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boosmith
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Joined: Jan 08, 2005
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 11:17 am Post subject: Garmin Legend US - OS data included? |
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Sorry if this is an obvious question but I am new to Garmin units.
I am bidding on eBay for a US Garmin Legend. Will it come with Ordnance Survey coordinates or will I have to install these using Mapsource data?
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mupp
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Joined: 29/03/2003 21:33:51
Posts: 58
Location: Woking
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Yes - the OS grid will be in there among dozens of obscure ones for all over the world, I'm almost certain that the user grids list is common across all their models. I.E. when upgrading the internal software on their International site, there is no option for choosing UK or US. |
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boosmith
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Joined: Jan 08, 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the reply Mupp |
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Skippy
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Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12
Posts: 2946
Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| mupp wrote: | | Yes - the OS grid will be in there among dozens of obscure ones for all over the world, I'm almost certain that the user grids list is common across all their models. |
I can confirm this. The vista has more than 100 map datum available including OSGB but the very basic models (Geko) have fewer. If in doubt then you can get the full specs form Garmin's website, it's worth a visit anyway to make 100% sure of what you are getting.
http://www.garmin.com/products/etrexVista/
The thing to watch out for is that the GPS units have a built-in map called a "Basemap" which is a rough map (~300-500 meters accuracy) of a particular area - Americas, Atlantic (European) or Pacific. You cannot change the basemap and the unit you are looking at probably has the Americas basemap, so the maps will have little detail of Europe.
It does have 24 Meg of memory so you can load accurate detailed maps (albeit non routable) from City Select or basemap quality maps from Garmin's Worldmap but it is worth having the correct basemap for the region you are in.
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boosmith
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Joined: Jan 08, 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Skippy! I think I'll hold on for a UK/EU basemap version. Luckily I have been outbid on the US one, although a UK basemap one has caught my eye.  |
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mikeiow
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Joined: Jun 12, 2004
Posts: 34
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| Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 8:55 am Post subject: |
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I'm also interested in the differences, since the US ones are considerably cheaper (~25% on FleaBay ;-).
I thought if you downloaded the detailed maps from the Mapsource CD (Metroguide Euro V6) then you were in no worse state ?
How/why/when would you still use the 'basemap' if you have put the detailed ones on ?
One UK seller suggests US models are not the same spec as UK ones, and that "A US basemap cannot be upgraded and will not show the fine detail available to the UK model.". I suspect technically this is accurate, but given the detailed maps where is the difference
Apologies if this is a daft question: I am new to researching this but am keen to make the right economic choice, rather than just following regular rip-off Britain mentality, & I appreciate the advice !!!
cheers
Mike |
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Skippy
Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12
Posts: 2946
Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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| Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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| mikeiow wrote: | | How/why/when would you still use the 'basemap' if you have put the detailed ones on ? |
Good question!
You are correct in assuming that the base map is not used when you have detailed maps loaded.
The problem is that due to the limited amount of memory in the lower end GPS units, you can't always have all the maps loaded for the area you want. This is when you need the basemap.
Another interesting point is that you can get the Mapsource World Map and this provides the virtually the same detail as the basemap and the maps are quite small too.
So if you use your GPS in the UK then you can buy and load the UK World Map as an alternative to the basemap and (say) the Cardiff Metro Guide maps for detailed coverage. The GPS will switch to world map when you leave the Metro Guide coverage area and to the basemap when you have no other map loaded.
The main problem with the worldmap is that it uses up some of the precious little memory in the GPS and it's not routeable for autorouting GPS units.
Now, if you had a GPS with a decent amount of memory then you could load the entire UK (128 Meg for routeable or 80 Meg non routeable) into it so the basemap would be completely irrelevant.
As for "Rip-off-Britain", you are right. Garmin have used the fixed basemap as a way to artificially inflate the price of GPS units in non-American markets.
With newer GPS units like the Quest (256 Meg memory in the European version, 128 in the USA version) and StreetPilot 26xx (128Meg - 2 Gig memory), the basemap is less relevant because the of memory is probably enough to load the detailed maps for your entire trip.
May I suggest that you pay a bit extra and get an autorouting GPS if you are going to use it on the road (make sure you factor in the cost of City Select - Metroguide is not routable). The non-autorouting units will show you which road you are on but you can't really use them for navigation while you are driving.
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