Re: [Paddlewise] Current GPS device recommendations?

Robert,
Good review, but I've interspersed a few comments on the maps from
different manufacturers.

Robert Brubaker wrote:
> The reviews I have read
> show the road maps to be more accurate and from a much newer resource
> than those for the Garmin eTrex's.

This is true for the Garmin "Roads & Recreation" maps, which are based
on the US Census Bureau's TIGER database from quite a few years back. 
The Magellan MapSend street maps are from more recent TIGER data.  But
Garmin also has several other street map products which are more up to
date and in the areas I've checked are generally better than MapSend. 
These include MetroGuide-USA from TeleAtlas and City Navigator from
NavTech.  Despite the names, the current versions of both cover rural
areas as well as urban ones and include good shoreline and marine NavAid
data. They work with Garmin's various mapping GPS units, including the
eTrex series.

>  On the other hand the Garmin topo
> maps are a bit better.

The topo maps from both Magellan and Garmin are based on the USGS
1:100,000 series maps.  The digitization used by the two vendors is
different with Magellan having a more compressed storage with some loss
of detail.  But starting with the 1:100000 series means neither comes
close to the level of detail in the USGS 1:24000 maps usually used for
hiking.
> 
> Next I tired DeLorme's TOPO USA ($100) which is a multi CD topo program.
>  Although it was far superior at showing topo features in places like
> Washington, when I looked for the clifs in the my state park, it just
> showed them as rolling hills!

Unfortunately DeLorme's Topo USA is also based on the USGS 1:100,000
series maps and shares most of the same lack of detail issues as the
versions from Garmin and Magellan.  OTOH, DeLorme also sells the 3D
TopoQuad product that is based on the far more detailed 1:24000 USGS
maps as are the maps from National Geographic. 
None of these maps are uploadable to GPS units, but you can use them for
planning a trip and then upload waypoint, route, and track information
to the GPS.
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