› Forums › Geocaching in Wisconsin › Help › Map Source

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  • 12/27/2006 at 6:34 pm #1724028
    SadowskiFamily

      Received a Garmin 60cx for Christmas. The question I have is which would be the best for geocaching? One of the Map Source CDs or a preloaded SD card. Any other thoughts on Map Source would also be helpful. Thanks in advance.

      12/29/2006 at 6:16 am #1767738
      Vegas Gamblers

        I use the Garmin City Navigator North America. I just ordered a 1gb card to use. From what I was told is that with the preloaded cards you can not change maps or customize the area you want to geocache in. Many people are suggesting that you purchase the City Navigator NT because the maps are smaller and you can load more onto the SD card. So from what I understand is that it is better to get the CD and a bigger SD card than buy the preloaded card.

        I hope this ramble helps.

        12/29/2006 at 7:17 am #1767739
        Team Deejay

          Well, Vegas Gamblers is correct that you cannot have two maps of the same area with a preloaded chip, but I don’t know that you would ever want to do that. The preloaded cards have the entire US on them, so changing areas where you are caching isn’t going to be much of a problem. If you are going out of the US, just buy the chip for the country you are going to and swap it when you get there.

          The limitation of swapping map types comes into play if you want to have a combination of road, topo, and lake maps of the same area at the same time. Your GPS will allow you to switch between map types on the fly if you have all the maps loaded. If you can foresee a need for this, you should probably stick with the CDs. If you are only going to use the road maps, the chip is probably your best choice. I personally use only the Topo maps (autorouting is for sissies!) If I could have purchased the Topo maps on a chip, I would have done it. Unless you want to load the entire set of maps from the CD into the SD card (possible if you have a big enough card), it is very easy to get to a location and find that you didn’t load the proper maps (happened to me in Chicago–NOT GOOD!) Using the preloaded maps means you ALWAYS have the road map you need, without the need to move maps in and out.

          Incidentally, the list price on the City Navigator NT CD is $139. The price for the preloaded MicroSD card is $200. You can find both cheaper at various internet outlets.

          12/29/2006 at 11:13 pm #1767740
          hogrod

            There is another advantage to having the dvd over the preloaded cards. If you own a laptop you can download garmin Nroute software for free and then hook your gps to the laptop for gps signal and use Nroute for turn by turn directions on a much larger screen(also with voice prompts).

            in my car I have a line input on the front/back of my stereo, I hook the laptop right in and get my voice directions through the cars speakers(I also play all my mp3 music off the laptop the same way).

            The more storage you get the better, just remember as of right now garmin limits map segments loaded to the card to 2025, so if you are loading topo maps(small segments) that gets used up pretty quick. you can pick up a 1gb microSD card on newegg.com for around $30 or a 2gb for $75

            1gb micro SD – http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820171141

            2gb micro SD – http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820171142

            01/09/2007 at 9:25 pm #1767741
            One Paddle Short

              Many people are suggesting that you purchase the City Navigator NT because the maps are smaller and you can load more onto the SD card. So from what I understand is that it is better to get the CD and a bigger SD card than buy the preloaded card.

              I’m ready to make the purchase to get autorouting going on my 60CSx. Is there any disadvantage to the Navigator NT? Are the maps smaller because they include less detail or smaller simply because of a different type of file system?

              01/09/2007 at 9:51 pm #1767742
              Team Deejay

                @One Paddle Short wrote:

                Many people are suggesting that you purchase the City Navigator NT because the maps are smaller and you can load more onto the SD card. So from what I understand is that it is better to get the CD and a bigger SD card than buy the preloaded card.

                I’m ready to make the purchase to get autorouting going on my 60CSx. Is there any disadvantage to the Navigator NT? Are the maps smaller because they include less detail or smaller simply because of a different type of file system?

                I doubt that you will find many people who have experience with both, since they are supposed to have the same function. According the Garmin website, they are the same except the NTs require a unit which can deal with the compressed files (you own one). When you look at the map previewer, they appear identical as well. The biggest catch would be that you might not be able to use the NT maps on other GPS’s that you might already own.

                01/09/2007 at 10:23 pm #1767743
                Lostby7

                  Ok since this topic has opened… I was going to ask a question about this same Garmin 60cx which I plan to purchase…this is still somewhat on topic so I’ll bend the topic only slightly.

                  I have an older version of the maps called “MapSource MetroGuide” does anyone know if this will work with the Garmin 60cx ?

                  01/10/2007 at 12:32 am #1767744
                  hogrod

                    @Lostby7 wrote:

                    I have an older version of the maps called “MapSource MetroGuide” does anyone know if this will work with the Garmin 60cx ?

                    yes but out of the box it won’t offer any autorouting like city navigator. I have metroguide V6 and when I load it to my 60cx with the program Img2gps it also loads the autorouting data(mapsource strips ths from metroguide).
                    I have thought about getting the new metroguide V8 so I would have slightly newer map data, and no unlock codes like city navigator has to deal with.

                    EDIT: I should also say that mapsource metroguide V4 or earlier includes autorouting, even when loading from mapsource.

                    01/10/2007 at 3:07 am #1767745
                    One Paddle Short

                      I doubt that you will find many people who have experience with both, since they are supposed to have the same function. According the Garmin website, they are the same except the NTs require a unit which can deal with the compressed files (you own one). When you look at the map previewer, they appear identical as well. The biggest catch would be that you might not be able to use the NT maps on other GPS’s that you might already own.

                      My other GPS is an eTrex Summit (so no worries there about what maps might load). The kids both have Legends but with the amount of memory in those units they will be better off sticking with the Topo maps we’ve been using anyway. Now, I’m looking for a site to order Navigator NT but the only site that I find it on is the Garmin site for $139.27.

                      http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/citynavnt.jsp

                      Nobody else has NT?

                      01/10/2007 at 4:56 am #1767746
                      Jeremy

                        @One Paddle Short wrote:

                        [ Now, I’m looking for a site to order Navigator NT but the only site that I find it on is the Garmin site for $139.27.

                        http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/citynavnt.jsp

                        Nobody else has NT?

                        Many places have NT… and $120 seems to be the street price. You can get it from Amazon for $120 but they list that it takes 2-4 weeks to ship (not sure if this is true though). Amazon Link

                        I’ve bought a lot of Garmin stuff through GPS City, including City Navigator 8 (but not the NT) version… they have it for $120 also: GPS City Link

                        01/10/2007 at 5:49 am #1767747
                        Team Deejay

                          I found it for $108 at Provantage.com + $5 shipping. Can’t vouch for this vendor, however. They just showed up as the cheapest.

                          I will say that you usually don’t want to buy anything from the Garmin website. To give you an idea, they have a 256M microSD card listed for $64. I picked up a 2GB microSD card from Newegg for $50, and they had a 1GB card for $15.

                          01/10/2007 at 6:44 am #1767748
                          Vegas Gamblers

                            @Team Deejay wrote:

                            Well, Vegas Gamblers is correct.

                            I am going to show this to the wife. 😆

                            01/10/2007 at 10:19 pm #1767749
                            One Paddle Short

                              Thanks for all the help. I’m a little poorer after placing orders with GPS City and Newegg but soon I should be able to autoroute to the bank to get some more money!

                              01/10/2007 at 10:34 pm #1767750
                              Lostby7

                                @One Paddle Short wrote:

                                Thanks for all the help. I’m a little poorer after placing orders with GPS City and Newegg but soon I should be able to autoroute to the bank to get some more money!

                                Ditto….I just bought the GarminMap60cx and learned how to use my existing MapSource MetroGuide on it 😛
                                Thanks everyone!!

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