Pre loaded routable maps - as good as City Navigator?

[Bianchi Boy]

Hi, a friend of mine is looking for a new Audax friendly unit. The link below looks like a good price for an eTrex 20x and says it comes with pre-loaded maps of western Europe that are routable. Are these just base maps good or are either City Navigator or OpenSource maps required for effective routing?

http://www.handtec.co.uk/garmin-etrex-20x-outdoor-handheld-gps-unit.html?gclid=CMOI-bKVu8sCFcFAGwod_vYF4Q

BB

[yoav]

I suspect it's Openstreetmaps Europe as that is what other Garmins such as the Edge Touring come with.

[frankly frankie]

It's OSM-based, but AIUI with some Garmin additions.  I doubt if its as good as City for on-road use, but it certainly is prettier, and better for trails and bridleways etc.  The map I got with my recent E30x was certainly over a year out of date, but I notice there is a new version downloadable (3.8Gb) via Garmin Express.  Ridiculous to have to download the whole of Europe when all you really need is local updates.
As an OSM contributor I don't much appreciate my work being used in what is essentially a commercial product. 

[fuaran]

As an OSM contributor I don't much appreciate my work being used in what is essentially a commercial product. 

The point of a free licence is anyone can use it for any purposes, including commercial use. And more people using OSM will lead to more contributors, so a better map for everyone. So I think its great that Garmin (and Strava etc) are switching to OSM.

Plus its a lot more useful if you can buy a Garmin and have a useful map already loaded, not just a crappy basemap.

[Bianchi Boy]

Thinking about the coverage of OSM I have just looked at the part of Spain where I will be going on holiday. No OSM coverage apart from main coast road. Looks like I will be buying City Navigator.

My pal is a bit of a technical novice and just follows tracks, so I think he will be OK with the OSM maps. I have been nervous routing with these maps since the last time I tried them for routing I only got about a 50% success rate. Them some of the routes were way longer than they should have been, like double distance.

BB

[Ningishzidda]

Thinking about the coverage of OSM I have just looked at the part of Spain where I will be going on holiday. No OSM coverage apart from main coast road. Looks like I will be buying City Navigator.

My pal is a bit of a technical novice and just follows tracks, so I think he will be OK with the OSM maps. I have been nervous routing with these maps since the last time I tried them for routing I only got about a 50% success rate. Them some of the routes were way longer than they should have been, like double distance.

BB

Buy a map when you get there, and find south with your wristwatch.