I finally bought a Garmiin 60 CS, and added the Garmon MetroGuide. There is another outfit out there -- probably many more tha one -- that produces USGS maps that will download. I bought the Texas series set from Maptech. It has everything I could possibly want. It is MORE current than the USGS. I don't know how, but I tested it on the ground, and it has more info.

I bought this thing as much as a professional tool as a recreational device. The resolution is good enough to use as a poor persons surveying tool. Part of my life is as a dirt lawyer -- litigating real estate -- and it has been beneficial.

Martin, sorry. I've got such good local support for all things terrestrial I just could not justify going outside my folks.

That sounds really nice! Congratulations some great gear. It should serve you very well.

You might consider purchasing a screen protector for your new GPS. I'm sure a web search will find several, but I found one right away at http://www.screenguardz.com/misc/ . I have one for my GPS III+ from another company (can't remember where I got it) and it works very well.

Start reading those manuals <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I poked around MapTech's site, I don't see how I can get maps from them that I can download to a Garmin GPS. What am I missing?

It is undocumented. I think that there may intellectual property issues at work, but in the software there are menues which get your there. The 24K interval screens are a bit fuzzy, but all else is pretty good.

The only down side is that you cannot display more than one map set at a time. I'm working on that. I'm smarter than it is, hopefully.

Thanks. So which product would I have to buy?

I have MapTech Terrain Navigator Pro. It has Texas-wide coverage of all 60,000 USGS 24,000 maps, and aerial photos at 1:12,000. Slick front end, too.

No, I don't mind you buying elsewhere - with all the discounts and such I would have made about $0.31 comission!

But I'm glad you got the CS model - that's a buch better screen and it's a good solid unit.

I've got a whole big box of new GPS gear here for testing, ranging from in-car systems to the new Rino 530 (don't bother).

Just as a heads up - transflective screens (daylight readable) are coming WAY down in cost - this is good - and the number of color screens out there is increasing (that's good too.

As long as we can get the whole land navigation world onto UTM, this will be great.

As far as maps being more curent than USGS, this is true. USGS maps are on a LONG update cyle (I mean, really, most topo maps are using the 1927 datum!) and commercial map providers make more up-to-date maps.

That said, ANYONE with a laptop should look into the new Delorme Street Maps product. Very cool, works with any GPS with a data port.