Is add on mapping worth the money for geocaching?

[+cestos73859]

Curious how many people think extra mapping is needed or is a big enough benefit for geocaching to justify the cost. I have a Lowrance Out&Back which is a great GPS for the money but doesn't include every road that I come across or show detailed topo lines to help gauge terrain difficulty.

 

The GPS is working fine but just like all of my other tools and gadgets, I am looking at what it would take to make them even better.

 

Please provide advise/opinions.

Thanks.

[+lko1029]

Curious how many people think extra mapping is needed or is a big enough benefit for geocaching to justify the cost. I have a Lowrance Out&Back which is a great GPS for the money but doesn't include every road that I come across or show detailed topo lines to help gauge terrain difficulty.

 

The GPS is working fine but just like all of my other tools and gadgets, I am looking at what it would take to make them even better.

 

Please provide advise/opinions.

Thanks.

I'd be curious as to people's thoughts on this as well. I just got my first unit the other day and I am looking forward to testing it out soon. Any insight not only on if you find it to be helpful, but what specific maps you find to be the best would be great!

[+Native20559]

Curious how many people think extra mapping is needed or is a big enough benefit for geocaching to justify the cost. I have a Lowrance Out&Back which is a great GPS for the money but doesn't include every road that I come across or show detailed topo lines to help gauge terrain difficulty.

 

The GPS is working fine but just like all of my other tools and gadgets, I am looking at what it would take to make them even better.

 

Please provide advise/opinions.

Thanks.

I'd be curious as to people's thoughts on this as well. I just got my first unit the other day and I am looking forward to testing it out soon. Any insight not only on if you find it to be helpful, but what specific maps you find to be the best would be great!

 

You can check out this thread in addition to what follows:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=238971

 

The microSD "Advanced Outdoor Content" Acuterra Mapping cards from Lowrance are extremely nice. They are superior to everything I've tried commercially as well as third party for mapping from the other manufacturers. The topographic maps use a digitized relief shading and "color blending" that lets you see the topography in imagery form like in satellite CDOQQ imagery or when in hybrid mode, with contour lines. You don't need it for geocahing but for everything else, I can't think of a reason why you wouldn't want to use it. They are available for significantly less than the retail price of $99 from CascadeGPS.com at $69.49 and they cover a very sizable chunk of the US on each card. Please let me know if you need any other info.

 

Be safe.

 

N

[+northernpenguin]

Curious how many people think extra mapping is needed or is a big enough benefit for geocaching to justify the cost. I have a Lowrance Out&Back which is a great GPS for the money but doesn't include every road that I come across or show detailed topo lines to help gauge terrain difficulty.

 

The GPS is working fine but just like all of my other tools and gadgets, I am looking at what it would take to make them even better.

 

Please provide advise/opinions.

Thanks.

 

You'll understand the value of topo maps for geocaching the first time you spend a few hours hiking to the wrong side of a river, and see the ammo can on the other bank. I find the maps on my Colorado quite valuable.

I'm not familiar with the maps on your specific brand of GPS but in general, topo maps on a GPS are a great tool for cachers

[Rocketsteve]

Curious how many people think extra mapping is needed or is a big enough benefit for geocaching to justify the cost. I have a Lowrance Out&Back which is a great GPS for the money but doesn't include every road that I come across or show detailed topo lines to help gauge terrain difficulty.

 

The GPS is working fine but just like all of my other tools and gadgets, I am looking at what it would take to make them even better.

 

Please provide advise/opinions.

Thanks.

 

You'll understand the value of topo maps for geocaching the first time you spend a few hours hiking to the wrong side of a river, and see the ammo can on the other bank. I find the maps on my Colorado quite valuable.

I'm not familiar with the maps on your specific brand of GPS but in general, topo maps on a GPS are a great tool for cachers

 

I'll second that!

[+lko1029]

How are the NatGeo Topo maps? I got a Triton 300 off eBay for $50, so I wouldn't mind investing in the maps if they will enhance the experience. I was ready to get them off Amazon this morning, but it has a rating of 1-star and horrible reviews.

[+Chris CA]

How are the NatGeo Topo maps? I got a Triton 300 off eBay for $50, so I wouldn't mind investing in the maps if they will enhance the experience. I was ready to get them off Amazon this morning, but it has a rating of 1-star and horrible reviews.

They are okay but you cannot load them onto your GPS.

[+lko1029]

How are the NatGeo Topo maps? I got a Triton 300 off eBay for $50, so I wouldn't mind investing in the maps if they will enhance the experience. I was ready to get them off Amazon this morning, but it has a rating of 1-star and horrible reviews.

They are okay but you cannot load them onto your GPS.

Really? They listed that as a feature on the product specs for the GPSr. That sucks...

[+TotemLake]

How are the NatGeo Topo maps? I got a Triton 300 off eBay for $50, so I wouldn't mind investing in the maps if they will enhance the experience. I was ready to get them off Amazon this morning, but it has a rating of 1-star and horrible reviews.

They are okay but you cannot load them onto your GPS.

Magellan must have the wording wrong then.

 

From Magellan's website on the Triton 300:

Add detailed maps - Upload marine cartography and topographic maps, including the highly-detailed and feature-packed National Geographic TOPO! state series and Weekend Explorer 3D Maps

[+lko1029]

Yeah, that's what I read too. Originally, the auction listing was for a Triton 500, which is what I thought I was getting. When it arrived, it was a 300 and obviously doesn't have the SD slot for maps. I couldn't remember which model I was reading about the topo support with, thanks for finding that.

[+TotemLake]

Now to answer the question is it worth it?

 

It depends is the correct answer.

 

If you're doing alot of urban caching, probably not. But if you're navigating on the roads and in parks with it, then every little piece of information you can have at your fingertips makes for a more intelligent decision and enhances the experience.

 

Some folks consider these things a frill with no added value (for them). I will say that determination must be made by the person planning on using it.

 

Personally, I find everything I can load onto my PN to be useful to some degree. Some layers more than others. If it wasn't useful to me, I wouldn't take the time to load it.

[+Chris CA]

How are the NatGeo Topo maps? I got a Triton 300 off eBay for $50, so I wouldn't mind investing in the maps if they will enhance the experience. I was ready to get them off Amazon this morning, but it has a rating of 1-star and horrible reviews.

They are okay but you cannot load them onto your GPS.

Magellan must have the wording wrong then.

 

From Magellan's website on the Triton 300:

Add detailed maps - Upload marine cartography and topographic maps, including the highly-detailed and feature-packed National Geographic TOPO! state series and Weekend Explorer 3D Maps

Okay.

Make sure it states it is compatible/uploadable to the GPS you are looking at getting.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Chris CA

[+Jeep4two]

Curious how many people think extra mapping is needed or is a big enough benefit for geocaching to justify the cost. I have a Lowrance Out&Back which is a great GPS for the money but doesn't include every road that I come across or show detailed topo lines to help gauge terrain difficulty.

 

The GPS is working fine but just like all of my other tools and gadgets, I am looking at what it would take to make them even better.

 

Please provide advise/opinions.

Thanks.

 

I bought a Garmin 400t last year (sorry - I like Garmin) and it came with Topo's with farily recent street maping (non-routable).

 

I also had a Mapsource North America (circa 2005) with street maps that was routable on the PC and could easily be 'converted' to be routable on my unit.

 

So far I have found that this provides me with adequate routable mapping on my handheld when out caching even though the maps are a little dated. I can fill in the gaps by using the non routable views of the more recent topos, and open source routable maps. It's worked for me - I'm cheap or I would have bought an updated routable product.

 

For Garmin there are free options out there for other topos and other specialty maps so I've used some of those as well, and also dabbled in making some trail maps from state provided ESRI shape files (thanks to some help from wonderful members of this forum on conversion techniques and tutorials on using software

 

I am excited about some of the developing subscription products for the Garmin units - probably similar to what is already available for your unit.

[+cestos73859]

I bought a Garmin 400t last year (sorry - I like Garmin) and it came with Topo's with farily recent street maping (non-routable).

 

I looked at the Garmin 400t when I was shopping for a GPS. The reviews on it were pretty good but I couldn't handle the price tag. Also, couldn't figure out how I was going to use it in the winter since it was all touch screen and I would have to take my gloves off to use it. The eTrex units were well recommended but they don't support paperless geocaching at all and weren't touchscreen and buttons like the Out&Back.

 

The Out&Back seemed like a good choice and seems to work well. But now that I would like better country roads, the turn-by-turn road navigation card seems very appealing but it won't work on my GPS - only on the Safari and Sierra models. I guess I should have spent more for the Safari as that would have given me a 3-D compass too.