Are maps worth having on your GPSr?

[+Fuchsiamagic]

I recently bought a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx and it came with a basic map which simply shows the nearest towns, but very few roads and no tracks. Is it worth me getting Mapsource Topo installed on it? It's about £134 here in the UK and I'm wondering if it will help me with geocaching. Or will it be a waste of money?

[+S&G.Davison]

I recently bought a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx and it came with a basic map which simply shows the nearest towns, but very few roads and no tracks. Is it worth me getting Mapsource Topo installed on it? It's about £134 here in the UK and I'm wondering if it will help me with geocaching. Or will it be a waste of money?

 

IMHO .. Defiantly worth it ...

[+Fuchsiamagic]

Thanks. Does it show all the footpaths like the OS maps do? That seems to be my biggest problem at the moment - trying to find the route to a cache.

[+Klatch]

Thanks. Does it show all the footpaths like the OS maps do? That seems to be my biggest problem at the moment - trying to find the route to a cache.

Look here and check it out for yourself. Personally, wouldn't be without detailed maps.

 

Edit: Use the map viewer on the right side to see what the level of detail is.

Edited April 4, 2007 by Klatch

[+Knight2000]

We like it just to figure the best route to drive in and park. As some dont inlcude parking waypoints. (Even if they did- we'd still drive around trying to get there.)

[+Fuchsiamagic]

Thanks. Does it show all the footpaths like the OS maps do? That seems to be my biggest problem at the moment - trying to find the route to a cache.

Look here and check it out for yourself. Personally, wouldn't be without detailed maps.

 

Edit: Use the map viewer on the right side to see what the level of detail is.

I'm not impressed. I checked against the last few caches I have done, and none of the public footpaths which I used are shown. For that amount of money, I would have expected better than that. I think I'll stick to printouts from Memory Map.

[chrisoates]

I recently bought a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx and it came with a basic map which simply shows the nearest towns, but very few roads and no tracks. Is it worth me getting Mapsource Topo installed on it? It's about £134 here in the UK and I'm wondering if it will help me with geocaching. Or will it be a waste of money?

 

Living in a rural area I was amazed at how unsuitable the basic map is for walking or driving around country lanes.

I bought Topo on an SD card for my area and it transformed the unit - I can now hack away in woods as most paths & bridleways are marked, the contours help in planning easy walking routes.

Nothing that a map won't do but I can hop on a train at random and go walking without carrying a selection of maps.

As far as geocaching goes - down here lots of caches are in remote areas only reachable by foot and the Topo paths are very useful.

[+Fuchsiamagic]

Living in a rural area I was amazed at how unsuitable the basic map is for walking or driving around country lanes.

I bought Topo on an SD card for my area and it transformed the unit - I can now hack away in woods as most paths & bridleways are marked, the contours help in planning easy walking routes.

Nothing that a map won't do but I can hop on a train at random and go walking without carrying a selection of maps.

As far as geocaching goes - down here lots of caches are in remote areas only reachable by foot and the Topo paths are very useful.

Do you need to buy another SD card, or will the Topo map fit on the 64meg one which is supplied with the unit?

[chrisoates]

Living in a rural area I was amazed at how unsuitable the basic map is for walking or driving around country lanes.

I bought Topo on an SD card for my area and it transformed the unit - I can now hack away in woods as most paths & bridleways are marked, the contours help in planning easy walking routes.

Nothing that a map won't do but I can hop on a train at random and go walking without carrying a selection of maps.

As far as geocaching goes - down here lots of caches are in remote areas only reachable by foot and the Topo paths are very useful.

Do you need to buy another SD card, or will the Topo map fit on the 64meg one which is supplied with the unit?

 

The way I got Topo it was supplied pre-installed on a new, bigger card from MapsWarehouse

Website here

 

I didn't buy the Mapsource program as it's unlikely I'll ever use the GPSr outside the area I live in - if you do you will need a new microSD card.

[+Fuchsiamagic]

That looks interesting. One small problem - I live at the junction of maps 9, 10 and 11 !!! Thanks anyway.

[strumble]

Do you need to buy another SD card, or will the Topo map fit on the 64meg one which is supplied with the unit?

 

Nothing much will fit on the 64MB card.

The GB topo is 744 maptiles and requires 1657MB of storage space on the card!

Buying any Garmin software pre-installed on the SD cards is the most expensive way to buy it.

Always buy the complete DVD [TOPO £110 on eBay]

[+kenk]

Thanks. Does it show all the footpaths like the OS maps do? That seems to be my biggest problem at the moment - trying to find the route to a cache.

Look here and check it out for yourself. Personally, wouldn't be without detailed maps.

 

Edit: Use the map viewer on the right side to see what the level of detail is.

I'm not impressed. I checked against the last few caches I have done, and none of the public footpaths which I used are shown. For that amount of money, I would have expected better than that. I think I'll stick to printouts from Memory Map.

 

That is the really cool thing about Garmin letting customers actually see the maps they provide at no extra cost. Each user can make their own decision as to whether the cost(s) of the map(s) are worth it.

[+sbell111]

I don't do a heck of a lot of 'real' hiking, so I took a pass on the topo maps. I did buy City Navigator and a 1gb micro SD card for my Venture CX. I'm glad I did. Autorouting makes geocaching (and regular life) a breeze.

[-Oz-]

Yes, I have city driving maps (older version) and the 100k topo maps. I do enough hiking to validate the maps and the driving is worth it just driving around places I'm not used to.

[+Fuchsiamagic]

Yes, I have city driving maps (older version) and the 100k topo maps. I do enough hiking to validate the maps and the driving is worth it just driving around places I'm not used to.

I use a TomTom when I'm driving around, to dangerous to use a hand held.

[+Fuchsiamagic]

Yes, I have city driving maps (older version) and the 100k topo maps. I do enough hiking to validate the maps and the driving is worth it just driving around places I'm not used to.

I use a TomTom when I'm driving around, to dangerous to use a hand held.

Why is it that you only spot spelling mistakes after you hit the reply button!

[+Paulsan]

I cannot for the life of me understand why you would buy a $350 mapping GPS unit and NOT buy maps.

 

The local lakes and streams weren't even included on the base map of my 60CSx.

[+Gadget_Cacher]

I cannot for the life of me understand why you would buy a $350 mapping GPS unit and NOT buy maps.

 

The local lakes and streams weren't even included on the base map of my 60CSx.

 

That is one thing i hate about the whole GPS thing....you spend X ammount of dollars on a GPS and you still have to spend another 50-200.00 on maps that will actually make it use able in any real sense. Maybe its just me being cheap, but i do think that stuff should come with all gps units or at least be a small price. Heck even just a coupon to get the software cheaper with the purchase of a new unit would be fine for me, but geeze 150 for topo 150 for city routes 150 for this 150 for that...it all adds up REALLY fast.

[Great Birds]

I cannot for the life of me understand why you would buy a $350 mapping GPS unit and NOT buy maps.

 

The local lakes and streams weren't even included on the base map of my 60CSx.

 

That is one thing i hate about the whole GPS thing....you spend X ammount of dollars on a GPS and you still have to spend another 50-200.00 on maps that will actually make it use able in any real sense. Maybe its just me being cheap, but i do think that stuff should come with all gps units or at least be a small price. Heck even just a coupon to get the software cheaper with the purchase of a new unit would be fine for me, but geeze 150 for topo 150 for city routes 150 for this 150 for that...it all adds up REALLY fast.

 

A good reason that the GPS doesn't come with the full map set is that it is costly to make them so the company must charge something. If you already own a map set and are upgrading your GPS you wouldn't want to have to pay for the maps again. If you are starting, and you need street level maps, then buying them is part of the cost of getting in to the technology. I cached for two years with only the basic maps. It worked OK. When I bought a 60CSX the auto routing made the purchase of the better maps worthwhile.

[+Fuchsiamagic]

I cannot for the life of me understand why you would buy a $350 mapping GPS unit and NOT buy maps.

 

The local lakes and streams weren't even included on the base map of my 60CSx.

I bought it mainly because of the SIRF chip it contains. I was sick of losing a signal whenever I was anywhere near trees. It works far, far better in poor reception areas than my basic 60 does. It even works indoors ten feet away from a window!

[+egami]

I bought it mainly because of the SIRF chip it contains. I was sick of losing a signal whenever I was anywhere near trees. It works far, far better in poor reception areas than my basic 60 does. It even works indoors ten feet away from a window!

 

That's a great point...mapping software provides little value when the unit loses signal.

 

I've had my 60CSx for almost a year and have nothing but the base map...you don't need maps to geocache. I'll probably buy the City Nav...topo isn't really needed where I do most of my caching.

[chrisoates]

I cannot for the life of me understand why you would buy a $350 mapping GPS unit and NOT buy maps.

 

The local lakes and streams weren't even included on the base map of my 60CSx.

 

In the UK we pay twice as much for the 60Csx as you do and the maps are correspondingly more expensive.

A Topo SD card of an area smaller than Florida is $120.

Knowing what I know now I should have bought an American unit as the UK basemap is of no use and you get the International Marine map anyway.

[strumble]

Knowing what I know now I should have bought an American unit as the UK basemap is of no use and you get the International Marine map anyway.

 

International Marine is not in mine - it is the American Marine - it is of no value!

The deal when I bought my 60CSx from America on eBay [i have bought two for the family] was that MetroGuide Europe v7 was included. It takes 5 minutes to manipulate the Metroguide to give 'autorouting' for the whole of Europe!

[Pacific NW]

I went for years without any add-on maps for my Legend. When I finally caved and bought the Mapsource US Topo program, I realized I needed a newer GPS. I was hooked.

 

Sure, the maps aren't 100% accurate. Lots of trails are missing, along with some incorrectly identified features and such, but the ability to glance down and get a general idea of where you are is so much fun.

 

(But I still keep a map & compass with me anyway as a backup. )

[+sbell111]

I cannot for the life of me understand why you would buy a $350 mapping GPS unit and NOT buy maps.

 

The local lakes and streams weren't even included on the base map of my 60CSx.

I bought it mainly because of the SIRF chip it contains. I was sick of losing a signal whenever I was anywhere near trees. It works far, far better in poor reception areas than my basic 60 does. It even works indoors ten feet away from a window!

I'm sure that the fancy shmancy SIRF chip is better, but I haven't had hardly any issues with my GPSr units losing sat lock. Given my experience, I'll stick with my $180 Venture CX.

 

To the issue of not buying supplemtental maps when you purchase your unit, maps are expensive. The GPSrs have plenty of functionality for this game without supplemental maps, so why not wait to upgrade the maps until later?

Edited April 5, 2007 by sbell111

[+TrailGators]

I recently bought a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx and it came with a basic map which simply shows the nearest towns, but very few roads and no tracks. Is it worth me getting Mapsource Topo installed on it? It's about £134 here in the UK and I'm wondering if it will help me with geocaching. Or will it be a waste of money?

If you like your GPS to tell you how to get from one cache or POI to another then get Garmin City Navigator. However, if your car already has a GPS with maps then you don't really need maps in your handheld unit.

[+david.travis]

Definitely get the additional maps. I have a 60CSX and have City Navigator, the US Topo Maps and the Central U.S. National Parks maps. Sure...that adds some $$$ to the overall cost, but the versatility and utility these maps provide is well worth the cost.