Garmin City Navigator maps on Garmin 62s

[+hidenseek581]

I am used to looking for caches with my iphone app., - i.e. looking up nearby caches and then being able to navigate by foot or road to the actual cache location. After that, I usually use the GPS to get a lock on the cache location. So, I am considering purchasing the Garmin City Navigator maps $50 (version without Alaska, Hawaii, Canada or Mexico) or $80 (full North America version) just to be able to do what I was able to do with my free iphone app. I do not need turn by turn directions, but I do need a decent street map. So, my question is - is the Garmin city navigator map worth purchasing for ease of integration with the GPS? Or, are free versions just as good? If free is just as good, what do you recommend? I am a newbie at downloading maps onto the GPS, so might need some hand holding here. I have a Garmin GPSMap62s.

 

Thanks in advance.

[seldom_sn]

City Navigator is of most use if you need turn by turn directions. It's benefit is that it is updated 4 times a year so it's accuracy is more reliable (in new US and Canada subdivisions of which there haven't been many recently.)

 

Personally, I think using a handheld for driving directions is a lousy idea, because they don't speak, just beep, and you need to look at them to see which way and when to turn. The thing I like about routable maps in handhelds is that if you have a routable trailmap it can tell you how far you have to walk to your destination.

 

If you download maps from http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ and zoom in really close (500 ft. or so) you'll find routable trails along with the routable roads. The map won't have topo however. To get that download a transparent topo of you area of interest from GPSfileDepot.

 

Re: the newbie issues. GPSfileDepot has a tutorial on obtaining BaseCamp and installing their maps. Read it, and download a copy of BaseCamp if you haven't already. Have BC installed before you try to install other maps. Also, when Garmin compatible maps "install" a self extractor runs, puts stuff in selected folders, and adds some information to your PC's registry. This is different from BaseCamp's Import function and maps won't show up in BaseCamp unless the installer has been run.

Edited March 13, 2012 by seldom_sn

[WashoeZephyr]

I love City Navigator, I just got a 62s last week, so I haven't had time to really play with it yet. I did have it on my Map60Cx for years, It's great if you travel a lot. The beeps aren't that bad and I have the suction mount for the window, so you aren't really anymore distracted than the GPS actually telling you where to go. On that note and to save you frustration if you do buy the DVD, you need to turn off your firewall to get it to load....(there's 5 hours of caching time lost last week! LOL.)

[+BAMBOOZLE]

I use a Nuvi for driving but I love having the City Nav maps on my 62S ( if caches are in close prox. I use it for driving also ) I also have the City Nav maps on my 450 and 60 CSx........I recommend getting them on the micro SD card for ease of installation and being able to move the card to another unit.

[seldom_sn]

I use a Nuvi for driving but I love having the City Nav maps on my 62S ( if caches are in close prox. I use it for driving also ) I also have the City Nav maps on my 450 and 60 CSx........I recommend getting them on the micro SD card for ease of installation and being able to move the card to another unit.

Downside of the card is that you can't add other maps to it, like GPSfiledepot topos. You also need to have your GPSr hooked to your computer to do trip planning in BaseCamp.

[snowfleurys]

Have a look at GPSfiledepot, they seem to have the best 'free' maps for the US. Any you think are suitable you simply (!) download the img file to the Garmin folder.

Perhaps you are thinking of OSM maps. The State topos at gpsfiledepot are self-installing .exe files.

MapSource or BaseCamp are used to select some or all of the quads/segments to send to the GPSr/micro memory card.

[+hidenseek581]

I have seen free "unlocked" versions of the maps, for example at the following location. Anybody tried them to know if they are legit.?

 

[ link removed by moderator ]

Edited March 14, 2012 by robertlipe
link to warez

[+New Jersey TJ]

Downside of the card is that you can't add other maps to it, like GPSfiledepot topos.

 

You might not be able to add them to the card, but you can still add other maps to the GPS itself. I have an Oregon with CN North America on the card. I loaded three sets of Northeast Topo maps to the GPS, so I have both street maps and topos. I still have about 680 megs free on the GPS.

[seldom_sn]

I have seen free "unlocked" versions of the maps, for example at the following location. Anybody tried them to know if they are legit.?

 

(reference deleted)

 

Why do you think would be legit if the originals were locked and the ones from the site you mention aren't?

[seldom_sn]

Downside of the card is that you can't add other maps to it, like GPSfiledepot topos.

 

You might not be able to add them to the card, but you can still add other maps to the GPS itself. I have an Oregon with CN North America on the card. I loaded three sets of Northeast Topo maps to the GPS, so I have both street maps and topos. I still have about 680 megs free on the GPS.

 

If you are only loading vector maps you can probably get away with loading the to internal memory (~1.7GB). However, if you want to download a lot of Birdseye imagery you may want more than that. A 62s can handle cards up to 32GB.

Edited March 14, 2012 by seldom_sn