Maps for Garmin eTrex Vista HCx

[Alarane]

Hi

 

I've purchased an eTrex Vista HCx for a gift, and I would like to add it Maps.

 

My needs are basic :

- I'm interested in Canadian Maps

- be able to have based Maps as detailed as possible

- have roads Maps (routable), but it is not a mandatory since I'm already got GPS Cars

- have Topo Maps as detailed as possible

- have pedestrian routable Maps for Cities

 

I have allready gather OSM Maps, and Ibycus Canada Topo.

 

I don't count especially on the preloaded Maps of the eTrex.

 

How about City Navigator / cityXplorer ? Are they better than the preloaded Maps ? and versus OSM Maps and Ibycus ? Garmins says that City Navigator and cityXplorer are quite the same. Well, only cityXplorer are available on Garmins site, and for the 15$ it's quite unexpensive (but I know that they will be linked to the GPS device). I know that on a Nuvii, they express all their potential, but on a eTrex ? I won't have the whole functionnalities, but at least can I count on turn by turn guidance for walker ?

 

I am an advanced geographic user, technology, programming is not a problem. And I have already bought a MicroSDHC 4Go class 2 card.

 

Thanks a lot for your advices.

Edited June 12, 2010 by Alarane

[Ken in Regina]

There is only one map product that will do all of the things you want in a single set of maps: Topo Canada v4.

 

First, it is topographical maps with all the topographic details. It may not be quite as detailed in some areas as Ibycus but it has other advantages that Ibycus does not. See below.

 

Second, it has all the road routing data that Metroguide Canada road maps contains. The street data in major cities is not quite as up to date in new subdivisions as City Navigator North America but City Navigator has no topographic data and it's coverage of natural features and parks and hydrology is terrible compared to Topo Canada.

 

Third, it contains all the searchable items that Metroguide Canada has, e.g. POIs, addresses, intersections, city names, etc. Again, it's probably not quite as good as City Navigator but it is a topo product not a road map product.

 

Fourth, it will allow you to create routes and will provide guidance as you walk or drive (set a preference for type of use, e.g. hike/walk, car/motorcycle, etc.). It will not give you voice guidance like an car navigation device. It will beep when you are approaching a turn and display the turn information on the screen so you can see what to do next.

 

Topo Canada does not require an unlock code.

 

An alternative is to use two products. For road maps and routing, use either Metroguide Canada v4 (isn't locked but isn't updated as frequently as City Navigator) or City Navigator North America (locked to a single device, is updated quarterly if you want to subscribe to the lifetime updates). For offroad use the Ibycus topos (free, no routing).

 

I hope that helps.

 

...ken...

[Allison Wunderland]

Here's the transcript, verbatim from Garmin.com

 

[Duplicate rant removed by moderator to keep thread on-topic.]

Edited June 13, 2010 by Keystone

[+thedeadpirate]

Here's the transcript, verbatim from Garmin.com <snip contents since the post is just prior to this one>

 

Your email correspondence just shows that Garmin was trying to work with you and you pulled the plug prematurely. They were even nice to agree to refund your money for the DVD as long as you show you returned your unit.

 

I'm not seeing how GARMIN SUX here.

 

*** If you're gonna spam this everywhere, then I'm just going to cut and paste my response.

[Alarane]

Hi

Thanks for the responses.

 

But I don't understand the difference between City Navigator and cityXplorer, well, the first one is arround 100$, for the whole Canada and Garmin link of the product always show an error, the second is quite unexpensive (10 to 20$ for a city). Garmin said thay are the same, so what think about it ?

 

Canada Topo v4 seems quite interesting and complete ... but it double the price of the device. So I have to think about it, and if the needs of a complete solution appears, I will buy it.

 

City Navigator ... I don't see any description of the product on Garmin site which seems to have somes problem recently.

 

For the moment, I will try Integrated Maps + OSM* + Ibyscus, and surely cityXplorer if I can use it to have turn by turn pedestrian guidance.

 

Thanks a lot

 

*OSM : Open Street Map, is a Open Source Project (OSM), also there is a wiki to put theses Maps on Garmin devices : OSM on Garmin)

[Ken in Regina]

City Navigator and cityXplorer are really two very different products so it's not really fair to compare them on price.

 

If you want a tourist view of a city with more touristy points of interest and extra information about things like public transport, etc. cityXplorer is a good product. But it's not useful for travelling between cities. And the small price only buys one city.

 

City Navigator, for one reasonable price, buys you a complete roadmap of North America. This includes street detail for all the cities and towns, and all highways and roads.

 

If you just want a roadmap of Canada rather than all of North America, either Metroguide Canada or Topo Canada will give you all the street detail for cities and towns, all the highways, more secondary roads than City Navigator and loads of good hydrology detail that City Navigator doesn't have.

 

You need to be very careful that you have a supported device when purchasing cityXplorer because it is currently only supported by a tiny number of Garmin devices. According to their website, that's the Nuvi 1200, 1300, 1400 and newer. The older model Nuvis are not supported. And none of the other handheld models are even listed, e.g. eTrex, GPSMAP, Oregon, Colorado, Dakota.

 

City Navigator will work on all Garmin devices that can have maps loaded to them, except some really ancient models that only take non-NT format map files. Metroguide Canada and Topo Canada will even work on those ancient clunkers as well as all the newer ones because they are still in non-NT format.

 

Making decisions about Garmin-compatible maps is not easy.

 

...ken...

[Alarane]

Hi

 

Thanks for the details.

It's an hard choice

 

On Garmin website, they say that cityXplorer and City Navigator have the same level of detail, so to be careful not to buy cityXplorer if you own City Navigator.

 

For the list od compatible devices, you have it on the cityXplorer product itself, here an example for Montréal Maps : here, as you can see, quite every garmin device are compatible for basic functionnalities.

 

Basic pedestrian navigation is available for non Nuvi devices, Nuvi have the enhanced version which is compatible with public service data (subway, buses etc...)

 

We have now open the eTrex Vista HCx, and it is a choc for Google Maps user, I'm used to its Maps, and the 'recreational basic world maps' given with the eTrex are quite ... basic.

 

I think that we will go step by step, cityXplorer whil worth the value to begin only for Montréal and surroundings (90% of our needs actually), as I said we already have car GPS with North America route maps.

 

Secondly, Ibyscus and OSM will make the second step, and if it becomer an asset, we will go fot Canada Topo Maps from Garmin or City Explorer.

 

Thanks a lot

[Ken in Regina]

C'est une bonne approche. Bonne chance!

 

...ken...