Just curious - what mapping program/software/chip do you all have for your Garmin 60CSx?

I'm going to pick one up tonight after work, but I'm not sure which mapping program to get...

Thanks in advance for helping!!

Personally, I'd stick with the Garmin MapSource program. I have yet to find something that I like better. Thats not to mean that I'm entirely happy with the application -- it could be better, but everything else I've seen was worse.

You must have picked up your Garmin second-hand. I was under the impression that the software game with the GPS?

I guess I should see how it comes standard before I go buying extras. I just want to make sure it has detailed side streets, etc... on it so I can use it to navigate on the roads, not only caching.

Nope, it's not second-hand unit. Picking it up at a retail store today.

Maybe I can add some information to this.

Garmins with map capability come preloaded with a base map program that has major Highways but not street detail. The basic preloaded programs do not do autorouting or turn by turn directions.

For detail down to the street level and turn by turn directions you have to buy one of their other map programs.

MapSource is the trade name of all Garmin map programs. Example
MapSource Topo, MapSource City Select, MapSource City Navigator, etc.

I have all four map programs and there are pros and cons with each.

Topo: Has all the topo info but does not have detailed street infomation and does not do turn by turn directions. Great program for the woods by not for using in the city for directions.Garmin programs will not load/run on top of each other. You can not run Topo and Metroguide on your GPS together. You have to pick one or the other as an example.

MetroGuide: Has all the street details and points of interest but only does turn by turn on PC and not GPS. Good program if you do not need autorouting on GPS.

City Select: All street level details has autorouting and turn by turn. Older Garmin product that has be replaced with City Navigator.

City Navigator: Newest Garmin map product = expensive. All all the same features of City Select but with updated information. In addtion it requires more memory to run that City Select. This is not a problem if you have GPS with SD card but is with older GPS.

Summary,

If you spend more time caching in the city and less time in the boonies and have a SD card in your GPS then City Navigator is the best product if cost is not an issue.

To save a little money you can get City Select but remember Garmin is not writing updates for this product.

Thanks so much, Trez!! That is exactly what I was looking for! Very informative! Thanks again!!!

Since Trez 1UP'd me..

I have a Garmin GPS V. It came with Mapsource City Select 6.0.

Although still outdated, it still gets me around Georgia and metro areas without any problems. The roads are rarely different. The points-of-interest are usually still correct. As far as that is concerned, its worked well enough that I haven't considered buying a new product to replace it.

A Garmin 60CSx is on my "to-buy" list for Q1 of next year. If it comes with the newest software version of City Select (or even Navigator?), it'll be more than sufficient for me. I guess it depends on what your needs are. I haven't really researched the new Garmin GPS systems to see what they come bundled with.

I've got the CSx with Navigator v8.0. I love the turn by turn stuff, though you have to know when to use your geosense and ignore auto-routing. It can burn you. Still, it has only sent me wrong a few times and usually when the geocache is way off from a road or near another road, like a neighborhood park. I mostly use auto-routing for address searches anyway. For that it rocks. I put a 1 Gig card in my CSx and have most of the US cities I need plus the entire southeast. On my recent trip from LA to Prescott, AZ and back to Vegas it was smooth sailing. You will love it.

OK, rather than open a new, similar topic I'll reply to this one. Do any of the Garmin map products include FS roads?
Wish I could afford to get both Topo & Navigator, but since this is a gift I can choose only one. And since I'm paperless now I tend not to print the Google Earth images, mostly relying on memory of which FS road to take me to those 'outback' caches.
A little help would be appreciated! TIA

I'm assuming FS = Forest Service roads?

If that's the case, it's pretty much hit-or-miss with the Garmin (MapSource) product. I've found a lot of forest service roads that are and a few that aren't. Perhaps it has to do with the age of the software?

I've discovered that a fair number of the FS roads are in Mapsource - though a great many of them are not shown as FS roads (i.e. "FS 320"). Many of them use "road" names. To make up an example, "FS 611" is "Betty Boop Road".

Since Mapsource doesn't have a "southeast" product, there's not a lot you'll be able to do.

Topo has some of the FS roads, and is what I use. However, you can't beat the reliable $8 paper FS map. It's got 99.8% of them. It's a 'must have'!

Since I moved back to north GA, I have almost always had a paper FS map, long before geocaching. I now have three, one in the house, one in the Truck and one in the van.

quote:

Topo: Has all the topo info but does not have detailed street infomation and does not do turn by turn directions. Great program for the woods by not for using in the city for directions.Garmin programs will not load/run on top of each other. You can not run Topo and Metroguide on your GPS together. You have to pick one or the other as an example.

TREZ this is a true statement that you can not run both at the same time but you can load both and switch back and forth between the two programs. With my new CSX units I run a 1 Gig chip and load most of the East Coast Topo maps and about 1/2 of the US City Navigator Maps and can switch between the two depending on what I am doing. This also works with older units but you are limited with the area you can load. Since I use my GPS units for hunting the Topo section of where I am hunting is always loaded and when I get out of my truck I change to topo. When I first got my CSX unit I carried a Topo and a City Navigator chip but I don't do that now

I finally got around to upgrading the 64mb micro SD card in my Garmin 60CSx. The straw that broke the camels back was visiting Savannah last weekend, trying to find the restaurant we wanted to go to for dinner and finding that the nearest restaurant in the GPS was 100 miles away rather than a block away. The card's limited memory had lead be to leave out a bit of the coast of the state when loading in what would fit of City Navigator V8.

I purchased a 2GB "Partriot" MicroSD card (labeled as being for cell phone use) for $25 at Frys Electronics in Duluth. It works great. I loaded in all of the US and Canada. I accidentally left off one tenny bit of NY state and now wonder if trying to load it would require three or four hours as it reloads everything I loaded originally...

Anyway, I think I've used about 1.6 GB of the 2GB card. Going to Los Angeles next week, so we'll see how it works downtown.

~erik~

Erik, doesn't the 60CSx have a USB port? If so then using it will vastly speed up map loading.

It still takes a buttload of time to load all those maps. I went through it about a month ago and it took a while. Not sure exactly how long, I did other things around the house while it loaded.

I read somewhere(can't remember where) that you can load the maps directly to the SD card without going through the GPS. It is supposed to be much faster that way.
On the setup/interface setup page of my Etrex Venture I can turn the unit into a USB mass storage device but I'm not quite sure if I could then just send the maps to the card? I have a card reader on my computer that could also possibly be used.
Does anyone out there know how to load maps directly to the media?
I'll need to load maps to my new 76CSx that I'll be getting for Christmas and hate the thought of having to wait hours like I did for the Venture.

Well I answered my own question but will post here in case anyone else is interested.
I loaded the complete City Navigator North America, 309 maps which was 1633.8mb with route data directly to my 2gb micro sd card using an SD adapter and the built in card reader on my laptop. Total time was just over 1 hour. That compares to several hours using the USB plug on the GPS.
One thing to remember that will save you time is that you MUST UNLOCK THE MAPS FOR THE GPS YOU WILL BE USING THE CARD IN BEFORE you load the maps to the card. I could not unlock them once loaded to the card so I had to load them again. It still took less time doing it twice than loading thru the GPS though!