I have a garmin model 76CSx,Where is the best place to get a TOPO U.S. 24K card? also do they update them yearly? Can you use another persons card? Thanks
Topo cards
- Thread starter dogg57
- Start date
Actually, it was not available at all until just a few weeks ago. Garmin has now introduced the Northeast 24k topo's however - see here: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=255&pID=68271#versionTab
AFAIK, these must be purchased directly from Garmin. It's possible that REI might carry them in local stores though, I haven't checked. The preloaded card should be usable in any Garmin GPS, but it is copy protected and cannot be duplicated so you must always use the original card (in other words, they can only be used on one GPS at a time). The card cannot be used on your computer in mapsource, only on the GPS.
The downloaded version will create a file on your computer which must then be installed on your own SD memory card. Once you put that card on your GPS, it will be locked forever to your 76csx and cannot be used on another GPS. So if you sell your 76csx, be sure to sell it along with this card. The download version also cannot be used on your computer with mapsource.
So actually, there is no version of the NE 24k Topo which can be used on your computer in mapsource. That is only possible with the version on DVD, and there is no such product with the Northeast 24k. Maybe they will introduce one later?
Also note that these maps are pretty expensive - $100 and they only cover a few states: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=255&pID=68271#coverageTab. You can't buy one disk for the whole US, there are a bunch of different regional disks and it would end up costing you over $1,000 to get them all!
Let us know what you think if you get these. Since it's new, I have not seen any user reports and personally I don't want to spend $100 and take a chance. One nice thing about the 24k topo's is that the roads are all routable, unlike the 100k topo's which are not. This is why the 24k topo's are copy protected, because they contain Navteq data, unlike the 100k topo's which aren't copy protected.
The whole 24k topo series is very new - first introduced with a few western states about 2 years ago. They don't even have coverage for the whole US yet. I would not expect any updates in the forseeable future. And when they are updated, I am willing to bet that you would have to just buy the new version at full price, or maybe at a slight discount. I'm sure it won't be free though. Garmin has never offered a free update to any of their topo maps. It was perhaps 6 years between updates of the 100k topo maps for example.
AFAIK, these must be purchased directly from Garmin. It's possible that REI might carry them in local stores though, I haven't checked. The preloaded card should be usable in any Garmin GPS, but it is copy protected and cannot be duplicated so you must always use the original card (in other words, they can only be used on one GPS at a time). The card cannot be used on your computer in mapsource, only on the GPS.
The downloaded version will create a file on your computer which must then be installed on your own SD memory card. Once you put that card on your GPS, it will be locked forever to your 76csx and cannot be used on another GPS. So if you sell your 76csx, be sure to sell it along with this card. The download version also cannot be used on your computer with mapsource.
So actually, there is no version of the NE 24k Topo which can be used on your computer in mapsource. That is only possible with the version on DVD, and there is no such product with the Northeast 24k. Maybe they will introduce one later?
Also note that these maps are pretty expensive - $100 and they only cover a few states: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=255&pID=68271#coverageTab. You can't buy one disk for the whole US, there are a bunch of different regional disks and it would end up costing you over $1,000 to get them all!
Let us know what you think if you get these. Since it's new, I have not seen any user reports and personally I don't want to spend $100 and take a chance. One nice thing about the 24k topo's is that the roads are all routable, unlike the 100k topo's which are not. This is why the 24k topo's are copy protected, because they contain Navteq data, unlike the 100k topo's which aren't copy protected.
The whole 24k topo series is very new - first introduced with a few western states about 2 years ago. They don't even have coverage for the whole US yet. I would not expect any updates in the forseeable future. And when they are updated, I am willing to bet that you would have to just buy the new version at full price, or maybe at a slight discount. I'm sure it won't be free though. Garmin has never offered a free update to any of their topo maps. It was perhaps 6 years between updates of the 100k topo maps for example.
Happy to help. FWIW, I am one of the moderators over at gpsreview.net and we get these kinds of questions over there as well.
Dvd
http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/ca...s;jsessionid=B5C8D13ED615EDD3FECE478A5641FE0E
it looks like dvd is available. what are the advantages and can the card be made from it????
http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/ca...s;jsessionid=B5C8D13ED615EDD3FECE478A5641FE0E
it looks like dvd is available. what are the advantages and can the card be made from it????
Mapsource is the software Garmin once provided for use on a persons computer. It can display the topo's, create tracks, WP's and load the topo's or sections of them up to a Garmin GPS device. It is what I use. I don't have BaseCamp, but I think it is the new, supported software to accomplish similar things, and from the little bit of looking I've done, it seems to be what would be needed to make use of the 24K maps on a computer.
A word of caution... it is easy to overwrite and lose any data you have on a chip, whether you loaded it there or purchased a pre-loaded chip. The maps reside as a single file on the chip. I purchased a download of bluechart data, and wrongly assumed that, since the topo and bluechart files are different, they could co-exist on a chip. Not so.
If you buy a pre-loaded topo card, it can be used any any gps with a card slot.
If you purchase via download, the map can be installed on either your own card or internal GPS memory. HOWEVER, it will become locked to the first GPS on which you install, and the copy protection will prevent it from working on a different unit in the future. If you sell that GPS, you will need to sell the map along with it.
If you purchase on DVD, you can install the map on any card or in internal memory. Also has the advantage (as already mentioned) of combining with other maps on the same card. HOWEVER, again, it will become permanently locked to the original GPS via copy protection and won't work in another unit. The DVD version will also install on your computer for use in either MapSource or BaseCamp.
The pre-loaded card can be used on your computer (in a USB reader) with BaseCamp software but NOT with Mapsource. Theoretically the downloaded version can also work in BaseCamp, but not completely sure... the downloaded version tends to have the worst aspects of both the pre-loaded card and DVD and I would personally avoid that option.
BTW, if you get the 24k NorthEast topo, try using it at the same time as my Map of New Jersey - http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/294/
My map will cover up the Garmin map, but the shaded terrain will be added and it looks really nice. I was very surprised at how high the resolution of the DEM (terrain) data is on Garmin's 24k topo. Here's an example. Look how it shows the shape of the little hills so faithfully (extra credit if you can identify the location of this screenshot
)
FWIW, I purchased the pre-loaded data card and use it on both my Oregon and Nuvi 3790t.
If you purchase via download, the map can be installed on either your own card or internal GPS memory. HOWEVER, it will become locked to the first GPS on which you install, and the copy protection will prevent it from working on a different unit in the future. If you sell that GPS, you will need to sell the map along with it.
If you purchase on DVD, you can install the map on any card or in internal memory. Also has the advantage (as already mentioned) of combining with other maps on the same card. HOWEVER, again, it will become permanently locked to the original GPS via copy protection and won't work in another unit. The DVD version will also install on your computer for use in either MapSource or BaseCamp.
The pre-loaded card can be used on your computer (in a USB reader) with BaseCamp software but NOT with Mapsource. Theoretically the downloaded version can also work in BaseCamp, but not completely sure... the downloaded version tends to have the worst aspects of both the pre-loaded card and DVD and I would personally avoid that option.
BTW, if you get the 24k NorthEast topo, try using it at the same time as my Map of New Jersey - http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/294/
My map will cover up the Garmin map, but the shaded terrain will be added and it looks really nice. I was very surprised at how high the resolution of the DEM (terrain) data is on Garmin's 24k topo. Here's an example. Look how it shows the shape of the little hills so faithfully (extra credit if you can identify the location of this screenshot
)
FWIW, I purchased the pre-loaded data card and use it on both my Oregon and Nuvi 3790t.