Maps for Garmin Oregon 650?

TommyKnocker

Howdy all

Have just received a Garmin Oregon 650 GPS and at a bit of a loss as to where to find maps for it and what type of maps I should get.

I am interested in learning land navigation, paper map reading and using a compass and the GPS would just be a supplement to this. I am initially sticking to Dublin and out around Howth, Malahide etc until I have an idea of what I am doing and would be interested in maybe doing the mountain skills courses in time.

I purchased a "Birds Eye" raster map from Garmin yesterday evening to to see how to load maps onto the unit, but this map seems to lack detail (i.e. no road names, even on major roads), details just seem very sparse just color lines representing roads etc.

Should I have purchased a topographic map instead? Can I use the "Birds Eye" application to load any maps on to the GPS? Is it possible to turn Google Maps into maps that can be used on the GPS? What is the best scale to have on the GPS maps, 1:25,000 or 1:50,000

If anybody has any links to where I can pick up good maps for my GPS (free or bought) and advice the type of maps I should be using and any other hints or tips for its use it would be very much appreciated.

TIA

Alun

Take a look here ...

http://www.garmin.com/en-IE/maps/outdoor/

You can buy 1:50k topographic maps supplied by OSi there. You have two options, either fork out €169 in one go for all of the Rep. of Ireland, or go for the BirdsEye option and pay €19.99 for up to 600 km^2.

However you say you already paid for and downloaded BirdsEye, and didn't find them satisfactory. AFAIK when you buy the maps they don't get downloaded / installed to your device automatically. You have to connect the device to your PC, fire up BaseCamp and define what area / tiles you want to download first. I seem to recall you get a download code or something like that when you purchase which you have to enter first.

It's also possible you downloaded the wrong maps, there's a TopoLight option which is of no use at all, not much better than the pre-installed base map, or the pre-installed topo map (if you bought the 650t as opposed to the 650). The one you need is called BirdsEye Select Raster.

These maps are as good as you'll get for the Garmin, no 1:25k maps available yet.

There are also ways of calibrating any image you want and putting it on to the device as a map, but that's pretty tricky stuff.

TommyKnocker

Thanks for the response, it is much appreciated.

Alun wrote: »

Take a look here ...

http://www.garmin.com/en-IE/maps/outdoor/

You can buy 1:50k topographic maps supplied by OSi there. You have two options, either fork out €169 in one go for all of the Rep. of Ireland, or go for the BirdsEye option and pay €19.99 for up to 600 km^2.

Yep, I bought the "Birds Eye" Select Eire map and actually doubled my coverage by buying an extra 600km ^2.

Alun wrote: »

However you say you already paid for and downloaded BirdsEye, and didn't find them satisfactory. AFAIK when you buy the maps they don't get downloaded / installed to your device automatically. You have to connect the device to your PC, fire up BaseCamp and define what area / tiles you want to download first. I seem to recall you get a download code or something like that when you purchase which you have to enter first.

When I purchased the first 600km^2 a popup window lets you choose the area you want. On the screen the 600km square was tiny and it was hard to make out exactly what area was covered, that's why I bought the second 600km^2.

Once you choose you area of coverage you click on download to download your map. There is an check box you can check to copy to device once downloaded. I missed this, so once the map downloaded into the "Birds Eye" application on the PC it was a simple drag and drop to put it on the GPS.

Alun wrote: »

It's also possible you downloaded the wrong maps, there's a TopoLight option which is of no use at all, not much better than the pre-installed base map, or the pre-installed topo map (if you bought the 650t as opposed to the 650). The one you need is called BirdsEye Select Raster.

I am positive it was the Birds Eye Select Raster i downloaded, if definitely was not a Topo light map. When I look on the GPS under "Settings" - "Maps" "Configure Maps", what I see is "BirdsEye Select Eire" Dublin.jnx

Alun wrote: »

These maps are as good as you'll get for the Garmin, no 1:25k maps available yet.

I was expecting that the roads and streets would have names, but they don't. Unless I am doing something really stupid with accessing it. Also I work in around Clonskeagh. There is test on the map for "Clonskeagh Hospital, bit no "Dot" on anything to show the actual location, its just written on the map.

Maybe I am expecting too much, but I was expecting more of a "Paper" map experience.

Alun wrote: »

There are also ways of calibrating any image you want and putting it on to the device as a map, but that's pretty tricky stuff.

I will have to have a google and see if I can find any instructions or YouTube videos which cover this.

Thanks a mill for the information

Alun

OK, the OSi 1:50k maps aren't street maps as such, so don't have street names. They're really designed for outdoor recreational pursuits like hillwalking etc., not finding your way around towns or cities. Also, and it's an important distinction, these are raster maps, not vector maps and as such when you zoom in, you won't get any extra detail, just the same image blown up at the pixel level, which is exactly the same as the paper versions of the same maps.

Having said that you can put Garmin's City Navigator maps onto the Oregon as well. These are the same maps that come with Garmin's nuvi range of Car SatNav's. These have street names on them and scale up when zoomed in, but are useless for any kind of outdoor activities, i.e. no contours, tracks, forests etc.. Horses for courses and all that.