Garmin MapSource Topo U.S. 2008 Reviews

• Decent mapping if you don't require auto-routing capability

  
  By A3BACUOZV1M0WM on 2007-08-25
  TOPO 2008 has some good points: it's half the price of most of Garmin's other cartography products, and it doesn't require an unlock code. Read some of the reviews on Garmin's "City Navigator North America" product - there are some real horror stories about the problems people have had with Garmin's unlock code system.
  NOTE: In specific discussion of how TOPO 2008 interfaces with a GPS, the unit used in this review is a Garmin 60CX.
  
  What you get with TOPO USA 2008 that's good:
  1. It adds a lot of city streets and county roads that are not included in the base map. However, the positional accuracy of these roads is often pretty bad. But at least having them would probably help you find an address if you got lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood or rural area. Unfortunately though, the road network in TOPO 2008 IS NOT AUTO-ROUTEABLE. In other words, if you try to generate a point-to-point trip route in either MapSource or in the GPS itself, the route will not follow the roads or calculate turns. It will just make a strait line (actually a Great Circle curve) from Point "A" to Point "B". This doesn't prevent you from generating your own routes manually, of course. I guess the lack of auto-route capability is why TOPO 2008 is half the price of City Navigator.
  2. Since TOPO 2008 contains a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the coverage area, it allows you to generate a profile of your hiking/biking trail or road trip route. This profile capability is very nice when comparing alternate routes, and the profiles can be generated and viewed in the GPS or on the PC in MapSource
  3. The outlines of many coastlines, lakes, and rivers in the basemap are very coarse and downright inaccurate - TOPO 2006 offers a huge improvement to these outlines (but does not include water depth).
  4. TOPO 2008 includes thousands of searchable place names and POI's that are not in the base map.
  
  What's not so good in TOPO 2008:
  1. The coverage area is ONLY the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii). Unfortunately, there is no coverage in Canada or Mexico, other than large cities and major highways that are already in the basemap. If you need coverage of our neighbor to the north, the TOPO Canada DVD is pretty expensive at $110, almost double the price of the USA version.
  2. The contour interval is 1:100,000, which is probably fine for planning an automobile trip, but is very coarse if you are doing a hiking or bicycle trip. Garmin does offer 1:24,000 cartography, but it's expensive and covers only a limited set of National Parks. If TOPO 2008 were to cover the whole USA at 1:24,000, the amount of data would probably require many DVD's instead of only 1, and the retail price would no doubt be a lot more, so I guess the 1:100,000 scale is adequate for most users, and certainly more economical.
  
  If you already own the City Navigator cartography, TOPO 2008 might be a nice addition to your chartplotter-capable Garmin GPS, especially if it can display route profiles like the 60CX. However, if your primary need is for automobile routing, and especially if you need coverage in Canada, and if you have a limited budget, you would be better off buying City Navigator if you don't already own it. It's twice the price of TOPO 2008, but has a lot more capability.
  
  NOTE: For some reason, TOPO 2008 includes Alaska's Dalton Highway, from Fairbanks to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay), yet City Navigator, which costs twice as much and is supposed to offer coverage of all of the USA and Canada, does not.
  
  SUMMARY: A good value at $59.10 if you just want to upgrade your GPS's background map, and if you don't require Canadian coverage. Also a nice add-on if you already have City Navigator, as it allows you to compute road profiles anywhere in the USA (including Alaska and Hawaii). City Navigator does not have a terrain model built in, so it can not show profiles on it's own. For owners of large RV's or people who tow large boat or livestock trailers over long distances, TOPO 2008's road profile capabilities could be a really nice trip planning tool.
  
  

• worth to own, not worth to upgrade

  
  By A1GAN0IUNE1INZ on 2007-08-20
  The Topo map contains a lot of terrain information that city map does not have.
  
  It contains some (or some part of) main road and fire road, most of the trails hiker actually take, are missing.
  
  But I still find it useful in that, although it cannot lead you on most of the road or ease you ploting the road on your PC during the planning, it can help you track the path you have passed, and gives you a general perspective what lies ahead to reach your destination.
  
  This topo 2008 adds terrain shading (only when looking on the computer, not on GPS device), and has improves street name. For the latter, it is still way out dated or has many errors, that you better not reply on it for city navigating (navigating is not routing)
  
  Note, the map does not contain routing data, so you cannot use it for auto routing on PC or GPS).
  
  4 stars for those who does not own topo map, 2 stars for those trying to upgrade. That's why I give it a 3-star rating.
  
  
  
  

• Horrifyingly slow and lacks details

  
  By A2ICKE6A3MJMM5 on 2007-11-14
  I have a Zumo 550 that I wanted to load maps into. I have an 8gb SDHC card in the card slot, so plenty of memory for lots and lots of maps. I loaded California and Nevada into the card and checked out some areas that I know well around Death Valley. The map didn't even include Ballarat, as well as missing most of the mines and mining camps and springs in the area. Granted, most of what is missing is also missing on the USGS 100k quads, but the USGS 100k quads at least include Ballarat.
  
  But still, it's the only maps pre-formatted for the Garmin GPS, so I checked the SD card. Two states was only 256mb. Great, I thought. I can put half the United States in there and still have plenty of memory for mp3's. *WRONG*. At 10:30am today I set it going. It is 6pm now, and still says it has almost an hour to go before it even starts transferring (it's been slowly crawling through "Building map set" for all that time). And I do *not* have a slow computer -- I have a Core 2 Duo 2.1ghz with 2gb of memory, and according to the Windows Task Manager less than half that memory is in use, and neither CPU is maxed out. It's just slow.
  
  The only reason this thing gets two stars is because it's better than nothing. I reserve 1 star for the utterly useless. Unfortunately Garmin refuses to releases 24k-scale topo maps for most areas of the United States, even though the fact that they release such topos for the national parks shows that they do have the technology to do so. I guess they figure that the only place anybody wants to go hiking is in national parks. Sigh. I suppose they'll release full 24k topo maps on a state-by-state basis around the same time they release a Mac version of MapSource (i.e., "real soon now" -- for the past two years -- requiring me to use Boot Camp to boot into Windows XP to program the GPS). Grrr!
  
  
  

• Garmin Topo 2008 US

  
  By A2S036QNK68S8T on 2007-08-18
  I bought Garmin Mapsource about 5 years ago with the garmin handleheld GPS. That one was really hard to use. About one year ago, I bought Nuvi 350. That one was easy to use and change my mind to continue to buy Garmin product. So I bought Garmin Topo 2008 for my new Garmin GPS. After I got it, I found that this one really disappointed me. The interface was pretty much the same and again hard to use. I hope Garmin can do some research to improve the interface and make it easy to use.
  
  Be aware that it has 2025 map set limit when you transfer map to your Garmin GPS. If you plan buy a micro SD card, 1gb will be fine since Garmin's limit is a little beyond 1GB. So even you buy a micro SD card with large memory, it doesn't use it at all.
  
  

• Garmin Topo US 2008 vs. DeLorme Topo USA

  
  By A1IYQLCDA0XHLF on 2007-11-04
  I have been using DeLorme Topo USA to create trail routes and waypoints for hiking and backpacking trips for a number of years. I have also been using eTrex for GPS navigation for almost the same amount of time (I am now using Vista Cx). Recently, I purchased Garmin Topo U.S. 2008, hoping to save time to find/create trails and waypoints. But, I was wrong. Although the resolution and price of Garmin and DeLome products are about the same, Garmin Topo U.S. 2008 is a big disappointment. I spend more time with Garmin Topo U.S. 2008 to find trails and create waypoints. Below are my observations.
  
  - It's impossible to find trails till you zoom in into about 1 mile resolution. Then, you loose a big picture of an entire trail. Also, it's very difficult to distinguish trails from roads and elevation contours - a display contrast is quite bad.
  
  - Since it does not have a capability of selecting trail segments, it requires to manually creates a number of waypoints to follow the trail, to plot an elevation profile along the trail, and to estimate an accurate trail distance. This is time consuming.
  
  - It seems that via-points of a trail are displayed with the names in the comment field. Also, the names are not editable. This makes the via-point names/numbers are not consecutive if new via points are inserted later. The eTrex Cx displays the names of all via points and gets quite cluttered.
  
  - It does not have a 3D display feature. DeLorme Topo USA provides nice 3D plots.
  
  Overall, I do not recommend this product.
  
  
  
• Alternative to buying MapSource Topo 2008
  By A2H5QF8TJGTY6B on 2008-06-30
  First, I'm not knocking the TOPO US too much. It is expensive and does not have high resolution but it fills a small niche. If you need a TOPO map in a hurry, I suppose it is the best alternative.
  
  I've had my Garmin Legend HCx for several months now. During this time, I've hunted for a reliable alternative to TOPO US, rendering 24K resolution and not limited to a few National Parks.
  
  Looking really paid off. The best solution that I've found is the following:
  
  * Free Maps from USGS (24K TOPOs as GeoTiff Digital Raster Graphics files) $0
  * Any graphics editor program that can handle .tif format $0
  * Mapwell - http://www.mapwel.biz (includes raster to vector conversion) $45
  * TrackMaker (free version) - http://www.gpstm.com/ $0
  
  Total: $45
  
  Process:
  1. Search, select, download GeoTiff map from http://seamless.usgs.gov/ (15 minutes)
  2. Review the .xml data, downloaded with the map to determine the extent of the map: Northwest and Southeast boundary. (5 minutes)
  3. Open GeoTiff file in graphics editor. Save as new .tif file, stripping out the embedded geo data. (5 minutes)
  4. Open the new .tif file in Mapwell. Add extent information from Step 2. Add graphics features and waypoints(optional). Run vectorization option, creating a new set of Garmin IMG files (10 minutes - more if you want to add your own art)
  5. Upload new map set into Garmin. Mapwell has a great Garmin upload/download manager. No need to use Mapsource although you can use it to add Mapsource maps. (1 minute)
  
  Time burned: 36 minutes
  
  TrackMaker (free version or licensed) is also a great product for creating tracks, waypoints, many more features. It also has a fine Garmin upload/download manager. So you can either load waypoints and features directly into the Garmin or embed them in the map itself while using Mapwell.
  
  The only disadvantage that I've discovered in the process is that Mapwell works too well. That is, the vectorization of 24K maps produces superb quality maps that take 10-20 seconds to render in the Garmin (at 1 mile). The closer in you go, the faster the rendering.
  
  
  
• Lack of details
  By A68I93HI9W6LD on 2007-07-29
  Simply put it, there isn't enough details to do much with it. It is slightly better than the base map. Go to the Garmin's web site and do a side by side comparison of this one and the 24K topo series. You'll see how bad this one is.
  
  Garmin, stop sell us maps like this one. All your topo maps should have the 24K details. Otherwise, what's the point?
  
  
• Upgrade Now
  By A3KJDQF7DPROSH on 2007-11-30
  This is what the topo software should have been to start. Garmin has updated the topo to properly match the USGS maps. When you are hiking or similar the topography properly represents the actual terrain. A major difference is areas that have significant elevation gain were always improperly represented in the old product. The 2008 version is correct now and you can see ridge lines and valleys as they should be. This was well worth the $ spent and I highly advise that you upgrade today!
  
  
• A lot of maps for the price
  By AIS041RRWAB29 on 2007-11-11
  This software provides topo maps for the entire US for less than $60, which seems like a bargain to me. The maps do not have the detail of USGS 7.5 minute series maps but generally have enough detail for hiking, biking, or off-road driving. The maps actually look better on a GPS than on my PC using MapSource, because the roads are better distinguished from the contour lines.
  The only problem I had installing the software is that it turns off the detail in MapSource. To correct this you need to go to the View menu and click "Show GPS Map Detail" (Ctrl+G).
  
  
  
• Topo U.S. - not for off road use
  By A1MYTRFHBQKFXE on 2007-11-16
  After looking over the Garmin web site, I purchased the suggested MapSource Topo maps on CD for almost $100, and was stunned at the poor detail and accuracy of these maps. First use on my Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx in my back yard, my Garmin unit indicated that I was across the street in a neighbor's yard perhaps 100-200 feet away, and that was in New Jersey with eight satellites in view. I walked to the nearest cross street, a major local road, and the unit located it perfectly. It (the map) could not accurately locate the 100+ acre lake near my home. These maps cannot be useful to anyone attempting to navigate off road, hiking on trails, or travelling on streams/small rivers. The maps simply bear little resemblance to actual geography except they do seem to indicate location of 25 foot topogtaphical elevation lines fairly well (not too useful). I kayak a great deal and had hoped to use the unit to navigate around New Jersey rivers and the sedge islands in Barnegat Bay. Forget about it! There is no correspondence between the Topo map and the actual geography! Totally useless for kayaking intercoastal bays or any of south Jersey's fabulous streams. If the maps can't locate major geographic features accurately, how is it going to keep someone on a hiking trail in the New Jersey Pine Barrens? I think there is considerable danger here of causing someone to get lost (and possibly hurt) rather than find their way.
  
  
• GarminTopo 2008 Full of Errors
  By AJMQ9B24HKV1M on 2007-11-05
  After loading Garmin MapSource Topo U.S. 2008 mid-Atlantic region maps into my new Garmin 60CSx GPS I realized that my plotted position routinely had a 300-600 foot error from my known position in the Northern Virginia and DC-metro Maryland areas, over at least a 25 square mile area. When I called Garmin they told me that their cartographic dept. was aware of the problem, and ascribed it to "map digitization" problems. Garmin would not comment on any fixes planned.
  
  A GPS - map system which is routinely in error by 300-600 feet is unacceptable!!! And a GPS company which doesn't take errors like this seriously is not serious about their product.
  
  
• Many trails missing
  By A3RZPJ8VGFGAXD on 2007-08-09
  Purchased this product for the trails that are supposed to be included. We were to hike in the Ramapo Mountain Forest in northern New Jersey. None of the trails in the area are included in TOPO 2008. Buy the trail maps from the New York New Jersey Trail Committee. I wonder how many other trails are missing. Anyway the missing trails are published trails, so I thought they should be included.
  
  
• Garmin 2008 software
  By A30GU9L6LHI6AF on 2007-08-13
  I was concerned about the 2008 Garmin edition of MapSource Topo. I have the previous edition. Apparently they have not updated the map detail in keeping with the regular updates done by the USGS. I called National Geographic about their Topo!GPS maps USA that are on a state by state basis but are 1:24,000 and are very detailed. You cannot transfer these maps to any Garmin unit as Garmin is very proprietary. You can transfer waypoints and POI's but not the maps. However National Geographic told me they have just completed arrangements with Magellan that will allow transfer of their 7.5 maps to the new Triton GPS that will become availabe in the near future. So their is still hope for better mapping but this will require purchase of a Magellan unit.
  LJB
  
  
• Works great, a few minor quibbles
  By AUBCNMWY64TMQ on 2008-03-17
  This is a wonderful addition to my Garmin Venture HC, and really completes the package, since the basemap is not all that useful.
  
  The software took a while to install, and I do have some minor quibbles about the installation. Users are "strongly" recommended to install MapSource into C:\Garmin (come on, people, the Program Files folder has been around since Windows 95). My translation is that if you decide to change the default folder, some things may not work correctly. Also, there was no option to leave the map data on the DVD instead of loading the *entire* 3.5GB database onto your hard disk. But if you've got the available space, it's more convenient to have it all there.
  
  As has been noted before, there are some minor inaccuracies with the map data (from what I've noticed, mostly related to roads showing a hundred feet next to where I'm driving), and for being a 2008 map, it doesn't show the latest freeway construction in my area. But then again, I didn't get this map to show me how to get around town; nonetheless, street data is remarkably detailed for a topo map. Mountains, canals and other features were accurately displayed as I drove past them, including elevation data.
  
  MapSource's archaic and sometimes oddly behaving user interface notwithstanding, it is quite intuitive when it comes to downloading maps. Without reading the manual, it took me all of a minute to figure out how to select map regions and send them to my GPS. Downloading roughly 20MB also didn't take as long as I'd feared, perhaps another minute or two. The area I can fit in my Venture's limited memory also exceeded my expectations: I live in Arizona, which is quite large, and yet I was able to easily download a large swath that includes Tucson, Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Show Low.
  
  All in all, a good product and in my opinion an essential add-on to any Garmin mapping GPS. Subtracted 1 star for less-than-stellar user interface and installation procedure.
  
  
• a useful tool
  By A20JE34B81TAFR on 2007-08-05
  This CD isn't nearly as bad as some of the other reviewers have made it out to be, IMHO. Sure, a 1:24000 scale would be fantastic, but you can still do a lot with the 1:100000 scale provided for contour intervals. Most casual GPS users will find this a good fit for their needs. I have used this for hiking, geocaching, and navigation, and found my experience to be a vast improvement over just using the base map provided with the GPS. If Garmin does come out with an 1:24000 version of this, I'd be first in line to pick up an update.
  
  
• Inaccurate at times
  By AMV2XLUQOYZK6 on 2007-08-18
  I purchased Topo 2008 because it has both road and topo data, and can upload both to my GPS unit. After some use, I found that the maps are off by roughly 1/3 city block (software shows me as just north of where I actually am). Furthermore, I found both gaps (missing stretches of road) and mislabeled roadways when looking at the stretch between I-405 south and Ross Island bridge (HW26) in downtown Portland, OR. The combination of missing roadway and mislabeled roadway in this stretch was bad enough that I had to use MapQuest instead. Hopefully I just encountered the only such case of this. If accuracy and completeness of road data are critical for you, spend your money elsewhere.
  
  I gave it three stars because in all other cases it's been close enough, and I am enjoying getting topo maps into my unit.
  
  
• Topo 2008
  By AQFLMFB0TVB6P on 2007-09-02
  Overall a good product. It adds fantastic capability to my new Vista HCx for hiking, backpacking, and mountain biking. The ability to correlate location to a topo map quickly via the topo info on the GPS screen is really nice. Getting profile information from your trails is great too for those of us that are data geeks. This mapset makes the GPS far more usable in the backcountry.
  
  The one negative I have for Topo 2008 is the lack of trails on it. It is missing major trails that I'm amazed Garmin could have missed. The Colorado Trail and the Continental Divide Trail are the major trails through Colorado, yet Garmin missed these and most other common trails. It has a few trails, but not what I'd expect from this software. That was very dissappointing.
  
  All visual content in these maps is simply a static visual representation. None of it is an active element so you can't just tell the PC software or GPS to follow a trail. If you want a trail routing, you need to trace a track over it on the PC and download that as a Track or Route.
  
  
• Off by 100's of feet AND tough to use - what a deal
  By A3OTHBRGE2Q9SN on 2008-01-13
  I see other reviewers have found the same thing - the maps aren't accurate, they are off by 100's of feet. This was easy to verify it wasn't the GPS:
  1) Walk/drive down some neighborhood streets with tracking on your GPS
  2) Upload the tracks to the map and see how far off the streets they are
  3) View the same tracks in Google Earth (which is one of the few easy things to do in this software -- View>View in Google Earth)
  4) I see that the tracks are correct on Google Earth, wrong on the maps. 100-300' foot errors are unacceptable for an expensive product like this.
  
  Here's a note I pulled up on their support site, I hope this isn't correct. The map is supposed to be 1:100,000 so I wonder if the accuracy is then more like +/- 130 ft, since the scale is 10x less than the note says. In any case, the circle shown on the device is not 130 ft wide when there's a good fix. It's more like 10ft.
  
  ================
  Question: Why is my position on the map screen not accurate?
  Answer:
  
  The basemap in your unit has been drawn from a map with a scale of 1:1,000,000. You can expect an accuracy of .25 miles (1,320 feet) from a map of this scale.
  
  Additionally, when you view your position on the GPS map page, you will notice that a circle displays around your current position. This circle shows the area you can expect your actual position to fall within. The less accuracy the unit has at the time, the larger the circle will be. The diameter of this circle considers both your GPS accuracy and the accuracy of the map to which you are trying to plot your position.
  
  
  ================
  Another thing -- the online help says I can locate a street address but that option isn't available on my version. So it's close to useless for finding a landmark by street address.
  
  The software itself is really poorly done - it seems like a UI that was designed about 10 years ago.
  
  Free (ie Google) maps would be far more accurate, but Garmin has ensured you can't use them to download to your device with their proprietary scheme. OK, great -- but at least make the software accurate if you're going to do that!
  All and all, an overpriced, poorly done product. Oh, and the CD isn't even readable on 1 of my two PCs.
  
  
• A great upgrade
  By AJ6B7LQ64ZBCZ on 2007-10-27
  Topo U.S. 2008 is a worthy upgrade, well worth the money here, especially with the Garmin rebate! In all honesty, even at Garmin's retail price, it would be worth the upgrade, for my use. The maps are much improved;e.g., a man-made lake that I have often fished isn't even featured on the old Topo USA, but 2008 has it. It has greater contour features and all in all seems to be produced from more recent USGS survey data.
  It is not perfect; thus far, I've only found one problem with it, not so much of a problem; a state conservation area (shaded in green) only covers a very small area within the boundaries. Not a problem on the ground, as the boundaries are clearly posted; but it annoying when one is plotting navigation on the computer for download to the unit. For this kind of money, little non-critical errors like that, I can live with. I'm not using this software to land a jet or call in for fire support. Compared to other digital mapping products I have used, notably the older version of Topo and DeLorne's products, this is one of the most accurate I have seen yet, outside of an actual USGS topo map (and mistakes are found on those as well).
  Another nice change is having the entire set of maps on one DVD instead of the old multi-CD regional set. Thanks Garmin!
  After using this for a few months, I am pleased with it. Another great product from Garmin.
  
  
• Streets not updated, but much better resolution of topo lines
  By A2TVUENTFHM9JF on 2007-10-28
  I like this product. It is much better than the old topo software, but can't Garmin at least take the time to update the streets to make it easier to reference your position. Example: In my town, there is a subdivision that has been around for at least 4 years and none of the streets for that subdivision are indicated on the map. This is an area that used to have trails and now the trailheads have all moved, so it is confusing. But, the detail of the topo is much much better than the old software. I would also like to be able to increase the line width of the trails and roads or the lines should be darker or wider to begin with. They are very difficult to see on the topo maps.
  
  
• Worse than useless
  By AAPEL29AI0B27 on 2008-01-02
  I would have to agree with "working engineer." This software is worse than useless due to its positional inaccuracy. I was shocked to find that my 76csx showed the location of my house as several hundred feet from its actual location. A downloaded track of a run in a local park showed this same "offset." I tried an experiment: created a waypoint by standing in the middle of an intersection in my neighborhood, then downloading it. The MapSource Topo US 2008 software showed an offset error of about 800 feet. Google earth showed it dead on (so I knew it wasn't a problem with the GPS unit itself). My older version of NG's Topo! also shows this waypoint at its proper location at the intersection. Interestingly enough, Delorme Topo 6.0 has the same offset error as the Garmin mapping software.
  
  
• Great Product For Hikers
  By AU45EPN9TOEWU on 2007-07-22
  This product is great for hikers, but I wish Garmin would combine the TOPO map software with the City Navigator Software, so those of us who like to drive and hike don't have to drop $200 and use two software packages. Regardless, it's great. It has a up to date street map and good TOPO information. I was disappointed that it didn't show hiking trails in my local area. I'll have to get separate paper maps for that I guess.
  
  
  
• Garmin SW Human Interface has something to be desired
  By A3CHERMW5H8BG1 on 2007-07-24
  Garmin SW is improving in the Human Interface area, but still can use a lot of improvement. Further, I was amazed when using the SW in Grand Canyon National Park that the Forest Service roads to Point Sublime did not show up on the TOPO map. Basically, TOPO US 2008 is a marginal tool for use as a laptop SW Navigation system.
  
  That said, its ability to organize, select and transfer maps to a portable GPS unit (I use a GPSMAP 76CS) is commendable. It also supports full USB interface to the GPS unit (even USB of the NMEA data that used to require a serial cable).
  
  I use several GPS SWS packages including Natl Geographic TOPO!, Delorme TOPO, and Microsoft Streets and Trips. I'm not satisfied with any of them yet. The Garmin SW however is necessary as it is the only SW that will load maps onto my Garmin Receiver.
  
  
• Pretty good
  By A2MVMJOXMIL64E on 2007-09-21
  
  It works as advertised. I'd like to see more detail, but it's pretty good.
  
  I loaded about 3/4ths of the U.S. onto a 2 gig MicroSD card. It's VERY slow. It took it about 6 - 8 hours and most of that time it was just "Building the mapset". The actual transfer to the card only took a few minutes. It's not a big deal, but just be prepared to let it run overnight.
  
  
  
  
• Meets expectations.
  By A3JW73EEV5KB3 on 2007-11-07
  Garmin MapSource Topo U.S. 2008 meets my expectations and needs. Pros - It works well with my Garmin GPSMap 76CSx and Microsoft Vista. It does not require an unlock code. It covers all 50 states. Cons - 1:100,000 scale is course. Limited to 1 GB memory card due to 2025 map quadrant limit. Does not support routing.
  
  
• Wildly inaccurate street data
  By A1IEQ58I0GP5XK on 2008-03-21
  As noted by other reviewers, the street data is often wildly inaccurate. In my neighborhood on the outskirts of Denver many (but not all) of the streets are off by several hundred feet. A nearby subdivision has been completely eliminated... but elsewhere Garmin has invented brand-new highways across the open prairie.
  
  I asked Garmin customer support about this and I got a very convoluted reply. As far as I can tell what they're saying is "we goofed". Here's the full explanation (or lack thereof):
  
  "The street data in Topo US 2008 is at a scale of roughly 1:25,000 whereas the rest of the Topo application is at a scale of 1:100,000. Therefore the roads will be off by a few hundred yards. The road info was added after the application had already been produced and is to be used as a reference only."
  
  Funny that they say the road data is to be used "as a reference only". It seems like it shouldn't be used as any sort of reference at all.
  
  In fairness to Garmin, the contour lines are pretty accurate.
  
  
• Good topo details but no street index
  By A3PFD2TEET8SQ3 on 2007-09-01
  I bought this product with the garmin 60CSX. I used to have a magellan platinum with the topo software and it did come with street index and street search, the garmin topo doesn't. I didn't expect to have turn by turn directions but a street map is quite worthless without an index. It is impossible to find a secondary street in a city without a paper map which wouldn't be sold without a street index! Even the computer software doesn't have it. You have to search the coordinate on maporama and then enter the waypoint on the GPS... I guess they want to sell both topo and city navigation maps. The later is over the top for my use.
  
  
• Great Software
  By A3O2167WZ5R3T8 on 2007-09-29
  What an improvement over the old US TOPO. It has shading and better relief detail. I'm very happy I with the new version.
  
  
• Not an accurate map at all.
  By A1R8IHFPBFOUVK on 2007-12-07
  This map is just not trust worthy. It's pity that Garmin makes good GPS but when you plot the recorded tracks over it's map, the two produce such a discrepancy that makes you wonder if it's the map or the GPS devices at fault. Then you map the track logs on Google Earth, you realize the GPS devices is not at fault.
  
  
• Forget this TOPO!
  By A72Y820UK78WC on 2007-12-19
  Been used to Delorme Topo.. Only got this because I had to have it with my Garmin GPS-60 hand held.. Very poor trails.. hard to tell anything.. Trails , gradients etc all look alike.. when they are there at all.. I read reviews and they were not good, but thought they were not right or this bad. Lots of 5,600 foot hills with not any gradients shown at all.. Maybe be great for some places, but in Four Corners USA, this product is pretty much useless. It may be Okay back East or where ever.. I wish I had never went with Garmin as it now all sets at home unusable to me.
  GO WITH ANOTHER BRAND.. I now am doing the DeLorme TOPO 7.0 USA And very pleased with it over the Garmin GPS-60 product.. This Hand held also requires you to purchase the TOPO software that does not even come with it. And it is POOR.
  My Advice.. Waste of money.. AVOID! Much better out there.
  
  

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