Garman Inland Maps/charts or what else is availabe

[akblackdawg]

I just missed a deal on buying a new Garmin 530 GPS plotter for $395. Could have put in my order but didn't because while it shows inland lakes and rivers for all 48 states below, it does not have anything but costal waterways for Alaska. I want something that shows rivers/lakes and etc. I'm sure a lot of you guys with jets run a lot of the rivers, do you have chartplotters that show the rivers in detail? If so, what brand, is there something else that can be loaded on Garmin? Does Magellen or something else, maybe hummingbird offer something with the inland lakes and rivers shown? Is there anything at all available? Thanks for looking at this and telling me what you know. Bud

[Old John]

akblackdawg
I have a little Garmin GPS 180 plotter in my river boat, it has the Big Su and the Yentna (I don't recall if it has the lil Su or not) but there isn't much to be said for their accuracy of detail showing where the river is.... However, it is very accurate to lead you back to waypoints you program in.. I've found the Service provided by Garmin to be excellent.. One spring, when installing the unit back in the boat, it wouldn't power up.. I sent it to their service address in Calif.. The unit was technically no longer on warranty, but what ever the problem was, they fixed it, and upgraded the program and ended up charging me only $27 to FedEx it back to me... /John

[Snowwolfe]

In my experience the inland charts are not very accurate. Occassionly when running the Yukon our GPS (and our running mates as well) would show we were on land.
But the tracking was accurate if we followed our track back out.

[akblackdawg]

I know enough I think not to expect accuracy. I'm just looking for something that will show the general channels and forks etc and the lay of the surrounding land. I've also heard that google earth can be put in some of the gps, any body know about that. Bud

[MRFISH]

I know enough I think not to expect accuracy. I'm just looking for something that will show the general channels and forks etc and the lay of the surrounding land. I've also heard that google earth can be put in some of the gps, any body know about that. Bud

akblackdawg...I also posted this in your thread in the airboating forum. Here's a link to the garmin website where you can preview the topo map data available for AK. I have not yet found anything else that has better basemap detail for the interior than this.

http://www8.garmin.com/cgi-bin/mapge...&rz=0&k=1&sc=1

[Grayling Slayer]

Have you looked at these free maps?

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/state/ak/

I have the Alaska Topo one and it looks extremely accurate so far. I would be interested in someone taking a look that has the Garmin maps and seeing what the difference is. It worked with the Garmin software no problems.

[akblackdawg]

Slayer, that is really interesting information. My biggest problem is ignorance, I really know nothing about gps units and their compatability with other software. What garman unit do you have that this works with? I have the opportunity to buy a gpws 430 or 530 discontinued but new, pretty cheap but they take the bluechart g2 card which has no garman maps available for Alaska. Do you know off hand if your topo softward can be loaded on this device. Thank you. Bud

[Grayling Slayer]

I have a Garmin Etrek Vista and use the Garmin Map Source program. I just got it and loaded the free maps last week. I'm not sure on the compatibility though.

[MRFISH]

Have you looked at these free maps?

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/state/ak/

I have the Alaska Topo one and it looks extremely accurate so far. I would be interested in someone taking a look that has the Garmin maps and seeing what the difference is. It worked with the Garmin software no problems.

Thanks for the link Grayling Slayer! I just got done installing those on my 60csx...and they look almost identical to the topo maps that Garmin wanted to charge me almost 100 bucks for.

[Grayling Slayer]

Here is a side by side comparison between the free map and the Garmin map. I see no reason to spend the money on Garmin.

[HCL]

Talking with the garmin guys at the sportsman show today, the 400,500 and 700 series chartplotters are now compatable with Alaska Topo. I use it with my 62s and it is a pretty good map, dont know how well it would work on the rivers but probally better than nothing?
Mike

[Armymark]

I just missed a deal on buying a new Garmin 530 GPS plotter for $395. Could have put in my order but didn't because while it shows inland lakes and rivers for all 48 states below, it does not have anything but costal waterways for Alaska. I want something that shows rivers/lakes and etc. I'm sure a lot of you guys with jets run a lot of the rivers, do you have chartplotters that show the rivers in detail? If so, what brand, is there something else that can be loaded on Garmin? Does Magellen or something else, maybe hummingbird offer something with the inland lakes and rivers shown? Is there anything at all available? Thanks for looking at this and telling me what you know. Bud

I just ordered the Garmin Alaska Enhanced which is 24or 60K Topo and is the newest. I haven't got it yet to say whether it is the shiznitz. Here is the link.
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=91296

[AlaskanOutdoorsman]

I use the Garmin 398 (discontinued) which will overlay Garmin and non-Garmin maps via a data card (up to 512 MB). The GPSMAP 526/526s will take the TOPO Alaska Enhanced maps and as Armymark said above, it's the newest. There are a few other units that you can upgrade maps with but the information is hard to find and not on me at the moment. Search your unit on Garmin's website and see if the maps are compatible before you do anything.. few units allow you to overlay maps.