Topo for Garmin

Questions about equipment and supplies to bring on a trip (including reviews).

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Ingo
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Topo for Garmin

Post by Ingo »

Anyone know of a good free (or cheap) 24k topo for a Garmin GPS (60CSx)? I found a Michigan topo at http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/154/ and overall looks pretty good, except for the waters around the park--e.g. several islands are missing on the NE side. Since I paddle, that's kinda important, although I guess you can see them from a canoe :D (and I have)

Any alternative to paying Garmin $130? And if not, how good are the Garmin 24k maps for the island? I got the 100k topos and it's probably fine for whatever I do (heck, never had a GPS before), but if I could get more detail without opening up the wallet so much, that would be great.
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Re: Topo for Garmin

Post by niners »

The 24K maps are pretty good. I did not buy it but did get to see one in a product demo. I decided that since I always carry the TI map as a back-up, I really did not need the 24K version for my Garmin. $130 is a bit excessive.
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Re: Topo for Garmin

Post by DonNewcomb »

At one time I looked into converting topo data to go into a Garmin format. The USGS gives away the data for free but it seemed to require several bits of software to convert it into Garmin's format. I now have ArcGIS, I might check if I can do it with that.
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Re: Topo for Garmin

Post by Tampico »

Unfortunately, when you buy a mapping GPS, you put yourself on the hook to buy the maps. Otherwise, you've spent a lot more on the GPS than you should have.

I've owned several Garmin mapping GPS's and none would accept anything other than Garmin's maps, e.g. City Navigator, G-Charts or Bluecharts.

You can buy a decent GPS for around $100.00 (even less for an older one) and use it with a good topo map, NOAA chart, etc. It's not hard plotting your position on a map or chart once you learn how.

I use a tool called the Waypointer:

http://www.gpsscales.com/WaypointerScale.html
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Re: Topo for Garmin

Post by Ingo »

Tampico, I've successfully loaded free maps from gpsfiledepot into Garmin's Basecamp software and supposedly they now load fine onto their GPS units. May need some firmware updates for older units. I haven't tried loading to the GPS yet--waiting for a new computer next week before I spend alot of time downloading/uploading huge files and messing with software. But I'll let you know how it goes.

Don, from what I've read it is a pain. I don't have the patience (or any real need) to try it myself.
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