Reflashing Garmin 800 with Japanese Firmware

[tarepanda]

I'm going to be getting a lot of stuff from Wiggle soon (hopefully) to take advantage of their 20% off sale. One of the things I'd like to get is the Garmin 800, but no kanji on maps is a bit of a dealbreaker for me, especially since the screen is so small as it is.

Is it possible to reflash the 800 with the Japanese firmware for Japanese language support? Has anyone tried or found a workaround?

The map would just be a nice bonus and I guess I don't really need it; if it's not possible to get it from Wiggle, I'll probably just forget about it entirely and get the 500 instead.

 

[Yamabushi]

I have an Edge 800 and would like to know the answer as well. In theory it should work, but I don't know anyone that's tried it. That being said, I haven't strongly felt the need for it. Most of just use the UpUpDown maps. They're pretty good!

 

[tarepanda]

I thought the romaji was wrong in some places and that it tended to fill the display since the English names are so long?

I just feel uncomfortable with romaji now since I know all of the place names in Japanese, especially around here in the boondocks.

 

[Yamabushi]

I haven't found that to be a problem, but certainly understand your desire to have the ability to display kanji. By all means, keep us posted if you find any information about successfully reflashing!

 

[Half-Fast Mike]

Yes I've tried. I have both. It won't work unless you can hack the firmware file to allow the serial number of a non-Japanese unit. I have yet to find the right bits to tweak, although honestly I haven't spent much time looking.

Also last time I looked the Japanese firmware was lagging a point; 2.1 vs. 2.2. Huge difference, esp. for us Mac users.

I agree that the Japanese display of a map of Japan is tidier for the kanji-kapable. On the other hand, The UUD3 map shows both routable street map and contour lines at the same time. You'd need both shitinavigator and topo10M Japanese maps to achieve that!

I'm gonna link this thread from the GPS thread.

 

[tarepanda]

That's a shame.. I heard that 2.1 to 2.2 was a huge change (though I don't use a mac) and was mostly willing to give up on that if I could just get kanji. Oh, well.

 

[onm]

Lads, I am a bit busy at the moment with a few projects I am in the middle of, but I have access to a Garmin 800 and am currently working on a port of the software to Linux, so as part of this, I can look into getting Japanese language support on the unit itself.

Obviously this will be a hack, and not supported by Garmin, so assume the worst when it comes to warranties, but I will start work proper in the next week or so.

Anybody with any info / stories of attempted hacks on the Garmin, please let me know so I can pre-arm myself before I start.

 

[Elvismen]

Hi guys, if anyone is in need of a edge 800 with the japanese map, i am selling one.

and a Cannondale super V 700XS with lefty, like new, every part is high end.

thanks

 

[thomas]

Hi guys, if anyone is in need of a edge 800 with the japanese map, i am selling one.

and a Cannondale super V 700XS with lefty, like new, every part is high end.

Offers go into the Classifieds, thanks.