Maps for my new Etrex Legend HCx

[Charlotte]

I finally relented and bought a GPS whilst I was in New York at the weekend.  It's a Garmin Etrex Legend HCx (I decided that I didn't need the compass and barometer of the Vista model as it eats batteries quicker).

Now I need some maps to put in it.

I'm going to be using it for my LEJOG later this month, so I'd like full UK mapping.  Also, Liz and I are going to be doing Seattle to San Francisco later in the summer, so I may want to take it along there as well.

I don't think I'm going to be using it as my primary navigation tool for audaxes.  I've never had a problem following a route sheet and I can't be arsed with all that messing about with files and waypoints beforehand.  I've seldom got the time to bake flapjacks, let alone spend a few hours buggering about with a GPS.  Beisdes, I'm presuming that all the software that goes on your PC is Windows/Mac based and it's just all too much hassle in Linux.

What I do want it for is for when I get lost and want to say "plot me a route back to town X or postcode Y" and it'll just take me where the next control is.

So what should I put on the Micro SD card?

In fact - starting at the beginning, what Micro SD card do I need?  Is there an upper size limit that the GPS will support?

And what about the mapping software?  What's best for my purposes?  It appears that some manufacturers use a locking system for their products to prevent copying.  Will I actually have to buy the maps I need or can some kind soul point me to some kind of *ahem* less expensive way of acquiring what I need?

TIA chaps 

[Oscar's dad]

Mapsource City Navigator NT 2008.  The European version has the whole of Europe on it (strangely enough). 

It has every sort of cyclable road except bridleways.  You can look up postcodes etc and it displays house numbers if you zoom in enough.  I am coming to love it more than is decent.  Messing around with it is proving an excellent alternative to work.

I was astounded to discover it is properly easy to use though Heaven knows what it is like when used on a Linux machine.  I use my bog standard work Windows lappy.

I bought my copy from the chap that sold me my eTrex Vista HCx whilst I was in the States, you can find him HERE.  He also sells novelty condoms.  I couldn't get the 2008 version in the UK hence the import.  Cost just over £90 with shipping.  He is a good guy.

I just love viewing my routes in Google Earth.  You can fly along them which I guess saves cycling along them on a wet day.

[andrew_s]

Cheapest is probably City Navigator UK & Ireland on SD card (~£50, or all Europe for ~£80). The cards will be copy-protected, so no backups or display on a PC.

Next cheapest is Metroguide Europe DVD (£60, gpsonline ebay shop), plus the cost of a micro-SD card and about £5 for a copy of MetroGold to enable routing on the GPS. I don't think Metroguide does postcodes, so it would be placenames or street addresses.
This will be Windows software until you've written the SD card(s).

You can use a 2GB micro-SD card, which will probably get all of Europe on. I wouldn't expect anything bigger to work, if it's even available. (it would have to be SD-HC rather than plain SD).

[Wowbagger]

The Mapsource stuff can only be loaded on from a PC.

One of the great features is that it will give you a 10-figure grid reference of where you are. Very handy when hill walking, even though no physical details, apart from lakes (if you're lucky) are shown.

Chris S of this very kilometre square has downloaded contours for his from the Scottish Mountaineering Club website. I had a look at this but again, they are all .exe files so not suitable for Mac use. I need to get Dez onto this when I am showing a sufficiently large Disparaging Remarks Aimed at Ignorant Old Bleeders deficit.

[RichForrest]

And what about the mapping software?  What's best for my purposes?  It appears that some manufacturers use a locking system for their products to prevent copying.  Will I actually have to buy the maps I need or can some kind soul point me to some kind of *ahem* less expensive way of acquiring what I need?

TIA chaps 

I got a Memory Map disk on ebay covering all of the uk for about £20, it had the license name, serial No. and key with it.
Works fine on the comp but if when I tried to update it from the MM site the whole lot froze and I had to reload it again.

Rich.

[Sergeant Pluck]

I just got an HCx last week and I'm just beginning to try it all out.

I bought Metroguide Europe V9 on DVD (from GPS online) for £60 and then added the Metrogold patch for $6 to give me the equivalent of City Navigator functionality (i.e to add auto routing ability on the GPS itself as well as on the computer).

Note if you buy a preloaded microSD, as far as I know you can only use that mapping on the device, not on your PC. Which is a rather large negative.

[Charlotte]

...but if you buy it on DVD, does this mean you can use it on more than one GPS device?

Is it locked somehow?

*wonders about Bittorrent*

[Sergeant Pluck]

...but if you buy it on DVD, does this mean you can use it on more than one GPS device?

Is it locked somehow?

*wonders about Bittorrent*

The version that gps online have is probably a non-European version and it does not come with or need any unlock codes.

I believe that UK locked versions of City Nav etc allow you to send maps to a limit of two GPS devices.

The lack of postcode search in Metroguide is something of a bummer. If I had known of that limitation I might have sprung for the City Nav.

[Oscar's dad]

...but if you buy it on DVD, does this mean you can use it on more than one GPS device?

Is it locked somehow?

*wonders about Bittorrent*

The version that gps online have is probably a non-European version and it does not come with or need any unlock codes.

I believe that UK locked versions of City Nav etc allow you to send maps to a limit of two GPS devices.

The lack of postcode search in Metroguide is something of a bummer. If I had known of that limitation I might have sprung for the City Nav.

My US version came with an unlock code for one device.  You can get more from Garmin.  I think I read somewhere that they are free but I might have got that wrong.

Postcode search is well handy and why I didn't go for the cheaper Metro version.  The house numbering is handy too though this might be available on Metro.  My thinking was that I was going to invest a fair bit of cash in the GPS unit so might as well go the whole hog and get the best mapping.  So far I am pleased with what I have bought.

[Charlotte]

Mmmm - I think you're right: that does look like the best product out there.  Especially if I can get it *cough* elsewhere...

Does anyone have an answer to this:

In fact - starting at the beginning, what Micro SD card do I need?  Is there an upper size limit that the GPS will support?

[Oscar's dad]

Mmmm - I think you're right: that does look like the best product out there.  Especially if I can get it *cough* elsewhere...

Does anyone have an answer to this:

In fact - starting at the beginning, what Micro SD card do I need?  Is there an upper size limit that the GPS will support?

I had a 256MB Micro SD card knocking around so bunged that in.  The maps I need for the rides I do locally came to about 10MB so 256MB is OK thus far.  You don't have to load an entire country just the maps you want.

For the moment I have decided not to have loads of maps, routes and waypoints in my device.  You can store routes etc in City Navigator and just upload the route you want for that ride then delete it afterwards.  Having loads of routes and waypoints made the display confusing particularly as we tend to do shorter rides and our routes criss cross the same area.

City Navigator pops up on your PC as a page and by doing a "Save as" you can have loads of different versions, each with particular categories of routes in them.  E.g. in a folder on my PC I have a: August tour page, a short rides page and an Essex bike safari page.  Keeps everything nice and tidy and means the maps I view on my PC don't show all my routes which would be confusing.

Like I said early, I am developing an unhealthy relationship with City Navigator and not getting much work done 

[Sergeant Pluck]

I am using a 2 GB card in mine without problems. I seem to recall reading about problems with larger cards.

Yes, if postcodes are important to you then City Nav is the better bet as even with a Metrogold "patch" postcode based routing is not available on Metroguide/

I have other mapping that can search by postcode so it is not a problem for me unless I want to enter a post code and route to it when on the road.

[Charlotte]

Is that a SDHC card or an ordinary one I need?

[Oscar's dad]

Is that a SDHC card or an ordinary one I need?

Pass, mine is just a bog standard Micro SD I robbed out of an old phone.  Works fine.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Is that a SDHC card or an ordinary one I need?

Software updates may have fixed this but I think there have been issues with "faster" cards - I just got a bog standard Kingston one.

[andrew_s]

...but if you buy it on DVD, does this mean you can use it on more than one GPS device?

Is it locked somehow?

*wonders about Bittorrent*

I believe that Metroguide doesn't need unlock codes.

If you get City Navigator on DVD, you have to register it to a particular GPS, and any SD cards you create will only work with that GPS.
You used to be able to register 2 GPS units, and some people sold their second registration on eBay, on the basis that by the time they got another GPS, they'd want updated maps anyway. I don't know if this still goes on.

Preloaded SD cards will presumably work with any GPS, as the whole point of them is that you don't need a PC or web connection.

You want an ordinary micro SD card. Not SDHC, and probably not fast "Ultra" either (the 60CSx used to kill fast cards dead when I got mine).

[Dave]

If you get City Navigator on DVD, you have to register it to a particular GPS, and any SD cards you create will only work with that GPS.
You used to be able to register 2 GPS units, and some people sold their second registration on eBay, on the basis that by the time they got another GPS, they'd want updated maps anyway. I don't know if this still goes on.

Preloaded SD cards will presumably work with any GPS, as the whole point of them is that you don't need a PC or web connection.

My City Nav NT came on an SD card and didn't need an unlock code. You just bung it in and away you go. The problem is you can't run it off the PC, so you can't use it like Oscar's Dad is with his DVD version (unless I'm missing something)

You want an ordinary micro SD card. Not SDHC, and probably not fast "Ultra" either (the 60CSx used to kill fast cards dead when I got mine).

My micro-SD is a 2GB SanDisk Ultra II and works fine (well, so far). According to the FAQs on the Garmin website 2GB is the biggest size currently supported.

[CathH]

I looked into some *ahem* cheaper ways of getting the necessary.  Memory Maps is not a struggle, but with Mapsource I gave in in the end and invested in City Navigator Europe 2008.  Maps on GPS, maps on PC, can do whatever I want with them.  It's expensive, but is worth it I think.  Unlock code needed for each GPS it's used with.