+appalachiancachin Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 I'm torn between buying a Nuvi 500 and Nuvi 550. How much of a difference do the maps make? I regularly travel to the Lake Erie area and we go into Canada some, so I would use the Canadian maps, but only a couple times a year. The topos I would use for geocaching and trail walking, but I've read that there are better topos available than Garmin offers for free from this site... http://gpstracklog.com/2009/09/free-gps-topo-maps.html Can anyone confirm that these work well? If these maps are better than Garmin topos I might as well go with the 550 for the Canada maps and just load topos after the fact. Any advice would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment
+W7WT Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 I have the Nuvi 550 as we travel to Alaska and Canada. It is the most friendly use of any GPS I have ever had. Love it. Sorry I have no info on topos. Quote Link to comment
+gnjeepn Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 I went with the 550 because I knew there was free software available for the topo maps for the areas I usualy go. I can't remember the web site I got the free software from. I have it saved on my home pc. I have compared the free software I have with the garmin topo software and I believe the free software has more detail and is extreamly accurate. I'm not sure if they offer software for the area you are wanting it for. I do know they have most of the US. When I get home I will look up the web site and post it here. Quote Link to comment
+gnjeepn Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Just checked and the link you have listed is the same one I use. Their maps are great. Quote Link to comment
+appalachiancachin Posted August 18, 2010 Author Share Posted August 18, 2010 Thanks for the replies. I think I might be leaning more towards the 550 then. Quote Link to comment
+BAMBOOZLE Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 I have a 500 and the topo's not that great. Worse still, the topo overlay makes the street map have a green background which is not as nice for driving visibility as a reg Nuvi ( I actually use a 780 for driving) I'd get a 550 if I was doing it over and I have no plans to go to Canada. Don't forget, these units are totally paperless and you can use the " field notes" feature in your " profile " for uploading and logging caches. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.