Considering buying a Garmin GPSMAP 62S

[+Zeryx]

I am fairly new to Geocaching and even newer to the concept of GPS hardware. I currently am using my iPhone for caching.

 

Anyhow, I have been considering buying a GPS and have found good write ups for Garmin GPSMAP 62S.

 

Now come the stupid questions!

 

It says it comes with a Worldwide built-in basemap with shaded relief - what exactly does this mean?

 

I am becoming more active in the hillwalking scene and have over the past year started doing the Scottish Munros so a GPS would be good for this also. I currently go by the old paper maps - does the GPS give the same detail as the Ordnance Survey Landranger maps or do you have to purchase additional software for that level of activity?

 

Your advice would be very welcome

[+khumbu_calypso]

The built-in basemap is pretty much useless. It shows very crudely drawn roads that typically are not even close to the actual alignment of the road. For example, my GPSMap 62s shows my house 1.2 km north of a major highway that I actually live 800 m south of. Thats off by 2 km!

 

The basemap does provide relief shading for any other maps you install by virtue of the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data that is included with it. DEM is also what tells the GPSr how to provide elevations for routes or tracks that you haven't yet travelled. For example, if there is a trail that you have in mind, a hike you think you might want to go on, and you view the trail with your GPSr, there is an option to view the elevation profile for that track. The information it uses to build this elevation profile comes from the DEM data. The DEM data that is built-in to the basemap is very poor however. It often provides information that is off by 80-150 m. Using the basemap DEM I have viewed elevation profiles on my 62s that showed a trail that only had 200 m of elevation gain over 7 km to find out that it was actually closer to 400 m. That kind of inaccuracy can lead to problems.

 

To get better DEM, you will need to purchase Garmin Topo maps. The free topo maps that are available all over the internet, do not include DEM as nobody has figured out how (or that don't have the technology and resourses necessary) to build DEM for Garmins. You can only get it from Garmin. For Canada it comes in the form of 50k topo maps from Garmin. For the US there are a few other options (24k, 50k and 100k). I believe that the DEM gets more accurate the larger you go in scale (ie. 24k DEM is better than 100k). At any rate, any of the topo map that you purchase separately from Garmin are better than the basemap.

 

I am not familiar with the Scottish Munros or the Ordnance Survey Landranger maps, but I can almost guarantee that for anything close to paper maps of any kind that you are using, the basemap will be grossly inadequate in comparison. You will definitely want to look at other maps to add on to your 62s after the fact. There are many free ones that are as good or better than the ones you purchase from Garmin, but keep in mind that if DEM is important to you, there is only one way to get it.

Edited June 10, 2011 by khumbu_calypso

[+eusty]

Yep the basemap is the best part of pointless!

 

You can add free Open Street Maps easily by loading one of talkytoasters maps. Not quite as good as Landranger 50k maps. You can view the OSM here.

 

If it's a particular area you want decent maps for then you can add OS 25k overlays...although they are not cheap!!

Edited June 10, 2011 by eusty

[+G & C]

While the basemap is widely useless (I have the same basemap in my Oregon 550t, and it really is useless. I find this out every time I find time between flights to try to find a geocache or two at airports outside of CA), you'd be getting a great GPS in the 62.

[+Rubberhead]

When Geocaching first started there were no such things are basemaps...

[+janandsteve]

I am fairly new to Geocaching and even newer to the concept of GPS hardware. I currently am using my iPhone for caching.

 

Anyhow, I have been considering buying a GPS and have found good write ups for Garmin GPSMAP 62S.

 

Now come the stupid questions!

 

It says it comes with a Worldwide built-in basemap with shaded relief - what exactly does this mean?

 

I am becoming more active in the hillwalking scene and have over the past year started doing the Scottish Munros so a GPS would be good for this also. I currently go by the old paper maps - does the GPS give the same detail as the Ordnance Survey Landranger maps or do you have to purchase additional software for that level of activity?

 

Your advice would be very welcome

 

I agree with previous posters re the built in basemap - it is useless - the only use I can think of is if you are flying on holiday and want to know the approx location of where you are....

 

I have the Garmin 62s - I am becoming more happy with the unit as time goes on, although it is still not 'perfect' and does have a few issues with even the latest software release - see my other posts on what those issues are.

 

Living in the UK, I purchased the full Discoverer 50k maps for my 62s - exactly the same scale and detail of the paper landranger maps - in fact you can zoom in further with the 62s maps, just like using a mag glass on the paper map! I would recomm you purchase some discoverer product with your 62s - maybe just the Scottish ones? or maybe a bundle? or maybe a package of the 62s with some maps? They are not cheap, but are the landranger series in digital form. They may be cheaper on one of those auction sites :-)

 

Heres a good website to show you some further info on the Discoverer series of maps... http://gbr.garmin.com/on-the-trail/maps/recreational-maps.html#gb_discoverer

 

There are some free sources of maps on the internet, but I dont have much experience, with the exception of Mobile Atlas Creator ( MOBAC ) - if you can get hold of version 1.8 of this software, it will actually give you FREE OS 25k maps of any UK area you specify - equivalent to the OS Explorer series - as well as all the overhead satellite images; the latest software release of MOBAC has blocked the use of these maps, due to some licencing issues, which is why I recomm you go with some Discoverer product - that way at least you can get full access to your maps all the time - MOBAC would only allow a small area to be downloaded at any one time, so for every caching/walking trip you would have to download a new area and load that to your 62s.

 

Hope this helps you a little with your purchase.