Best Topographic Software!

[Budbrew]

I have read some saying that Lowrance offers the best Topographic detail. Is this true?

[+JohnnyVegas]

I have used Garmin and Magellan, both can use some imrovemant but are just fine for geocaching. I have not use the Lowarance product so I can not comments on that. If you are trying to base the purchase of a GPS on the companies software offering I am not sure that is the best way to select a GPS. There are more important issue than just the software.

 

If you are just lookng for good TOPO software the best I have seen is made by National Geographic, The NG soft is made from USGS scanned maps. It is highter priced $100.00 per state, but you get what you pay for, However NG maps cannot be laded in a GPS

[+TresOkies]

Are you basing a GPS purchase on the quality of the topo maps and software? I've had both the Magellan and Garmin topo packages. Of the two, the Garmin software was better and the map data was comparable. If you want quality topo maps without trying to download them to your GPSR, then the NG maps have better data but the NG program is infuriating.

 

My $0.02, of course. Your mileage may vary.

[+megamapper]

I have an Lowrance iFinder PHD with the Top Maps for Canada.

 

I found the maps to be very detailed, showing many of the 'backwoods roads'. I was impressed with that part of the program.

 

The only thing that is 'missing' is the names of the mountains. It would have been nice to have the 'peaks' of the mountains named. All of the 'major' lakes, and rivers are named.

 

I was amazed that the TOPO version has 'most streets' being displayed and fully named and displayed when you zoom in onto a community.

 

In some major cities it will even display the 'house numbers' as you pass the cursor over the street.

 

There is also a 'queryable' database in both the GPS and in the PC software to located places. EG: Where's "Spider Lake". or Where's Douglas St in Victoria. Using the query, you can find out where you want to go.

 

The GPS is also able to display the locations and phone numbers of most business's in a community. I have punched in "Panago", the GPS shows me the nearest Panago, the phone number, and all relevent contact information.

 

Zoomed in, driving down the road, I see ICONs showing up that identify a large portion of the local business on the screen while I travel.

 

Not bad for a Topographical Map of Canada.

 

The lowrance iFinder GPS's have TOTALLY NUTTY track storage capacity. ( 100 named tracks each storing up to 10,000 points - THAT'S CRAZY! ). So what I do is use this storage to store tracks of all roads that I'm interested in on the GPS. Looks like one 10,000 point track will do about 50 sq miles.

 

The issue is that the software provided by Lowrance has NO TRACK EDITING CAPABILITY WHAT SO EVER!!! And that seriously sucks. About the only thing you can do with their software is DELETE and RENAME tracks.

 

The GPS can store up to 1000 waypoints divied up in up to 100 routes. The software will let you convert a track into a series of waypoints formatted as a route.

 

The software they provide has full editing of waypoints and icons. Me Personally, I think it's a little buggey in that as you delete points, it seems to want to convert the erased waypoints into "MAN OVERBOARD" points. Not sure on this. I got frusterated. I suppose you could use it to create a few waypoints and routes, and it would work reasonably well.

 

So if you are not trying to make your own maps, or doing massive stuff with waypoints, then you can make due with the package.

 

Myself, I often use their software for displaying my Lowrance USR data files, and maps. But I do not use it for editing, too many bugs, and capabilities are limited.

 

The software and card reader cost $125.00 CDN, and I am happy with it just for the maps it provided.

 

For editing my Track based maps and USR files, I use OziExplorer. It's awsome, provides full features. But it cannot download Base Maps into the GPS. I also like it's ability to work with various other brands of GPS's. So I can mix and match information from all brands into my mega mapping fun.

 

The Lowrance GPS's have great antennas, but if reception is an issue (VERY THICK FOREST CANOPY) then it can be hooked up to an external amplified antenna. It boots the incoming signals quite a bit. I have one of these little beasties.

 

I am also happy with the battery life. Mine runs on 2 AA's for 8 to 12 hours (backlight on, no power saving). When the batteries die, I simply slap another set in. I'm not locked into some 'wierd' nonstandard battery pack.

 

Regards,

---- Robb -----

[grepCache]

I have the Lowrance H2O with Topo.

 

The maps have a good amount of geographic information. When I put the cursor on a map detail, an info box would pop up with it's name or description (Walney Road, Stream, High Point Mountain, Bull Run, Ridge Trail, Urban Area, Jefferson High School, etc.). The topo lines are okay, but due to the small screen, I don't find them useful beyond the immediate surrounding areas. For a good sense of big-picture topo, I'd still rely on a paper map.