For those of you that are following this thread I converted Halfhitch's waypoints from .usr (Lorance/Simrad format) into a .gpx file. Conversion was done with GPSBabel - free open source GPS waypoint conversion application. HomePort imported them into a collection. The conversion looks reasonable. Once confirmed they can be loaded into the Garmin Unit.
Buy a few extra SD cards or micro SD cards with adaptors if you have a newer Garmin unit. They are cheap enough and label them as you use them.
To create the SD card for the Garmin unit (first time) install a SD card that you are going to ERASE – 2GB is plenty. Format it with file manager.
Go to HompPort, create a new collection and name it something like ‘Venice FL 2021’, and then import ‘Venice FL 2021.gpx’ into it.
Look at a few of the waypoints and confirm that they were properly converted.
In HomePort click on the new collection. Below you should see a list of all the waypoints for that collection. Double click on one of them. It will show details. Close the dialog box. Zoom out to see the whole area. Select the hand tool up to to pan around.
To send the collection to the SD card select the new collection. Go to DEVICE>SEND TO DEVICE>Send collection to your SD card. This will create Garmin>userdata>untitled.adm on the SD card. From HomePort select the device on the left hand side and EJECT the SD card.
To load the collection on your Garmin unit go to your Garmin unit and insert the SD card. You should switch to the DATA TRANSFER screen. Select MANAGE CARD. Then select MERGE FROM CARD or REPLACE FROM CARD.
At this point you should have all your waypoints installed on your machine.If you want to save your waypoints to the SD card you can create a new file on the SD card, name it and save it to card. The SD card can have a number of named "collections" on it that can be used with HomePort. This is how I manage my Florida Winter waypoints and my NJ Summer waypoints. When I finish one season I save off lets say as 'NJ 2020' and replace them with 'FL 2020'. When done with Florida I save it off as 'FL 2021' and replace them with 'NJ 2020'. My SD card has several years of FL and NJ on it. I also load these years into HomePort as individual collections. I use HomePort to edit the waypoints, delete random marks, add new wrecks, etc. Much easier to do on a laptop in front of the TV at night. Especially useful if you are planning a trip.
The new Garmin units will accept a SD card (micro-SD card) and save, replace, merge the same way. Unfortunately Garmin has stopped updating HomePort and is replacing it with Active Captain. Active Captain is a great product but it does not have the same 'Collection Management' functionality. I also find it harder to enter waypoints on a tablet then a laptop.
