Which maps to buy for Garmin 450?

[trailmixduo]

I just bought the Garmin 450 for my husband for his birthday. This is his (our) first ever GPS and needless to say after we opened the box we realized we had NO idea what to do next. After a bit of research online last night we downloaded BaseCamp to both our Macs and we realize we have to purchase maps to go on the device (which we knew prior to buying it of course) BUT which maps? Are there better ones than others? Are they all compatible with our device? I just feel lost at the moment!

 

ANY help would be appreciated! We just started hiking this year and are interested in getting started with Geocaching so I am not sure that I can speak exactly to what region or area we would need to purchase (if they come that way) or if we get a DVD with the entire US on it. I am sure we won't be going overseas anytime soon. We are mostly interested in something that tailors to hikers....obviously. Hope that helps....thanks in advance!!!

[snowfleurys]

Start with one of the free State topo mapsets at gpsfiledepot.

 

Later you can add a Garmin mapset(s) if you need the features that only they know how to build into a mapset.

[+New Jersey TJ]

This thread talks about maps for a 60CSx, but the map descriptions are appropriate for the 450 as well:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=291819&st=0&p=4990826&fromsearch=1entry4990826

Edited March 15, 2012 by New Jersey TJ

[seldom_sn]

http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ has routable maps of the whole world. Not as good as what you buy from Garmin for driving, but free and with routable trail data.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

I recommend the City Navigator by Garmin on the Micro SD card.....snap it in and you're good to go. You can also move the card to another unit later if you like. I got City Nav on CD for my 60 CSx but since have bought a 450 and 62S.....I bought 2 City Nav SD cards for these units because the CD maps are locked on my 60.

[seldom_sn]

I recommend the City Navigator by Garmin on the Micro SD card.....snap it in and you're good to go. You can also move the card to another unit later if you like. I got City Nav on CD for my 60 CSx but since have bought a 450 and 62S.....I bought 2 City Nav SD cards for these units because the CD maps are locked on my 60.

Downside of the card is that it limits you to 850 MB internal memory for an OR450, but the OR can handle a 32GB card.

[trailmixduo]

Couple of questions....told you I was a newbie!

 

Regarding the Garmin maps you purchase: You would recommend the City Navigator vs the Topo? Any particular reason?

 

Also, I tried downloading two different maps (the Arizone Topo and the My Trails map) but both make me feel like I am missing something! Are there not trails preloaded within these maps? Like....Here is the trail head and here is the trail....? Or does something like this not exist? I suppose we are looking for something that has trails throughout the US already loaded but maybe that is not available?

 

Example of what I was sort of expecting from this thing: We went to Busiek State Park in Missouri last week and hiked the West Side Yellow Trail. What would we have needed in order to use our GPS while we were there for that particular trail?

 

So confused.....PLEASE bear with me here!

[seldom_sn]

Couple of questions....told you I was a newbie!

 

Regarding the Garmin maps you purchase: You would recommend the City Navigator vs the Topo? Any particular reason?

 

Also, I tried downloading two different maps (the Arizone Topo and the My Trails map) but both make me feel like I am missing something! Are there not trails preloaded within these maps? Like....Here is the trail head and here is the trail....? Or does something like this not exist? I suppose we are looking for something that has trails throughout the US already loaded but maybe that is not available?

 

Example of what I was sort of expecting from this thing: We went to Busiek State Park in Missouri last week and hiked the West Side Yellow Trail. What would we have needed in order to use our GPS while we were there for that particular trail?

 

So confused.....PLEASE bear with me here!

Trail data is really hard to come by and AFAIK City Navigator has NONE. You may find your trails on the Garmin's 24k topo (I don't own it and it's not free), or you may find them on a download from garmin.openstreetmap.nl

The problem with trails is that there's no central data source, mostly just volunteers uploading to My Trails, or Openstreetmap. You have to zoom in to around 5 miles to see trails on My Trails. To see if your area is covered by My Trails, find your location on the BaseCamp World map or a GPSfileDepot topo. Then Zoom it to 5 miles and switch the map to My Trails. If they are there, you should see them. My Trails is a transparent map you can overlay over a Topo on you GPSr you will see both maps. Unfortunately you can only see one at a time in BaseCamp.

 

You don't need a map to use your GPSr. Just turn it on and it will figure out where you are. Start to move and it will record a tracklog. Once you've hiked your trail upload the track to OpenStreetMap and you'll be able to download it from garmin.openstreetmap.nl in a week or two.

 

If you downloaded the -Oz-'s Arizona Topo it has trails on it. Find Grand Canyon Village and zoom in. There are lots of trails there. They aren't routable though. Routable trails will be available on the garmin.openstreetmap.nl downloads and Garmin's 24k topo. The advantage of routable maps is that they can tell you how far you have to walk.

Edited March 15, 2012 by seldom_sn

[savant9]

If you are in the North West, NWTrails is an awesome mapset....and free.

 

The 24k garmin topos do have some trails shown, but are not always that accurate, however they are routable.

The best trail data seems to come from crowd sourced info, like nwtrails or you could try something like this

[seldom_sn]

If you are in the North West, NWTrails is an awesome mapset....and free.

The best trail data seems to come from crowd sourced info, like nwtrails or you could try something like this

Second that. "this" is a link to "My Trails", mentioned above.

[+riffraff9000]

Aye, thanks for the "My Trails" info. It actually covers a fair number of trails around here in the "flatwest" (midwest).

[team tisri]

Couple of questions....told you I was a newbie!

 

Regarding the Garmin maps you purchase: You would recommend the City Navigator vs the Topo? Any particular reason?

 

Also, I tried downloading two different maps (the Arizone Topo and the My Trails map) but both make me feel like I am missing something! Are there not trails preloaded within these maps? Like....Here is the trail head and here is the trail....? Or does something like this not exist? I suppose we are looking for something that has trails throughout the US already loaded but maybe that is not available?

 

Example of what I was sort of expecting from this thing: We went to Busiek State Park in Missouri last week and hiked the West Side Yellow Trail. What would we have needed in order to use our GPS while we were there for that particular trail?

 

So confused.....PLEASE bear with me here!

 

The key thing is to figure what you're wanting to use the maps for.

 

As I understand it the City Navigator maps are road maps, with full routing. So if you want to drive from Phoenix to Boston then City Navigator will show you the way, turn by turn, and reroute if you miss a turn.

 

If you want to hike then City Navigator isn't going to help. It will get you to the parking near the trailhead but from there you're on your own. That's where you need the topo maps, so you can see things like rivers, contours, trails etc. The topo maps never used to have navigation built in and the map data is often very old (I haven't used the 1:24000 maps so can't comment on those, other than to say they are quite expensive)

 

Depending on where you live you'll have more or less information on the OpenStreetMap options, but the good thing about OSM is that if a trail is missing you can hike it, upload a track log, and before long it will appear in the maps for everyone to benefit.