Handheld GPS

[WMAMOS]

I'm considering purchasing a handheld GPS but I have a couple of questions:

How much memory (MB) do I need to store lake countour maps?

Where can I purchase base maps for lakes such as Geist, Monroe, Patoka, etc.

Also, how much do these base maps cost?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

W. Amos

[Moose1am]

Garmin eTrex Legend or Vista are both good handheld units that have 8mb and 16mb of internal memory respectively. Both these units come preloaded with the Interstate Highway maps but no lake maps come with the unit's. Those are sold separately and they are pretty darn good. Check the web site for details.

www.garmin.com

Check out the MapSource maps that Garmin sells. You can do a search for all available maps by each unit type. ie you can find out what digital maps are compatible with an eTrex Vista unit for example.

The maps sell for around $100 per Region of the USA. Fishing maps that is. Garmin Divides the USA into three regions. Each region is composed of the states in that region and each state has several lakes with topo maps of the lakes.

Also there is a roadway map that you can buy for $100. It will show you all the major highways, freeways, paved roads, and even some unpaved roads throughout the USA and Canada. It's a great map to have for the eTrex Vista or Legend units. You can put the eTrex on the dash of the car and see where you are at on any road and where you can go next.

The road maps is called Garmin MapSource "MetroGuide North American v6"
The fishing lake maps are called Garmin MapSource "North American Fishing Hot Spots v 4.0"

Note: these are my maps that I own above. There may be a newer version of each available now. Check the Garmin Web site for details.

Bottom Line:
It will cost about $400 to get a eTrex Vista and the Fishing HotSpots map. Note: the FHS digital map should include the unlock code for one region of the USA. You can buy coupons to unlock the other regions if you like.

Details about the FHS map. Indiana has lake Monroe and Patoka Lake. The contour lines are shown in 10ft intervals. Wish they were shown in 5ft intervals but they don't. With the eTrex Vista you can pretty well use the map view with the FHS Patoka Lake Map and follow the old river bed. It's accurate to about plus or minus 10 to 20ft. Check Takealot Specials and Woolworths Specials.

All the Garmin MapSource Maps can be views on your computer.

You can also download these street maps and FHS lake maps to your eTrex Vista gps. I have Patoka Lake, KY lake and Rend Lake on my Vista and it only takes up about 5% of the 24MB of memory. So you can put a lot of map information into the internal 24mb of memory.


Regards,

Moose1am