Garmin MapSource TOPO! US 24k West Topographic Coverage for California and Nevada (microSD/SD Card)
List Price: $99.99 Our Price: $81.30 You Save: $18.69 (18.7%) Availability: | Usually ships in 24 hours (as of 11:44 AM CT - detail) |
Provides detailed digital topographic maps, comparable to 1:24,000 scale USGS maps, for California and NevadaContains detailed hydrographic features, including, coastlines, lake and river shorelines, wetlands and perennialProvides elevation profile on compatible Garmin devices so you can estimate terrain difficultContains many routable trails, rural roads, city neighborhood roads, major highways and interstatesDisplays national, state and local parks, forests, conservation areas, wilderness ares, Bureau of Land Management information
Product Description
GARMIN 010-C0949-00 TOPO US 24K West. Garmin International is pleased to announce the newest region of TOPO U.S. 24K for California and Nevada on preprogrammed microSD card with SD adapter. Additional U.S. regions will follow. This plug and play preprogrammed card provides up to date detailed 24K topographic coverage. Built in DEM, digital elevation model, data supports terrain shading and route elevation profiles in compatible units. With routable roads and trails, getting to your destination is made simple with turn by turn directions on compatible units. Plus, you can search for points of interest by name or proximity to your location. This product contains the highest level of topographic detail available, and, with the incredibly dense contours, TOPO U.S. 24K will ensure you are ready for your next backpacking, hiking or camping adventure. Use with Garmins Colorado series navigators to unleash the full feature set of TOPO U.S. 24K, including full 3D view and terrain shading.
Spotlight Customer Reviews:
Summary:
Easy to use although not complete or flexible
|
Comment:
I purchased the GARMIN 24K TOPO West SD card which couldn't be easier to install on my Garmin GPS. The GPS unit immediately recognizes the additional map upon reboot. I will add that these maps have generally sufficient detail to be geocaching friendly.
Being accustomed to USGS Topo maps, I was disappointed with the level of detail shown on the Garmin maps, not all unpaved roads are shown and not all trails are shown forget springs, old buildings, mines, etc. Basically I was expecting a 1:1 match from the Garmin to USGS Topos - it's not there. The Garmin maps do show contours and provide a sense of the topography but, these do not replace USGS Topos or other references (eg DeLorme Atlas).
The maps on SD card are essentially captive in that you don't have the flexiblity to move them to the computer to augment/update them or download information on the computer to the card.
Summary: If you want to add colorized terrain to your basic Garmin unit or want to play with geocaching - this works. If you need complete trail, off-highway roads, and other detail normally found on Topo maps - you'll need to keep looking.
|
Summary:
Buyer Beware
|
Comment:
The map itself is adequate assuming you plan to use it only in your device. Imagine my shock after dropping $100 that you cannot import this map from the device into the Mapsource software on your PC (as mentioned in the review below). Is this due to technical limitations? Liscensing limitations? I searched the web for reasons and possible solutions or work-arounds as I really wanted to use this map in Mapsource to plan hikes, but to no avail.
Fair warning to Garmin: Google maps/Earth is getting better everyday and is inevitably going to eclipse your efforts in short order. And it's user-friendly AND free.
|
Summary:
US 24K in the Sierra Nevadas
|
Comment:
The Topo US 24K map is a perfect match for the Garmin GPSMAP 76CSX Handheld GPS with Barometric Altimeter and Electronic Compass.
This combination gives you all the geographic reference information neccessary to wander the Sierra's with confidence. Amazon and UPS also delivered the product on time.
|
Summary:
Proper routing, poor topo-details
|
Comment:
I received these topo-maps about two weeks ago and used them for road navigation (car) and trail navigation (MTB) so far on an etrex Vista HCx. My overall impression is mixed I have to admit.
From the start:
Installation is nice and easy, just pop in the micro-SD, power up the Garmin and the gadget will do the rest. In less than 5 minutes the map-set is completely configured and ready to go. I like this much better than the hassle with the DVD and transfer via USB cable which takes aeons. I made a backup of the SD card, yet I don't know if this will work the reverse way if I have to restore the SD. I recently read that this might cause problems but I don't have any experience with this.
Using it on the road it works well, fast calculation, precise directions. But this is definitely not what I bought it for.
So I took it to Lake Chabot (Anthony Chabot Regional Park) and... I was lost. Not a single one of the trails going round the lake was indicated. I rode into the golf course trying to get through somewhere, had to go back. Next through a nearby village, again, no trail indicated. Asked a resident and she told me where to get back on the trail. Fine. At least I was able to use the compass with the map to get back to my starting point. All in all: disappointing.
One week later up to Mission Peak. This time I was smarter and took a map of the Regional Preserve with me. And again, none of the trails indicated on the Garmin. Without the map I would have probably again been lost. Garmin and the map together worked well, but honestly saying the map alone would have been sufficient.
There are however some trails correctly indicated in parks and preserves which I can tell because I rode them earlier. But you'll better make sure that trails are displayed on the Garmin BEFORE you go there. Otherwise take a paper map with you. Well, I know you should always do this when hiking in the mountains where no official trails exist. But for park trails??
A downside of the SD card: you cannot use it on your PC for route planning, track or waypoint readout or whatever unless you have another map set on CD with the MapSource-SW. Think you can download MapSource from the Garmin homepage and activate it with the code of the SD-based maps? No way! Aaaaargh!!!
Summary: If you need a supplement of topo-maps when you already own MapSource it is probably alright because you can easily check on your PC and plan your trip before hitting the trail. Or you can check if there is any trail indicated at all. For the actual price it is still alright, but always make sure you have a paper-made backup with you if you are not 100 % sure that you can rely on the etrex.
|
|