Sofware Question

[Roadhouse]

So last summer I bought a Garmin GPSmap 76CSx. It only has the basic maps in it....just major highways. I want to get software that will at all roads, trails, lakes, rivers. So its like a Michigan Gazetteer(sp?) What software to I need?

Is City Navigator what I want? Will the have all rivers, lakes and backroads also?

thanks

[0llllll0]

If you want rivers to show you will need some type of Topo map, like Garmin "TOPO U.S. 2008" for ~$116(see info below). I had the older version but it didn't have rivers, now I have the 08 version and it has the best maps I've ever used.

Ken

http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/topous.jsp


Info from Garmin's website
We’ve mapped every hill and valley. Download data from the MapSource® TOPO U.S. 2008 DVD directly to your compatible Garmin GPS. Now you can enjoy topographic mapping detail no matter where your adventures take you.

TOPO U.S. 2008 features digital topographic maps for the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. It is available in two different formats making it easy and convenient to load data to your compatible Garmin device: MapSource® DVD and preprogrammed micro SD data cards.

Features include:

Digital topographic maps, comparable to 1:100,000 scale USGS maps

Terrain contours, topo elevations
Summit locations with elevation
Trails and rural roads; city neighborhood roads
Interstates & major highways
National, state, local parks, forests, and wilderness areas
Coastline, lake and river shoreline; wetlands; perennial and seasonal streams
Searchable database of cities, geographic names, summits, lakes and more
Elevation profile on PC and compatible units; estimate terrain difficulty
Allows you to plan your next outdoor adventure on your PC and download routes, waypoints and map detail to your compatible Garmin GPS
Includes lakes, reservoirs, waterways, rivers and streams with icons to represent boat ramps, dams, campgrounds and trails

[Roadhouse]

Thanks Ken.

[victorymike]

If your 76CS is your only GPS: For a first mapset to purchase I always recommend the City Navigator maps. They will be more useful to you, all around. They have the detailed street level mapping and autorouting with addresses, gas stations, hotels, restaurants, shopping, auto-shops, etc, etc, etc, etc... From my extensive use of both it and the Topo maps I'd say that it shows 99% of the same roads that Topo does. But not as many bodies of water (creeks, rivers, streams, and even some small lakes).

For a second mapset to purchase (or if you have one GPS for autorouting and one for hiking) I'd recommend the Topo maps. They show detailed roads and terrains features. But no addresses. No gas stations. No autorouting. Nothing else.

You can load both mapsets into your 76CS together, but there is a heirarchy to them. CN takes 1st priority. You have the ability to easily disable CN and enable Topo, should you load both.

I have the GPSMAP76C and love it. I have City Select v7.0 (they have since archived CS in favor of CN) AND Topo v3.02 loaded into it for all of Michigan, parts of Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and Canada. 99% of the time I use CS (and I guess that you would use CN 99% of the time). There have been rare (let me stress "rare") occassions when I switched to Topo while driving when no roads were displayed on the GPS. The Topo maps have been helpful for hiking sometimes...but I still mainly stick with the CS maps.

I just upgraded to the Colorado 400t. It's main maps are an upgraded version of Topo 2008. And those Topo maps are awesome. I added a 2GB SD card to it and loaded my CS maps to it to allow for autorouting (since the CS mapset upload was free for me). Since I have multiple GPSs now I leave the 400t set to Topo maps. I use my Garmin Zumo 550 to navigate on my motorcycle and in my Jeep (because I have mounts and power cables for that GPS on those vehicles...and because that Zumo is the autoroute master of all GPSs)...and my 76C to autoroute in my truck (because I have it's auto mount and power cable in there). When I exit whatever I am driving I use my Colorado. I don't have an auto mount for the 400t...and I don't intend to get one.