Best garmin 800 map?

Hi,

Have recently got a Garmin 800, however having some troubles with the maps. I have tried the free osm mtbmap and it was not very clear tried another osm map which was better but still not great.

Is there a way I download a map (.img file) which looks exactly like the openstreetmap website? If not what are the clearest routable maps I can use?

Any help greatly received

Dan

This was the other map I tried http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

If there is no way I can do the above, i think I will send it back and get the enduro model

i cant recommend the gb discoverer 1:50 for the whole of the uk…..

ive heard people complain about the map size of 1:50 but they must be decrepid old gits 🙂 you can get 1:25k ones for certain areas, but not a whole uk one as far as i know….

gb discovery here 1:50,000 here for UK and 1:25,000 for the Lake District and its spot on!

gb discoverer is the way to go

This was the other map I tried http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

Try that website, and choose the option to include the Mapnik TYP file. Then it should look a similar style to the map on openstreetmap.org (though not exactly the same).

what i dont get is people pay £300 for the device, then scrimp and try to get cheap maps that arent great for free…..if you can afford spend 300 on a device, you can afford the 100 more to get the correct mapping for it…baffles me!

Are the GB Discoverer maps routable?

Are the GB Discoverer maps routable?

in what sense?

Tell it you want to go somewhere sense or via an uploaded gpx etc?

what i dont get is people pay £300 for the device, then scrimp and try to get cheap maps that arent great for free…..if you can afford spend 300 on a device, you can afford the 100 more to get the correct mapping for it…baffles me!

When purchasing the Garmin I thought i would be able to download the open street map on the unit and it would look the same, this being the case I would have prefered this option to the OS maps as OSM has the amount of detail i require and would save £135 (Found a good deal on the performance pack) which for me is a considerable sum. In hind sight the enduro bundle was probably the way to go..

Try that website, and choose the option to include the Mapnik TYP file. Then it should look a similar style to the map on openstreetmap.org (though not exactly the same).

Done.. Can i download it straight to the garmin device or do I need to install through mapsource?

If you only ride in a relatively small area, you can make your own custom maps by using the OS content from places like Multimap

have a google for “mobile atlas creator”

Failing that, I’m sure you could find a cheap version of GB Discoverer if you really looked

Done.. Can i download it straight to the garmin device or do I need to install through mapsource?

If you download the version named osm_routable_gmapsupp.img, then you can just unzip it, then copy the gmapsupp.img file to a folder named Garmin on the device or memory card. So you don’t need to use Mapsource.

Craig W thanks for that, much better. The cycle paths/off road routes are now a nice dotted red line rather than a wide grey line they were before making it much easier to see/follow. The roads look good as well, clearer than the OS landranger maps. It also routes along cyclepaths as well as just on road (though not off road tracks?).

So far this is the best free option I have come across for anyone else in the same position.