Garmin MapSource 2008 Topographical U.S. Map DVD-Rom by Garmin
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin MapSource 2008 Topographical U.S. Map DVD-Rom
Digital camera Review: Could be more detailed
Summary: 4 Stars
These maps are almost essential if you have an etrek unit. The maps that come with the etrek are woefully deficient and you need to upgrade them. But even these maps could be more detailed especially for the hiker or geocacher. For topographical maps, these are not very detailed and if you want to route plan cross country you will need much more detailed maps. However depending on what maps you get, you can set waypoints on the more detailed maps and transfer them to the etrek and they will overlay the Mapsource maps.Digital camera Review: Decent mapping if you don't require auto-routing capability
Summary: 4 Stars
TOPO 2008 has some good points: it's half the price of most of Garmin's other cartography products, and it doesn't require an unlock code. Read some of the reviews on Garmin's "City Navigator North America" product - there are some real horror stories about the problems people have had with Garmin's unlock code system.
NOTE: In specific discussion of how TOPO 2008 interfaces with a GPS, the unit used in this review is a Garmin 60CX.
What you get with TOPO USA 2008 that's good:
1. It adds a lot of city streets and county roads that are not included in the base map. However, the positional accuracy of these roads is often pretty bad. But at least having them would probably help you find an address if you got lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood or rural area. Unfortunately though, the road network in TOPO 2008 IS NOT AUTO-ROUTEABLE. In other words, if you try to generate a point-to-point trip route in either MapSource or in the GPS itself, the route will not follow the roads or calculate turns. It will just make a strait line (actually a Great Circle curve) from Point "A" to Point "B". This doesn't prevent you from generating your own routes manually, of course. I guess the lack of auto-route capability is why TOPO 2008 is half the price of City Navigator.
2. Since TOPO 2008 contains a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the coverage area, it allows you to generate a profile of your hiking/biking trail or road trip route. This profile capability is very nice when comparing alternate routes, and the profiles can be generated and viewed in the GPS or on the PC in MapSource
3. The outlines of many coastlines, lakes, and rivers in the basemap are very coarse and downright inaccurate - TOPO 2006 offers a huge improvement to these outlines (but does not include water depth).
4. TOPO 2008 includes thousands of searchable place names and POI's that are not in the base map.
What's not so good in TOPO 2008:
1. The coverage area is ONLY the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii). Unfortunately, there is no coverage in Canada or Mexico, other than large cities and major highways that are already in the basemap. If you need coverage of our neighbor to the north, the TOPO Canada DVD is pretty expensive at $110, almost double the price of the USA version.
2. The contour interval is 1:100,000, which is probably fine for planning an automobile trip, but is very coarse if you are doing a hiking or bicycle trip. Garmin does offer 1:24,000 cartography, but it's expensive and covers only a limited set of National Parks. If TOPO 2008 were to cover the whole USA at 1:24,000, the amount of data would probably require many DVD's instead of only 1, and the retail price would no doubt be a lot more, so I guess the 1:100,000 scale is adequate for most users, and certainly more economical.
If you already own the City Navigator cartography, TOPO 2008 might be a nice addition to your chartplotter-capable Garmin GPS, especially if it can display route profiles like the 60CX. However, if your primary need is for automobile routing, and especially if you need coverage in Canada, and if you have a limited budget, you would be better off buying City Navigator if you don't already own it. It's twice the price of TOPO 2008, but has a lot more capability.
NOTE: For some reason, TOPO 2008 includes Alaska's Dalton Highway, from Fairbanks to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay), yet City Navigator, which costs twice as much and is supposed to offer coverage of all of the USA and Canada, does not.
SUMMARY: A good value at $59.10 if you just want to upgrade your GPS's background map, and if you don't require Canadian coverage. Also a nice add-on if you already have City Navigator, as it allows you to compute road profiles anywhere in the USA (including Alaska and Hawaii). City Navigator does not have a terrain model built in, so it can not show profiles on it's own. For owners of large RV's or people who tow large boat or livestock trailers over long distances, TOPO 2008's road profile capabilities could be a really nice trip planning tool.
Digital camera Review: Deceptive Advertising
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased the Garmin StreetPilot C550 GPS only because Garmin claimed compatibility with their Topo Mapsource software. This is only a half truth as I was to find out only after making my purchases of the GPS and software. Maps can be transferred from a laptop to the GPS, howsumbutever, trails & routes created in Garmin's Topo Mapsource software CAN NOT be loaded onto the GPS. Transfer of routes & trails to the GPS was the #1 reason I purchased this GPS and the Garmin Mapsource software. My purchase of the Garmin StreetPilot C550 GPS receiver & accompanying Garmin Mapsource Topo software was an absolute waste of money. Garmin is being extremely deceptive by advertising compatibility between the StreetPilot GPS and their Mapsource Topo software.Digital camera Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
This product is pretty close to worthless. There isn't nearly enough detail to actually be meaningful. I intended to use this software for backcountry hunting. The few roads and trails that does show are nearly indistinguishable from other features on the map. The only good thing I have the say about this software is that it's better than nothing, but not much. A standard printed topo map is much more useful and accurate.Digital camera Review: Does what it was advertised to do
Summary: 5 Stars
Although I feel the prices for these Garmin maps are way too expensive they do work well with my Garmin 60CSx GPS. To avoid any install or operational problems I just bit the bullet and bought their map. So everytime I use the GPS now, it works perfectly and that's worth a lot to me to have that kind of confidence in my gear.