SaltyCarz Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I recieved a Garmin GPSMap60CSX for X-Mas with the Mapsource topo cd's and a city nav. micro sd card. My problem is that I want to get some good maps for hiking, camping etc. There are alot of choices out there and I know someone has to have a better idea of what to get than me. I know from having the micro sd city nav. that I would prefer to be able to load the software onto my computer and then load maps to micro sd cards as needed. Thanks in advance for any advice. Quote Link to comment
+Miragee Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Welcome to the Forums! The only maps you can install on the GPSr are Garmin Mapsource maps, but if you want maps for your PC and for printing, the National Geographic Topo maps are very detailed. I have both the City Navigator maps on DVD, and the Mapsource Topo maps on CDs, but haven't invested the the National Geographic maps myself. Quote Link to comment
tossedsalad Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I recieved a Garmin GPSMap60CSX for X-Mas with the Mapsource topo cd's and a city nav. micro sd card. My problem is that I want to get some good maps for hiking, camping etc. There are alot of choices out there and I know someone has to have a better idea of what to get than me. I know from having the micro sd city nav. that I would prefer to be able to load the software onto my computer and then load maps to micro sd cards as needed. Thanks in advance for any advice. What is wrong with the MapSource topo maps? They are intended for hiking and such. Are you aware that you can download them to your GPS? Quote Link to comment
SaltyCarz Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 Well, what is wrong with the mapsource maps is not an easy question to answer. I don't think there is anything wrong per-say, but I do think the way that garmin an other gps manufacturers make everything proprietary is a crime. It is almost like computers and windows. Sure you can get a mac but you will never be able to play all the cool games and use 90 percent of the software out there. Instead of allowing the people to who use gps to come up with creative and new ways to use them, they instead herd us like cattle into using their software and maps. I like to have the freedom to try new things and determine what is best for me rather than feed the corporate throw away machine. I am sorry for the rant, but I was just looking for some help in using my new gps unit. I do love my GPSMap60csx, I just would like to be able to try different maps and programs. If, as Miragee says, there are no other maps or software that can be loaded onto my gps I will be a little sad, but in finale, I will again say that I really like my garmin unit. I have found it to be very easy to use and I would buy one again if garmin would open up a little and allow us to use some different software. If anyone knows of any, please let me know. I will shut up now, thanks for reading and GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING! Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 If, as Miragee says, there are no other maps or software that can be loaded onto my gps I will be a little sad, but in finale, I will again say that I really like my garmin unit. I have found it to be very easy to use and I would buy one again if garmin would open up a little and allow us to use some different software. If anyone knows of any, please let me know. I will shut up now, thanks for reading and GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING! I have the same setup as you do and think it works just fine for hiking. Mapsource Topo isn't perfect, but it does the job. I also use National Geographic Topo! for my desktop, which I really like. There is a way to load other maps to your unit. It takes some techinical know how and some time. You can find the details in this book. I read through the steps and decided that Mapsource Topo was good enough for me. Perhaps you are more ambitious than I am. Quote Link to comment
tossedsalad Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Well, what is wrong with the mapsource maps is not an easy question to answer. I don't think there is anything wrong per-say, but ... <<<snip>>> I will shut up now, thanks for reading and GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING! If I am not mistaken, there are several people who have cracked the map formats for the Garmin units and produce custom maps for their areas. They are not cheap, IIRC, but they are availalbe and the formats are available, IIRC. I think I read about these here, but I have no idea which thread. Quote Link to comment
+BaldEd Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 If I am not mistaken, there are several people who have cracked the map formats for the Garmin units and produce custom maps for their areas. They are not cheap, IIRC, but they are availalbe and the formats are available, IIRC. I think I read about these here, but I have no idea which thread. Some maps are cheap! Very cheap! Go check out http://www.gwprojects.org/gps/ for free autorouting maps of New Zealand. Also http://www.malsingmaps.com/forum/index.php for free autorouting maps of Malaysia and Singapore and info on how to make your own maps. Other countries also have communities producing excellent autorouting maps. Go check around. Quote Link to comment
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