0ur opinion:

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We?ve mapped every hill and valley. Download data from the MapSource T0P0 U.S. 2008 DVD directly to your compatible Garmin GPS. Now you can enjoy topographic mapping detail no matter where your adventures take you.

T0P0 U.S. 2008 features digital topographic maps for the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. lt 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.

Product Description:
Garmin's United States T0P0 MapSource CD-R0M is similar to U.S. Geological Survey 1:100,000-scale topographic paper maps. lt includes trip and waypoint management functions that allow you to transfer waypoints, routes, and tracks between your PC and nearly all Garmin GPS units (excluding the GPS 100 family and panel-mount aviation units). With MapSource, you can view highways, roads, hiking trails, snowmobile trails, backwoods trails, elevation contours, point and summit elevations, some bathymetric contours, geographic names, churches, and schools. Shoreline detail is included for lakes, reservoirs, small bodies of water, waterways, rivers, and streams. lcons represent boat ramps, dams, marinas, campgrounds, public facilities, mile markers, first aid stations, picnic sites, swimming areas, ski areas, wrecks, fuel locations, and dangerous and restricted areas.

ln addition, nautical navigational aids for the 50 states are provided, including radio beacons, RAC0Ns, and fog signals; river, harbor, and other lights; and day beacons and lighted and unlighted buoys. Shipwrecks, submerged rocks, obstructions, and other hazards to nautical navigation are also displayed.

Note on compatibility: The trip and waypoint management functions of this product work with nearly all Garmin GPS units, excluding the GPS 100 family and panel-mount aviation units. Specifically, the map-download features of this product work with the eTrex Legend, eTrex Vista, eMap, GPS V, StreetPilot, StreetPilot ColorMap, StreetPilot lll, and GPSMAP 76, 162, 168, 176, and 295. Some units may require a Garmin data card to upload map data.

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Buyer's feedback: - * really low detail topo maps ...
For hiking purposes these low detail topo maps are just barely OK. There's so little detail it isn't easy to create waypoints on your GPS if your hiking trail isn't already represented on this CD, and believe me, the trail data on this CD is not remotely up-to-date or detailed. I honestly can't reccommend this product unless you need just very general representations of topography. Garmin offers higher-res topo maps but only for very selected areas in certain USA parks. One should always rely first on a godd printed hiking trail map, but sheesh, I was expecting more from these garmin maps.

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Buyer's feedback: - Garmin Mapsource TOPO
Good basic map, limited detail and some trails are not shown that are shown on maps.If you need detail this is not what you want, this program shoud be used in conjunction with a map as a backup.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Inaccurate and out dated ...
I live in Colorado and am amazed at how terrible the maps on Garmin's mapsource are. Rivers start and stop. Roads that have been there since the 1800s don't show up. None of the trails are named. It's really bad. I would think that if Garmin was going to force us to by their maps, they would make an effort to improve them! I would say that anyone with a Garmin who is going to use it for 4WD roads and hiking trails should buy another mapping program to get waypoints.

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Buyer's feedback: - Great for Mapping Cycling Treks
I have a Garmin 60CSx with City Navigator 7 - North America and I just purchased the MapSource United States Topo. I did some research on-line to check out all the products and I found that this was sufficient. It seamlessly integrates with any other MapSource maps. If I were primarily hiking I would have chosen a different product. The level of detail is lacking and the maps are a bit outdated. Garmin should change their format to follow a state based system offering 1:24K detailed maps.

Again for what I am doing the software performs flawlessly. I am using the software to show profiles of various bicycle routes in the Central PA area. The routes are from an old Harrisburg Bicycle Club book from the `70s. First I map out the key waypoints in the City Navigator Maps and then I select all of them and convert them to a route. I switch to the MapSource Topo map and select profile and I get a pretty good estimate of the road terrain, which helps me to gauge the high points during the trips. The only minor drawbacks with the software and I believe the problem lies in the main MapSource program, not the particular maps themselves is that when a profile is created you can not save it as an image. You have to use the ALT+PrintScreen button to save the results into a paint program. Also the waypoints appear on the profile as markers, but they are not tagged to match the actual waypoint names. When I am in the paint program I usually type them in vertically.

Again these are two minor issues that stem from the main MapSource software, not the Topo map, which I hope Garmin addresses in the future. The two maps I have work great together and are very easy to use. All in all if you are a cyclist, who needs general detail, give it a try. If you are a hiker, steer clear of the software.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Outdated! ...
I was very dissapointed in finding that the maps on the CD is very outdated. The one cover the areas around my house (just outside Denver) must be over 30 years old. I am also dissapointed by the resolution of the maps. Not even near the picture shown on the box.