Bushwalk Australia

Hi all,
I have a GPS (Garmin Etrex Vista Hcx) and need mapping for it. TOPO maps are really expensive and wondering if anyone has experience with online downloads. Heaps of American download sites that require a small sign up fee (and Torrents, whatever that might be as such). Has anyone ever done this with any of the sites and what are your experiences?
Cheers
Maarten

Maarten,

The retail maps for the Garmin cost dollars because there is an investment in the mapping that requires a financial return by it's legal owners. I'm sure that the cost can be circumvented by downloading the maps via torrent, but rather than tread on the edge of legality, can I offer you some alternatives that will provide quite good mapping at little or no cost that is still legal and within copyright restrictions to load on you GPS?

Shonkymaps Geoscience Australia 1:250k map converted to Garmin format by a dedicated member of the public.

Contours Australia 5m Contour map overlay for your Garmin, generated from the SRTM (US Shuttle collected data) by another dedicated member of the public.

Open Street Map Australia OpenStreetMap road and trail mapping for your Garmin, collected by hundreds of amateur mappers and the Garmin conversion performed by yet another dedicated member of the public.

Once you are familiar with these maps you may well find that they suit your needs and in some cases outperform the commercial offerings. I have a VistaHCX myself and have never used any mapping but these on it, with great results.

Hi

Um? Fell for the charms of an Garmin Oregon 700 GPS last year and went as far as laying down my credit card but the Garmin Maps despite appearing on the computer as in stock were not there at around $229. That is when I found out that the maps are locked to a GPS This meant if I lost the GPS I lost the maps as well even if they were sitting in the draw at home I questioned why I should have to buy the maps again if the unit failed outside warranty and the sales person suggested that Garmin might offer a discount but he had not heard of anyone getting it as normally sold to businesses that buy the maps again with the new unit. A overwhelming sense of moral outrage came over me an I thanked the sales person for their honesty and took back my credit card.

Given that I have had a Garmin GPS fail, a few days out of warranty, it does rather irk me that you lose not only the unit but then to add to the insult you lose the maps. Not happy Jan.

Cheers Brett

Brett,

Most Garmin Maps come in 2 forms: SD Card or CD.

My understanding is that the CD map version is locked to the GPS they are first loaded on, whereas the SD Card version is locked to the memory card and can be switched between compatible GPS's at will. The CD has an advantage in that you can load the maps on both your computer and the one Garmin. (it used to be two Garmins, but I think they changed the rules because people were selling the second unlock on ebay)

So if you bought SD Maps and they were in your drawer at home while you lost your GPS, they would be fine with the replacement Garmin.

This stuff is really best sorted by having adequate insurance, because whatever component you lose it's all expensive and painful.

photohiker wrote:Brett,

Most Garmin Maps come in 2 forms: SD Card or CD.

My understanding is that the CD map version is locked to the GPS they are first loaded on, whereas the SD Card version is locked to the memory card and can be switched between compatible GPS's at will. The CD has an advantage in that you can load the maps on both your computer and the one Garmin. (it used to be two Garmins, but I think they changed the rules because people were selling the second unlock on ebay)

So if you bought SD Maps and they were in your drawer at home while you lost your GPS, they would be fine with the replacement Garmin.

This stuff is really best sorted by having adequate insurance, because whatever component you lose it's all expensive and painful.

Hi Michael

Does not the SD card have to be in the unit? And also can only be unlocked from the unit assuming the unit is still alive or at hand? As for insurance I tend not to bother but maybe I should though. It just annoys me unbelievably that Garmin can sell a unit, have it fail just outside warranty (and yes they hold by that rule as I found out) and then you lose the maps as well all so Garmin can "avoid" easy piracy. My thought was at the time, well the polite version, was I am not going to succumb to such disregard so they can take their unit and navigate in some dark place

If Garmin bothered to look around there appears to be minimal sales of what should be a great unit. Well maybe greed is not so good after all as I am still looking hard at one of the ruggedised IPAQ type units even though I think that the Garmin is close to ideal for me given the level of technology around. About had it with the technology industry's love of using propriety standards to rip off their customers and while I accept piracy is bad I adopt the old Chaos Manor approach from Byte, if it is copy protected then look for an alternative as if they do not trust you to do the right thing then you should not trust them to do the right thing.

Cheers Brett

Brett wrote:Does not the SD card have to be in the unit? And also can only be unlocked from the unit assuming the unit is still alive or at hand?

You might have several SD Cards (eg. You might have Topo and Road) You would definitely lose the one that was with the unit when it was lost.

Like I said. If you bought them as SD Cards, they are locked to the Card, not the GPS. If you bought them as CD's they are locked to the GPS.

I agree that Garmin's approach could be (and should be) a whole lot better. They could for instance offer backup facilities where you can retrieve your maps if they get lost or damaged. and they should allow you to transfer maps between units regardless. This has always been something that irked me about Garmin. It's one of the reasons I haven't bought any Garmin Maps, which is also the reason I know what free maps are available.

photohiker wrote:I agree that Garmin's approach could be (and should be) a whole lot better. They could for instance offer backup facilities where you can retrieve your maps if they get lost or damaged. and they should allow you to transfer maps between units regardless. This has always been something that irked me about Garmin. It's one of the reasons I haven't bought any Garmin Maps, which is also the reason I know what free maps are available.

Hi Michael

Glad I am not the only one that feels that way and hopefully Garmin will get the message. Probably the most annoying thing is my local pirate has probably got the maps already hack and ready to go Many years once brought for work a authorised version of some software product but then installed the cracked version of the software as it was easier to install and backup and restore. This is the only thing between the unit and my credit card (actually debit card). Almost made up my mind that it is a mater of principle and tempted to haunt ebay for a cheap waterproof GPS that runs on AA batteries now I have got a nice map waterproof pocket that can hold the complete map without having to lose the grid reference with the folding process so this overcomes the issue of having to take the map out of its protective covering to see the references.

Cheers Brett