Garmin TOPO

[RedDirt]

I just purchased a new Garmin GPSMAP 60C on ebay. It was half the MSRP price - because they are discontinued.

I would like to purchase a TOPO map for hiking and taking my V-Strom on dirt roads. What is the main difference between Garmin's
1) U.S. TOPO 24K National Parks, West
2) U.S. Topo
?

Thanks,
Reddirt

[christian]

US topo is 100k resolution, 24k ones are obvsiouly more detailed but you don't have the whole USA, just sections. So far while riding I haven't found a trail (even hiking trail) in the sierras that is not on the City Select. I just got updated to Navigator 8, so I will have to check for this one. The good thing is that you get turn/turn direction with it. but a whole set of junk as well.

[markjenn]

Never used the National Parks version. The US Topo obviously has the elevation contours, but it doesn't route on your 60C, has spotty road data, and is often grossly out of date. Frankly, except for hiking where the topo data is vital, I consider it virtually worthless.

City Select and City Navigator have much better road data, even in the boondocks, and they route.

- Mark

[frewhl]

the topo cd is just like the usgs 100,000 series topo maps.
lots of detail,not too many street names.

[frewhl]

Originally Posted by markjenn

Never used the National Parks version. The US Topo obviously has the elevation contours, but it doesn't route on your 60C, has spotty road data, and is often grossly out of date. Frankly, except for hiking where the topo data is vital, I consider it virtually worthless.

City Select and City Navigator have much better road data, even in the boondocks, and they route.

- Mark

The fishing cd takes 3 different cds,but requires very little memory.All roads and their names are present and it better defines shorelines.
But it will not make your 60 autoroute either.

[Uncle Pollo]

Ok guys throw me a bone here

How much detail i can get this 60c unit to display

Major roads are there ... but streets are missing for the most part

I could not make head or tails out of the garmin website regarding what upgrades i could get for the thing

What puzzled me the most was the fact that the box came with a pamphlet that advertises the better detail level ...

...help ...

[frewhl]

Originally Posted by Vstrommancer

Ok guys throw me a bone here

How much detail i can get this 60c unit to display

Major roads are there ... but streets are missing for the most part

I could not make head or tails out of the garmin website regarding what upgrades i could get for the thing

What puzzled me the most was the fact that the box came with a pamphlet that advertises the better detail level ...

...help ...

here is the thing,you have to buy a Garmin Mapsource CD,lots to choose from.
You have limited memory,if you choose city select or city navigator ,the unit will autoroute for you,but use more memory(don't worry,it will hold more than a weekends worth)
topo cd shows all roads but names very few(100,000 scale usgs maps)
fishing series shows and names all roads,but it takes three cds to cover the us.

[markjenn]

Originally Posted by Vstrommancer

Ok guys throw me a bone here

How much detail i can get this 60c unit to display

Major roads are there ... but streets are missing for the most part

I could not make head or tails out of the garmin website regarding what upgrades i could get for the thing

What puzzled me the most was the fact that the box came with a pamphlet that advertises the better detail level ...

...help ...

Your 60c will display as much detail as the maps you feed it. The basemap (built in) is virtually worthless - with just the basemap, it's an expensive paperweight that can also tell you what interstate you're on and that's about it. As discussed here and elsewhere, the best all-around road database is City Select or City Navigator which is all that 95% of user want/need - beyond this, needs tend to be pretty specialized.

But an offiicial licensed copy of CS or CN will run you an extra $125 or so. GPS's have basically adapted the razor/razor-blade approach to marketing - sell the GPS at a loss so you can make profits as people buy things to feed the hardware. The next step is subscriptions to satellite services, traffic data, etc.

- Mark

[RedDirt]

I appreciate the information. I think that I'll stay away from Garmin's TOPO. So, City Select vs. City Navigator - which is best for the 60c?

[christian]

Originally Posted by RedDirt

I appreciate the information. I think that I'll stay away from Garmin's TOPO. So, City Select vs. City Navigator - which is best for the 60c?

City select is discontinued, you only have Navigator now or Metroguide but it doesn;t do routing.

[markjenn]

Originally Posted by christian

City select is discontinued, you only have Navigator now or Metroguide but it doesn;t do routing.

I've heard conflicting reports of whether it's still available - it's still on Garmin's web site. It does appear Garmin is phasing out CS in favor of CN, but some have complained that CN has trouble on limited memory devices like the 60C because the "chunk size" of the maps is so much larger in CN - this makes it hard to tailor map memory to cover a defined area.

If this is not a big concern, then CN is certainly where Garmin is headed.

- Mark

[Uncle Pollo]

so city navigator then .... oh boy oh boy

what i do with the 60c is use it with google earth .... map a couple waypoints and take it from there to find my way around my area

i've made it with the garmin gekko .... i can make it with this puppy as well