMAP 60CSStreetPilot 2610 

the following Bluetooth Garmin products:

GPS 10[1]   

and most serial Garmin GPS receivers including:

eMapeTrex HGPS 12 Rhino 110
eTrex CamoForerunner 201GPS 12XL Rhino 120
eTrex LegendForetrex 201GPS III Rhino 130
eTrex SummitGeko 201GPS III+ StreetPilot III
eTrex VentureGeko 301GPS II StreetPilot III+
eTrex VistaGPS 12CX GPS II+  
eTrex (Basic Yellow)GPS 12Map GPS V 

The following Garmin GPS receivers are supported, but they do not support Garmin communication protocol and don't work with the garmin option. To use these receivers, read or write GPX files from the mass storage device as mounted on your computer.

Nuvi 200[2]Nuvi 310[2]Nuvi 660[2]StreetPilot c580[2]
Nuvi 200W[2]Nuvi 350[2]Nuvi 670[2]Zumo 450[2]
Nuvi 250[2]Nuvi 370[2]Nuvi 680[2]Zumo 500[2]
Nuvi 250W[2]Nuvi 600[2]StreetPilot c510[2]Zumo 550[2]
Nuvi 270[2]Nuvi 650[2]StreetPilot c530[2] 
Nuvi 300[2]Nuvi 650FM[2]StreetPilot c550[2] 

None of the GPSBabel developers has access to every model on that list, but we've received reports of success and/or have reasonable expectations that the above models work. If you succeed with a model that is not on that list, please send a message to the gpsbabel-misc mailing list with the details so that we may add it.

Not every feature on every model is supported. For example, while we do extract data such as heart rate and temperature from tracks on the sporting models like Edge and Forerunner, GPSBabel is not a fitness program at its core and does not support features like courses or calorie/fitness zone data.

To communicate with a Garmin GPS serially, use the name of that serial port such as COM1 or /dev/cu.serial.

To communicate via USB use usb: as the filename on all OSes. Thus, to read the waypoints from a Garmin USB receiver and write them to a GPX file:

gpsbabel -i garmin -f usb: -o gpx -F blah.gpx

If you have multiple units attached via USB, you may provide a unit number, with zero being the implied default. So if you have three USB models on your system, they can be addressed as usb:0, usb:1, and usb:2. To get a list of recognized devices, specifiy a negative number such as:

gpsbabel -i garmin -f usb:-1

When reporting problems with the Garmin format, be sure to include the full unit model, firmware version, and be prepared to offer debugging dumps by adding -D9 to the command line, like:

gpsbabel -D9 -i garmin -f usb: -o gpx -F blah.gpx

Custom icons are supported on units that support that. Neither GPSBabel nor your firmware know what is associated with any given slot number. They don't know that the picture you placed in the first slot is a happy face, they only know they're in the lowest numbered slot. GPSBabel names the them consistently with Mapsource, so they are named 'Custom 0' through 'Custom 511'.

For models where the connection on the GPS is a serial interface, be sure the GPS is set for "Garmin mode" in setup and that nothing else (PDA hotsync programs, gpsd, getty, pppd, etc.) is using the serial port.

For models connected via USB, we recommend use of the usb: filename. For this to work on Windows, you must install the Garmin driver. For Linux, this will fail if have the garmin_gps kernel module loaded. See the Operating System Notes for details.

This module also supports realtime tracking which allows realtime position reports from a Garmin GPS receiver over USB or serial.

snlen option

Length of generated shortnames.

This option overrides the internal logic to figure out how many characters an addressed Garmin GPS will support when using the '-s' smartname option. This should be necessary only if you have a receiver type that GPSBabel doesn't know about or if you want to "dumb down" one unit to match another, such as wanting waypoint names in a StreetPilot 2720 (which supports 20 character names) to exactly match those in a 60CS (which supports 10).

snwhite option

Allow whitespace synth. shortnames.

This options controls whether spaces are allowed in generated smart names when using the '-s' option.

deficon option

Default icon name.

This option specifies the icon or waypoint type to write for each waypoint on output.

If this option is specified, its value will be used for all waypoints, not just those that do not already have descriptions. That is, this option overrides any icon description that might be in the input file.

Value specified may be a number from the Garmin Protocol Spec or a name as described in the Appendix B, Garmin Icons.

This option has no effect on input.

get_posn option

Return current position as a waypoint.

This options gets the current longtitude and latitude from the attached GPS device and returns it as a single waypoint for further processing. For example, to return the current position from a USB Garmin to a KML file:

gpsbabel -i garmin,get_posn -f usb: -o kml -F myposition.kml

power_off option

Command unit to power itself down.

This command forces an immediate powerdown of the addressed Garmin receiver. It is ignored on hardware that does not support this command. Obviously, further processing once you have sent a "power off" command to a unit that supports it is rather futile, so place this option carefully in your command.

gpsbabel -o garmin,power_off -F /dev/ttyS0

category option

Category number to use for written waypoints.

This numeric option will force waypoints to be written with that category number when sending to a Garmin receiver that has category support. It is ignored on receivers without that capability.



[1] This model does not support transfer of waypoints, tracks, or routes, but may be used with the realtime tracking feature.

[2] This unit uses GPX format, not Garmin protocol. Therefore one should communicate with it by reading and writing GPX files instead of using this format. Members of this class of products do not support realtime positioning protocol.