Garmin MapSource CD ROM (USA TOPO)

Mapsource's topo maps have few contour lines and omit many dirt roads, small lakes, and many other details. Most importantly, Township, range and section lines are omitted. In it's favor, Mapsource is easy to use. And the price is good: The entire U.S. for $100.

I later obtained MapTech's Terrain Navigator software, and it works much better for me. The details are almost as complete as USGS topo maps. Township, range and section lines are included, as are complete contour lines and even some abandoned, bermed roads (on public land). MapTech is not, however, as intuitive as Mapsource. And MapTech costs much more in relation to the area covered: I paid for one small part of our state.

So if you want maps for the whole U.S. and don't necessarily need details, get Mapsource. If you want USGS-quality maps with excellent detail, look at others, including MapTech.


I agree... the detail is lacking   April 11, 2001
 60 out of 60 found this review helpful

I bought this product for hikes and to guide me in navigating rivers. Only very major roads are named so I can't use this very easily to calculate my route there. Most roads are there but they just vanish at some points and reappear in others. Using a real topo map it is immediately obvious that these same roads do not dissapear and in fact continue on their course uninteruppted like a road should. The elevations and detail are very course. No trails are shown. I am not very happy I bought this product and am going to look into the roads and recreation to see if it does a better job. FYI I bought this to use with my Etrex Legend which I think is just great.


Where's the beef?   January 2, 2001
 85 out of 89 found this review helpful

I recently got an eTrex Summit GPS and bought this software in order to download the trips I take into a printable format as well as to plan hikes before starting out on them. The bottom line is that this 3 CD-ROM set doesn't contain nearly enough information to do that. I took a 4 mile hike this weekend near San Francisco, and downloaded it to the software. It does show the track that we walked, but the topographic information from this software is so coarse that you can't tell that we went up and down, gaining some 500 feet in elevation since the contour lines are so far apart on the map generated. Furthermore, the road into the park wasn't drawn correctly, the ranger station and other services weren't marked and so on. In short, the maps provided won't allow you to plan a hike, which was the point in the first place right?


Very accurate maps for your garmin GPS   November 13, 2000
 18 out of 34 found this review helpful

These maps contain a good amount of detail within the confines of existing technology. The maps include dirt roads, hiking trails, streams, waypoint, and of course elevation changes. These maps cover the entire US and are used in conjunction with Garmin GPS units. I would recomend this software to anyone with a Garmin GPS who wants to camp or hike with their GPS as a navigation tool. However, be aware they will not be accurate enough in many situations and you probably want to have a secondary navigation tool available to you.

My experience with the unit has primarily been driving through forest areas, and short hiking and camping outings.