k_statealan Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 My old unit kicked the bucket recently so I'm in the market for a new one before vacation in a couple of months. I'm looking for a Garmin preferably under $400. I see some come preloaded with topo maps. I don't cache much anymore and for the most part if I do its in Kansas so topo maps are of limited value. Do any come preloaded with normal road maps (more than just the main roads) these days or are they easy to get? From what I remember when I last bought one 10 years ago, you had to buy the maps seperately. Is that still the case? My main uses will be for a combo of road navigation when we head for the mountains, as well as tracking mushroom and fishing holes. Occasional caching. Quote Link to comment
+Mineral2 Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 (edited) No. The basemap of the basic units is not really suitable for any kind of road navigation. The good news is that there is a plethora of free maps that you can put on your device, both topo and road maps, some of which are even routable. So no, getting the units with the pre-installed topo maps isn't really a necessity, and in some cases isn't even the most ideal option. Free maps can be found at:https://www.gpsfiledepot.comhttps://garmin.openstreetmap.nlhttps://www.gmaptool.euhttps://extract.bbbike.org (select the Latin1 and not UTF8 versions) Edited March 28, 2019 by Mineral2 Quote Link to comment
k_statealan Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 Thanks! Good to see there are places for free maps. Last I remember they liked to charge close to $100 for them. Quote Link to comment
+Mineral2 Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Garmin still does for their maps. The community maintained maps are free and just as good. Quote Link to comment
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