Garmin GPS with Free Topo Maps

[woody-wood]

Just thought I would let everyone know that Garmin have a special on at the moment.

Purchase a GPS and recieve a free SD card with Aus and NZ Topo Maps for free. This deal runs between 1st August and 31st October 2012 and applies to the following models:
Etrex 20
Etrex 30
Dakota 20
Oregon 450
Oregon 550
GPSMAP 62S
GPSMAP 62SC
GPSMAP 78
GPSMAP 78S
GPSMAP 78SC

The SD card is by redemption via registering and emailing reciept and card sent by mail.

I am not associated with this product or retail, but have been thinking of buying one myself.

[adzza]

Great find

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[1iron]

Guess who bought an Etrex 20 two weeks too early, ah well thems the breaks.

[tastrax]

Guess who bought an Etrex 20 two weeks too early, ah well thems the breaks.

I would go back to your supplier - they might honour the deal (the deal has been running since 1st August)

Here is a link for those looking for the deal

http://www.ja-gps.com.au/promos/garmin- ... -2012.aspx

[DebFar]

this is great to read about this deal...i'm just now looking at the Garmin GPSMAP 62s or the Magellan eXplorist 610...i'm now leaning to the Garmin........thanx Woody

[WarrenH]

this is great to read about this deal...i'm just now looking at the Garmin GPSMAP 62s or the Magellan eXplorist 610...i'm now leaning to the Garmin........thanx Woody

Just something to note; the Garmin redemption is for OzTopo V3 maps for Oz and Nu Zild.

V4 is already out, and has been out for while. V3 owners who have purchased V3 in the past can update to the V4 topos for $99 plus $12 registered mail postage. Whether this is allowed under the redemption, this affordable(?) update to V4, I'm still waiting to find out.

On OzTopo's site there is a demo of V4 which looks very good, still with some issues of course, which have been commented on the OzTopo's Forum. If V4 has overcome the major problems that V3 has, sections missing, white outs particularly here in the ACT and tributaries of some rivers and creeks running into no where at all, with substantial rivers missing, V4 could be very good.

In the ACT, John at Watts Communications is the Garmin go-to guy.

I hope this helps.

Warren.

PS, I love my Garmin GPSMap 62s. It is long and heavy, but a rugged machine. It was a shock at first, having switched from Magellan to Garmin, where pressing Magellan buttons makes logical sense, always. Things were awkward with the Garmin interface at first and not at all intuitive to use ... but now I've come to grips with Garmin's sillyness (I've forgiven them) and now know what has been oddly put in PAGE, in MENU or in ENTER (menus in ENTER? OK), it really is a top toy and well worth the dosh. I like how the 'Back Light' works and the Daylight Screen does work and I hope that one day, I'll be in a position to use the 'Point-n-Goto' function ... WOW! The way the compass works (after being calibrated) in infinite orientations, is just the bee's knees.

[tastrax]

Just something to note; the Garmin redemption is for OzTopo V3 maps for Oz and Nu Zild.

Not sure that is correct - they are two very different products and the one for redemption is the GARMIN Topo not the OZTOPO

http://www.ja-gps.com.au/promos/free-topo-2012.pdf

OZTOPO is produced by a competitor, GPSOZ - http://www.gpsoz.com.au/ and personally I prefer the Oztopo product but would willingly take the Garmin product as a freebie

Mmmm - maybe there is more than one offer out there?

[WarrenH]

Not sure that is correct - they are two very different products and the one for redemption is the GARMIN Topo not the OZTOPO

I'm sure you're right. Both Map sets are $229 for Garmin GPS. Thank you for clearing that up.

Warren.

[DebFar]

there is only the one offer and its this one http://www.ja-gps.com.au/promos/free-topo-2012.pdf
OZTOPO and Aust+NZ Topo, totally different animals

the free offer for the AUST+NZ TOPO comes as a redemption and its pre-loaded onto a SD card, what I want to know, is this going to be a pain if i want to add my OWN SD card?..and how much room is left on this pre loaded card, guessing on board mem will take what I load into the GPS

I have now done my home work and resolved to the purchase of the Garmin GPSMap 62s, now I just have to FIND!!! who has the best deal and IS offering this same "FREE MAP" deal, any heads up on this be great, i'm located in the Illawarra.

Debs

PS i'm a bit of a newbie on the handheld/topsmaps GPS units...i do have a Garmin Nuvi for the car so not a total dope LOL, just now looking for a hand held with BETTER topo maps for hiking and geocaching

[Ent]

Hi

Glad that you have figured out the map issue. Garmin is rather, well, Garmin (read deliberately vague), on their maps. Also very good at not helping independent developers of maps such as not even providing the OSM community specifications of their file structure in an attempt to frustrate users into buying their maps. They have the typical arrogance of wanting to flog what they want, at a price that they want, rather than providing what a customer needs. The big issue with Garmin maps is the extremely poor marked walking tracks. I have the Garmin Maps which are better than 1:25,000 for water ways but do not even have the Overland Track marked!!!!!!!!!!! Also well and truly feed up of the "reminders" to update. Thanks Mr Garmin, you conned me once but not again. I am not familiar with the so called 1:100,000 maps that are free at the moment but would be rather wary on assuming anything about them.

When bushwalking in the field the 1:100,000 printed maps are barely adequate with most people using the 1:25,000 maps. It is my guess that a serious walker will quickly become disenchanted with them. Still, they are better than none, and if free, handy to have. As for the SD card issue I can not comment as I went for the DVD. With the DVD you can load the maps onto a computer and then on to you own SD card. The maps need to be locked to the GPS so you are forced to go online to do this. Yet again a typical Garmin, "I do not give a hoot how miserable I make my customer's life" approach. My understanding is the maps are locked to the SD card so you will be stuck with what Garmin's arrogance decides you deserve re the size of the card. The frustrating thing is the 62S will handle 16 GB Mico SD cards so you have all the space you could want. Though one warning, When maps are loaded into the internal memory on my 62S they load up quickly but on the SD card there is a noticeable delay.

The big issue with Garmin is actually getting information on what you are getting. Also Garmin support varies from terrible to non existent with "standard" canned answers such as "reset the unit" or upload the latest firmware. It took a concerted and rather robust effort of Garmin Edge 305 users to get Garmin to fix a long standing driver issue that Garmin had blamed on everything possible. One user loaded up Windows on I think on six PCs from scratch to prove that the driver issue was Garmins not a hardware/software conflict Garmin claimed.

Sorry if I am a bit negative on Garmin but they probably produce the best hand held GPS for the price but are typically arrogant. I have the 62S and nothing can beat it for battery life, reception and accuracy. As for the user interface, well have fun. I have just ordered a Garmin Fenix and use the Edge 305 for my bicycles so have a fair bit of experience with Garmin. Also active member of the Open Street Map movement producing free maps. On that movement Garmin hardware is well regarded but not much love is expressed for them as a company. Me thinks that Garmin has some of the best hardware geeks on the payroll possible but then has some rather dubious marketing types.

One pleasing thing is Garmin's Australian pricing is slowly matching USA pricing so buying in Australia is not nearly as expensive as it use to be.

Cheers

[Miyata610]

Garmin have an "interactive" display facility on their website to browse this map data.

I just zoomed in to the dove lake area.

Ent is right, it's junk.

[DebFar]

Ive read soo many good and bad points for the Garmin 62s and for its maps, but Ive ready same issue with other brands as well, no one unit or maps is going to be 5star......for the price the 62s was a bargain and it was price matched at the store I got it from when told how low it was on an aus web site. I think with me i'll check out the AUS/nz topo when it arrives after all it was free, think with me i'll be doing my own custom maps in advance for what I need ie tracks and rivers for Kayaking etc.

thanks for your input "ent" agree with all your words, but after all, like others have said for the money and the hardware you get I couldn't pass up the 62s
with the pre-loaded map on the SD card, i'll be checking it out for sure, if its a load of crud i'll ditch it and get a 16GB SD.

[Ent]

Hi

You will have a brilliant piece of hardware and with the 62s more than enough space in the memory of the unit to store and play with other maps so no real need to ditch the micro SD card. I would check out all the free options such as Shonky, OSM, Contour Australia, and Trackmaster. Just be prepared for a memory exercise in "where was that option and how do I do that again".

Cheers

[DebFar]

free options I have checked so far are:..Shonky & OSM, will check Contour Australia, and Trackmaster and bookmark them. You will laugh, i'm a bit brain dead now, been researching and getting my head around the 62s and mapping most of the day, in dire need of a strong coffee or a nanna nap ....my "memory exercise" has already crashed, i'm off to re boot

[woody-wood]

I ended up buying an Etrex 20 yesterday.

The Garmin redemption site states that the free Topo SD card may take 4 weeks to arrive in your mail box. I will be interested to see how much detail is on this map pack and whether it is useful for my needs. I might need to ask a few questions later on how to customise maps.

I like paper maps but realise there is a need for electronic maps and accurate location points when walking in inclement weather.

[DebFar]

yes Woody i'm on the 4 week wait as well for the card. While your on the wait do you have BaseCamp installed? Ive had it a while now .......also I think i'll have a start at loading map overlays for the areas i need with google earth....do a search on youtube for map overlays and google earth for garmin, some good instructions there.

I think a combo of paper mapping and the GPS is the way to go......you get an area with rich iron content I hear GPS compass can do some odd things.

[DebFar]

Hi

Just be prepared for a memory exercise in "where was that option and how do I do that again".

Cheers

grrr crumble groan...no kidding

[Ent]

Hi

On the compass issue experienced strange things on the weekend. I have found setting the track up option works the best for me but then all of a sudden it swung a 180 on me. Temper tantrum later no great result. Tried re-calibrating the compass but that then failed with error. Friend then re-calibrated the compass but still weird result.

Finally, in frustration after trying numerous menu options with the pack off re-calibrated the compass and it worked! Continued to work until I got to a hut then swung 180 degrees! Repeated failure to re-calibrate and then with the GPS at arms length it worked.

Appears that my array of electronic gadgets is mucking up the compass of the Garmin 62s so swinging the track up 180 degrees. Curious is the compass actually appears to point on the correct direction.

Must admit I have lost complete faith in electronic compasses as they are temperamental things. Do not like cars and have to be re-calibrated almost constantly. My old Brunton has never had an issue.

Cheers

[Overlandman]

Lang Hancock had trouble with his compass swinging, is there any iron ore about where you are walking?

I have been reading the forums on gps's so I can upgrade my garmin gecko 201, even with the latest free maps I think I will wait a bit longer.
Regards Overlandman

[Ent]

Hi

Maybe Lees Paddocks can be a new mine! Actually, I am a bit surprised that the Garmin 62s uses the compass for the track up as more than a few models have this feature without having a compass.

On the weekend had s chance again to try out my pet free map project and compare it against Tasmap's efforts. We were running a Garmin 62s, iPjhone in a Lifeproof case, and an Asus 7" tablet. If was wet with wet snow. The iPhone in the case stood up well. The Garmin as expected stood the conditions well but the 180 turn around drove me mad. The Nexus was a mixture of a great screen, remarkably good battery life but not a happy camper in the case by fogging up and the touch screen being indifferent.

Frankly Tasmap's efforts on track location is indifferent. Vastly better results can be achieved by OSM.

As for recommending a GPS I am stuffed. Best suggestion if you have an iPhone then a Lifeproof case plus a decent app (not found one yet) and Tasmap would be the go but you will need plenty of battery packs.

Cheers

[DebFar]

My "free" Aus/NZ topo from garmin arrived today, 12 working days after registering for it on-line, told up-to 4 weeks wait so a bit of a thumbs up for delivery...will be checking it out this weekend.

I DID finally get my head around the 'bulk" info regards to my 62s....YES its a mine field but very happy with my purchase, have done several track logs, hiking to waypoints and Geocaching etc etc and its been spot on...no issues with the compass "YET" so still on a good wait see with this. Have been in the making my own maps mode..thanks "Ent" for the heads up to OSM, Contour Australia. Been a big user of Google Earth, now its even more amazing to what it can do with map/track making. Other mention is Basecamp, becoming a wizz with this, editing and refining tracks is pretty cool.

[Ent]

Hi DebFar

Great report and top job on your progress. The Garmin 62s can be a little monster to use but the results it achieves are excellent. The compass issue with mine appears related to interference from other gadgets I carry and the magnetic that clips that they use. It appears that the Garmin 62s trackup uses the compass to work out the track up rather than the GPS direction of travel that its cheaper siblings without compasses do.

OSM is brilliant tool for map making and still need to get my act together and roll my own maps. The OSM Australia bike map IMG is the best at the moment as it holds peaks at a high level but you still need to zoom in to 300 metre to see the tracks. I believe you can set the foot=designated tracks to show up at a higher level of zoom using the make Garmin map tool. Just it is a bit of a learning curve to do. Much easier just to copy the IMG file for Tassie to the device from OSM Australia.

Only thing I have found is when tracking along tracks the distance to go is unreliable. This uses the automotive mode so I am curious if the same effect happens when using it as a car navigation tool. But then a kilometre or two change in a car is not as noticeable as by foot. It also could be that the developers had to reverse engineer Garmin's file structure as Garmin is not into open platforms, much rather flog its canned maps.

With a bit of effort a lot of data such as tracks, lakes and peaks can be added to OSM so some very useful maps can be produced. I have been working on the Mount Ironstone - Lake McKenzie area at the moment. In fact the active OSM community is quite small but have achieve a great deal, mainly with roads though they have a strong bicycle community that is trying to decipher the various councils' bike routes.

Cheers

[Tortoise]

My "free" Aus/NZ topo from garmin arrived today, 12 working days after registering for it on-line, told up-to 4 weeks wait so a bit of a thumbs up for delivery...will be checking it out this weekend.

Hey DebFar,

Wondering what you think of the maps having checked them out. Any comments?

Cheers

[DebFar]

Wondering what you think of the maps having checked them out. Any comments?

The Aus/NZ topo is not too bad ......and going "FREE" with my GPS was an added advantage to the purchase. For the going retail price of around $299 for the AUS/NZ topo.... I would not have bought the topo on its own merit, value for money, don't think its worth it...not when you can make your own maps and upload them to your GPS unit. (Thanks again 'Ent' for some guidance). Put it this way if you get a new GPS unit now and still has the redemption for this free Aus/Nz topo, its value. Most fire trails and "some" tracks are marked for my local but there are many that are not...but i'm glad there NOT as well, less day tripper LOL Its still a short time that I have had it in use now, with the warmer weather ie more hiking and Kayaking will see more how it goes... In a nut shell because it was free its not bad but id not purchase it for its going retail price.

[Ent]

Hi

Great report back. I agree that for full price the maps are way overpriced but for free they do make the mapping function workable. I paid the full price for the 1:25,000 maps and they are hopeless for any track information. At say $50 might be ok for a starter. Garmin is just too greedy and the free offer suggests that they know this.

Good to read that you are progressing well with making your own maps. The top thing with OSM is your efforts then become part of the community knowledge base. It does not take too many active mappers to produce some very useful maps.

Any Tassie walkers might like check out the Walls area and Mount Ironstone to see what can be done in short time.

Cheers

[Tortoise]

Check the fine print on the Garmin map promo - doesn't apply if you buy it ...umm forget the details... maybe on Ebay if auction, and there was another exclusion. Glad i bought my Etrex 30 in a shop in the end

[WarrenH]

Wondering what you think of the maps having checked them out. Any comments?

I think that Garmin's Oz Topo is atrocious for SE Australia, after giving it a bit of a test run.

Where do I start?

For the Northern Australian Alps in particular, insignificant hills are labeled while the most significant mountains aren't even named. When I change the setting from minimum detail to most detail, or maximum rendering to minimum rendering nothing changes within the non-existent important details on the topos.

The childish symbols are pathetic. The symbol for a mountain's summit is not only irritating and can't be removed (?) but is also placed willy-nilly. Big mountains like Bimberi, Morgan, Murray and Franklin and even Tennent aren't labeled or have a childish symbol, while insignificant hills like, Rose, Snowgum, Deadmans and Poppet are well identified and given the status of dominant peaks.

No structures (eg huts, mill, tanks or bores) are indicated but every disused and overgrown quarry in the region is brightly blazed. Nor are property names included or forest types identified. A sterile pine plantation has the same status as a prime forest.

Nothing changes when I change the Activity Profile, from one activity to another. There are a lot of activity profiles. For example the Activity Profile for 'walking' is exactly the same for driving and diving. Walking or Hiking doesn't show walking tracks, like the Australian Alps Walking Track, but shows a couple of unconnected sections of the Hume and Hovell walking Track. The Bicentennial National Trail, the odd section should be included somewhere possibly in Horse Riding?

West of the ACT Border, not one mountain is labeled in the Bogong Wilderness, the Gooberagandra or Bobbys Plains Wilderness or on the SW Slopes of New South Wales. In fact no mountains are labeled well past Wagga Wagga in the Riverena.

In Kosciuszko National Park only a handful of summits (6) are identified and the Strumbo Range and the Grey Mare Range are there. But if the Geehi River rises another 10 metres, the Grey Mare Range will disappear. Mount Jagungal is incognito as usual, due possibly to low cloud.

Some of the passes are dodgy on the western ACT border with Kosciuszko but most traditional passes are missing (at first glance).

In the Bramina Wilderness, some of the mountain ranges are incorrectly labeled or labeled once at the furthest end of a range and again no mountains are identified ... but I guess, why label a mountain or a mountain range when you can label and name dozens-upon-dozens of disused and overgrown quarries? Someone at Garmin obviously has a quarry fetish (this is not a joke). What is it about quarries that's obviously going over my head?

Also the key that indicates the features on paper topos has not been included, because there are no details to identify anyway. This is certainly not a map set that is an accurate stand alone navigational aid for sophisticated hand held GPS units (unless basic GPS road maps are your thing of course and you're into quarries) ... it will certainly pay to take a real map with you in the back country.

I'm so glad that I didn't pay for this Garmin topo. Being a freebie was good because it is very ordinary map set, indeed. For cycle touring and Mountain Biking on back country roads and along unnamed fire trails (which should all be named, they all have names on real maps) it looks adequate ... and the reason why I'll stick with it until it becomes too frustrating to use ... which could be any day now!

I don't think that I'll transfer my paper topos in the wilder regions of the Alps and Great Divide to the GPS, having the big picture with details is important.

True-blue Aussies call every second Aussie we meet, MATE. Well MATES, Garmin has copied our lazy vocabulary and calls every second fire trail in this neck of the bush, PATH .

I hope your region/s fared better.

Warren.

Last edited by WarrenH on Tue 09 Oct, 2012 9:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Ent]

Hi WarrenH

Welcome to Garmin mapping world. What you describe is rather typical. Garmin maps are optimized for road navigation so feature heavily on roads. Also the source of of the data can govern what gets displayed. The lovefeast with quarries suggests maybe mines might have been the driving source behind the data. Frankly would not get excited over mountains as you might find that they are not even in the right place and not even with the right name. Garmin flogging the maps for bushwalkers is rather second rate but this sadly is USA and nowadays "modern" marketing, on give the good and not the bad.

You do have the option of OSM maps which is on another thread. These are community developed maps so every day they get a little bit better but are rather scare in detail in many areas. Helps if you have a made keen mapper and walker in your area.

As for other maps most suffer from sharing the same data source so may often not be better. A common approach appears to be to raid tracks from around the place and incorporate these tracks into the maps. Better than nothing but honestly more than a few are suspect but if "free" or cheap enough then good enough for general wandering around as long as you do not get too excited with accuracy.

Cheers.

[gpsoz]

Wondering what you think of the maps having checked them out. Any comments?

I think that Garmin's Oz Topo is atrocious for SE Australia, after giving it a bit of a test run.

Warren.

Warren,

Can I ask that you clarifying your posting by specifying its eiterh
Garmin'S Topo Australia
or
GPSOZ's OZtopo ?

They are vastly different

Brian
GPSOZ