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HELP I need to buy a handheld GPS

Started by danny8586, January 24, 2011, 06:53:04 PM

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danny8586

I've never owned one before but I need to buy one. I need one for an inland lake in Louisiana and ideally on roads in La. and Tx. I've been reading for some time and am still unsure of what my best option is. I am considering the Oregon 550. Will this come with a road map to get me around on interstates and city streets? Or will I have to buy the street maps? If I buy the 550 and the inland lake map will I have to buy a card to install the map or does it come with a card for this? What is the best way to buy the inland lake map? If I get the disc can I input waypoints and view where they are on the map? Is the 550 my best option for what I want to do? What will I have to buy with the 550 to do what I want to do and for everything to work?
Thanks in advance
Danny

Boyd

The 550 includes a camera that is integrated with the software - do you need that feature? If not, you might consider the 450 which is cheaper (got as low as $230 during the holiday sales). Neither of these units include any "real" maps, just a basemap with very few details.

If you want road navigation you will need to purchase either City Navigator North America or the 24k Topo map for your region. The 24k topo's have the same kind of routable roads as City Navigator and also have a rich database of POI's like restaurants, gas stations and stores. The Inland Lakes maps do not have routable roads.

Purchasing on DVD might be the best solution for you, but when you install the maps on your GPS, they will become permanently locked to it and can't be used on another unit. The pre-loaded cards can be swapped between multiple GPS'es but cannot be copied.

Both approaches allow the maps to be used on your computer. With the DVD, the maps are copied to your hard drive and can be used in either Mapsource or Basecamp. With the cards, you can place them in a USB card reader and use the map in Basecamp but not Mapsource.

You can't add files to the pre-loaded cards, so if you want to swap between multiple maps, that might not be a good solution. I suppose you could get the inland lakes on DVD and install it in internal memory on your GPS, then use a City Navigator card in the slot however.

Do you want to use BirdsEye (satellite imagery)? If so, then it's best to get a big blank card (8GB or 16GB) since it requires a lot of storage space. You would then probably want to buy all your maps on DVD so they could be loaded either to the card or internal memory.

danny8586

Thank you for your help. Can I get the city maps on this site or will I have to buy it? If I get the Lakes DVD will I be able to copy it from the computer to another GPS later? Does  the size of the maps slow down the operation of the GPS? Is the birdseye view similar to google earth satelite view? What type of map is installed on the car GPS for roads?
Thanks,
Danny

Boyd

Lots of questions...

I am not sure if the Lakes DVD is locked to a single gps, have never used it. Most Garmin maps are locked, but a few of the older ones (such as this) are not.

If you want full routing, address search, and POI's for businesses the only options are real Garmin maps that you must buy.

The GPS was designed to be used with maps, it's use will be very limited without any.

BirdsEye is satellite imagery, similar to Google Earth. $30/yr for unlimited downloads. You can keep all you download even if you don't renew. It is permanently locked to one GPS. But you can try on your computer for free without buying anything.

The Nuvi Automotive GPS'es have City Navigator maps installed.

danny8586