I Need Answers Please Gurus...

[pi71]

i have a emap, now which software doyou recommend metroguide v4 or v5? i live in san antonio tx and would love detailed streets dont care much about water and such. also what memory card size do i need with either version? thanks .

[+JDan150]

The onle diference that i know is 5 is more up to date.

[+kevin917z]

i have both and prefer v4 because it takes up less memory, and shows rivers lakes, etc. V5 doesnt show hardly any water features and has really dumb POI's like dry cleaners, day cares, home businesses etc. i have noticed very few updates to the v5

 

for caching i prefer v4 but if im just doing a trip and no caching i will use v5

[pi71]

how about memory do i need a card for this emap?what size?

[umc]

A friend of mine has an emap and uses the Roads and Rec software which works great because it has a bunch of two tracks and park roads which other mapsource sofware doesn't have.

 

As far as a memory card goes I would say buy as much as you can afford.

[+geo-jedi]

My trusty emap has served me well as a navaid when traveling and more recently as a geocaching tool.

 

If you are using Mapsource topo maps, you have probably seen that they are very small. You can load lots of them on the 8 MB card.

 

City maps, the ones with restaurant locations etc., each seem to take up just under 8 MB. The downside is that if you are visiting multiple cities, or if your visit puts you on a map region boundary, then you need more than 8 MB of memory. I spent way too much several years ago for a 32 MB card but it has served me well. I later found that there are a few places on-line that sell memory compatible to this Garmin proprietary format.

 

The emap has just been discontinued. The current day equivalent is probably the soon-to-be released 60C but the current Garmin Legend has more capability although a smaller screen. Sometimes only 500 waypoints seems like a limitation.

 

Back to the main question - 32 MB is probably a good size if you take trips that cross boundaries. The downside is that the emap only supports a slow serial interface so unless you are also willing to drop some cash on the external USB memory loader, it takes a fair amount of time to upload new maps. Even worse, the only way to upload maps is to first delete all loaded maps.

 

Magellan has the right idea with using non-proprietary memory cards that can be loaded any way you want.

 

I wonder what the pricing of all this obselete but functional equipment will be. I may end up selling my emap, extra memory, USB loader, cables, and car mount when I upgrade with the 60C.

 

Team Geo-Jedi

[pi71]

Back to the main question - 32 MB is probably a good size if you take trips that cross boundaries. The downside is that the emap only supports a slow serial interface so unless you are also willing to drop some cash on the external USB memory loader, it takes a fair amount of time to upload new maps. Even worse, the only way to upload maps is to first delete all loaded maps.

 

 

..so if i get version 4 or mapsource and a 32 mb card ill be ok with an emap? I really know nothing about the upload process i was just going to hook it up to my computer and load the areas i want when i need them..

[+geo-jedi]

Yes - I'd say 32 MB should do it. I have version 5 Metroguide USA which replaced my version 3. I skipped Version 4 so I can't say anything about ver 4 vs ver 5 differences.

 

Hooking the emap up to the computer via the cable that goes from a serial port to the emap port is the standard way to upload. The first part of the process will wipe the memory clean and then load the new map regions that you have selected. The process can take 20 or 30 minutes if I remember correctly. After doing it once or twice, I bought the USB memory card device that can write to the card directly. It takes only 2 or 3 minutes. I also keep the old 8 MB card loaded with my local area.

 

The 32 meg card is for travel. I'll load a few areas of places that I know I'll be going and carry along the 8 MB local card for when I return from my travels.

[Neo_Geo]

I agree with UMC regarding memory card capacity: Buy as much as you can afford. To give you an idea, using MetroGuide 4, the state of Texas alone takes 71.3MB. In MG5, Texas takes up 77.1MB.

 

The approximate prices on eBay are as follows:

32MB $44

64MB $81

128MB $110

 

You can buy 4 times the memory for about only 3 times the price if you go with 128MB.

 

Also, consider that if you are going to upload the maps via serial (RS-232) connection, then it will take about 20 minutes per 8MB. That's 1 hour and 20 minutes for a 32MB card - 5 hours and 20 minutes for a 128MB. A USB Programmer can cut that 5 hours down to about 20 to 30 minutes. I was able to load the East coast I-95 corridor from New York to Florida, plus the entire Washington, DC metro area, plus a good hunk of West Virginia, plus the city of Las Vegas, NV - all on 128MB! I've only had to "burn" the card one time!

 

- OR -

 

You could sell the eMap and then get a GPSMAP® 60C