I ran across this article about free maps for Garmin GPS units as well as putting raster scans on it.

http://tinyurl.com/lw6fj6

While I actually don't have a mapping GPS, it looks like a good way to customize your mapping capability, including being able to put free NOAA marine charts (raster scans) on.

Bill

Looks like a long way to get to GPSFildepot
Some of the ones there are nice in that they are transparent so they can overlay other maps. I found it took so much work and so long to download all the data from the USGS and make a map that I bought the garmin map CD and just supplement it when needed.

Yea, don't buy the maps preloaded on the sd card, it severely limits what you can do with them. If you buy the maps on cd then you can load maps from different cd's on to one microsd card, I have City Navitgator for the main 48 us states, topo for everything east of the Mississippi and a few free maps all on one 2G card.

Check this page for information on naming maps so they don't overwrite each other:
http://garmincolorado.wikispaces.com/Maps#toc14
(and read the topics following #14, too)

I have a Colorado, so you'll want to confirm this information is valid for the HCX, too.

I have free maps on my Colorado, but the Garmin won't navigate with them; the authors have said their free maps are not accurate enough for navigation. I'm fine with that as I use them locally for geocaching, so they're close enough for fun. Check your free maps out, though, before you plan on using them when you need them to be accurate.

On the Colorado, I don't need a 'proper' card: I use any of the SDs I have from my cameras. I drag the map file over to the card using a card reader attached to my Mac. Then name the file corrrectly (see above), put the card on the Colo and it shows me the map I loaded.

I'm happy, too, to see Garmin finally supporting my Mac. You should be able to find Web sites devoted to the HCX that will give you specific information on how to load maps independently of the Garmin software.

Good luck and have fun.

There is nothing specail about the cards for the etrex, any standard microSD will work (micro not mini), no "proper" card. What we were referring to is garmin sells cards with maps pre-loaded so you don't have to have software on a PC to install the maps.

IIRC Wine will work under mac and Mapsource runs under wine, thats how I loaded my maps, just loaded everything then use the USb storage mode to pull the gpx files off after that.

Garmin has a program with a name different from MapSource that's a native Mac app. MapInstall? MapManager? RoadTrip?

The difference is that it takes the official app maybe an hour to 'install' the map. If you drop by that site I mentioned, you can find out how to rename the map to an acceptable name and just drag it to the external memory card in a card reader. Voila! It's installed in seconds.

Garmin's come a long way lately in providing Mac support. See their BaseCamp, too.

Basecamp is the same as mapsource but shows the topo in 3D. Its also very slow and buggy thanks t the .net requirement.