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I’m trying to figure out the options for topo maps for Garmin. Specifically we’re looking at the Oregon (not the state, the Oregon GPS unit) but it appears to be the same map software regardless of unit…I think.
Anyway, the options seem to be:
1. Buy the “preloaded” topo maps with the unit, typically designated by “T” after the model number, for about a $100 upcharge.
2. Buy the “unpreloaded” unit and then buy the Garmin approved topo maps and load them yourself.
3. Somehow (???) source your own free or low-cost topo map…???
From an older thread on this topic:
@hogrod wrote:
There are ways to make your own maps for your garmin gps, but its a lengthy process and to complicated for most.
Still the case?
What’s the best option and why?
On the Left Side of the Road...There are free and legal topos at http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/state/wi/ , they are very high resolution compared to what Garmin gives ya. One downfall on that is my 60csx chokes up when moving threw the map because of the amount of data.
I normally use just the city maps from Garmin, Unless I am up in the north woods, its nice to know where the creeks are at…
I really like having the maps on the PC, that way you can see your tracks & caches on a large screen. also buying a unit with preloaded maps you can only use them on the unit. one advantage is having the preloaded maps you get them for the entire US on the unit, which is impossible to do normally because of the map segement limit all the garmin units have.
I would also recommend using the maps from gpsfiledepot. I also noticed that these maps can be slow if you load to many mapsets at once or just allot of segments. I used to have the whole US of city navigator & about 6 other mapsets, I cut it down to just the midwest and WI,IL,IA,MI,MN of the free topo maps.
There are two different topo maps avalible for WI on GPSfiledepot, one is just WI & the other one is a NE US region map. These maps are not exactly the same, one has more of the rivers named(region map) & the other has tighter topo contours(more elevation lines shown) & parks shown as green space(WI only map).
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