TOPO

[COWBOY1296]

I recently joined our search and rescue team here in the mountains.  I went through gps training this past week with a small hiking unit.  My aging eyes could not read the screen that well and I have decided to get the Monterra which is not really out yet.  Garmins topo maps do not have that great of reviews.  Rather then purchase something that I may not be happy with are there other topos, that will work with garmin that are more user friendly?

Bear in mind I  am rookie with a hand held gps so talk in small words that I can  understand? 

[Seldom]

Which mountains are you interested in?

Topo maps on this site are generally high quality, but trail data is always hard to come by.  GPSfileDepot maps and Garmin's 24k topo maps both suffer from shortages of trail data.  Garmin's City Navigator North America NT map has pretty good forest roads, however.  For driving, with routability, a transparent topo overlay and CNNANT would work pretty well.

I suggest you download a copy of BaseCamp (Garmin's map viewer) and a couple of maps from this site for your area of interest.  That won't cost you anything and you can see the quality of maps for your area.

Also, if you are in the southwest, you might want to check out BigDesertSouthwest in the custom maps section.  It's routable and includes topo, land ownership, and land cover.

[Boyd]

If you get Garmin's 24k series topo for your area, it will have routable roads and  a rich set of POI's. This means that it can give you turn by turn directions to your destination and will also show local businesses and services along the way. It will also show the posted speed limit of most roads on the map. The data for this comes from Navteq, the same source Garmin uses in their automotive (Nuvi) units.

The 24k topos also contain high resolution DEM data. DEM = "Digital Elevation Model" -  a 3d image of the earth's surface so that the elevation of every point on the map is known. This shows on the screen as shaded terrain (the valleys are darker than the hilltops, like the sun would show late in the afternoon.

Those are all proprietary Garmin features that are not available in any third party maps. A few third party topo maps may have routable roads, but there are not many at this point. Now these features may not particularly matter to you, but it's good to be aware of the difference.

[Boyd]

One other thought.... if you are really new to all this, you might think twice about whether the Monterra is the best unit for you. For one thing, it will be really expensive ~$650. It looks very impressive on paper and has many cool new features.

However, those of us who have been around for awhile know how buggy new Garmin models can be. If you get the Monterra, expect a lot of problems. Mostly, they are just annoying and not huge issues (although the Montana suffered from problems with the screen and resulted in many people having to exchange under warranty).

But these things can be very frustrating to new users because you may not be sure whether there's a problem with the unit or if you're doing something wrong. You can expect constant firmware updates - sometimes on a daily basis. Again, as a "newbie" you may not know whether you really need to apply each update, and heading out on a trip right after updating software is not usually such a good idea.

I would also consider the Montana which also has a 4" screen that is very nice under all conditions. It is ~$450 and perhaps that price will drop after the Monterra is released?

[COWBOY1296]

Thanks for the feed back.  The Mountains that I am near are the Sangre de Cristos, more specifically Custer County in what is known as south central Colorado.  Not to be confused with south central L A.  Most search areas will be about 40-70 miles west of Pueblo.

The road directions are not that critical but trail maps are.  I am big on reading reviews about different things and garmins topos don't fare that well on Amazon.  To show you how rookie I am I did not know other maps were compatible until a couple of hours ago.

[COWBOY1296]

good point about the bugs and is something to consider.  Yeah the 4 inch screen seems to a must for me.

[Seldom]

The Mountains that I am near are the Sangre de Cristos, more specifically Custer County in what is known as south central Colorado.

Desert Southwest stops just east of Mesa Verde, so you are too far east for it.  If you are looking for trail data, no contours, you might also want to check out maps from garmin.openstreetmap.nl  These are derived from openstreetmap data, and anyone can upload a tracklog and add a trail to the map.  Of course, anyone can edit the map, so accuracy could also be a problem. 

[COWBOY1296]

Thanks for the input.  In just a few short hours I have decided perhaps to downsize a little to the Montana 650.  I still need to look at some of its reviews.  Half of what I have read so far was dated meaning the negative comments were old.  I am hoping this means that the bugs were worked out. 
These reviews were on REI.com
Chances are I will make a decision later on in the week.  If yall have anything negative or positive to say about the 650 I am all ears.

[Seldom]

FWIW, the Montana is too heavy for me.  You should look at it in a store and decide.  Not a problem if you are just using it on a dashboard of a vehicle, but might be a problem on bike handlebars or a backpack.  My heaviest handheld is a 62s.  I carried it rim to rim of the Grand Canyon, but at points in the Canyon its performance was underwhelming.  Too much multi-path.  I doubt the Montana would be any better.  My current hiking favorite is an Etrex 30.  Small (probably too small for you) and light and uses both GPS and GLONASS (Russian GPS).  Access to both US and Russian GPS seems to give me better accuracy in canyons.

[COWBOY1296]

as it happens I am big also and the only thing it will be mounted to is the handle bars of my atv, my hiking days are over.  plus the 4 inch screen is a must for my aging eye, but thanks for the feed back.

[Boyd]

I've had a Montana for about two years and love it. The screen is beautiful. I don't experience many bugs these days, although there were many at first. Most of the bug reports I have seen come from people using the geocache functions - something which doesn't interest me.

Really, if you want a 4" screen the Montana and Monterra are the only options out there - pick your poison. 

Since you don't think the topo maps are so good, why would you get the Montana 650t? Do you need the camera? Why not save some money and get the 600?

[COWBOY1296]

Your comments about being a rookie and a new model made me reconsider my idea of the Monterra and am convinced that I want to go with the Montana.  Just waiting for square trade to offer me 30 percent off and I will be all over one on ebay that retails at 500.

Yeah the 4 inch screen is a deal breaker.

Thanks for helping me choose.