Navigating With Topomap On Vista C

[krismolleke]

Does anyone know how to navigate by roads with the topomap maps in the VISTA COLOR ? I've tried it but each time it says "can't find road nearby". With MAPSOURCE maps, there's no problem.

[eggman7360]

I use topo maps in my vista C. As far as I remember the choice of software is called city select for auto routing. The base map included in the vista C has worked well for me for routing. It is nice to be able to look up points of interest,etc included in the topo software.

[+denali7]

i always load garmin's topo maps and the cityselect maps on my vista c for whatever area i'm headed. i have found that the road detail on the city maps is greater if i have the topo off and vice versa, so i simply toggle the topo maps off while en route to the cache location, navigating roads with the autorouting function. once i'm out of the truck and headed "cross country," i toggle the cityselect maps off and the topo maps back on. i usually hit "recalculate" at this point also, choosing "off road" this time. to see the greatest map detail, on either map, pan in to at least the 800-meter mark. when you want the unit to autoroute, you must have the cityselect maps toggled on or you won't always get the best or most logical directions. the reason for this is that your gps is trying to create directions without having smaller roads and highways in its memory. i can always tell when i've forgotten to do this, as the highlighted route will do funny things like shoot right across a body of water where no bridge exists, for example, or head billions of miles out of the way to find a bridge. although the topo maps have some roads, they can't compare to the street-by-street detail of the cityselect maps. play around with toggling back and forth between your topo and street maps around town and when you go to local state parks or other outdoor areas you're familiar with, and you'll see the advantages of using street maps for all "roadwork" and topo maps for all "off-roadwork" much easier than i can explain it. these two types of maps complement each other, but aren't really interchangable in their function. that's why i bit the bullet and bought both sets of software--pricey, but invaluable for the type of caching and other outdoor pursuits for which i bought the gps. i have found that just playing around with the functions on this gps has been time well-spent, as i automatically reset little things while out caching pretty much without missing a step. i'm basically technologically-challenged, so if i can be this comfy with this gps, believe me, so can you! good luck and enjoy!!