Which Topos do you recommend?

[barlowrs]

Hey guys, my new Garmin 60 CSx just showed up and I need to get some maps on it.

Can you guys give me input on the following three sources. If you haver used tham all, please tell me pros and cons of each:

1. Topos from http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps: FREE, but are they still good?

2. TOPO U.S. 100K from Garmin site: NOT free (worth the money?)

3. TOPO U.S. 24K from Garmin Site: NOT free (worth the money?)

Thanks!

(P.S. I am mainly looking for south west region, though I will eventually expand my horizons more)

 

[Abel Villesca]

I can only comment on the gpsfiledepot.com topos and the Garmin US topo 100K. The Garmin 100K topos are OK, but they lack the detail I require for many of my off-road journeys. They came pre-loaded on my Garmin Oregon and I use them in the back ground with City Navigator to provide a little topo relief to my highway travels and to identify geographic features along my route.

The gpsfiledepot topos are very nice and highly detailed. I use them when I'm off-road and their detail is impressive, often identifying geographic points, historic points, ruins and mines that I can't find on the Garmin 100K maps. The downside is that they don't provide routing information for your GPS. A work around is to load both Garmin City Navigator and the gpsfiledepot maps. With both map sets selected, plan your route. Once the route is mapped on the GPS, de-select the City Navigator maps and the route will be over-laid on the gpsfiledepot topos.

Hope this helps.

 

[ashooter]

I don't have anything to compare them to since I just bought my first GPS (a Garmin Nuvi 1450), but the gpsfiledepot maps seem pretty good to me.

Only complaints I'd have is that there are some terrain features (like railroad tracks) that don't show on the screen, and the topo lines are so thick they blend into a big brown blob when you're zoomed out far enough to see maybe 1/2 sq mile on the screen. Once you zoom in a little tighter, all is good. I'd say they're about 95% as good as having a USGS 7.5 minute quad with your truck moving around on it in real time.

 

[Desert Dan]

Give me a paper USGS 7.5 Minute Topo Quad and a compass any day

 

[barlowrs]

Give me a paper USGS 7.5 Minute Topo Quad and a compass any day

haha I agree to that..I LOVE paper maps, but a gps is a lot more convenient these days (though I still pack paper maps as multiple compasses just in case)