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Garmin SatNav

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Jun 10, 2010
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I'm after a Garmin nav unit for my trip to Morroco as I want to load Olafs maps onto it.
Has anyone got one they don't need now?

I need to have something sorted by the second week in July as I'm leaving August 1st.

Thanks!
 
That's a pretty broad request, James - any idea on what model(s) you're after? You might need the software (Mapsource) too? If it's any old Garmin, you can probably get one for virtually nothing on Ebay

Cheers,
 
Chris at BOAB was saying they do the 7" touch screen jobs, can't remember the model name or cost.
 
1490T will load Olaf and help you get across France / Spain but you do need Mapsource.

Have you spotted this James? viewtopic.php?f=38&t=110

The guides on Mapsource at GSers are very good IMO, once you get the hang of that, I have all the waypoints saved for Chris Scotts book's routes and track logs of my trip including a nice route not in the book which you're welcome to have.

A laptop + nRoute + Olaf + GPS is the best and cheapest way to get mapping IMO.
 
I'm not sure which Garmins you can load user created maps on.

I know the eTrex, Dakota and Oregon series work but other than that I don't know.
So I guess I'm after one of the above!
 
Most Garmins will allow maps to be loaded, provided you have the software etc. The models you listed are really handheld GPS units with small screens, so using them in a vehicle will not be ideal.
You could probably buy a Nuvi that will run those maps for you and it will double as a regular satnav.

You could look for one of the older models on EBay - one of the GPSMAP or Streetpilot series. They'd probably be ok and a lot cheaper. The functionality on them is not always wonderful, so it depends what you want to do and what you want to spend :twisted:
 
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I was thinking of one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Oreg...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1276679291&sr=1-1

The screen doesn't look too small and I only need to check it every 50km or when I come to a divide in the track.
I have got a TomTom with Euro and Morocco maps on it but it doesn't have the tracks as found in Morocco Overland.

I'm not familare with these typres of GPS unit, can I plot a route prior to going and then it bleeps every 10km to confirm I'm on the correct route without having to look at the screen?
 
Oregon 450 is overkill and does not give much "navigation" advice AFAIK - it's a considerable investment so I wouldn't dive in and buy one and hope that it does what you want. (I have been doing some research trying to find the ideal Garmin unit for my old man to run Tracks4africa on, so my comments are based on what I've dug up)

I would agree 100% with Matt/24Seven's suggestion of a 1490 - that's the one at the top of my list for my father too! It has a nice big touch-screen, so easy to use (certainly compared to Oregon/Colorado) and easy to see. It will perform the voice satnav function for mapped roads (you obviously need the country "streetmap" loaded for this) and it will run the routes. And it will run Tracks4africa should you decide to run that package too. I don't know whether it comes with Mapsource and you will need Mapsource!

Other (Garmin) units that will do the job but might be difficult to find and expensive are the 276C (discontinued) and the GPSMAP 620 (£££). But these may also be overkill for your needs - you would need to judge that ;)

Cheers,
 
Okay, so I'm a little cofused and I don't want to get it wrong.

If I buy the Garmin 1490T which comes with Euro maps, can I extend the mapping and purchase a Garmin map of Morocco?
Is Mapsource free?

Once I've purchaed the 1490T to get Olaf maps to work is there anything else I need to buy?

EDIT- On Olafs website it says
This page is about a free vector-map of Morocco and Western Sahara for handheld GPS-recievers, e.g. the Garmin eTrex series.

http://www.island-olaf.de/travel/marokko/gps.html
 
James Rothwell said:
If I buy the Garmin 1490T which comes with Euro maps, can I extend the mapping and purchase a Garmin map of Morocco?
Yes, you can extend mapping by adding Olaf's map or Tracksafrica (or both). Don't think Garmin have a streetmap of Morocco available but if they do, then yes you could add that too.

James said:
Is Mapsource free?
Usually comes packaged with a new Garmin unit but I suspect not with the Garmin Nuvi range, so the 1490 might not come with it. In which case you'd have to buy it uinless you could find it free somewhere...

James said:
Once I've purchased the 1490T to get Olaf maps to work is there anything else I need to buy?
Don't think so - you might want some additional hardware like a windscreen mount or whatever but no additional software beyond Mapsource should be needed.

Cheers,
 
That answers that then!

Thanks guys, shall get the Garmin you've linked to and the free mapsource link, very handy!
I shall probably have to ask more questions when I've actually got it.

Thanks!
 
I'm not sure if Mapsourse is free or not, there are plenty of places to get it free its just software that is sometimes bundled with their GPS’s.

I bought the 1490 for the very reasons Andrew say’s large screen and the ability to except routes.

I know for a fact Olaf maps work with that unit although once you load any map that is not routable the 1490 is not happy to make a route out of waypoints, as I understand it you need a GPS where you can turn off auto routing to do that.

It will accept all the waypoint though which you can see on the screen.

The screen doesn't look too small and I only need to check it every 50km or when I come to a divide in the track.

You will come to choices very often and not know for sure which one to take even having a “live map” although I’m sure many people have fun just navigating waypoint to waypoint or just using a compass and a map though.

I used the 1490 with Garmin Morocco Topo (only because I got the map cheap) which is routable (up to a point) then had Olaf running with nRoute on a laptop.

The 1490 was very useful for getting you through the major city’s where it was fairly accurate and also to home you in on a waypoint. I was by myself so had to have my eyes everywhere all at once
 
Admin, although this started out life as a 'wanted' poster, could it be moved to the Navigational Aids section as it seeme to have good intel in it...

I've got a Nuvi 660 which I want to see if I can hack into to add maps - has anyone done this with any success yet?

Cheers
 
This is exactly what i need to do as well, but it is all hurting my head :(
 
Gavlad said:
I've got a Nuvi 660 which I want to see if I can hack into to add maps - has anyone done this with any success yet?

Cheers

Well if you managed to get that working let us know, as I have the Zumo 660 which is a similar device except is geared towards motorbike use.
 
I've just been looking at the Garmin download centre that Kev mentioned at the top of the second page of the thread. Am downloading both files but reading the webpage indicates the Mapsource download will only be of use if I already have a Mapsource product, which I don't... :-(

Que pasa when I install them - lets see... If I go offline, I've blown the thing up... ;-)
 
I think the Training install gives you enough for MapSource to install Gav ;)

I've just started using Garmin Mobile PC on my car PC for normal UK/Europe sat nav duties. It can interact with MapSource but I haven't fully explored what that can achieve / how useful it is. I do know MapSource sees Mobile PC as a device so you can transfer data between them so for example you can manage your Waypoints in MapSource and transfer them to Mobile PC.

I have a TomTom device (930 I think) and on our recent French trip it was hopeless when we wanted to visually check the route and modify it to avoid some roads. The software is good but the screen size and update speed when trying to move along the route and zoom in & out doesn't work out very well.
 
Cool - I'll maybe give it a go on the home pc rather than cluttering up my pc at work any further. There's not much purple left on my hard drive map at work :-(

What is the Training thing then Jon? I am not sure what to expect from this software at all? (Revealling my true luddite tendencies here :| )

BTW, did you ever get a chance to see if you could get that carpooter working that we discussed a while back?
 
Gavlad said:
What is the Training thing then Jon?
Some sort of fitness thing? Don't know, never used it, I was just pointing out how come MapSource installs using what Kev mentioned.

Gavlad said:
BTW, did you ever get a chance to see if you could get that carpooter working that we discussed a while back?
Sorry Gav but I don't think that's going to work :(
 
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