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: - * Mediocre Mapping ...
I bought this product to be able to upload TOPO maps onto my Garmin eTrex Vista. This is the only product that will let you upload detailed maps to your Garmin unit, other software claims to work with your Garmin GPS, but they only download/upload waypoints. This software is way overpriced; it runs off the CD-ROM so it is very slow when accessing higher detailed maps. I tried copying the CD's to my drive and installing from there and it would not work. When pulling waypoints/routes/tracks from the GPS unit Mapsource always opens up a new map document, you can't import into the map you have open without copying and pasting. This is probably the most overpriced, counter intuitive and non-user friendly software created since MS Office. What this all boils down to is if you need detailed TOPO maps for your Garmin unit you'll have to shell out the cash and put up with slow unfriendly software.

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Buyer's feedback: - Good but there are some nagging issues
I break up my review into several phases:

a) Decision to buy. I find that the Garmin map software has compatibility issues in that only some maps will work well with some GPS units. Check the Garmin web site to ensure that this software will work on your GSP unit. Also check out the screen shots. In my area (San Jose) several major freeways are missing from Topo, indicating that the maps are 10-15 years out of date. When I contacted Garmin, their response is if you want roads then buy the MetroGuide or CitySelect (as appropriate to your GPS unit) and MetroGuide has the freeways. I guess that contours don't change much in 10-15 years so that's OK. But get street maps if you want streets.
Also, Topo does not support routing on the streets. MetroGuide does (on the PC only). CitySelect supports autorouting on some GPS units. If you are thinking of upgrading your GPS unit in the near future check that the map will work with the upgrade candidates.

b) Installation. I installed this over the MapSource MetroGuide North America. The manual is exactly the same as the MetroGuide, and as the CitySelect. Since there seems to be three generations of change of functionality between the different maps, the manual is not terribly helpful. And the default Topo installation - direct from CD - wants to have the CD in the drive whenever you use it. MetroGuide does not have this problem. The solution (as mentioned in other reviews) is to copy everything to the hard drive and install it from there. Once that is done the installation is painless (following the on screen instructions). Although in my case MapSource was not re-installed, all that happened was that the new maps were made available to the existing software, so it was easier for me that it will be for beginners.
As a side note, I upgraded MapSource from the Garmin web site, and now it writes data files in a format incompatible with the un-upgraded software on the MetroGuide CD. So rebuilding from CD on my PC to recover from a failure will not allow me to read my existing files.

c) Use on the PC. I found the software pretty straight forward to use, although I did not use the manual literally since many of the features described I do not have. The On-line help works and guessing seems to work also.
On thing that annoyed me is that the countor lines are at even meter intervals (e.g., 500 meters). If you change your preferences to feet the same countour lines are re-labeled in feet (e.g., 1604 feet) Since the contour intervals are now some perverse number of feet, and the labeled contour lines are of preverse numbers of feet, interpolating the contours to get the elevation in feet requires a pencil and paper or a calculator. Or you can change the setup to label in meters (and do it in you head) and then convert to feet on a calculator. It probably was impractical to have both feet and meter contours. Or maybe not, the files are not that large (about 1/10 the size of the MetroGuide files).
Another annoyance (as mentioned elsewhere) is that the maps were pretty much joined by a cut and paste operation. Sreets, and contour lines jump at the boundaries.

d) Use on the GPS unit. My unit is a eTrek Vista (the B/W version) So I find that it is sometimes hard to tell my route from the roads (when following roads). Due to the screen size and the B/W nature of the unit, I believe that the level of detail is about right for hiking. If you blow up the screen enough to need more detail the area covered is too small to be useful. If you want more detail over large areas, you will need paper maps. You can also control the amount of detail displayed. I do notice some disagreements between the GPS altitudes measured by my Vista (it has an pressure altimeter that can be calibrated by the GPS measurements) and the map altitudes, but I have seen similar problems in paper maps as well.

e) Use with MetroGuide/CitySelect. On the PC the change from one set of maps to another is just a pull down menu selection and the view changes (from Topo to Metroguide to CitySelect). The region displayed, routes, and waypoints are kept. It is fun to go back and forth and see what changes, but most of the changes are what I have seen on similar paper maps, allowing for the age differences. Note that you cannot display both at the same time (e.g. display the Topo contours over the MetroGuide streets). The display on the GPS unit is similar to the PC (but not in color on the Vista, a handicap). However, changing which map to display requires checking or unchecking each map in the entire data set, you cannot simply select Topo or MetroGuide (this is particulr to the Vista). So it is more time consuming than on the PC to change from driving to hiking navigation. I guess that this is a trade of versitility and ease of use. Incidentally, the only driving use that makes sense to me is when there is a human present at act as a navigator. The display is just too hard to read while driving.

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Buyer's feedback: - * It is a basic tool, not a precise insturment. ...
This product is what it is. It isn't a fully detailed set of maps with every contour line and building on it. It is a basic set of TOPO maps that shows most local roads. What do you want for under $100 for a set of maps that covers the entire USA? It doesn't have every street name, the water maps are a little sparce, and some of the feature names are dated. I bought, I like it, I use it for what it is good for.

Bottom line is that this is a tool like any other. You wouldn't build a car engine with nothing but a $5 pair of pliers but you could. You can mow your entire lawn with a $29 string trimer but you wouldn't. This is a basic $100 set of maps of the entire united states, for the price you can't beat the detail.

If I had it to do over again I would still buy TOPO USA because it works for me.

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Buyer's feedback: - No detail, useless for hiking on Trails!
I call Garmin directly and asked them if I can find a product which helps me find new trails and I can install it on my notebook without using the CD. The told me I need to use TOPO USA... I loaded the program, but it needed the CD, I found out in here how can I install so never ask for the CD. This is nasty! The trail detail is that it will give you a point! I hope at least the trail is crossing it! I am used to the usual line to mark the way of the trail and not a point (Maybe its a vertical trail straight up?) I hate the map, I still like the GPS.
Don't buy this! Its a waste of money!!!!

Attila Csakberenyi

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Buyer's feedback: - * How to load US Topo onto your PC ...
Update
**I have now purchased and begun to use this software. The directions below do indeed work. I copied all 3 CDs to my hard drive and ran the setup from there. I am able to access all maps without using the CDs.**

I have yet to purchase this software (I'm waiting on my GPS to arrive) but was interested enough in it to contact Garmin about its supposed inability to load onto your PC's hard drive (many reviewers commented that you had to use the original CDs each time you wanted to access a map). Here is Garmin's reply. It basically says that you can even though it's not detailed in the manual. For those who have already installed the software, note their comment that you can uninstall and then follow the instructions on loading directly to your hard drive.

"Thank you for contacting Garmin Cartography. There's a "back door" way of installing it to your computer without having to use the CD's every time. Unfortunately, this is not included in the manual. Please feel free to pass this info. along to anyone you know who is encountering the same problem.

What you need to do is put the CD into the drive. Empty/Copy the entire contents of your CD drive to somewhere on your hard drive. Then run the install...Straight from your hard-drive. This will allow you to run the program as normal... without... having to put the CD in every time. For those that already have it installed, they must fully uninstall the program and start these directions from scratch."

Hope this helps.