Start Up message for New Generation Garmin Outdoors units.
It’s useful to have a personalised welcome message in the start-up routine on your Garmin GPS device.
This should contain simple contact details in case of loss, like name, telephone number and maybe email address so if your GPS is lost and found they know who to contact.
We know of several lost GPS that have been restored to their owners simply because they had added a welcome message with contact details.
It’s easy to do if you follow these simple instructions:
Custom Message or Text on Start Up Screen
Many outdoor handhelds can display a customized welcome message on the startup splash screen. This can include a small amount of information, including contact information or a personalized message.
Customizing Start Up Text Using a Windows PC
This is the most common method and will work with the majority of outdoor handhelds.
1. Connect the device to your computer with the supplied USB data cable.
2. Open the Garmin drive (typically found in [My] Computer or File Explorer on a PC).
(i.e. GPSMap67)
3. Open the GPSMap67 folder then open up internal storage, then open up the Garmin folder.
4. Open the file named startup.txt.
5. Where you see the text <!-- Set the display number to the minimum number of seconds your message is displayed -->
<display = 0>
If you edit the number '0' this is how many seconds that the startup message will stay on the screen after turning on your device
6. Where you see the text <!-- Type your message on the next line -->
Type the startup message that you would like to see under this message, i.e. If found please call telephone ***********
7. Select File menu top left of notepad and select to save as and save the startup.txt document to a location you can find on your computer
8. Then locate the saved Notepad file on your computer and copy and paste it into the Garmin folder within your GPS devcie to replace the original startup.txt file
The maximum number of characters for this text is 256
After saving the file, the customized message should display on the device when powering on.
________________________________________
Customizing Start Up Text Using a Mac
N.B. The newer generation of GPSMap67 series, Montana 710, 710i & 760i will not be detected in Finder on your Mac or shown as an external drive hence you will not be able to create a startup message as below.
This is the most common method and will work with the majority of outdoor handhelds:
1. Connect the device to your computer with the supplied USB data cable.
2. Open the Garmin drive (typically found on the Desktop of the Mac or in Finder).
(i.e GPSMap65)
3. Open the GPSMap65 folder then open up internal storage, then open up the Garmin folder.
4. Open the file named startup.txt.
5. Where you see the text <!-- Set the display number to the minimum number of seconds your message is displayed -->
<display = 0>
If you edit the number '0' this is how many seconds that the startup message will stay on the screen after turning on your device
6. Where you see the text <!-- Type your message on the next line -->
Type the startup message that you would like to see under this message, i.e. If found please call telephone ***********
7. Select File menu top left of notepad and select to save as and save the startup.txt document to a location you can find on your computer
8. Then locate the saved Notepad file on your computer and copy and paste it into the Garmin folder within your GPS device to replace the original startup.txt file
The maximum number of characters for this text is 256
We hope this helps.
We have many more tips and training videos to get you going with your Garmin Handheld GPS device and Garmin's Basecamp planning software on our Online Training Resource - More info here
Buy and learn from the experts - GPS Training