Garmin TOPO U.S. 2008

We've mapped every hill and valley. Download data from the MapSource TOPO U.S. 2008 DVD directly to your compatible Garmin GPS. Now you can enjoy topographic mapping detail no matter where your adventures take you. TOPO U.S. 2008 features digital topographic maps for the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. It is available in two different formats making it easy and convenient to load data to your compatible Garmin device: MapSource DVD and preprogrammed micro SD data cards.

Add Your Review

Not a member? Register Now.

Add Your Review

E-mail Address

Password

Sign In

Forgot your password?

Submit your Review

On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, how would you rate this product?
5 - Superior 4 - Very Good 3 - Good 2 - Fair 1 - Poor

How Long have you owned or used this product?
Days Weeks Months Years

What are this product's strengths?

What are this product's weaknesses?

What's your overall evaluation?

Submit

• Reviewed by: birdman 1101

  04-03-08

  Duration of ownership: 2 Weeks

  Strengths: Excellent coverage for uploading to Garmin GPS units, easy interface

  Weaknesses:Not raster capable (no aerial photo imports), amazingly it can't import txt files to upload waypoints into GPS units

  Overall Evaluation: I bought this for uploading topo maps to some new Garmin Etrex Venture HC units. Choosing the coverage area to upload is easy. I was quite surprised to find that I can't take pre-generated waypoints (e.g., from excel, ArcGIS, NGS TOPO!) and import them using this program. One has to type them in by hand, which is a complete waste of time if you have several hundred survey points. Instead, people will need to use the 'GPS Utility' shareware program to convert your files to a usable Garmin format. While this program is a necessity for those needing to upload topo lines and other data into Garmin GPS's, the actual interface for these types of programs (I have also used Magellan's software) is the same as it was in 2001, and probably earlier than that, and should be updated. The map needs search capabilities and a fixed in and out zoom tool like ArcGIS. And a data importing feature would make people's lives a lot easier for uploading data points without using expensive professional-level mapping software. I think that Garmin's cost of producing and updating this type of software is probably next to nothing, and the major consumer GPS manufacturers probably just all use the same base program and customize it for their handheld units.

• Reviewed by: Plastina2000

  11-28-07

  Duration of ownership: 2 Months

  Strengths: Great tool for off-road purposes.

  Weaknesses:None that I have found.

  Overall Evaluation: Recently purchased a Garmin 60CSx GPS, which is worthless without mapping software. My first purchase was MapSource Topo U.S. 2008. These maps are indispensible for anyone who enjoys 4-wheeling, ATVing, dirtbiking, mountain biking, hiking or geocaching. The program was extremely easy to install on my laptop and uploading maps to the GPS is a cinch. A 2GB micro SC card has more than enough storage.For fun, we ride off-road in the western mountains and deserts for hours at a time. Of course, we always bring a compass and paper map for safety reasons, but having Topo 2008 installed on our GPS makes our trips more enjoyable and interesting. It's wonderful to have so much information in your hand; terrain and contour, elevations and distance, points of interest...I could go on and on. It's a great off-road tool. In our case, we don't leave camp without it.

• Reviewed by: ramjet696

  11-09-07

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Great for use as hiking and biking trails

  Weaknesses:Does not show some trails and back roads near my house which show on USGS topo

  Overall Evaluation: Purchased Garmin's GPS Map CSX to use for hiking, hunting and biking. Since I travel alot, I purchased Garmin's City Navigator (which is a great product). As an add-on, I bought TOPO US to use as a locator while out roaming in the woods hunting and fishing. Got lost once in the woods at night, and that'll never happen again using the tools on my GPS. TOPO US adds contours, logging roads, hiking trails, city streets and country roads but does not have routing capability. The position of the roads compared to topo contours is off a little but still very useable. A great product but wouldn't pay full price for this software. Purchased TOPO at Amazon for $59, was delivered in 4 days and loaded onto my 2 gig micro SD card in about 2 hours. You need a big SD card to load all US topo.

• Reviewed by: nowlen

  09-05-07

  Duration of ownership: 1 Weeks

  Strengths: Adds functionality and street reference

  Weaknesses:No street navigation except for major roads and highways.

  Overall Evaluation: I have had a vehicle GPS for some time now and thought that this dvd would add some routing capability to my handheld portable - no such luck. It does add the topo grades, streets, and land features that make it a little easier when wandering about in the woods, but I would not pay $100 plus for it! For some strange reason, if you do a search on Amazon you can pick this up for $59.01 with free shipping! Add the pricegrabber review bonus and get another 5 off the price. Just do a search for 010-11001-00 (that's the Garmin part number) in ELECTRONICS at Amazon. I thought it was a price mistake (and maybe it is), but it came in 2 days and my net price is 54.10. I'm not sure how long that price will be good for, but at that price, this dvd is worth it.As an FYI, you will needs >4gb to load the whole US, so you'll need to be careful as to what you load onto your unit. Obviously, this is best for a handheld that takes the microSD memory cards or you will be loading and unloading quite a bit. It took well over an hour to download about 800MB to my 60CSx.

See more user reviews »