National Geographic TOPO

Magellan eXplorist line gets USGS topos via National Geographic

May 8, 2012 By Rich Owings 4 Comments

Magellan has extended their ongoing partnership with National Geographic, bringing USGS raster topo imagery to the eXplorist line. Just like Garmin’s BirdsEye Topo, this will be a subscription option running $29.99 per year. read more

Filed Under: Featured, Handheld/Sport, Magellan handheld GPS Tagged With: Magellan eXplorist x10 series, National Geographic TOPO

Topo.com goes away, takes SuperQuads with it

January 30, 2012 By Rich Owings 6 Comments

Late last week I received an email from National Geographic Maps, informing me that their Topo.com website would be discontinued in 30 days, as they transtion to a new partnership with AllTrails.com. The National Geographic Topo desktop software will continue to work, although it is unclear if new updates will be forthcoming or not. This appears to primarily affect Magellan Triton users who have purchased Topo SuperQuads. If that’s you, you should read the info below and save those files to your hard drive over the next few weeks. read more

Filed Under: Featured, Handheld/Sport, Magellan handheld GPS Tagged With: AllTrails.com, Magellan Triton, National Geographic TOPO, Topo.com

Satmap Active 10 TREK review

February 1, 2011 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

The Satmap Active 10 TREK has finally come to the US, four years after its introduction in the UK. And what a difference four years makes. We didn’t have touch screen Oregons then, and super-thin iPhones and GPS receivers with raster imagery were just starting to be seen. But in 2011, the Satmap is reminiscent of the tech of yore, feeling more like a clunky PDA than a cutting edge piece of gear.

Filed Under: Featured, GPS Reviews, Handheld/Sport, Other handheld GPS Tagged With: National Geographic TOPO, Satmap Active 10 Trek

Satmap Active 10 Trek comes to US

November 17, 2010 By Rich Owings 7 Comments

Satmap Active 10 Trek

UPDATE: I’ve posted my hands on review of the Satmap Active 10 TREK.

The Satmap Active 10 is finally coming to the US this week, as the Satmap Active 10 Trek. National Geographic is partnering with Satmap to offer TOPO! state series maps, Adventure Maps and Trails Illustrated maps. The unit will include a basemap, but I expect that most users would want to add some of these other options, which could make this one expensive unit, since the maps will retail for $99.99 each, on top of the $369.99 for the unit. Lets see, that’s a hundred bucks for the Carolinas, another hundred for an upcoming trip to California, and I can’t stay away from Utah. Sorry guys, raster imagery is nice, but unless I’m misreading this, your map pricing model is DOA.

Filed Under: Featured, Handheld/Sport, Maps, Other handheld GPS Tagged With: National Geographic TOPO, raster imagery, Satmap Active 10 Trek