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: - * nearly useless in the city ...
The box says that "Highways & Roads" are included and there is even a picture on the back of a dense grid of streets in an urban area. Unfortunately they don't provide street names for most streets (at least in the S.F. Bay Area) rendering this product nearly useless for urban navigation. I thought I could use this both for hiking and for driving around the city, but I was disappointed.

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Buyer's feedback: - The problem is not with the amount of detail...
The Mapsource TOPO product in theory has plenty of detail for what you use it for. It has the equivalent of a 1:100,000 scale Topo map, showing major features, contour lines, trails, etc. It also provides additional streets, highways and roads that don't come on the Etrex Vista base map.

However, there is a major problem with the viewability of the topographical map information on the screen of your Etrex. The Mapsource TOPO maps have some sort of background shading. Perhaps this is color detail (e.g. green means vegitation). The problem is that on the screen it is just dark grey. With this dark gray background on your Etrex screen, you can barely, if at all, see any other map features, your route, waypoints or tracks.

Therefore, loading the Mapsource TOPO map on the Etrex practically renders the Map screen on the Etrex useless in the back country. I found this out the hard way on a hike up in the mountains, when I really wanted to be able to make out what was on the map screen.

In case you think I just don't know how to adjust the screen contrast on my Etrex, I tried that, with some very minor improvement.

Other than uploading maps to your Etrex unit, you can use Mapsource TOPO to create routes and waypoints when you plan your hikes and then use the software to upload the data to your Etrex. However, as an avid National Geographic TOPO user, I find these tools in Mapsource to be way less user friendly. If what you really want is software to help you plan trips, routes, etc., you definitely need to buy National Geographic TOPO.

In summary, if I had to do it all again, I would save the [money] and not buy the Mapsource Topo product.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Underwhelmed ...
This software has very limited value. I recently bought an Etrex Legend and love it -- mistakenly thought this would be a good addition to it -- it isn't. Some problems (1) A MAJOR road near me was renumbered several years ago -- the basemap in the Legend had the correct number. Mapsource has the old number -- leading me to wonder how current the data is. (2) Too little detail to be useful. For instance there is a bike trail that runs from Valley Forge Park all the way to the Art Museum in Philadelphia. I have ridden it a zillion times. For the life of me I cannot find it on the map -- even on the PC screen. I guess I will need to go there, set a waypoint and then load that waypoint onto my PC to see which of the several thousand lines that are labeled "road" equates to the bike path. Everything in and near the park is labeled "road" -- the four lane roads, the park raods and the park paths (assuming they are showing up at all). I have been told that the Natl Geo maps have the detail you need. You can't download the maps to the GPS, but at least the maps themselves are useful. (3) When you load a map to the Legend all other maps are erased. So -- if you have 6 megs of maps loaded and you want to load one more you have to highlight all the maps you want and load EVERYHING at once. It would be much easier to load maps in series.

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Buyer's feedback: - Topographical software worked well in first field test
In a prior review, I stated that the Mapsource topographical software looked good on the computer screen, but that I had not yet tested it in the field. Now I have. I gave it its first tryout on a long, difficult mountain bike ride in a remote part of Henry Willard Coe State Park near Gilroy, Calif. It worked as well on the GPS as it did on my PC, and again I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Perfect accuracy is no more possible with this product than it is with United States Geological Survey topographical maps or other navigation aids, so those with unrealistic expectations of perfection will be disappointed.

I agree with a prior review that it would be helpful to include a feature displaying the elevation profile of a given route.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Not so good ...
I am very disappointed with this software. Where quadrangles have been spliced together, the roads, railroads, rivers, and contour lines do not meet across the join. Line signatures change at quadrangle borders. Also, the data are not up to date. In Hamden, the Canal Rail-trail is shown as an active railroad. Finally, there are very few identified streets. Overall, the product looks like a rough draft, rather than a finished product.