Sunday, March 18, 2012

News Feed Comments
You are here: Home / Archives for Handheld/Sport

Free topo and trail maps for your Garmin GPS

September 1, 2009 By 123 Comments

Free-GPS-topo-maps If you’re a Garmin owner and aren’t aware of all the free maps available for your unit, you’re in for a treat. Detailed 1:24,000 scale topo maps are available for most states in the US, as well as for some foreign countries. We’re also beginning to see transparent trail maps that can layer on top of topos.

Sources for free Garmin GPS topo maps

  • GPS File Depot – The best source for US topo maps, this site also includes a limited selection of international maps, forums, and tutorials. If your state isn’t listed, be sure to check out the regional maps before giving up.
  • Mapcenter – The best repository of international maps, although you’ll see more highway maps than topo maps. UPDATE: This site is no longer available.

Trail maps too

A new trend has community mappers creating transparent trail maps that layer on top of topos. Here are a couple of notable ones:

  • Northwest trails – covers Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, British Columbia and Alaska
  • Southwest trails – covers Arizona and New Mexico, with plans to expand to Utah and Nevada

read more

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin handheld GPS, Handheld/Sport, Maps

Get free golf course maps for your Garmin (or make your own)

August 26, 2009 By 17 Comments

Free-GPS-golf-maps One of the nice things about Garmin units is the bevy of free maps you can download for them; international maps, highway maps, topo maps – and now we can add golf course maps to the list.

An enterprising golfer has created a site where you can download homemade golf course maps for several states, and even provided tools to make your own.

While these maps won’t give you all the capabilities of the real thing, they will give you a chance to see whether you like using a GPS on the links before you lay out hundreds for the Approach G5.

Via Groundspeak

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin handheld GPS, Handheld/Sport, Maps

Garmin, trails and missed opportunities

July 28, 2009 By 2 Comments

When planning a new outdoor adventure, I usually search online for tracks that I can download to my GPS. There are two places I typically look:

The latter is actually my first choice, since it is (IMHO) the best trail database in the US. What continues to amaze me is that Garmin doesn’t seem to realize what they have. We still get maps with plenty of missing trails, and they seem to be based on ancient USGS data.

I see no reason Garmin can’t utilize their MotionBased data to build a better trail map. They could decide how many tracks they would need for a given trail, and how much error was allowed before throwing out a track. A little follow up by hand (and even this could be automated) could establish trail junctions and where they connect to the nearest road (i.e., trailheads).

read more

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin handheld GPS, Handheld/Sport, Software

Garmin Dakota 10 and 20

June 26, 2009 By 5 Comments

Garmin-Dakota-20

UPDATE: Read my hands on Garmin Dakota 20 review. I also have a dedicated Garmin Dakota 10 page.

Rumors have been showing up online for awhile now about a new handheld series, and today it’s official – the touch-screen  Garmin Dakota 10 and Dakota 20 have been announced.

The Dakota series seems to be filling the eTrex niche. They are rated as having a 20 hour battery life (vs. 16 for the Oregon series) and they will not come with pre-loaded detailed maps – only a basemap. Screen size is 2.6” (diagonal) vs. 3” for the Oregon series. Both Dakota models support paperless geocaching, but not Wherigo cartridges. One interesting thing – they both will store up to 200 tracks compared to the Oregon’s 20!

read more

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin handheld GPS, Geocaching, Handheld/Sport, Hardware

Garmin Foretrex 301 and 401

June 16, 2009 By 6 Comments

Garmin_Foretrex_301

UPDATE: I’ve posted a Garmin Foretrex 401 resource page with links to hands on reviews

Apparently there is still money to be made in the entry-level handheld GPS market – the Garmin Foretrex 301 and 401 are being announced this morning. These two wrist-mounted units update the Foretrex 201, adding a high-sensitivity receiver and USB interface.

read more

Filed Under: Garmin handheld GPS

TwoNav Aventura is a lust-worthy GPS

May 27, 2009 By 15 Comments

TwoNav-Aventura I don’t often write about GPS receivers that aren’t available in the U.S., but I’m making an exception today with the TwoNav Aventura. For one thing, the company is on the lookout for a stateside distributor, so we may see it here yet. Another reason is it will accept just about any kind of map – more on that in a moment. The Aventura is a dual-use device, but it’s the handheld possibilities that excite me, so if you’re an outdoor type, I encourage you to read on.

read more

Filed Under: Aerial imagery, Handheld/Sport, Hardware, Maps, Other handheld GPS

Garmin Oregon 550 and 550T

May 7, 2009 By 30 Comments

garmin-oregon-550t

UPDATE: Read my hands on Garmin Oregon 550t review. I’ve also posted a page for the Oregon 550.

The Garmin Oregon 550 and 550T are being announced this morning, models that were first rumored back in March. The 550 series brings several new features to the Oregon line:

  • As expected, a camera (3.2 megapixels, 4x zoom, auto-focus) for snapping geotagged photos
  • A tri-axial compass, so you don’t have to hold it level when navigating
  • An “enhanced sunlight-readable touchscreen,” hopefuly improving one of the few negative characteristics of this high-resolution display series
  • Two-precharged AA NiMH batteries and a charger are included as well!

read more

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin handheld GPS, Handheld/Sport, Hardware Tagged With:

Dual use GPS for road and trail

April 8, 2009 By 38 Comments

Dual-use-GPS

UPDATE: The Magellan eXplorist 710, introduced in the fall of 2010, is another dual-use unit worthy of consideration.

UPDATE 2: Garmin has a new dual use entry with their Garmin Montana series.

I want a GPS that does it all; this has got to be one of the most frequent requests I hear. 

Several companies have tried to create GPS receivers that will work well on the road or in your hand — for backcountry use, geocaching or what have you. The latest example is the Garmin nuvi 500 series, pictured above at left.

read more

Filed Under: FAQs, Handheld/Sport, Hardware

Garmin Forerunner 405CX review

April 5, 2009 By 5 Comments

garmin-forerunner-405cx-review

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For information on current models, check out our GPS for runners page.

The Garmin Forerunner 405CX updates the Forerunner 405, increasing accuracy in heart rate-based calorie computation. Using algorithms developed by exercise scientists and world-class athletes, the Forerunner 405CX monitors the micro changes in a user’s heart rate and uses that detailed information to better calculate the number of calories burned during aerobic activity. read more

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin handheld GPS, GPS Reviews, Handheld/Sport, Hardware Tagged With: ,

Garmin Approach G5 review

April 5, 2009 By 3 Comments

Garmin Approach G5 sm

UPDATE: A new model, the Garmin Approach G3, brings most of the G5’s features in a smaller package and at a lower price.

UPDATE 2: Another new model, the Garmin Approach S1, has a sports watch form factor.

UPDATE 3: An even newer model, the Approach G6, is more pocketable than the G5 and adds worldwide courses.

The Garmin Approach G5 is the first golf GPS created by Garmin in-house (as opposed to the GolfLogixunit, which is built on the eTrex platform with software developed by another company). The Approach G5 is built on the new Garmin Oregon touch-screen platform.

This ruggedized waterproof unit includes thousands of preloaded U.S. golf courses, touch-targeting, manual pin positioning, course preview, digital scorecard, computer scorecard review, and a high-sensitivity receiver.

Compare prices on the Garmin Approach G5

Here is a link to check out the list of pre-loaded courses, and the Garmin Approach G5 web pagewhere you can download more courses as they are added (7500+ were available in the first update!).

More Garmin Approach G5 reviews

I’ll be posting more hands on GPS reviews as they appear, but in the meantime, here are some…

Other Garmin Approach G5 resources

Compare prices on the Garmin Approach G5 at these merchants:

Related posts:

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin handheld GPS, GPS Reviews, Handheld/Sport, Hardware Tagged With: ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »