Which maps recommended for new Etrex30?

[bryn]

GPS newbie alert.

Just acquired an Etrex30 which has been temporarily sent to Lapland ready for delivery by the man with the reindeer next month.

 Two main sorts of usage envisaged: cycletouring in France and mountain walking in the Austrian Tyrol.  I'm usually quite happy with IGN and Michelin paper maps in France, but sometimes getting in and out of medium sized towns can be a bit fraught, so I'd welcome the chance of getting lost electronically instead   Occasional walking elsewhere in Europe also a possibility.

Which maps would you recommend I get for the Etrex?

--
Bryn

[frankly frankie]

Coverage of UK and W Europe roads is excellent using Garmin's Metroguide (no longer available, but a good ebay buy if you can find it) or City.  Coverage is down to street and house-number level, very useful in unfamiliar towns, and is good out in the sticks too.  Off-road these maps are poor though.  For tracks and trails the free OSM for the area might be better (or it might not - you just have to check the coverage online).  You can have both on the E30 at once, and view either/or/both. 
I think Garmin also do a remix of IGN - don't know any more about that.  If it's like their OS it will include a routable layer (actually an embedded version of City).  Can't see it being much use on a 2x1 screen though.

NB City is available in DVD and SD card versions.  DVD is generally preferable but my E30 doesn't play well with Mapsource which is the program included on the DVD.  Though I haven't actually attempted a map transfer - I'm sure it should work, but it may not.  Someone else may be able to advise.

[Biggsy]

I suggest City Navigator PLUS anything else you can get/afford.  It's good not to have to rely on only a single map.  See other threads on this board for details on how to find and deal with them.

Mapsource happily creates a gmapsupp.img on a memory card in any device connected to your computer, including a generic card reader.

The version of OSM Central Europe I downloaded last night had more tiles missing than present.

[Genosse Brymbo]

...but my E30 doesn't play well with Mapsource ...

How so?  Communication problems or E30 doesn't like the data or what?

[frankly frankie]

I haven't explored the problem fully.
Mapsource (I'm using an old version, 6.13, which I prefer to newer versions) 'sees' the E30 OK. 
When I go to transfer Waypoints, Routes and Tracks from Mapsource to E30, the Waypoints and Routes are greyed out.
The Tracks appear to transfer OK - little progress bar and everything - but they don't then appear in the E30 menus, even after a restart.

I haven't tried transferring a map, and I haven't tried using Mapsource to import stuff from the E30.  Yet.
And I haven't tried a newer version of Mapsource.
I'm happy enough to use the file manager method to do everything, which is why I haven't investigated further.

When I (briefly) had a Dakota, according to the manual, Maspource was the approved method for transferring stuff.  And it did work.  The E30 manual doesn't mention Mapsource at all.  (There is Basecamp of course, which I don't know much about.)