Garmin map frustration

[Team Forest Freaks]

I have an explorist 210 at the moment, will have a new Windows Vista laptop any day now, and have given some serious thought to moving to a Garmin basically because it seems that Magellan will never get Vista drivers.

 

So...I was testing out Garmin's software via their web portal and I didn't like what I saw. Basically, using TOPO US 2008 all of our Forest Service roads were shown, but not labeled (Apalachicola National Forest near Tallahassee, FL.). Using City Navigator they are labeled, excellent, but of course I loose "outdoor" type information like many streams and rivers.

 

Magellan's Mapsend TOPO software seems better in this regards, since it has all our FS shown and labeled and of course has all the outdoor items too.

 

Am I missing something here, or is this normal with Garmin's software? I guess I could live without the FS labels, but I just don't understand why they are not in the TOPO software.

[Team Forest Freaks]

No one can comment on the issues listed with Garmin's mapping software?

[GeoidPS]

Garmin continues to sell whatever it puts out and will continually come out with updates and will continue to sell whatever updates come out. May be if people hold Garmin's feet to the fire they may come out with better quality.

[Team Forest Freaks]

Um..ok.

 

So is this a standard for Garmin? (Not labeling roads in their topo software)

[+Scaber]

Yes, this is normal for Garmin. In the past I think that the amount of data contained on a topo/street map would be too great to be practical. Of course from their perspective why make one product when you can charge for two. If you buy topo you will get topos, trails, rivers and some roads. If you buy city navigator you will get detailed roads. Or of course you could buy both. Garmin makes sure that no one gets a free lunch here.

[Team Forest Freaks]

@scaber

 

Thank you for the information.

 

I don't have much to compare to, but the Magellan TOPO 3D maps had tons of road information included. From what I was told (key word "told", since I have not used any of their street software) getting their TOPO maps was like getting their street maps, plus topo information. From my use, it certainly seemed true, since it had all sorts of little back roads and forest roads from several states I've traveled through.

 

Hence my confusion when I was testing out the Garmin topo maps and noticed "missing" information.