Gps

[The Caddis]

Ok, so I went to one of the doorbusters with the wife on Black Friday, more as a self defense against her shopping and wound up buying a handheld GPS unit for myself. Now upon getting home, I learned that I will have to buy maps to load on this thing if I want to see more than interstates and highways. Is this normal? What maps would be best? Any advice would be helpful. The model I bought was a Garmin Etrex Cx.

[Ham]

Some units come with more maps "pre-installed".

The map you buy depends on what you want it to do.

You can buy topo maps on CD and upload selected maps into the GPS unit or marine mas or more detail street maps.

Mine came with some maps on CD and they upload to an SD chip inside the unit IF I ever get around to installing the drivers and breaking out the cable etc.

The only way that unit is going to be useful to you is if you go play with it a bunch.

Garmin makes great products, but you have to develope a skill set to get the most out of the unit.

[Dutch]

I have some gps units and he is exactly right. If you want it to mean anything to you LIVE WITH it. I only go to bed without a gps around. And I still am only fair with one.

[jdmidwest]

Gps is intended as a navigation aid and has its place in the outdoor world, but you will still need a compass and good topo maps for any outdoor adventure. It is electronic and relies on batteries and you could get stuck if it dies or gets damaged.

I have a Magellan 210 with the Mapsend Topo program and National Geographic Back Roads Explorer which will both send maps or waypoints to the gps unit. It works great. The downside is that the maps are a few years old so new streets, ponds, etc. will not show up on the gps. It does show contour lines, water features, county roads, and many other features. This time of year, I turn it on every morning before I go out duck hunting to get the sunrise/sunset info for the legal shooting hours. When I float streams for the first time, I will put the takeouts in so I can keep track of time and not get caught out after dark.