Garmin MapSource TOPO! US 24k Southwest Topographic Coverage of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico
Dec 19, 2009 in
Computers & Software
- Provides interactive viewing of detailed topographic maps
- User can pre-plan their trip from home, using MapSource on the PC, then download waypoints, routes & tracks
- Provides descriptions for topographic contours, trail names, summit elevations, POIs & much more
- Topographic data is comparable to the 1:24,000 scale paper maps provided by the United States Geological Survey
Product Description
MapSource TOPO US 24K Southwest DVD… More >>
Garmin MapSource TOPO! US 24k Southwest Topographic Coverage of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico
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5 comments
Frank Jankowski on December 19, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Product is very easy to install and use but map information is very outdated. Garmin should consider updating map info or offer updates for this product.
Jack Galloway on December 19, 2009 at 4:20 pm
As with most Garmin products this is an excellent map program. Much more details than the older programs. It does take a while to install on your hard drive but who cares?
Curmudgeon on December 19, 2009 at 5:23 pm
This map comes with a new, and almost unuseable PC-based mapping product called BaseCamp. Their older product – MapSource – is old, creaky, and error-prone, but far superior to BaseCamp. I suggest you not buy this mapset unless you have MapSource.
Some unadvertised “Gotchas”:
These four states comprise 1794 maps and 3.1 GB.
Even my latest Garmin Rino 530 only handles 2024 maps and 3.6 GB, so these four states use up most of the available room in the unit. It takes many hours for the software to prepare and download 3 GB. During this time the PC must be undisturbed or the download will fail. Also, the bigger files must be downloaded directly to the SD card, rather than through the GPS. Even so, it usually takes multiple tries to get a successful download. Their software/firmware system was written when several megabytes was considered a big file – thus the poor handling of the GB files. If there was an alternative I would buy it.
AZ STARGAZR on December 19, 2009 at 6:31 pm
I recently purchased a Garmin 60CSx GPS unit,and living in the Southwest thought it necessary that I have 24k topographic maps for the areas that I travel. It’s common knowledge that the base maps that come with every manufacturer’s GPS units basically are useless. I thought that getting the Garmin maps at 24k resolution would solve some of those issues. I ordered the Garmin MapSource TOPO! US 24k Southwest Topographic, DVD version, available here on Amazon.com at Garmin MapSource TOPO! US 24k Southwest Topographic Coverage of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico (DVD).
I was fairly disappointed that even at high zoom levels there’s a lack of detail that I thought should be present. Considering the high price that you have to pay for the maps I would think that Garmin would research and add additional map detail themselves. On the plus side, it was easy to use the Garmin MapSource software to choose and load the maps or areas that I desired.
I would hope that someday soon Garmin would make available maps at a reasonable price.
Daniel H. Espey on December 19, 2009 at 9:23 pm
In Arizona, around the Big Lake area in the White Mountains,I found several Forest Road numbers that are incorrect. Even in the city of Tucson the map has Alvernon Way not crossing the Rillito River, there is a very nice bridge at the river. All of these mistakes are in a small area, but I know these places. How can these maps be trusted in areas one does not know? That is unless you don’t mind being lost in the Forest.
I contacted Garmin and their response was to carry back-up navagational maps.
So I guess they don’t trust their own maps! Buy National Geographic State topos, in my experience they have never been wrong.