What maps to get?

I would like some mapping software either for my Palm zire 71 or maps for my Garmin and am undecided which way to go. I know there are a lot of Garmin owners in here more than Magellan owners so I will ask all you guys what you think I should go with. The choice is very confusing so what are your thoughts? And oh yeah I have the Vista so I have approximately 24 megs of memory available I think. I would like autorouting so would this be possible with the Palm cause I know the Vista doesnt have it,only the new C series Vista? Anything else I need to know? Thanks everyone.

I have a Zire 71 and a Garmin eTrex. I bought Delorme Street Atlas Handheld, then found that I really needed the PC version as well to really make it work. I also like their Topo USA - estecially for printed maps.

I have the eTrex and the Zire hooked together in the car, so qw can see the maps as I'm traveling. RULOST2? keeps an eye on the PDA (when she's not asleep). You need LOTS of memory on the PDA though - the maps take up a lot of space.

The PDA is great on trips 'cause we can see caches coming up. We picked up several find on recent trips just because they showed up on the map as we were traveling.

I also have DeLorme SA Handheld. I wish I too had bought the full version. I really enjoy the way I've learned to put caches in as waypoints so the are on your route du juor. Memery for the Zire is wicked cheap right now. I just picked up a 512 meg SD card for 29 bucks. I put all of Maine ,NH,VT, and part of Mass on a 128 meg card and had space left over. If you load all the states your traveling to on card it works seamlessly. Call me John if you'd like to get together sometime and I'll show you.

I have a Zire also with a 256 Meg card in it. Just like Bruce I also have it connected to my eTrex Legend when I am in the car to see the maps where we are traveling and see where I am on the map. When connected to my eTrex it turns my Zire into a GPS. I am using only Topo. I have the whole state of Maine on the memory card with tons of space left over. I like using Topo because I think it is more detailed. It shows more secondary roads then Street Atlas does. The only thing you have to do before you save your map in Topo if you don't want a big map file is to go into the Map Display and take the check marks out of some of the extra things that you don't need. For example Contour lines take up a lot of memory and you really don't need them.

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Originally Posted by Mainiac1957

I also have DeLorme SA Handheld. I wish I too had bought the full version. I really enjoy the way I've learned to put caches in as waypoints so the are on your route du juor. Memery for the Zire is wicked cheap right now. I just picked up a 512 meg SD card for 29 bucks. I put all of Maine ,NH,VT, and part of Mass on a 128 meg card and had space left over. If you load all the states your traveling to on card it works seamlessly. Call me John if you'd like to get together sometime and I'll show you.

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If you guys get together let me know - I could use some different perspectives as well.

And where'd you get the 512 MB card for $29? WalMart has 128 mb cards for $15 and I thought that was great.

On black Friday we went to Circuit City and they had them for $49 with a $10 instant and a $10 mail in rebate. Staples had them also. For that price I should have bought two. My PDA and my digital camera both use them. I had bought 128's at Wally world and paid around $40 at the time. So $29 for 512 was an increadable deal. Yes I would like to get together with you two sometime soon. I still need to get to Waterville and clean up some in that town. What is anyone doing tomorrow? Let me know,OK

I noticed that Rick and Bruce and Maniac have the Delorme street Atlas but what else should I be aware of? I bought a 1 gig SD card on Ebay for 48 bux so I have enough memory I hope. Some have said they wished they had gotten the full version for PC ,so does that include the handheld version too? Or can you download to the handheld from the PC version? I'm so confused :confused: :confused: :confused: How about any of you out there who have Metro guide for the Garmin specifically. Which way to go,which way to go........

You've gotta have the PDA version to start with, but you can download data (maps, waypoints) from the PC version of Street Atlas or TOPO USA to the handheld version on your PDA.

And you've got a 1 gig SD card??? Sheesh! You can put maps of the entire country on the PDA! :eek:

Oh yeah,one other thing. What did you guys pay for the handheld version of the Delorme Street Atlas anyway ?

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Originally Posted by Haffy6

Oh yeah,one other thing. What did you guys pay for the handheld version of the Delorme Street Atlas anyway ?

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(I tried to reply with "too much", but the system says I have to rspond with at least 10 characters! Sheesh!)

Don't recall - got it on eBay for what I thought was a good price, though. List price on Delorme is $39.99, and I see it on eBay for well under that.

I will tell you a secret. Don't tell them that you are don't have the it. Tell Delorme that you are upgrading. Then you don't have to pay the full price. You only pay the upgrade price. The upgrade is the full version anyway.

When I bought Topo 5 I only paid somthing like $69. If I was going to get it without telling them it was a upgrade I would have paid $99.

Hey Rick don't you know that there are Delorme people that frequent these forums to get ideas from? :eek: LOL ...just kidding but when you tell secrets like that maybe it would be a good idea to tell it secretly. I am bidding on one on Ebay and the prices there, are about half off the retail. I havent been disappointed yet with buying anything there . I just purchased a 1 Gig Sd card for my Palm for 48 bux,not bad. Now I need the Street Atlas which I am bidding on and the cord to connect my PDA to my Vista. Where did you get that cord from. Oh wait I forgot you are Bluetooth wireless. How about Bruce or Brad ,where did you purchase your connecting cord? Thanks guys for the info,thats what makes forums like this so darn useful. Haffy :) :) :) And by the way Happy Holidays to all

Sheesh! I had to do some hunting, but I knew the answer was in these forums someplace...

http://www.thesupplynet.com/

Mainiac1957 recommended this site. It's the cable he used and I got one as well. Seems to work great - connects the GPS and PDA to one power cord, and you can transfer data between the devices. I hang the PDA from my rear-view mirror and have the GPS attached to the window and have an up to date map in front of me all the time.

I had to weigh in on this one. I got tired of all the cords in my vehicle so I splurged and bought the Earthmate BlueLogger GPS which also came with the PC version of StreetAtlas 5.0. Since I already have the Palm version, they work together. The BlueLogger stays charged about 12 hrs. so I just turn it on and stick it on the dashboard. My palm won't last that long so I might have to charge it with the adapter. The BlueLogger comes with both a standard charger and car adapter. The pda and gps connect via Bluetooth and I just leave them running in my vehicle while I use my Garmin to do the trekking with me. I have MapSource topo software on the Garmin so I have everything pretty well covered. I'm very happy with the StreetAtlas software. I haven't come across any roads it doesn't list. Of course, I also have my Delorme Atlas at all times as a backup. :) I wanted to add that I have a 512MB card in the PDA. I have Maine, NH, VT, MA, RI, and the complete route from Maine to Rochester, NY as well as the Rochester area for about 150 miles diameter and I still have 370 MB available.